Forest Bathing: Birds, Bee Butts & Why Nature Calms You Down

Why do you feel instantly better after being outside… even when nothing in your life has changed?

In this episode of The Anxiety Compass, Sammy and Natalie explore the power of forest bathing and why it’s so much more than just “going for a hike.”

Because this isn’t about steps, fitness, or productivity.

It’s about your nervous system.

We unpack how modern life keeps us constantly switched on… from notifications and noise to the pressure of always doing more. And why nature might be one of the fastest, simplest ways to bring your body back to a state of calm, without forcing it.

✨ In this episode, we explore:

•  Why you can feel better outside within minutes (even when nothing else has changed) 
•  What forest bathing actually is (and why it’s not exercise) 
•  The connection between your environment and anxiety levels 
•  How overstimulation keeps your body stuck in “go mode” 
•  The science behind why nature calms the body (hello, trees 🌿) 
•  Simple ways to experience this...no hiking boots or rainforest treks required 

This episode is a gentle reminder that you don’t need to fix anxiety…
Sometimes, you just need to change the environment your body is in.

🌿 Your body isn’t broken… it’s just overstimulated.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

It's Emily and Natalie here, and welcome to the anxiety comment. Where anxiety isn't the enemy, it's our tool guide. We'll swap stories, share tools, and have a laugh while we find our way back to true north. Come along. Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Anxiety Compass. How are you, Nat? I'm very well, Sammy. How are you, lovely? I'm pretty good. I've come back from a lovely cruise, and uh, I gotta tell you, it's so nice switching off. And one of the places we stopped at was up in the rainforest. We actually went on a train all the way up to the top um in Cairns, and then we caught a gondola back through the forest. And just being around trees and nature, I tell you what, it really is so good for the soul. It really is.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

It really is. I'm so glad you had a had a beautiful time away. You needed a bit of a break. So that's really good.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

It is. But yes, have you ever noticed like you can feel completely overwhelmed, particularly when you run a business and as a parent, like there's so many things going on. But just like I said to my hubby when I got home, I need to be out in the forest more, and I've got a forest right near me. Um, two-bit little one there, and so I went for a little walk and I I took no social media or anything, and I just smelt the um the eucalyptus and gosh, it really is so good because like some of us can't just get up and go to the rainforest every day, but just being outside, it's so good. And this is why we're gonna be doing an episode today on why being around trees is so good for us, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:54

100%. Yeah, I found that even myself when I was um healing when I moved to the Gold Coast, and I'd I'd used to go a lot out into the forest, the rainforest. And it was such a healing place to be when I had a severe anxiety disorder. Our audience are probably thinking, okay, what are you talking about? Actually, talking about trees, yeah, trees. There's actually a name for it. It's called forest bathing. It's also known as Shinrin Yoku, which is a Japanese um I was gonna say that's Japanese translation. It's Japanese, but it actually translates to taking in the forest atmosphere.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Ah, that's so beautiful. So beautiful. Yeah, yeah. And quite often, like the old me, when I would do forest bathing, I wouldn't be in the forest. I would be in my head thinking I'm hiking, I'm getting my steps in, I'm exercising. But this is something different. This isn't about just going for a hike. This is being fun with the forest, basically.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

100%. Just being mindful, having doing a mind being mindfully present within uh nature.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Slow and intentional, which is two words that I really need to embrace in in my life. Slow and intentional and using it.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

It's easy to get caught up in the rushing of everyday life.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Um, yeah. In the forest, I will walk really slowly. I might even sit down. I've have you ever sat down and put your legs up against a tree and looked up at the trees? Isn't that majestic? Like it's just it really, really is. But it's not just the trees, it's the smells and feeling the air. And in my workshops, one of the things I say to kids is we talk about nutrition, and I say nutrition just doesn't come from food, it comes from all the things that make us feel amazing. And one of those things is the air we breathe. And I I get them to put their hands up and I say, has anyone been to a rainforest? And you know, half of them put their hands up, and I'm like, what does the air smell like? Like it smells so fresh, it smells so fresh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

It does. And you know what? I mean, there is science behind that. Trees release a natural oil called phytonocyte phyt phytoncytes. I hope I said that right. Um, yeah, so though they literally are releasing these beautiful natural healing oils. And the, you know, the science says that these oils that are emitted actually improve our immune function, reduce inflammation, and also have a potential anti-anxiety effect. Oh, beautiful. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

