For episode 89 of the Explore Your Core Podcast, I am joined by Matt Glover, Lead Guide at Forest Therapy Victoria and Director of MGA Counselling Services.

I went down to Mount Dandenong to join Matt as he led a forest therapy session as part of a Zorali x Forest Therapy Victoria event. What I experienced over the following 3 hours was remarkable. He spoke about how time in nature can lower cortisol levels, increase calmness and mood and that mindful walking can induce ‘soft fascination’ which allows us to recover from overload, increasing creativity. As well, he spoke about how the trees emit phytoncides, natural compounds that protect plants and boost our immune systems when inhaled all of which I got to experience firsthand. He mentioned how shared forest therapy experiences increase social bonding, lowering isolation and enhancing wellbeing, which is why experiences like this are more important than ever.

I then had the honour to chat further with Matt on the podcast, where he shares his story with Forest Therapy. Forest Therapy or Shinrin-yoku (“forest bathing”), started in Japan as a response to rising stress and burnout and is a slow, sensory immersion in nature that invites presence, mindfulness, and connection to the natural world- you could say you return to ‘nature time’ which is far slower than the speed we often operate at. In the episode, we talk about the role of storytelling, metaphors and how feeling a sense of belonging is important for healing. He raises the term Biophillia, ‘Bio’ meaning life, ‘phillia’ meaning love, so ‘a love of life’ and the biophillia effect, which refers to the health effects we receive when we connect with the natural world. We talk about how we can bring more of that connection with nature into our daily lives such as eating outside, gardening and having more greenery inside and chat about the idea of a nature prescription. And if you were already persuaded how healing nature can be here’s a few more incredible things time in nature does:-Increase Natural Killer cell activity which is important for fighting viruses and cancer cells which effects can last days to weeks- Interoception which is the awareness of internal body signals improve and supports emotional clarity and resilience- Increases social bonding, lowering isolation - Decreases heart rate and blood pressure and breathing deepensYou can find out more about the Forest Therapy Experiences with Matt Glover here and on socials, and his counselling services here. The new book will soon be released and available through Zorali. Until next episode, Explore Your Core

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