Forest Bathing: A Guided Practice for Deep Nature Connection
There is a way of being in nature that doesn’t ask anything from you.
No pace to keep.
No destination to reach.
No outcome to measure.
You don’t move through the forest with purpose. Better yet, the right way to bask and bathe in the forest is to let the forest move through you.
Forest bathing is a practice of slowing down enough to feel where you are. Light shifts overhead. The air carries a scent you can’t quite name. Sounds come forward and fall away without effort. Your body begins to soften before your mind catches up.
This isn’t about exercise or achievement. It isn’t another wellness habit to optimize or perform. Forest bathing is meant to be sensory, intentional, and deeply regulating. It’s an opportunity to reconnect with nature not as something to conquer or consume, but as something to receive.
You’re not there to do anything at all. You’re there to soak in the quiet, the beauty, the stillness. Tranquility is the point.
Forest Bathing as a Guided Practice for Deep Nature Connection
Forest bathing is about tapping into the natural elements around you and allowing yourself to drown in their glory in an enveloping and magical way. It’s not hiking. It’s not exercise or productivity. It allows us to engage our senses with intention and invites a deep internal reset. Forest bathing is a powerful way to deepen your connection to nature.
What Forest Bathing Really Means
Forest bathing means allowing the essence of nature to pull you in. It’s about deepening your connection through nature while being immersed in the calm tranquility of the forest. It allows a sense of oneness and an awareness that something far greater is at work.
This practice invites greater awareness of your surroundings and the elements, allowing you to soften into them and become fully present.
Why Forest Bathing Regulates the Nervous System
Forest bathing can bring calm, joy, and a sense of ease. As the high-speed world of noise and technology fades into the background, the senses begin to settle.
The shade of the trees.
The depth of the green.
The majesty of towering redwoods.
Fresh air clears the mind and creates a feeling of lightness in the body. Being surrounded by giants offers perspective, wonder, and a deep sense of presence that only the forest can provide.
How to Practice Forest Bathing the Right Way
Simply being in the forest is powerful, but forest bathing can go deeper. It’s more than slow steps and casual awareness. Letting the forest lead is a deeply fulfilling experience.
After years of spending time in the forest, I wanted to understand this practice and learn to do it with greater intention so I reached out to Nature Connection Coach Hana Lee Goldin. She guided me through an incredible forest bathing experience and showed me the proper way to forest bathe.
To experience this for yourself, join me on my forest walk with Hana, where she shares how to deepen your connection with nature through forest bathing.
Insights from a Nature Connection Coach
Forest bathing shifts the way we relate to nature. Instead of moving through it, we allow ourselves to be held by it. This gentle shift invites deeper listening, presence, and connection.
See the video above for the hottest tips.
What Forest Bathing Is Not
Forest bathing is not hiking.
It’s not fitness.
It’s not productivity.
It’s not walking with your phone in hand.
It’s about letting go of the need to do and allowing yourself to simply be.
Forest Bathing vs. Walking Meditation
Forest bathing is not just another walk in the park, and it’s not the same as walking meditation. While walking meditation is a powerful practice, forest bathing goes further by inviting full immersion in the natural world.
It’s about allowing nature to envelop you completely and experiencing connection on a deeper level.
Who Forest Bathing Is For
Forest bathing is for anyone seeking relief from the noise of modern life. It can be especially supportive during times of stress, grief, anxiety, or overwhelm.
If you’re feeling creatively blocked or experiencing sensory overload, the forest offers a quiet refuge where the senses can rest and reset. Forest bathing is gentle, inclusive, and available to all.
Letting the Forest Do the Work
The forest doesn’t need you to understand it.
It doesn’t need you to improve yourself.
It simply invites you to arrive.
Sometimes the deepest healing comes not from doing more, but from letting the forest do the work.