And these oils, like when you said that, I just started thinking of aromatherapy oils, and I know there's a lot of people the cypress one that you know my kids absolutely love cypress trees. Yes. Put that through my hand mask.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Absolutely. Yeah, really, really healing. You know, Mother Nature has given us all the tools that we need to help support us and our health. Um we just need to tune into it. How did it come about? It actually was um uh basically the Japanese government back in the 1980s introduced a public health intervention to counter the rising um amounts of stress and burnout and also urbanization. So they actually, this was an actual public health intervention uh um encouraging people to go out into the forest or at least into a place where you know it's it's more natural.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

That sounds all right. It wouldn't be the Australian government making that that initially we're in a society where it's go, go, go, do, do, do, and it's really hard to do nothing on purpose.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

It really is, it really is, yeah, especially when you are in overdrive all the time.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Yeah, I find like when I went away and I couldn't use my phone because there was no internet, I was kind of forced into that, and it did feel a little uncomfortable at first because I was so used to relying on being stimulated by sounds, notifications, noise, screens, bright lights. Like, I mean, there was that on the cruise ship that I was on, but when I was outside in nature, like none of that's there. You you've got the birds, there's no rushing. Like I always felt like, um, and I even said to my kids, come on, let's go. And my youngest said to me, Why are we why why are we rushing? Where have we got to be? It's not like I can go home and game. I'm like, Oh yeah, that's true. So even when we're resting, it's like our brains are still looking for that stimulation. It's it's yeah, it's scary, isn't it? How we're we're doing that now.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

I mean, for a lot of us in today's society, our relaxation is scrolling on social media. Yeah. Or we're watching, we're binge watching something, but how often have you are you sitting there with your phone as well? Yeah, you're doing both. I mean, so we're not even we're not even being mindful about and just doing one thing at a time. We are so used to doing multiple things all at once, even in our inverted, commas relaxation time.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

That's so true. Like my hubby and I went to watch a movie the other night, and I thought at a good opportunity to catch up on some things with work at the same time, and he's like you're not even watching it. And it was even though we're watching a movie together, it was like an intimate moment to share. You know, we're watching the same show, we chat about it, and here I am doing some accounting catching up because that's the society we live in. And I feel like we're trying to keep up with everyone else who's overstimulated and anxious and just go, go, go, drive, drive, drive. And so you feel this sense of guilt when you kind of sit there knowing all the things you could be doing to push your book business even further or you know, catch up on life. Do we ever catch up on life? Like, let's be honest. Is that a thing?

SPEAKER_01 8:08

No, we we never do. That's why we're in this perpetual state of flux because we never do, we never catch up. Whether you're running a business, you're running a family. There is always you you've never caught up. No, there's always something else to do.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Yeah, the emails will keep coming, and I feel like we don't get enough nature. And this is something that I actually read that you can put plants in your home, the smells we were talking about. Someone even was, I can't remember where I read this. They were sharing that it's scientifically proven that if you put pictures up of the rainforest or have even bird songs in your house, which we've spoken on before on a podcast, it works like it's like the trickery of the brain.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Like you can absolutely the brain doesn't know what's real and what's not, it just processes it and takes it in. Yeah, I mean, yeah, we've mentioned on other podcasts. I mean, I even suggest to my own clients and patients if they are really like put a an image of a waterfall or nature or something as your wallpaper on your, you know, on your phone, on your computer, so that that's the first thing you you're seeing when you turn your computer on. You know, you get to work and there's an image, and you can flick back to it whenever you know you need to during the day. That does have that calming effect on our nervous system. Um, yeah, surrounding your yourself with plants in in your home as much as possible. Because I mean, we can't all jump out, you know, jump in our car and go out to a forest. Or look, you know, um, it would be lovely, yeah, but sometimes we can't. I mean, I always encourage people at least once a week, try it, drive to your local, you know, your bush, your your walkway, somewhere where there is nature, or at least go and sit in a park. I mean, I do that. I I don't live anywhere near a a forest, but I've got a lovely park near me and with a beautiful tree. So I make the effort every single day, even when you know I'm starting work early, I will go and sit under that tree. Because I don't actually have a backyard or anything. I live in a uh an apartment complex. Yeah. And it's real, I don't we don't actually don't have any gardens. Um, it's all tan barky stuff. Um so I will go and sit under that tree on the grass and just, you know, so there are there are ways that we can get that, get nature into us.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah. It's it's interesting you say that because I did a last year I did a talk for pilots. There were women, female pilots all over the world, and they were we were I was talking about slowing down, you know, to better digest your food, and some of them are just living in their cockpits, right? And I made a suggestion like, can you have any nice smells in there, or can you bring like a fake plant to put in there? And they all had a little bit of a giggle, and they said that's a fantastic idea, because quite often all they're looking at is computer screens in the cockpit, and they've got to eat while they're up in the air, or you know, running from one flight to the next. And one of the one of the main pilots cracked a joke saying she was gonna turn her cockpit into Jumungy and just Oh, I love it. But how funny would that be? So people going on a plane, have a look in the cockpit when you walk past if you can and see if there's any plants in there. Because I w I wonder how many of them. Because there's quite a few in the talk all over the city.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

