Partial view of a woman with curly hair, wearing glasses, and a plaid shirt standing outdoors, with a tree and blue sky in the background.

Nature as Therapist: As a guide, I don’t lead from the front, I walk alongside.

Forest Bathing, inspired by the Japanese practice of Shinrin-Yoku, is not about learning facts or achieving outcomes. It is about slowing down enough to notice what is already present.

Through a series of gentle invitations, I help participants shift out of habitual thinking and into embodied awareness, engaging the senses in ways that feel playful, nourishing, and restorative.

Again and again, I witness people rediscover:

  • A childlike sense of wonder

  • A feeling of being held rather than hurried

  • Insight that arises naturally without effort

I’m Deborah Ackrich, founder of Heart Felt Nature & Forest Therapy. I am a certified Practitioner through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT).

Let's Walk Together

Softening the Edges of Everyday Life, One Walk at a Time

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or simply curious about what becomes possible when you slow down — you’re welcome here.

This is a practice to return to. A relationship that deepens with time. An invitation to remember your place in the living world.

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A rustic outdoor snack setup with a striped cloth on the ground surrounded by sticks and dry leaves. On the cloth, there are four small cups filled with a greenish drink, a wooden plate with dark seaweed, a bowl of walnuts, and a bowl of dried fruit or berries. A small green leafy branch is also part of the arrangement.

My Path to Forest Bathing

My relationship with the natural world has always been personal and practical — shaped by place, community, and care.

As a longtime resident of the Santa Monica Mountains, I’ve witnessed how regular contact with land, seasons, and living systems quietly restores balance. Long before formal training, this showed up through cooking with garden-grown foods, sourcing local ingredients, and teaching children and families about traditional ways of nourishing both body and land.

After formal culinary training in 2018, I took my knowledge into the kitchens of Topanga Mountain School and Manzanita School to nourish students and staff .

As a guide at the Leonis Adobe Museum in Woodland Hills, I share hands-on, land-based knowledge about ancestral foodways and traditional practices with students and adults, continuing my mission appreciation for the land, it’s resources and the nature-based systems connection

My years as a credentialed teacher in elementary education gives credibility to my desire to nourish children in body, mind and heart.

Forest Bathing brought these threads together — grounding my lived experience in a structured, research-informed practice that honors both science and mystery.

"Deborah provides a restorative, life-affirming experience. Whether you consider yourself a 'nature person' or not, you'll leave feeling more connected—to the earth, to yourself, and to those sharing the experience. Every walk offers something new to appreciate and enjoy."”

— Lesley W.