What Is Forest Bathing and Why It Matters

In 1982, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries coined the term shinrin-yoku — literally "forest bathing" or "absorbing the forest atmosphere" — as a concept for public health. The intent was straightforward: encourage urban populations to spend deliberate, unhurried time in forested areas. Four decades later, the practice has spread well beyond Japan and entered public health discussions in Canada, Europe, and the United States.

Forest bathing is not hiking. It is not birdwatching, trail running, or photography. The defining characteristic is the absence of a destination or objective. Practitioners move slowly — or not at all — and direct attention to immediate sensory experience: the quality of light through leaves, the sound of wind in branches, the smell of decomposing bark and rain-damp soil. The activity is structured around noticing rather than accomplishing.

An outdoor therapy session in a wooded setting. Photo: Taxus2000 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Origins and Development

Japan's forestry ministry framed shinrin-yoku partly in response to karoshi — death from overwork — which was becoming a documented public health concern by the early 1980s. The idea that time in forests might counteract some effects of sustained workplace stress aligned with existing cultural attitudes toward nature in Japan, where mountain and forest retreats had long been part of the seasonal calendar.

Systematic study of the practice began in earnest in the late 1990s and 2000s, primarily through researchers at the Nippon Medical School and Chiba University. Qing Li, an immunologist, published extensively on measurable physiological changes associated with time in forested environments. His 2018 book Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness brought the practice to a broader English-speaking readership.

Canada's forest therapy community has grown incrementally since the early 2010s. The Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT), a US-based organization, has certified guides working in multiple Canadian provinces. Parks Canada and several provincial park authorities have acknowledged the practice in their wellness programming, though formal guided sessions remain limited in number compared to Japan's designated forest therapy bases.

How a Session Typically Unfolds

Whether guided or self-directed, forest bathing follows a loose structure. Most practitioners spend between ninety minutes and three hours in a single session. The following sequence is common:

• Arrival and settling — Standing still for several minutes at the edge of the forest, allowing the transition from urban or indoor environments to register through the senses.
• Walking with attention — Moving slowly along a path or through a clearing, without a fixed endpoint. Many guides suggest a pace of roughly one kilometre per hour, though this varies.
• Pausing exercises — Sitting or standing still at intervals, sometimes with eyes closed, to heighten awareness of sound and smell.
• Invitation to explore — In guided sessions, the guide may offer specific sensory prompts: noticing what is moving, what is staying still, what is close, what is far.
• Closing — A brief period of reflection, sometimes with tea or water, before returning to the trailhead.

What Distinguishes It from Other Outdoor Activities

Conventional outdoor recreation — hiking, cycling, kayaking — tends to be organized around physical output, scenic destinations, or measurable achievement. Maps, elevation profiles, and trail ratings direct attention toward where you are going and how far. Forest bathing inverts this logic entirely. The trail is incidental to the experience; the forest itself is the subject.

This distinction has practical consequences. A session might cover 500 metres or two kilometres, depending entirely on what captures attention along the way. Participants often report that the experience of time in forested settings feels different when walking without a goal — slower, more varied in texture, less susceptible to the habitual forward pull that characterizes most outdoor walking.

Accessibility in Canada

Canada's park infrastructure makes forest bathing accessible to a wide range of people. Many provincial parks maintain short loop trails near their main entrances that require no equipment beyond appropriate footwear. Day-use fees apply at most parks; free-entry days are offered periodically by both Parks Canada and various provincial systems.

Urban forest bathing is also possible in cities with significant green space. Toronto's Don Valley trail network, Vancouver's Pacific Spirit Regional Park, and Ottawa's Gatineau Park all provide forested walking environments within reasonable distance of urban transit. None of these require park permits for day use on maintained trail systems.

For those new to the practice, selecting a trail with minimal elevation change and good canopy coverage is generally recommended. Noise pollution — from highways or aircraft corridors — is worth factoring into trail selection, as auditory distraction is among the more commonly cited obstacles to sustained sensory focus.

A Note on Safety

Forest bathing is generally low-risk, but standard backcountry precautions apply in wilder settings. Informing someone of your plans before entering remote areas, carrying water, and checking for wildlife advisories posted at park entrances are routine considerations. In tick-prevalent regions — much of southern Ontario and parts of BC — checking for ticks after forest walks is recommended by provincial health authorities.

The practice does not require physical fitness beyond the ability to walk short distances on uneven ground. Many forest therapy guides are trained to work with participants with varying levels of mobility, and some sessions are designed for seated or stationary engagement in forested areas.