And it is so true. Um, I've actually um treated a lot of flight attendants in my clinic. Um, even when I was in student clinic, I got my first flight attendant in. And I talked about the same thing because people who work in planes, um, so whether they're pilots, flight attendants, they've also got the added um stressor on the body of that radiation that's flying around inside the the plane. Um, or if or if you fly a lot, if you're someone in your work that you are flying a lot. So you've got this underlying inflammation. So it's even more important in those sorts of roles to you know have some sort of nature connection. I mean, I've got a actually one of my neighbours um who lives here in the complex, he is an international flight attendant and where he flies a lot over to like Japan and Bali and you know, all these sort of like mainly in the Asian sort of area. And that's the first thing he does. He goes out in, he finds nature. So whether it's a little corner park, um, some of the hotels have their rooftop garden, you know, he goes and finds something so he can connect in with some sort of nature. If he's on the beach, you'll go straight to the beach, you know.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

And this is the thing, like a lot of people, when you think about it, like sometimes I will sit and I'll watch the bees in my garden. Because I I they're all dead now, let's be honest. Um, but when I do garden, if I plant sunflowers and that, if I just go out there, sometimes I watch the insects and they're slow moving, and it's slow input for the brain and predictable patterns of things that are gonna happen, like the trees blowing, listening to the cicadas. Man, they're loud in the summertime. Um, oh yeah. There's no pressure when you're out in nature, like unless unless you walk where there's a snake or a or a bird chasing you, um in Australia, it can be quite stressful in the bush, listening to it.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Especially in magpie season. It's a whole thing here in Australia.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

I know. Maybe go out in the winter. Um, and there's no performance. Like, if you're out camping, you're out in nature, you don't have to be wearing heels and makeup and dress up, and unless you know you've got your camera with you and you're doing some content creation. But honestly, like leave it in the house, go outside. Absolutely, but you're so right.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

I I love watching insects as well, you know, bees and butterflies, and you know, they seem you know, busy bees and stuff, but you're right, they move methodically, intentionally. Um, you know, they seem like they're flitting around, but they're it's it's all intentional, and once they land on the flower, they're there for ages and they're just doing their little thing, you know.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

I love looking at their little butts coming out like I sometimes you know, record them in slow motion, and then you watch it back and you see their little bums with all the butts. I know a bee butt is the cutest thing. So cute. Like your nervous system understands this, it's built for nature, it doesn't understand all the notifications and ping, ping, ping, ping. Like sometimes I'll walk in the house and I'll get a notification. I don't even know what that's for. Some alarm will go off in the house. But it's just too much. And the science, like you were talking about the science behind it, like being in nature, it really does lower your cortisol. And when you're highly anxious and overwhelmed, and that compass inside us is woo spinning around. This is helping it to slow down so that you can listen intuitively, that your heart rate will slow down, and you know, that blood pressure.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Your blood pressure, yeah, jinx.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Um, yeah, it's just so and even your mood, like coming home. I said to my hubby, it's weird because I was just stress less on the you know, when we're away. And as soon as you get back into go, go, go, pressure, pressure, pressure, do, do, do. Your mood changes. It's just it really does.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

It literally changes our emotional state and our mood. Yeah, it um helps build resilience and helps with our psychological recovery, it also improves cognitive function and attention. You know, alpha forest exposure actually increases our alpha brain waves. So it actually has the same effect on our body as meditation.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

I'm just I mean, it's basically a walking meditation, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 16:18

I'm looking outside my window now, and I've got a few trees, like the ones that council plant ages ago, but it's getting to that time of year where specific birds, like I I track the birds seasonally. I know I'm getting old, right? And um I just love they come out and they they sometimes fight the um the kookabaras, there's a whole family of them, they come and sit there. And I'm a big bird watcher now. I found this is uh something that I've discovered that really slows my nervous system down. So going out forest bathing and looking at nature, it's just oh my gosh, I'm I'm getting all funny inside, just thinking about it. Isn't it funny?

