Atha arynya-yoga-anusāsanam – it’s the time for Forest Yoga!
Author: Mia Jokiniva
Finnish original: Metsäjooga
Publisher: Gummerus, 2018
Genre: nonfiction
Number of pages: c. 250 pp.
Reading material: Finnish original, English sample
The forest has a clean and calming atmosphere. At the same time, it is wild and mythical. The age-old folklore, in Finland as well as in other Nordic nations, has tight links with the woods. For millennia, forest has been a source of strength, sustenance and well-being. It has been a pharmacy, a holy place, a shelter and refuge.
Being in the forest has countless health benefits: among other things, it relieves stress, lessens depression and prevents allergies. Apart from this the forest can help you find your own roots and your own wildness – the connection to nature which busy contemporary life might constrain.
Forest Yoga takes the series of familiar Indian yoga poses into the woods and links them to old Finnish folklore and myths. The Indian and Finnish legends intertwine extraordinarily and give an experienced yogi a new chance to find self-awareness and a peace of mind in the open air.
“Forest Yoga is largely a practice of consciousness that anybody who is interested in how the body or mind works can do, in the middle of the nature, with any level of experience. The tools for self-examination are familiar from yoga: ethical queries, poses, breathing exercises, techniques for alertness and concentration, and meditation. Similarly to Indian yoga practice, which is often inseparably linked with local mythology, pantheons and the animal world, Forest Yoga works with the Finnish forest animals, mythology and heroes.”
About the author:
Mia Jokiniva