Are your ready to hear music emanating from trees? Take a walk on the wild side while exploring the wood wide web on a walkabout with Julie Ratner, Ph.D. You will be treated to differing tunes from trees, ferns, mushrooms, and other plants. With a unique, in-hand device called PlantsPlay, Julie will lead you on a meditative walk through the woods at Squaxin Park. When a pair of sensors are gently attached to the bark or leaves of a plant, the device recognizes the electromagnetic pulses. They play through her iPad in amazing melodies. “The experience was truly magical. I loved it,” says one delighted tree visitor. It is a profound experience.
Experience Forest Bathing with Julie Ratner at Squaxin Park
Shinrin-yoju is the Japanese practice of spending time in nature, specifically forests. It promotes relaxation and well-being. The potential benefits include stress reduction, improved mood and increased immunity. It’s more than just going for a walk. It means immersing the self with all the senses. Julie’s walks add another dimension to this soul energizing experience.
Julie is a researcher, art activist, and walkabout guide. Her philosophy was shifted by reading Peter Wohllenben’s novel, “The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World.” “It catapulted my interest,” she notes. Though her previous profession was not biology or ecology, she was involved with computers and humans, and liked exploring different domains.
Julie started her tree walks in Seattle back in 2017. “Hearing the duets [plants making music together], the audio, was very moving to me,” she says. She is energized by sharing her eco-conscious living by offering community events that inspire creative eco-dance, -art, – music, -storytelling, and -poetry.
Now living in Olympia, Julie takes people on meditative walks through the woods at Squaxin Park. Part of the time is silently moving through the natural environment. It’s amazing that this gorgeous woodland is practically in the heart of Olympia. The park covers 314 acres and homes trees up to 500 years old, that’s mature, but not ancient, in tree years. Many are Western hemlock and Western red cedar. It is a mix of trees: deciduous and conifer with year-round needles. Old stumps with trees growing from them are nursery logs that give tree seedlings a nutrient rich place to grow. Native people have occupied the area for 1,000’s of years. The area is rich in so many ways.
PlantsPlay Device Lets Plants Sing at Squaxin Park
The PlantsPlay device was imagined by Italian Edoardo Taori, the CEO and founder. He used his musicology degree and renewed connections with his land and nature to translate the whispers from plants into generative music. “By listening deeply to the melody, the listener can immerse himself in an emotional dimension of extraordinary impact and involvement that can be very inspiring,” notes Edoardo. His team of software engineers, electronics engineers, designers, and botanists joined to create a small, well performing plant biofeedback device with an app.
PlantsPlay monitors the subtle electrical fluctuations of a plant through two electrodes that are attached to its leaves or bark. The fluctuations show up on the app’s graph and are transformed by the algorithm into musical notes. The notes are processed by the audio engine and transformed into sounds that depend on the choices of instruments, scale and effects. The scientific explanation pales, though interesting, in comparison to hearing the music.
According to PlaysPlay: “Recent scientific studies reveal that plants possess more than 15 senses to interpret their environment. Much of a plant’s behavior is driven by electrochemical reactions, enabling it to continuously react to environmental changes, which in turn influence the music they generate.” This means that the sounds change with temperature and light variations, hydration, whether or not the plant is blooming, and the relationships to nearby by plants, insects and animals.
Julie offers compelling content with words and pictures on her iPad with fascinating facts and stories about trees and where they are being planted around the world. For example, a forest is a bit like an iceberg, with the majority of it underground with vast systems of roots.
Human fingerprints and tree whorls (rings), when viewed side-by-side, have many similarities.
Book a Nature Walk at Squaxin Park
Julie can arrange personalized walks and informal talks for your group and in a selected location. The general cost is $25 per person ($35 when arranged through Airbnb). Proceeds are donated equally between Legacy Forest Defense Coalition of WA and Treesisters.org.
Visit Julie’s website to schedule a walkabout, find more resources, and check on upcoming events.
Julie’s Motto: Breath in. Breath Out. Thank the Trees.
