The Marielund forest…I have built some great memories in this danish green corner of life. Situated in the city of Kolding, Denmark, this forest was my little oasis in a stressful time of my life. It is quite close to the city yet once you walk deeper and deeper into it silence begins. It was founded in the early 1850 so this is pretty old.
You can find high beech trees, a sump with ash and alder trees . On the east side of the forest you can find also old beech trees from 1860. Imagine what stories they could tell if only they could speak. I often wondered about this while doing my long , silent walks in this forest. The people they have seen, the conversations they have heard, the change in seasons…A tree is the richest yet never heard storykeeper.
I was privileged to be able to get to know this forest through almost all the seasons. Sometimes it is harder to get a feeling of a place if you only enjoy it for a couple of days or weeks. To have an entire year to explore a forest is remarcable. I have educated my own eye to see new things every day about Marielund.
I slowly began to get to know the forest. The places where birds liked to gather. The places where not so many people went to hike. This sort of stuff. I experienced great moments of excitement seeing deers and wildlife in their natural habitat. I feel a sort of honour to be able to see that raw moment, of a creature , just living their life as it was supposed to be lived: free in the wild.
Most of the times I was waking up very early in the morning and starting my routine with a forest bathing. To walk completely alone in a dark forest , waiting for a bit of the stingy danish sun is an exercise I would highly recommend to anyone struggling with anxiety or burnout. The mind gets clear. It is silence. It is dark. You only hear yourself walking and very few noises around. At first it can feel scary. But after a while I got used to it as I knew that nothing could harm me in a forest.
Autumn was the best to experience here , next to winter. I have picked rosehip buds and made jam out of it. I watched sheeps grazing the grass in the cold morning. I have watched leaves shedding green for orange. The most impressive were the swans. Magnificently elegant, these birds always surprised me with their presence. I wonder if they know how truly free they are, to fly whenever you can wherever you want and call the place you settle at home. Looking at us, people, it seems that we are more captive than a bird inside our concrete walls, enslaved by screens and estranged from one another.
This forest helped me regain balance in moments when I wanted to escape my reality. It has seen me sad, happy, calm, angry, worried, creative, lazy. You name it, I have visited this place while experiencing a whole array of emotions. And every time I felt the warm loving arms of nature embracing my melancholic soul…
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