What Are Somatic Practices in Forest Therapy: Everything You Need To Know

Jun 15

Have you ever walked in a forest and felt like you weren't fully there?

You notice the trees, hear the birds, yet remain disconnected from your own experience.

Or, something else can happen.

You can walk through the forest and feel like you have fully arrived. You begin to feel the ground beneath your feet. Your breath slows. There is a softening somewhere in your body. The forest is no longer something “out there”; you are coming into a relationship as your body responds.

This is where somatic practice begins.

If you've ever wondered, what are somatic practices – they are simple, guided invitations that bring awareness to your direct, felt experience in the body. In forest therapy, these practices support a shift from thinking about Nature to experiencing yourself as a part of the landscape, moment by moment, sensation by sensation.

From this place, the forest is not just observed; she is felt. And in being felt, a relationship begins.

Before exploring specific practices, it helps to understand the foundation they are built upon: somatic awareness.

What Is Somatic Awareness?

Somatic awareness is the capacity to notice, track, and make meaning of sensations, movement, breath, and internal states in the present moment.

It is, quite simply, a felt awareness of your inner landscape.

This includes sensations such as warmth, tension, ease, pressure, movement, expansion, or stillness, experiences that are often overlooked in everyday life.

Many of us have been conditioned to live from the neck up. In doing so, we may lose connection with the body’s signals and intelligence. Somatic awareness invites a reconnection with this natural capacity.

Why Somatic Awareness Matters in Forest Therapy

Being with Nature already offers measurable benefits like reduced stress, lower blood pressure, and improved mood.

When we bring somatic awareness to this experience, we move from passively receiving Nature's benefits to actively engaging in a relationship. We begin to feel our aliveness, the subtle whispers of Nature, and the greater mystery held within the more-than-human world.

These practices can be especially impactful within the container of a forest therapy retreat, where participants have the opportunity to slow down, deepen their awareness, and cultivate a more sustained relationship with themselves and the natural world.

Somatic awareness deepens a forest therapy session in several ways:

It helps participants recognize what calm, awe, and connection actually feel like in the body.
It supports emotional regulation by increasing awareness of internal states.
It strengthens interoception, our ability to sense and understand what is happening in the body.
It fosters a more reciprocal relationship with the natural world.

Through somatic awareness and practices that cultivate it, participants begin to build familiarity with states such as groundedness, calm, and ease, which they bring home with them. In addition, somatic awareness expands participants’ sensory awareness beyond the five basic senses, which deepens their connection and relationship with the more-than-human world.

A Trauma-Informed Approach

At Heartwood, somatic practices are offered through a trauma-informed lens.

Everything is an invitation.

Participants are encouraged to follow their own pace and internal cues. Attention can move inward or outward, depending on what feels most supportive. For some, focusing on the body may feel unfamiliar or even overwhelming. In these moments, attention can rest on something external, a tree, a rock, the ground beneath them.

After an invitation with the forest, a guide might invite participants to, “Perhaps be curious about what is shifting in their internal landscape after being with a tree, the water, or feeling the wind.”

There is no right way to engage.

This approach prioritizes choice, agency, and safety, allowing each participant’s experience to unfold naturally.

How Somatic Practices Support Change

When we begin to notice our internal experience, we gain choice.

We may recognize early signs of stress before they escalate. We may notice a sense of ease and allow ourselves to rest there.

The nervous system is constantly scanning for cues of safety or threat, a process known as neuroception. When we intentionally orient toward sensations of safety, support, and connection, we help regulate the nervous system.

Over time, this can support the formation of new neural pathways, making states like calm and presence more accessible.

A Somatic Exploration

Next time you are in a forest, pause and notice what responds within you.

You might sense a subtle lightness in your chest as you hear birdsong, or a softening in your shoulders as the trees sway in the wind. Your mind may begin to quiet as your attention settles into the present moment. Keep curious: what else is shifting in your inner landscape as you pause and attune to the outer landscape?

With this mind-body connection, you are no longer simply observing the forest; you are in relationship with her.

At its core, somatic awareness is about noticing your direct, felt experience in the body. In forest therapy, this awareness becomes a bridge between the outer landscape and your inner landscape. And what might have been perceived as separate is held with a greater sense of belonging and connection.

This is where healing and restoration can naturally unfold.

Examples of Somatic Practice in Forest Therapy

Somatic practices in forest therapy are simple, open invitations to a direct experience with both the landscape and the body.

A foundational place to begin is with the feet.

A guide might invite participants to bring awareness to the soles of their feet, noticing the contact with the Earth: the pressure, temperature, texture, or subtle sensations of support. There may be an invitation to slowly shift weight from side to side, or to gently rock forward and back, sensing how the body orients itself in response.

This kind of awareness does several things at once. It anchors attention in the present moment, engages proprioception (our sense of where we are in space), and can begin to support regulation of the nervous system through a felt sense of stability and support.

From here, awareness can naturally expand.

Connecting with breath and the flow of air within the forest is another opportunity for cultivating somatic awareness. A guide might invite participants to simply notice the breath's natural rhythm, how the body moves with breath, or the sweet, subtle exchange of breath with the forest. How does the body respond?

We can add another layer of somatic awareness by inviting participants to feel the air on skin, the warmth of sunlight, or the coolness of shade. This supports interoception (awareness of internal sensation) while also strengthening the relational bridge between body and landscape.

Movement can also arise as part of this relationship.

A guide might offer an invitation such as, “If it feels natural, you might allow your body to respond to the wind.” This could look like gently moving the arms, swaying, or simply sensing internal impulses toward movement. What does the movement feel like from the inside? Is there a sense of flow, resistance, ease, or unfamiliarity?

These small, responsive movements can help loosen patterns of holding, support nervous system flexibility, and invite a sense of aliveness and expression.

Throughout these practices, the emphasis remains on choice and curiosity.

In this way, somatic practices are about building a relationship: with the body, with the present moment, and with the more-than-human world.

The Role of the Guide

A skilled forest therapy guide does not impose experience but creates the conditions for it to emerge.

They:

Offer simple, open invitations
Attune to the group and the landscape
Track participants’ responses and adjust accordingly
Support moments of integration and reflection

The guide trusts both the wisdom of the forest and the inherent wisdom within each participant.

Learning Somatic Practices with Heartwood

If you feel called to bring somatic awareness into your work, Heartwood School of Forest Therapy offers training rooted in trauma-informed care, neuroscience, and relational presence.

Our programs support you in developing the skills to safely and effectively integrate somatic practices into your offerings, deepening both personal and professional connection to the more-than-human world.