*Portions of Forest Bathing for Anxiety were originally published on ForestTherapyToday.com, which no longer exists.

I don’t know about you, but I can feel the collective anxiety right now.

As an empath and already anxious person, it seems to viscerally seep in through my pores.

I tend to internalize it.

So, I’ve had to learn how to manage the nervousness in natural ways.

Forest bathing is one of my favorite ways to combat stress. And it’s so effective!

Studies have established the therapeutic benefits of nature for mental health, which I’ll share with you below.

Forest bathing is the perfect marriage of nature therapy and mindfulness for anxiety.

So, let’s look at how forest bathing can help you if you have anxiety, based on science and personal experience.

The Science of Forest Bathing for Anxiety

If you’re familiar with forest bathing, you know the practice of forest bathing involves awareness of the forest using all the senses.

So, at least two major known therapeutic elements come into play when you forest bathe: mindfulness and nature exposure.

Mindfulness

First, the element of mindfulness is built into forest bathing. Mindfulness is about tuning into only the present moment as you take the environment in with each sense.

By paying close attention to what’s going on around you, you stop the vicious cycle of negative and ruminative thought patterns that perpetuate anxiety. There’s not much room left over for brooding when you’re concentrating on the details surrounding you. 

Key findings from research: A review of 39 studies and 1,140 participants found that “mindfulness-based therapy is a promising intervention for treating anxiety and mood problems.” 

Therapists often incorporate mindfulness practice into their treatment protocol for anxiety. Since forest bathing involves the benefits of mindfulness, it also provides relief from stress and worry.  

Nature exposure

Second, exposure to nature, greenery, and forests, enhances mood and lowers markers of stress. It relaxes the vicious rumination cycle, has a pronounced relaxing effect, and increases a bunch of positive emotions.

Key findings from the research: Participants who went forest bathing in 24 forests across Japan enjoyed lowered cortisol levels, lowered blood pressure, slower heart rates, and lower sympathetic nervous system activity–all physiological signs of anxiety!

Just the sight of the color green, the smell of tree essential oils, or the sounds of nature can calm the nervous system. You put all these effects together, and you have a great source of stress relief.

I mean, the entire field of ecotherapy is built around the therapeutic benefits of being in nature. Forest bathing is a form of ecotherapy that provides emotional and mental health benefits.

Forest bathing is the perfect therapeutic mixture of nature exposure and mindfulness.

[Related reading: Check out this page for all the studies about the benefits of forest bathing.]

Personal experience

I’ve had my own lifelong relationship with anxiety. I’d describe it as a long-lost cousin that’s related to me and co-exists in the world with me, but doesn’t interact with me very often and I forget he’s there most of the time. 

Part of the reason it’s not prevalent most of the time is because I take daily actions to keep it suppressed and manageable. One of those things? Ah, you guessed it. Forest bathing.

Now, first off, let me just say, forest bathing isn’t a “cure” for anxiety. Anxiety requires daily ongoing maintenance and forest bathing is one tool that can be incorporated into the repertoire. (Along with pharmaceuticals, CBD, meditation, relaxation, and more).

I’m no doctor or therapist. I’m just a girl who has a distant cousin named Anxiety that knocks at the front door unexpectedly from time to time.

I can spout out all the different studies and measurable effects of forest bathing like above, but it doesn’t fully explain the feelings shinrin-yoku invokes, does it?

Think about how you feel after spending time outdoors.

We might not know how all the science works at a fundamental level, but you can feel it, right?

It relaxes, yes, but not just the muscles. It relaxes the mind, body, and thought patterns. It captures attention and releases you in a way that TV, reading, and other engrossing indoor activities can’t.

I can tell you that forest bathing makes me “feel” different. I can be tied in knots at home or work. But, the moment I step into the woods, some other mechanism takes over and smothers the anxiety.

I see the same in my kids. Even when they were tiny newborns, they could be crying all day, and the moment we stepped outside with them, they were fine. Instantly.

That response to nature is likely buried in our DNA from our ancestors.

I can tell you that a routine forest bathing practice is far more powerful than simply meditation or mindfulness alone. The addition of nature exposure takes the benefits of meditation and mindfulness up a notch, or six.

I usually return home from a forest bathing experience changed. As in, my disposition changes, my feelings about my troubles changes, my sense of livelihood changes. 

As though an entirely new sense of tranquility and okay-ness has washed over me.

Do you feel that too?

I don’t always have the right words for it.

And that’s probably the best place to leave you. With your own thoughts. With your own considerations, where the words end…

I hope this article has given you a new appreciation for forest bathing as an anti-anxiety tool. If you have anxiety, you too know that anxiety management is an ongoing process and requires you to be kind to yourself daily.

How about you?

Do you use forest bathing for anxiety? How has it helped?