When was the last time you truly unplugged? Not just put your phone on silent, but genuinely stepped away from the endless ping of notifications, the weight of deadlines, and the mental gymnastics of problem-solving?
Here's your invitation: take a walk in the woods. Specifically, take a walk where you might spot mushrooms.
The Astonishing World Beneath Your Feet
Most of us walk past them without a second glance, but the fungal kingdom is quietly putting on one of nature's most spectacular shows. There are an estimated 2.2 to 3.8 million species of fungi on Earth, and we've only identified about 150,000. Every autumn woodland walk is essentially a treasure hunt through an alien landscape we're only beginning to understand.
Harriet, our comms and social media lead, can often be found crouching down in the woodland floor attempting to capture any mushrooms found on her walks.
“It’s magical. I adore this time of year. After the busyness of my summer, the world finally takes pause and the silence is most welcome. I lose myself to the challenge of discovering new mushroom types I’ve never seen before. Often I will bring a handy mini mushroom guide book and try to remember to tick the ones I spot. Soon my camera memory card is filled with multiple attempts to capture the elegance, the textures and namely the size difference of these little land aliens.”
You might spot the vermillion caps of russula dotting the leaf litter like scattered rubies. Or stumble upon a fairy ring of honey fungi, those clusters that seem to appear overnight. There are mushrooms that glow in the dark, others that smell like maple syrup or rotting fish, some that fruit in perfect geometric patterns, and those that seem to defy gravity by sprouting from tree bark twenty feet up.
The sheer variety is staggering. Delicate parasol mushrooms that look like miniature umbrellas. Bracket fungi that cascade down dead wood like frozen waterfalls. Puffballs that release clouds of spores when you tap them. Chicken of the woods in impossible shades of orange and yellow. Each one is solving the puzzle of survival in its own peculiar way.
Why Your Brain Needs This
But here's what makes mushroom hunting the perfect antidote to business stress: it demands a particular kind of attention that's both focused and relaxed. You can't scroll through a forest. You can't skim-read a mushroom patch. You have to slow down, crouch low, peer under logs, scan the bases of trees. Your mind shifts from the abstract realm of emails and spreadsheets to the tactile, immediate reality of texture, colour, and form.
This isn't distraction—it's recalibration. When you're trying to identify whether that mushroom is a friend or foe (deadly), your mind gets a break from decision fatigue. When you're marvelling at how a tiny fungus managed to push through solid concrete, you're not ruminating about that difficult conversation you need to have on Monday.
The Japanese have a term for this: shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing. Research shows that time among trees measurably reduces cortisol levels, lowers blood pressure, and improves mood. But add mushroom spotting to the mix, and you've got something even more powerful: a purposeful meander. You're moving with intention but without urgency. You're observing without judging. You're discovering without needing to achieve.
The Reset Button You've Been Looking For
Some of the best business insights don't come from grinding harder—they come from stepping back far enough to see the pattern. How many times have you had your breakthrough idea in the shower, on a walk, or just after waking up? That's because your brain needs downtime to process, consolidate, and make unexpected connections.
A mushroom walk offers exactly this kind of productive rest. You return refreshed, not because you've been thinking about your challenges, but because you've given your mind permission to roam freely. That problem you've been wrestling with? Often it looks entirely different after an hour spent crouching beside a cluster of amethyst deceivers or photographing the intricate gills of a wood blewit.
So this week, we're encouraging you to find a local woodland, park, or nature reserve. You don't need to be able to identify a single species (though there are wonderful apps now if you want to learn - Picture This is free, and can also be used for other trees and plants). You just need to look. To notice. To let the astonishing variety of the fungal world remind you that there are infinite ways to grow, adapt, and thrive.
Your inbox will still be there when you get back. But you'll be better equipped to face it.
As always, never eat wild mushrooms unless you're absolutely certain of identification—many edible species have deadly lookalikes. When in doubt, just observe and photograph.
