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You’ve heard of forest bathing, a mindful walk through the woods to appreciate and honor nature with a guide who will lead you through healing practices (which, importantly, do not include actual bathing!). Well, now there is flower bathing, a chance for spiritual travelers to connect with colorful buds and appreciate the brief time in which they bloom, a metaphor for our own transitory existence.
To be clear, there's only one spot in the US currently offering this unique spring experience.
At the Foundry Hotel in Asheville, North Carolina, you can spend May 16 basking under the full moon’s glow and indulging in a flower bathing nature therapy experience. That full moon’s pretty special: it is both a supermoon and will be undergoing a total lunar eclipse.
So how you get started? First book a room at the Foundry, then start drinking the cocktails that get their oomph from nature’s berries, like the complimentary ‘The Bee’s Tea’ which incorporates a small-batch botanical gin called Uncle Val’s Gin. The cocktail also includes honey-lavender butterfly syrup, so named because it has butterfly bee pollen in it, as well as Earl Grey tea and fresh lemon juice. Way to put the garden in a glass!
And then you will go into the Pisgah National Forest where Asheville Wellness Tours will lead you through the flower bathing experience. It’s perfect timing as Asheville’s local wildflowers are starting to bloom. The practice harks to the Japanese practice of Hanami, the custom of viewing Sakura — or cherry blossoms — at full bloom. This is a restorative walk that is less than one mile, gentle and contemplative.
The Pisgah National Forest is a heavily-wooded forest with many waterfalls, trails and whitewater rivers. It’s over 500,000 acres: just the place to immerse in the quietude and depth of nature’s power.
The starting rate for a couple is $442 plus tax, which includes the hotel, botanical cocktail, plus flower bathing experience.