What is Forest Bathing?
Forest Bathing or Shinrin-Yoku is a form of forest therapy. It’s not a hike or fitness walk. It’s a slow, guided experience that invites you to connect with nature through your senses, your breath, and your presence.
Sessions are designed to help reduce stress, improve well-being, and bring quiet back into your day. We don’t just walk through the forest, we pause, listen, observe, and walk WITH the forest.
Why try Forest Bathing?
- Reduce Stress & Anxiety – Time in nature calms the nervous system
- Boost Immune Function – Trees release compounds called phytoncides that support health
- Improve Focus & Creativity – Forest immersion helps clear mental clutter
- Ease Inflammation – Exposure to natural environments has been shown to reduce markers of chronic inflammation
- Sleep Better – Slowing down outdoors helps reset your internal rhythms
- Feel More Connected – With yourself, your place, and the natural world
What happens during a session?
Welcome
This is where participants arrive, settle in, and begin to transition from their busy minds into a quieter space.
- Friendly greeting and casual check-in
- Brief overview of the session (no pressure, no expectations)
- Group agreement on safety, boundaries, and pace
- Invitation to leave behind devices and distractions
Introduction
This stage is about reintroducing people to the forest—and the forest to them. It gently shifts participants into the slower, quieter rhythm of the natural world.
- A slow, mindful walk to begin syncing with the landscape
- Sensory invitations (e.g. touch, smell, listen) to heighten awareness
- Breathing exercises to quiet the mind and regulate the nervous system
Sit Time
This is the quiet heart of the session, where deeper presence and personal connection with the forest occurs.
- A longer solo or group sit (often 20–30 minutes)
- Guided or silent invitation (e.g., “notice what’s moving around you” or “listen to the silence”)
- Opportunity to journal, draw, or simply be
- Space for personal reflection without interruption
Closing
The group gently comes back together to end the session and integrate the experience.
- Invitation to share observations (or not) in a circle
- Final gratitude to the land and each other
- Light conversation or tea (optional, setting-dependent)
- Reminder of how to bring Forest Time into everyday life
- Invitation to return again