Forest Bathing
& Forest Medicine
Imagine a place where you are always welcome. Where you can be your true self and there are no demands, judgements or expectations. A place that welcomes you however you are. A place you can find peace, healing and connection. This place is the Forest. You belong here. Welcome home.
Forest bathing is firmly rooted in scientific research, which for over 40 years has established a broad evidence base. It is a simple and effective method of improving short and long-term mental, physical and emotional health. It is now recommended in many countries as both an antidote and preventative for stress and lifestyle related illness and the study of the health benefits of the practice is now established as the interdisciplinary science of Forest Medicine.
The practice is sometimes known as Forest Therapy, particularly in the U.S.A and Europe, which reflects that the original practice has been built on and adapted over the years as it has travelled through different lands and cultures, but it is still deeply rooted in the foundations of the Japanese practice of Shinrin-Yoku - or Forest Bathing.
Like a bath, it is a sensory immersion in an experience that requires no special skills or knowledge and is a simple, whole-body immersion into a natural environment. It is about giving ourselves permission to slow-down and experience a more natural state of peace and calm as our nervous systems and emotions naturally attune to the gentle pace of the forest.
“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair”
— Khalil Gibran
A Forest Therapy Guide is there to support this slowing-down process with a series of invitations that open the doors to the direct experience of Nature through the senses. This grounding in the body helps us to naturally arrive in the present moment and the busy mind to calm without the need for complicated mental gymnastics or disciplined meditative techniques. Forest Bathing is more "bodyful" than mindful - think of it more as an easeful awareness of our bodily senses and a tuning-in to our inner experience, rather than being about advanced states of concentration.
The guide is also there as a reminder that we don't need to do too much. Time in Nature for many can focus on activities like hiking, cycling, wildlife spotting, dog-walking or exercise and we can inadvertently take our busy lives with us - thinking about our day, planning for the future or trying to achieve something or get somewhere. The guide is there as a reminder that the only place we need to be is where we are. The only way we need to be is how we are. If we simply take time to stop and notice, the doors open to presence and stillness, which can then support our capacity for self-reflection, intuition and insight and feelings of wholeness and belonging. The guide is there to hold the space so that you can allow your immersion into Nature to become deeper, more connected and more healing.
The benefits of Forest Medicine
Some of the key health benefits of Forest Bathing are:
Improved immune system function including boost in NK activity and number.
Increased intracellular levels of anti-cancer proteins.
Improved cardiovascular and heart health.
Reduced blood-sugar levels and corrected blood pressure.
Reduced levels of stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline.
Reduction in inflammatian and autoimmune related conditions.
Boost in happy hormones serotonin and oxytocin.
Improved nervous-system regulation.
Improved emotional regulation.
Improved respiratory health and gut health.
Increased energy levels, with improved concentration and memory.
Improvement in mental health and positive mood states.
Improved sleep quality.
The history of Forest Bathing
The urban dilemma
Our ancestors evolved in Nature - not in cities. Our minds and bodies are built to be in relationship with Nature and when that relationship is missing, we suffer.
In the early 80s, this was the situation in Tokyo, Japan, where the fast-paced, stressful, urban, work culture was taking its toll. Fatal strokes and heart-attacks caused by overwork were rising and with workplace stress related suicides rapidly increasing, Japanese citizens took to the streets to protest against Karōshi - or "overwork death". Levels of other lifestyle related illnesses were also becoming dangerously high, with toxic levels of the stress hormone cortisol causing inflammation and associated auto-immune diseases, cancers and high levels of anxiety and depression. High blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other lifestyle related illnesses were all on the rise, so the Japanese government decided to act and commissioned a body of research into ways of combatting this epidemic of poor health.
The natural solution
One of the first places to look to for the remedy to a busy, fast-paced urban lifestyle was in the opposite - out in Nature.
A walk in the woods might feel good instinctively, but this hadn't really been studied in any scientific detail before. The research, led by Dr. Qing Li set out to find if, how and why Nature is good for us, so that this information could be used as evidence to prescribe nature as an antidote to overwork and stress. This was the beginnings of the emerging science of Forest Medicine and Dr. Li's findings provided the first categorical evidence that Nature is medicine for humans.
Phytoncides fight on your side
If you read the above list of health benefits, the majority were discovered in the early studies in 1980s Japan. This is due to the almost immediate measurable effects that being in the forest environment has on human physiology. After just a short 2-hour exposure, cortisol and stress markers drop, regulating the nervous system and measurably reducing blood pressure. One of the most groundbreaking discoveries however was the interconnectedness of plant and human immune systems. Plants and trees (especially coniferous trees) produce phytoncides, which play an important role in plant immunity - protecting them from attacks by bacteria, fungi, protozoa and insects. When humans breathe in these airborne phytoncides in the forest environment, it causes a boost in natural killer cells (NK cells) in the human body. NK cells are the human immune system's first defence against viruses, harmful bacteria and parasites and actively destroy infected and cancerous cells. Some studies have shown that just a short Forest Bathing session in a phytoncide rich environment can boost NK activity and number for more than 30 days. Humans and trees are old friends, but science is only just discovering how deeply we are connected.
Over the past 40 years, these studies into the mechanisms by which Nature is beneficial to human health have been corroborated and expanded. More recent science has discovered that wounds heal faster in Nature, the gut microbiome becomes more diverse and that there are even natural antidepressants in soil.
Refining the practice
Since the early days of Shinrin-Yoku in Japan, the practice has evolved and expanded to maximise the positive effects to human health. Ways of slowing down and becoming more present and aware have been developed and invitations which open the doors to healing and connection have been crafted. Relational elements, sharing rounds and more therapeutic elements have been added, which the organisation I trained with (ANFT) is largely responsible for. The modern practice of Forest Therapy has become more holistic, and looks to support the mental, emotional and social, as well as the physical.
Most recently the Human Nature Project has added facilitated group exploration and discussion of a theme related to wellbeing to the practice. My personal experience of this has demonstrated to me that meaningful conversations can be supported when held in Nature with Forest Bathing practices.
Forest Circle practice combines elements from all of the above. In my experience, it's about meeting people where they are and helping them find what they need. I don't give them that, the forest does. I just offer guidance and support. Having witnessed first-hand the growth, transformation and magic that can happen for people in Nature, I now think of the practice as Forest Alchemy.
