Forest Bathing Walk — Shinrin-Yoku in the Ancient Larch Forest Above Verbier

The larch forests above Verbier are 200–400 years old. In autumn they turn gold in a way that draws landscape photographers from across Europe. Forest bathing — Shinrin-yoku, a Japanese practice developed in the 1980s with a body of scientific research behind it showing measurable reductions in cortisol and blood pressure — is not hiking. We do not cover distance. We stop. We use guided sensory exercises to move perception from the future-planning mode that most of us default to. We taste wild herbs. We put our hands on the bark of larches that were standing when Mozart was alive. The walk is 3 hours and covers perhaps 2 kilometres. It is the opposite of the fitness tourism that most alpine destinations sell. I provide hot Swiss herb tea from a thermos and we end at a small café in the village for raclette or fondue depending on the season. You will feel different afterward in a way that is hard to describe before you do it.