Yuki Shiina the breathing instructor closes her eyes as she stands in the shade under the brilliant green of the trees and takes deep breaths. Some days she walks to a green place as much as two or three times and fills her body with the fresh air.
"Places with lots of trees, unpaved ground and a great view of the sky. Although it may be suprising, even Tokyo has a number of places full of nature. Particularly after it has rained, these areas provide an outstanding opportunity to intensely feel the power of nature. So many wonderful aspects of nature come out after the rain. For example, the scent given off by the wet ground is more distinctive than usual, and the green foliage appears even more verdant. More than anything, the air that has been washed by rain is so special. As I always try to avoid having to be in places of higher car exhaust concentration as much as possible, the time after the rain has stopped is very precious to me."

"Of course I like a pleasant, clear day," she adds. She goes where her fancy leads her, touching the trees her eyes happen upon, breathing in the scents of the flowers and talking with children who have come to play. She seems to chat with everyone. Then when she sits on her usual tree stump, she takes a book from her rucksack.
"I sometimes spend an hour or two among the greenery like this, holding my favorite book and a cafe latte in a tumbler, but sometimes I just take about 15 minutes to look at the trees and then go back home. I feel I have a truly 'wandering' sensation when I go out. The neighborhood park is a place that I can easily visit anytime and relax through and through. It feels like it's a part of my home. Even when I'm busy and don't have time or when I'm on the go, I want to stroll near the trees and grass, even just a little.

Yuki very often walks to the park in the middle of town, surround by asphalt-paved roads and concrete buildings. But that place encircled with lush trees and where the breeze blows through is cool and pleasant, and the only things visible are the vivid greenery and the blue sky as the figures of the trees draw one's gaze.
"The park is just about the only place in the city where you can see the sky without electrical poles, telephone wires and other man-made objects in the way. The reason I like this place is that there is a direct connection between the sky, myself and the earth, with nothing standing between us. I also think it's because there are this many trees here, I can clearly hear the breeze rustles their leaves as it blows through and the songs of the birds gathered in the trees. I can also frequently hear -or perhaps just happen to hear- sounds that we normally don't notice when I'm in a green place. I close my eyes with the breathing method I practice, so when I try reducing my sense of sight to zero, what I hear with my left and right ears not only changes, but I also come to notice things like the feel of the wind on my face and the faint scent of the flowers. This sort of 'awareness' in myself and spending time among nature is one of the delights I enjoy.