I have been exploring the emotions of being in a dense forest. John Muir wrote extensively about forests and woods as sanctuaries for the soul.

For many of us, forests feel spiritual precisely because they merge silence, age, shelter and beauty. We talk about sacred groves. And in a dense forest, we feel cooling shade, sound dampening, and a sense of continuity.

Here, this deserted forest feels like a memory dissolving into the landscape. A woodland stream runs through the foreground, its rounded stones softened by golden light. Behind, we see tree trunks rising in blurred vertical lines, creating depth and a sense of quiet enclosure.

Here, too, is where emotion can run the gamut from a sense of safety to a sense of foreboding. To being lost (as I have been) in the woods. To the sense of darkness descending.

How do you react to this hidden wilderness? Please send me at your thoughts