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Because I was I was the same with birds. I remember my biggest a big chunk of my healing was done when I was living in Lismore, which is in the northern New South Wales area. And we lived on a huge big property and we actually backed onto a reserve. And so we had, you know, so many birds. And I used to find when, you know, this is when I was, you know, really bad. And I would go and sit in the garden and watch the birds. I found that the birds were I don't know, that they had a comforting effect on me.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Yeah, yeah. I think we've spoken about that before. When you when the birds are happy and they're chirping, it's like a comforting thing for your nervous system to say everything's safe. Because if there's something scary humming, the birds are the first ones to leave, right? Yeah, they're the ones that bugger off. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

So listening to them is most of them have such a happy song. Even magpies. I mean, we we pay them out, but their song is so pretty. They're my favorite. The cockatoos.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Oh, yeah, the cockases are a bit obnoxious. I love watching them. I went to a a B World Super B or whatever it's called, and they had this was years ago, and they had a cockatoo in the cage that you could talk to. And I went up and I was like, hello, cocky, and he's like, hello, hello. And then as I walked off, it started screeching really loud, like obnoxiously, and it didn't stop, and it kept staring at me like it was like it was like yelling at me, and everyone was looking at it and looking at me. I'm like, what did I do? You could hear it from the other side of the park. It was like going for about 10-20 minutes, this screech. Clearly, it didn't like me. So, practical things for you guys listening, 10 to 20 minutes, even two minutes, even just sitting outside and looking at the birds and the trees, these things are very, very doable. And I'm I was gonna mention the chakras because we were gonna do an episode on that, but does this touch on like the root chakras? Like I'm assuming because I often hear people with the grounding put your feet in the grass and go shoeless if you can, feed on the earth, all the things. But let's ask a reflective question. When was the last time that you were outside without your phone, not walking, not scrolling, not listening to a podcast, unless it's ours, of course, no, and just being there without any distractions. I wonder how many people are doing that. Do you reckon that there's a lot of people that don't do that anymore?

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah, you know, and and you know, a lovely little thing to say here is um sometimes the medicine isn't more effort, it's less noise.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Less noise. That's the medicine. Yeah, that's you don't have to force yourself to calm down, you can place yourself into an environment that will calm you down.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Exactly. I mean, force it, that's counterintuitive, isn't it? Yeah, you know, counterproductive. You can't force yourself, but it's like force yourself to do meditation every morning. I will do this. Yes, I will do this. I'm going to do it, and I'm gonna do it for 10 minutes. Yeah, no, but yeah, absolutely. Just and if you don't have like literally just go outside, even if when you're having your morning cup of tea or something, go and just stand on your back porch, you know, in your backyard and look at the trees, look at whatever you've got. Um, if you've got pot plants, um, and at worst, as we said, if you've if you live in an environment where it's a complete urban concrete jungle, you know, installing a photo on your phone of nature or even just a gift of smell of uh a um like a waterfall or something with trees around it.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Would you well I'm gonna ask you a question before we wrap up here. What do you prefer? Prefer beach, farm, your backyard, rainforest, or walking, I guess walking a dog could be another one. Like what sort of what's your go-to if you look if I had to choose definitely the forest.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

You know, I lived, like I said, I used to live on the beach and I found the beach very healing because of those um, you know, negative ions and everything. But my the healing, really being able to connect in with myself, and I was actually able to release a lot of the trauma emotions when I was in that space. So definitely for me, the the coolness of the of the of the forest, the smells, um, the stillness um with it when you're deep in the forest, for me, it was definitely is definitely the most healing.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

That's me too. I do love that, and I also love walking my dog because I just love the slowing down and stopping. He forces me to stop.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

I was just about to say that animals force you to number one, get out for a walk, and also animals dogs can teach us so much. Yeah, you know, they're inquisitive, but they're also mindful. Yeah, exactly. And unconditional love.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

I know. I love it. Alright. I think we might leave this episode here. I love this. I'm gonna go and um put some beautiful smells in my house and open up all the doors and let the breeze in and beautiful eye just. Bye. Bye. Thanks for joining us on the Anxiety Compass. If you love this episode, share it with a friend who needs a little laugh and low calm. We'll see you in the next one. Keep following your true north. Disclaimer time. Sammy and Natalie may be clinical nutritionists, but we're not your personal doctors. What you hear is for learning and laughing, not diagnosing or prescribing. If things feel bigger than you, call your doctor or local support line or reach out to a qualified health professional that they've got your back to.