Forest Healing

17/01/2026

15/01/2026

How Natural Spaces Nurture the Brain

Treetops sway gently overhead, sunlight dancing between lush foliage. A soft breeze caresses your face as you breathe deeply. You are enjoying Shinrin-yoku, or a “forest bath.” The brainchild of the Japanese Ministry of Forestry, forest bathing began as part of a 1982 campaign to get people back to nature. The practice harkens to nature-based healing tradition spanning centuries and across cultures. Now, scientists are exploring just how nature nurtures our brains.

Exposure to green spaces, like forests, parks, and grasslands, and to blue spaces, including rivers, oceans, seas, and lakes, is associated with reductions in anxiety and depression and improvements to overall well-being, as documented by an 18-country survey conducted and funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

“The most consistent finding internationally is that spending recreational time in safe, natural spaces helps to reduce negative emotions and induce positive ones,” explains lead author and environmental psychologist Mathew White. Using the World Health Organization’s 5-item well-being index (WHO-5) and other indicators such as anti-anxiety and anti-depressant prescriptions, White’s team, as part of the BlueHealth Initiative, compared overall well-being to green and blue space exposure. “That has all sorts of positive spin-offs like [reducing] rumination,” the negative and repetitive thought loops characteristic of stress and other mental disorders.

“Depression, anxiety, anger, confusion, and fatigue are all psychological states that have benefited from green and blue space,” says forensic psychiatrist Melissa Piasecki. She explains while the Profile of Mood States (POMS), which White’s BlueHealth Initiative survey deployed, records subjective accounts, scientific advances provide new ways to objectively measure what’s happening in the brain. “We now have windows to gain insight into the psychological benefits of nature. We have biomarkers.”

Scientists are exploring the mental health benefits of taking in green and blue spaces in our environment.

14/01/2026

Everything you wanted to know about Forest Bathing (but didn’t know who to ask!)

Forest Bathing is a health-promoting, nature-connection practice that aims to enhance mental and emotional wellbeing, and relieve stress and anxiety. This article provides an in-depth exploration of what it is, where it originates and how to do it.

13/01/2026

‘Encounter’ in Forest Bathing and Gaia Theory: A Deep Ecology of Connection

In an era of increasing disconnection from the natural world, the practice of Deep Ecology and the Japanese practice of Shinrin-yoku, or ‘Forest Bathing’ can offer profoundly transformative ways of reconnecting with nature. When I talk to people about Forest Bathing, Forest Therapy, or Shinrin-yoku, I often tell them that these nature connection practices are intended to help them to feel more in tune with nature and a part of nature rather than apart from nature. I emphasise that they are all about appreciating the wonder and beauty in nature and the natural environment, rather than about ‘knowledge’. These practices are not about wildlife or tree-identification but involve shifting attention and focus from learning about what something in nature is to how things in nature make you feel. In this way Stephan Harding’s concept of ‘encounter’ within Gaia Theory and Forest Bathing share key parallels. Both approaches emphasise a deep, embodied experience of the living Earth, encouraging participants to move beyond superficial interactions with nature and enter a space of profound interconnection, healing, and ecological wisdom.

This article from 2024 explores the rich intersections between the concept of ‘encounter’ as envisioned by Gaia Theory and the embodied practice of ‘Forest Bathing’ or Shinrin-yoku, highlighting how both approaches can foster a deep ecological consciousness and spiritual renewal.

In an era of increasing disconnection from nature, the practices of Deep Ecology and Forest Bathing can offer profoundly transformative ways of reconnecting with nature. Both approaches emphasise a deep, embodied experience of the living Earth, encouraging people to move beyond superficial interact

13/01/2026

Natural environments restore the brain’s “soft fascination.”

11/01/2026

Snowshoe fun in the woods! There are lots of ways to enjoy the woods, even when there is deep snow. I am really lucky to have this on my doorstep, quite literally!