We’ve heard of therapy dogs and other pets, horse therapy, and other methods to help people cope with stress, but now a perhaps ancient therapy is coming into its own. It’s called ‘forest therapy’.
Carolynne Crawley, is a trainer and forest therapy guide with the Association of Nature and Forestry
ListenThe basic idea springs from a Japanese concept of being in touch with nature or “shinrin-yoku,” which literally translates to “forest bath. Crawley says a guided forest therapy experience differs from simply walking through a forest or even a city park, by inviting people to proceed much more slowly and at various points, getting in touch with their senses and the details of their surroundings.
Carolynne Crawley is a forest therapy guide in Toronto (supplied)
Crawley says studies have shown that time spent in nature has a calming effect on people. Doctors are now even prescribing time to be spent in a natural environment.
She points out that in indigenous history there was a close connection to the land which provided for everything they needed. She adds other people in the past had a much closer connection to the land as well, something that she says has been lost. Now she says people tend to view nature as a resource to be “taken” from with no reciprocity.
Crawley says you can reap the benefits of forest therapy by spending slow time even in city parks like High Park in Toronto shown here (High Park)
Crawley also said youngsters in the past played outside much more than today and so had a closer relationship with nature even if was just playing in backyards or local parks.
She suggests that to get the benefits of the connectness with the natural world, one could pick a green space and try to visit that spot for 20 minutes about once a week. She says the time spent with a natural surrounding helps you develop a connectness the same as you would when spending the same amount of time with a person.
As she says in a final thought, “may the forest be with you”.
video via CBC- C Butler Oct 2019
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