What is Outdoor Therapy all about?

The natural environment and experiencing the outdoors has beneficial qualities which can bring you into the present moment. Feeling your senses of sight, touch, smell, hearing and perhaps tasting if berries or nuts are available, can let you bring your attention to what is around you and this can enhance your being a part of the natural surroundings. This connection with nature can encourage a sense of belonging to a wider world and widen perceptions.

Nature can be a safe space to process your thoughts as you begin to feel calm, relaxed and are engaging with nature, whether it is feeling the sun’s heat on your back, the wind blowing through the trees, a squirrel on your path or the snow showing the frozen spider web and all the intricate details.

Being in the here and now, calming the breath, connecting with nature can shift the stress response in the autonomic nervous system to one of ventral vagal, social engagement and a sense of calmness can be felt.

Taking time to regulate the breath by inhaling for four counts, holding for three counts and exhaling out of the mouth for seven counts, can offer connection with your own body and synchronise the bodily sensations with the mind and heart. If this count does not feel right, change it to suit your own needs.

The peace felt by being a part of nature is a healing process that anyone can do, it is free and is environmentally friendly.

Counselling sessions outdoors in this environment enhances what is gained from being in nature and focusses on the experiential experience of connecting inner senses with emotions and senses of the natural surroundings.

If you wish to book an outdoor therapy session, please use our questionnaire and select the option of ‘outdoor’. This will ensure that only the therapists who offer this type of therapy will appear.