Karen Joy is a Certified Forest Therapy Guide through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapists (ANFT) and founder of Nature Therapy of Michiana.
Forest Therapy, aka Shinrin-yoku or Forest Bathing, is a health, wellness and healing modality of guided sessions in a safe outdoor environment. The psychological and physiological benefits of these sessions, which last from 2-4 hours, are many and include reduction in stress, cortisol levels drop, increased heart-rate variability, increased NK cell production in the immune system, and more.
“𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩. 𝘋𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘉𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬. 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥. 𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥. 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺. 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵. 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦- 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦.”
𝑵𝒐 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝑵𝒐 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝑩𝒊𝒕 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒔™