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Our History and Lineage
Rooted in the wisdom of shinrin-yoku, ANFT has helped shape a global movement restoring
meaningful relationships between people and the living world.
Rooted in the wisdom of shinrin-yoku, ANFT originated the global movement of restoring
meaningful relationships between people and the living world.
Our Journey
Discover pathways to deepen your connection with nature, develop your practice, and join a global community.
1982
Origin of Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) in Japan
1991
Dr. Qing Li begins scientific research on forest medicine
2006
Founder Amos Clifford develops the ANFT methodology
2012
First ANFT Guide Training program is launched
2015
First ANFT trail certification is awarded
2018
ANFT Global network expansion begins
2026
ANFT Network reaches 3k thousand guides across 70 countries
Our Foundation Milestones and Inspiration
In a Winter Solstice ceremony, Amos Clifford commits ten years to founding ANFT, drawing on wilderness guiding, Zen practice, and restorative justice.
Held at Sugar Loaf Ridge Park, California, the first Forest Therapy Guide training laid the foundation for the Standard Sequence and Way of the Guide.
ANFT's work reaches national audiences through National Geographic Explorer, Oprah Magazine, NPR, USA Today, and the Washington Post.
ANFT holds its first Forest Therapy Guide training in Europe, in Ireland, extending the practice beyond North America.
Your Guide to Forest Bathing brings Amos Clifford's framework to readers everywhere, later translated into languages including Lithuanian and Estonian.
ANFT trains its first non-English cohort at a mountain retreat in Catalonia, Spain. The start of a yearly training serving Spain, and South America.
ANFT guide and trainer Geeta facilitates the first remotely guided Forest Therapy walk in the world, opening the practice to new audiences everywhere.
The ANFT pivots to online training
As the world changes, ANFT creates a remote pathway into certification, without compromising rigor or relationship.
One hundred cohorts, one global community. The 100th Forest Therapy guide cohort begins, a scale built one small group and one relationship at a time.
Forest Therapy enters the clinic. A certification partnership brings Forest Therapy into healthcare training, with the Nature as Medicine cohort.
New ground, same root. ANFT holds its first Relational Forest Therapy training in mainland China, in Mandarin, reaching a new landscape and community.
One practice, four doorways in. ANFT reorganizes around four academies — Relational, Applied, Place, and Opus — one practice from a California forest."
Trusted by Organizations Worldwide
