Our Journey
We are professors at Trinity University, a small, competitive, liberal arts university in San Antonio, Texas. About five years ago, Laura introduced a book to Courtney: The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative (Williams). It was in reading this book that we first became familiar with the idea of forest bathing and the strong research base that accompanied the practice. With backgrounds in environmental education and child development, we realized the potential of the natural environment for supporting our student’s well-being. As teacher educators in a nationally ranked program, the overarching goal of our apprenticeship teacher education model is to prepare preservice teachers for the 21st-century classroom in areas such as content, pedagogy, cultural responsiveness, development, and professional skills and dispositions. The disposition category includes an emphasis on the non-cognitive attribute of resilience, which is the most frequent indicator of teacher well-being. Schools are increasingly concerned with the number of teachers leaving the field, and debilitating stress is a factor that drives much of this exodus. While we knew we couldn’t do much to alter the classroom environments teachers found themselves in (although we continually address policy change on many fronts), we could help them learn to better deal with the stress that affects their physiological and psychological well-being on a daily basis. Our broader campus population faced similar issues, as concerns over college student mental health surged in the last decade. The result of our realizations spurred us to develop a team-taught course, for which students receive credit not only in education and/or environmental studies but also for the liberal arts general curricular requirements.
After participating in a guided forest therapy experience, we knew we wanted forest therapy as part of the course. To do so, we became forest therapy guides through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT). We explored various training options and liked that ANFT expanded the concept of forest therapy to explore more than just improving human health by focusing on human’s relationship with nature (the more-than-human-world), others, and ourselves. Additionally, the program is based on trauma-informed practices which, coming from the field of education, was critically important for our work. We began our training in 2020, just as COVID emerged.
COVID Lockdown
Unknowingly, Courtney was already using some of the basic tenants of forest therapy with undergraduate students who were forced online in March 2020. When students were first sent home from the university campus, we were immediately concerned about their mental health and well-being. Having begun conducting our own research on the benefits of natural environments, we knew students needed to find time and ways to engage with nature during the COVID isolation. To do so, she added a nature sit spot as an assignment in a course on climate change. Eight times over the semester, students were required to spend 30-minute sessions, ideally one each week, in an outdoor natural space – what we now know as a form of sit spots. Additionally, students were asked to only engage with the natural space around them – no friends, homework, and no phones. Students living in countries that did not allow citizens to leave their homes were able to accomplish this by sitting near an open window or in a room with some plants. Students documented their time outdoors with a journal response asking: What can you reflect on from your time outside? How are you feeling about your experiences in the natural environment? While not the way of the guide, it was an early attempt at prompting students to spend time outdoors, notice their surroundings, and consider how they might be connected with the space they chose.
Reading their journal entries were often the highlight of the day, as Courtney not only saw students coping with the pandemic lockdown situation, but also witnessed students’ inner conflicts, triumphs, emotions, and evolving relationships with nature. After reading Braiding Sweetgrass (Kimmerer), one student wrote:
Richard
“… like Skywoman, I found that I too was ‘always falling’ (Kimmerer, 8). My normal life was flipped upside down and as I fell into this new reality, I developed a new respect and friendship with the world outside my window. As I found myself locked in my house and shut out from the outside world, I ended up seeking solace from the room I couldn’t bear to be in anymore with my tranquil backyard. Every day, I would lay out in the sun and sometimes I would reflect on how fortunate I was to have discovered this very necessary part of my life from nature. Even though I was still falling and my life was full of unknowns, the “the gifts of the world would stand by” (Kimmerer, 8), to catch me and this peaceful spot let me stay mentally at ease. Like the students in “Braiding Sweetgrass,” I didn’t understand the possible relationship to be had between myself and the natural environment until later in my life when I truly needed it. …. The bond I formed between myself and trees, sky, sun, and grass gave me an understanding that the natural world is there for all who need its gifts.”
