#sylvotherapy

I don’t want to be the sort of “have a cup of tea and a nice hot bath” person (tea is good (iced), but hot bath + panic attack is a no no because that will send your pulse soaring even more - try a cool bath instead; avoid hot things), but I’ve recently got my qualification as a Sylvotherapist and learning about the biochemistry behind spending time in the woods or in nature has been really helpful for me, and I would definitely encourage others to try it.

Some techniques I invite people to use in my sessions:

- Take your shoes off and plant your feet either in mud, grass or moss. This can help ground you and distract from panicky thoughts because you’ll be more preoccupied with where you’re stepping.

- in 4, hold 2, out 6, hold 2, and repeat this breathing exercise as much as you need to; if you do this in the forest, you will be breathing in part of the forest’s immune systems in multiple ways: terpenes (alpha-pinene, beta-caryophyllene, limonene, myrcene and linalool) can improve your immune system and boost your mood, geosmin (a compound in petrichor) is the trademark smell of negative ions (when particles gain an electron from water interacting with air) and can help with the mood, and certain bacteria in the soil (like Bacterium Vaccae) can positively influence your neurological system - boosting serotonin - and calming you down (it also contributes to the smell of petrichor), and this is fosters an instinctive and primal feeling of safety because if our ancestors smelled these compounds (humans can sense it in the air at a ratio of 5-15 to a trillion), they knew their survival was a guarantee and knew they were safe because there was water nearby. So when your amygdala puts you in fight or flight, you can combat this with the smell of rain or damp earth, hence why a lot of therapists will tell you to “go for a walk” (however unlike me, they don’t give you the science behind it which often makes the whole thing seem pointless and trivial).

- Sounds weird, but tree hugging is great for the immune system. Again, you will be breathing in these compounds, exploring different textures with your hands and engaging in a sensory and tactile way, and you can ease stress when you wrap around the tree by repetitive motion: squeeze, release, repeat. Also the fact that the tree is a living thing much larger and older than you, this can bring the same sensation as being a child holding onto an adult. It is deeply comforting.

Hope this helps!

And if you can’t get out to the woods, you can recreate this environment at home by looking for essential oils that have these terpenes and terpenoids listed. Calm yourself with cool, damp things, fresh and citrusy scents, etc.