“Why do I need a forest therapy guide?” This is an uncommon question. And it’s fair. After all, unless you’re paying to visit a forest or paying for parking or transportation, it’s a free activity.
There are many benefits to going on a forest therapy session on your own, which we covered in this blog post: Forest therapy: 3 reasons you can do it alone). But in today’s post, we will cover the many benefits of joining a reputable guide on a structured session.
Emotional and physical safety: Being outdoors is so beneficial for us, but those benefits are less likely to materalise if we are feeling afraid or worried or unsafe. For my guided group sessions, I like to pick locations that are private and where we are less likely to be disturbed by others. However, sometimes, things do not go according to plan, and the occasional runner or dog walker will interrupt us. On one one-to-one forest therapy session, I had just invited the participant to close her eyes and to imagine her feet are sprouting roots that are sinking deep into the earth. And it was just at this moment that a cycler rode past our isolated spot in a pine forest. She told me afterwards that she had heard a noise, but she didn’t bother to wonder or worry about it because she trusted that I would have been keeping a lookout and would have let her know. She trusted me to keep her safe.
I have also had feedback from the participants that they felt safe overall during the sessions, and that they valued me stating the importance of emotional and physical safety during my introduction before I begin a forest therapy session. Forest therapy creates space for reflection and introspection, and this can have unexpected consequences, and perhaps some discomfort and uncomfortable emotions. During a guided session, you have access to a facilitator who is there is anything weighing on your mind that you’d like to discuss or to just give you space to be on your own.
Positive emotional changes: In a study of 37 undergraduate students by Chungbuk National University in South Korea, participants were randomly assigned to two groups: 19 in the self-guided forest therapy group and 18 in the guided forest therapy program group. Each group participated in eight sessions. The guided forest therapy sessions were one hour and a half per week for eight weeks and a trained forest therapist delivered each session. For the self guided sessions, participants were asked to spend an hour walking a marked route in the university campus forest, and to visit specific locations where explained panels on forest activities were installed. The guided forest therapy programs have been shown to be effective in providing participants with positive emotional changes and promoting social bonds through interaction with others.
Participants who experienced the guided forest therapy program mentioned many keywords related to fun, joy, and laughter among positive emotions. The researchers concluded that there were three potential explanations for these position emotions. Firstly, we are wired to need social interaction, so when we have positive social interactions with others, we will in turn feel more positive. Secondly, when we see others feeling positive, we are influenced to then feel positive ourselves. It’s very hard to keep a straight face and be impassive if we see others smiling and laughing. And thirdly, the forest activities themselves, such as dancing in a group and noticing the senses, produced feelings of joy and happiness.
Strengthen social relationships: We often hear that loneliness is becoming an epidemic in the modern world, and as beneficial as technology can be, we are also more deprived of the social interaction that we need. Oxytocin, frequently called the love hormone because it causes us to feel calm, warm and fuzzy, trusting and in love, is released when we hug someone, or cuddle with a pet, or have sex. Social bonding is critical to our wellbeing.
In the study mentioned above, most participants noted that forming social relationships with other participants was one of the most valuable guided forest therapy programs. During forest therapy session, you have the opportunity to engage with others. In the groups I’ve led, we’ve had such rich and warm conversations during circle time when we regroup after each guided invitation. The quietness of the forest and the emotional safety of the group has led to people opening up about their inner feelings, and others in the group echoing the same feelings. There is a sense of togetherness and finding common ground with people who were previously strangers. I have also noticed that it is also a wonderful way to bond with friends, making the bond stronger and richer.
Experiencing awe through collective effervescence: We discussed some of Dacher Keltner’s research on awe in a previous blog. Along with moral beauty and nature, “collective effervescence” also causes us to experience feelings of awe. This is something we might have experienced at a concert, a sporting event, a night club, a demonstration or protest, or anywhere where we’ve been part of a group, and it feels like the whole group is moving in unison for a common purpose. At a concert, you might not know the strangers next to you, but when a popular song is played and the whole group starts dancing and singing in unison, that is collective effervescence. It’s that feeling of being part of something bigger than yourself and being part of a larger social system. Forest therapy can help induce feelings of collective effervescence. Participants are outside, going through a shared experience and often stepping outside of their mind and reflecting on the broader social and natural world that they are a part of.
I hope this gives a better sense of why guided forest therapy sessions can be useful. But if you aren’t able to join a guided session for whatever reason, it is much more important to just go outside and experience being in nature. Nature is afterall the therapist here!