Course Development
In the spring of 2021, based on our training and the work of our interdisciplinary research team, we proposed a course that would weave together the university curriculum and support student well-being. The Natural Environment and Well-Being1 is an interdisciplinary and experiential undergraduate course that takes students to state and local natural areas 50% of the time via a weekly three-hour class block, plus one full-day field trip. It incorporates content, research, and practice, allowing students to study existing literature, collect and analyze their own data to compare to the literature, and develop the practice of spending time in nature via forest therapy. It was first offered in Fall of 2021 and has since garnered popularity on campus and an extensive waitlist.
Our training as certified forest therapy guides was woven into the course in several ways. To begin with, we assign 30-minute sit spots each week. This proved to be challenging for some, but analysis of student journals indicated increasing attention to the natural world and fewer distractions as the semester progressed. We also saw evidence of Attention Restoration Theory, as students began voluntarily completing extra sit spots to reduce mental fatigue during stressful weeks.
Next, we guide students on forest therapy walks using the standard sequence. The first two walks take place during three-hour class sessions and span 60-90 minutes each.
Transportation time, driving, or walking to a nearby park absorbs significant blocks of time at the beginning and end of class. On the full-day field trip, we conduct a three-hour walk with all the bells and whistles – a highlight of the course for many.
In the Fall of 2022, students read, Healing Trees: A Pocket Guide to Forest Bathing (Page), which provided helpful background and context for the walks and useful prompts for sit spots. We also record Pleasures of Presence (POP) and share it with students to use with their sit spots, if they choose.
In Fall 2021, being certified guides had an unexpected benefit – it allowed us to fund the course by providing walks for various campus organizations in exchange for honorariums in a year of ongoing budget cuts (course expenses included transportation, entrance fees, and tea, etc.)
The course will be taught for the third time in Fall 2023, and while it is nowhere near perfect, we are proud of the results.
Below we share a variety of student voices reflecting their feelings about the course:
“This is the class I have wanted for so long but didn’t know it! So grateful to have the opportunity to learn about nature and the benefits of being outside while learning and it being a class! It helped me cope with the rest of my workload while learning about and immersing myself in the outdoors.”
“The field trips in this course were wonderful. I not only learned so much about the benefits of nature but also a lot about how much being in nature impacts my well-being. I am so grateful that I took this course. It allowed me to maintain a really healthy balance in my life and keep my stress levels way down. I have felt calm, capable, and really happy this semester and I attribute a ton of that to this course.”
“Sit spots- they helped me control my stress, work through emotions, and really were invaluable. Changed my life, and I will continue doing sit spots for my whole life. I can’t express how thankful I am for the sit spot assignment and this class in general.”
“The highlights for me were the field trips, the sit spots, the different forest bathing experiences, and even getting to sit outside for class. After every class, I felt refreshed, reinvigorated, and ready for the next challenges throughout my week.”
“This was my absolute favorite class. I loved the field trips and learned so much without the pressure that I have in some of my other classes. The assignments allowed for the application of concepts learned in creative ways. The passion of the professors was clear. Also, I loved the forest bathing. This class definitely needs to continue to be offered. It was a great positive learning environment….”
“I never connected certain social issues to environmental issues. As an aspiring Environmental Scientist, I thought I could only focus on how to save the environment, not concerning how to help humans really. Now I know you might have to do both to allow for environmental progression.”
“I enjoyed the course. Overall, I really think it had an impact on my well-being. I feel like school and work is prioritized over one’s mental health… It was both an informative course and one that provided me with knowledge and practices that I can implement in my day-to-day life.”
“I loved this course! It opened my eyes to a lot of helpful restorative practices and I got to learn why nature makes me feel so much better. The discussions and readings were interesting, the sit spots were really beneficial, super cool field trips, and yeah! Lovely all around :)”
“I have absolutely loved this class! This class encouraged me to get outside more and gave me the time to do so through class trips and assignments … I would take it again if I could!! Thank you so much for such an amazing course!!”
“This class was unlike anything else I’ve taken before. The time spent outdoors was a really eye-opening and interesting experience. The class always felt like a safe space, where everyone’s ideas and opinions were respected and taken into account……”