The relationship between humans and forests has an ancient and complex history full of contradictions. We, as a species, are prone to developing emotional connections to plants and animals, but plants and animals have also been exploited to the point at which we now question the planet’s ability to sustain its current levels of biodiversity.

If we bring people into the forest for the purpose of emotional and psychological health, there is potential for creating a new, personal, and healing use of the forest.

Forest bathing, like meditation, is a broad term which has come to have many different applications in Western society. For the purposes of this study, I have begun with the research on shinrin-yoku, in which quiet, meditative, and independent time in the forest has shown to lower concentrations of cortisol and pulse rate, both of which are indicators of stress. Just being in the forest eases tension, which could promote empathic discourse. Forest bathing, as practiced for the purposes of this study, was a guide for empathic connection to the forest. Participants were asked to breathe and “take in the forest atmosphere”. But what if that atmosphere is an unhealthy forest lacking diversity?

Very, very little old growth forest remains in the Pacific Northwest. The forests which surround us now are “reforests” - forests which have regenerated naturally after intensive logging, forests which have been replanted so as to mimic native forest ecologies, and forests which have been replanted as “working forests”, or timber stands which are routinely logged. These forests may appear similar at first glance from a speeding car, but going inside the forest reveals stark differences in levels of biodiversity. Getting inside these reforests to see the forest among the trees is a key aspect of this study.

This study focused on how the perception of the health of the forest affected the healthful benefits of forest bathing.