A new sign is being placed outside St. Mary’s University of Minnesota Rochester Campus to educate the community on improving their mental health.
ROCHESTER, Minn. – At Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota Rochester campus a new forest bathing sign has been installed in front of it. The drivers of the sign were Leadership Greater of Rochester and Olmsted County Public Health. They had a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the new sign.
The two cohorts have been planning it for the past year. Forest Bathing is a Japanese practice of immersing yourself in nature. The campus is located along Cascade Meadow Wetlands. The sign gives six tips on interacting with nature such as finding a quiet spot and practicing deep breathes or reflecting on your experiences and practicing gratitude.
It also directs them to Olmsted County’s Credible Mind website. Olmsted County Public Health Promotion Manager says forest bathing helps with increasing your heart rate and getting sunlight which helps improve mental health.
“Everybody as kids you know we went outside a lot and it’s to try to remind people like let’s get back to that and let’s get back outside and get all those same benefits when we were kids,” said Baumbach.
Over the next month plans are to install five signs in Byron, Stewartville, Oronoco and Rochester.