Designing Invitations for Guided Forest Therapy Sessions: Structure, Sensory Modalities, and Intentionality

This chapter examines the design of invitations in guided forest therapy sessions, with particular attention to their logistical form, mode of presentation, thematic orientation, and sensory basis. In guided practice, invitations are not merely verbal prompts; they are carefully shaped openings through which participants may enter into a slower, more embodied, and more receptive relationship with the forest. For this reason, the chapter considers not only what is invited, but also how invitations are structured in time and space, how they are conveyed, and what intention underlies their use. The discussion begins by exploring the logistical categories of invitations, showing how posture, movement, arrangement, and group configuration influence the quality of attention and the type of experience that becomes possible. It then distinguishes between the logistical form of an invitation and its mode of presentation, including spoken, written, environmental, and material forms. From there, the chapter turns to the question of theme and intentionality, arguing that invitations should emerge not only from aesthetic preference or tradition, but also from a clear relationship between session aims, participant needs, and the qualities of the forest itself. A further focus of the chapter is sensory engagement. Moving beyond the conventional language of the five senses, it considers a broader range of sensory systems relevant to guided forest therapy sessions, including vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, vestibular awareness, proprioception, interoception, internal chemoreception, and chronoception. This expanded framework helps clarify how invitations can be designed more intentionally and why different sensory pathways may be more appropriate at different phases of a session. At the same time, it is important to recognize that the literature in this area is still developing. Although guided forest therapy sessions increasingly draws on environmental psychology, sensory studies, neuroscience, mindfulness-based practice, and nature-based intervention research, the conceptual language surrounding invitations, sensory modalities, and their pedagogical use is not yet fully stabilized. For this reason, the present chapter should be understood as both analytical and exploratory: it brings together emerging ideas in order to support clearer practice, while acknowledging that this field remains in ongoing development.