What is Nature and Forest Therapy?

Our guided Nature and Forest Therapy walks are slow, sensory, and relational experiences. They follow a sequence of invitations. While most walks are between 2 and 3 hours long, we we rarely travel farther than a mile. We use the work “walk” loosely, as participants may choose to sit, lie down, stand, or move in creative ways throughout the walk.

Nature and Forest Therapy doesn’t need to take place in the forest — indeed, it can take place anywhere you can connect with nature. Meaningful experiences can happen almost anywhere, whether in a city park, apartment balcony, next to a window, or even in a parking lot.

Our guide, Amy, is not a therapist. She received guide training from Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT), which M. Amos Clifford founded. ANFT’s model is inspired by Shinrin-Yoku, a Japanese practice developed in the 1980’s in response to the stressful impacts of urbanization, which can be translated into “Forest Bathing”.