Forest therapy is often mistaken for a gentle walk outdoors. In reality, it is a structured, guided wellbeing practice designed to help people slow down, regulate stress and reconnect with the natural world.
The practice has roots in the Japanese concept of shinrin-yoku, often translated as forest bathing. INFTA training material by Prof. Dr. Dieter Kotte explains that the term was coined in 1982 by Tomohide Akiyama of Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, during a period when Japan was responding to public health concerns linked with overwork and techno-stress.
Unlike hiking or fitness walking, forest therapy is not about distance, speed or physical performance. A typical guided session unfolds slowly, often over two to three hours, with quiet walking, sitting, pausing, sensory invitations and time to notice the forest through sight, sound, touch, scent, movement and breath.
Why the pace matters
Modern life keeps attention constantly pulled forward. Forest therapy invites the opposite. Participants are guided to soften their pace, settle into the present moment and notice the atmosphere of the forest in a direct, embodied way.
The guide creates a safe and thoughtful structure, while the forest provides the setting for restoration. Participants may explore colours, textures, natural sounds, fresh air, stillness, shade and subtle shifts in the body.
At Nature Immersions, this approach matters because many people rarely have permission to slow down. Forest therapy offers that permission. It is gentle, accessible and grounded in the growing understanding that human wellbeing is deeply connected to the natural world.
A supportive wellbeing practice
Forest therapy should not be presented as a cure or a replacement for medical care. Its strength lies in its simplicity. It gives people a structured way to step out of over-stimulation and into a calmer relationship with place, body and breath.
Source note: Based on INFTA’s Introduction to Forest Therapy presentation by Prof. Dr. Dieter Kotte.