The natural world has always known how to heal.
Therapy that steps outside the four walls — bringing the restorative intelligence of nature into the work of healing.
A personal note
I was born on this land, on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Chumash, Tongva (Gabrieleno), and Fernandeño Tataviam People, known presently as Los Angeles. I grew up among the trees, streams, and fragrant coastal sage scrub of the Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains that define the beautiful basin this city sits within. This land shaped me before I had words for it.
My relationship with the natural world is one of reciprocity, care, and reverence. It is not a relationship I chose so much as one I was born into, and one I have returned to, again and again, as a source of strength, grounding, and connection. The land holds something that the built world cannot: a quality of presence, of patience, of intelligence that does not require anything of us except that we slow down, pay attention, and listen in.
Before I was a therapist, I was immersed in environmental justice. Studying ecosystems, organizing communities, and learning firsthand that nothing heals in isolation. That the health of a river cannot be separated from the health of the land and the people around it. That what damages one thread of a web is felt by the whole. Those years deepened what I had always sensed: that healing is relational, that we are embedded in something larger than ourselves, and that the natural world carries medicine for us if we are willing to receive it.
When I take therapy outside, or bring the natural world into the room, I am not adding a wellness feature. I am returning to something I have always known. The earth has been a teacher and a companion for as long as I can remember. It is an honor to bring that relationship into the work of healing.
I practice on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Tongva (Gabrieleno), Chumash, and Fernandeño Tataviam People. I am committed to honoring these lineages with reverence rather than erasure, and to practicing on this land with care and gratitude.
What ecotherapy is
Ecotherapy, sometimes called nature-based therapy or green therapy, is a broad term for therapeutic approaches that intentionally incorporate the natural world into the healing process. It is not a single modality but an orientation: a recognition that the relationship between human beings and the living world is itself therapeutic, and that the nervous system responds to natural environments in ways that support the work of healing.
Ecotherapy is not about going on hikes and talking about your feelings — though walking and talking in nature is genuinely powerful and is one of the forms this work takes. At its deepest, it is about recognizing the natural world as a participant in the healing process. It’s not just a pleasant setting but an active presence that co-regulates, grounds, and opens dimensions of experience that the indoor therapeutic frame often cannot reach.
My approach to ecotherapy is grounded in Somatic Experiencing. The body and the natural world speak the same language, and working somatically outdoors can deepen and accelerate the therapeutic process in ways that are both measurable and deeply felt.
What the research tells us
The evidence base for nature-based therapy has grown significantly in recent years. What research consistently shows:
Nervous system regulation
Time in natural environments reduces cortisol levels, lowers heart rate and blood pressure, and activates the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the branch associated with rest, digestion, and recovery.
Attention restoration
Natural environments restore directed attention capacity. The kind of focused, effortful attention that becomes depleted by chronic stress and anxiety. The diffuse, effortless attention nature invites is genuinely restorative.
Trauma processing
Movement, rhythm, and natural sensory input support the nervous system's capacity to process and integrate difficult material, making somatic trauma work particularly well suited to outdoor settings.
Mood & mental health
Regular time in nature is associated with reduced symptoms of anxiety, depression, and burnout, and with increased feelings of meaning, connection, and vitality.
Outdoor somatic work
Somatic Experiencing and the natural world are natural partners. The nervous system responds to natural environments with the same receptivity it brings to the gentle, attuned presence of a skilled therapist. It supports orientation, settling, and a widening of the window of tolerance. Working somatically outdoors brings these two regulating presences together.
Outdoor somatic sessions might involve pausing to notice bodily sensations in response to the natural environment. This could be the feel of ground beneath the feet, the quality of air on skin, the sound of wind or water. These can be as resources for regulation and grounding. The natural world offers an infinite supply of the kind of gentle, non-threatening sensory input that supports nervous system healing: the kind that says, simply and continuously, that it is safe to be here.
For clients working with trauma, chronic anxiety, or burnout, where the nervous system has lost its capacity to settle, outdoor somatic work can provide a quality of regulation that is difficult to access through language alone.
The natural world as a spiritual and symbolic dimension
For many people, the natural world is not only therapeutic, it is sacred. The experience of standing in an old-growth forest, watching the ocean, or sitting quietly in a garden touches something that feels larger than the personal. A sense of belonging to something that was here before us and will be here after, of being held by forces that do not require anything of us.
This dimension of the work is available to those drawn to it. The natural world has always been a site of spiritual encounter, of initiation, of vision, of the kind of meaning-making that is often missing in human-built spaces. Indigenous traditions around the world have understood this for millennia, and it is one of the deeper reasons that ecotherapy resonates so strongly for people whose healing has a spiritual or depth-oriented dimension.
I hold this dimension with the same reverence I bring to all depth and spiritual work. As an invitation, never a prescription. The natural world will offer what it offers. Our work is simply to show up, pay attention, and receive what comes.
Therapy in motion — outdoors in NE Los Angeles
Walk and talk sessions take place outdoors in the Northeast Los Angeles area (Pasadena, South Pasadena, Altadena, Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Glassell Park), among trails, parks, and green spaces that offer both movement and natural immersion. Sessions follow the same therapeutic framework as indoor work. The difference is the setting, the movement, and the presence of the living world around us.
Walking side by side rather than face to face changes something in the therapeutic relationship. It is less confrontational, more collaborative, and often allows material to surface more naturally and with less self-consciousness. The rhythm of walking supports the nervous system's capacity to process. The natural environment provides a co-regulating presence that the indoor frame cannot replicate.
Walk and talk sessions are offered as a complement to, or in place of, indoor or telehealth sessions, depending on your needs and the nature of the work. They are available to clients in the NE Los Angeles area who are appropriate candidates for outdoor work.
Who this work is for
You feel most yourself outdoors and you have always sensed that something important happens when you are in nature that doesn't happen inside
You struggle to settle in conventional office or telehealth settings and wonder whether a different environment might support the work more
You are working with anxiety, trauma, or burnout and are drawn to a somatic approach that uses the natural environment as a resource for regulation
You have a spiritual or depth-oriented relationship with the natural world and want therapy that can hold that with you
You are in the Northeast Los Angeles area and are interested in walk and talk sessions as part of or instead of indoor therapy
You are drawn to the idea of the natural world as a participant in your healing, not just a backdrop but a living presence
FAQs
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Walk and talk therapy is exactly what it sounds like — therapy conducted while walking outdoors rather than sitting in an office. Sessions follow the same therapeutic framework as indoor work, with the addition of movement, fresh air, and the regulating presence of the natural environment. Walking side by side rather than face to face changes something in the relational dynamic — it often feels less confrontational and more collaborative, and many clients find material surfaces more naturally when they are moving through the world rather than sitting still in a room.
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Walk and talk sessions take place in parks, trails, and green spaces in the Northeast Los Angeles area — including Altadena, Pasadena, and surrounding neighborhoods. The specific location is chosen based on your preferences, the nature of the work, and practical considerations like privacy and accessibility. Sessions are available weather permitting and are conducted in spaces that offer both natural immersion and a reasonable degree of privacy.
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Research consistently supports the therapeutic value of nature-based therapy — including reduced cortisol levels, improved mood, restored attention, and enhanced capacity for emotional processing. For many clients, particularly those working with anxiety, burnout, or trauma, outdoor settings provide a quality of nervous system regulation that is difficult to achieve indoors. That said, not every client or every therapeutic issue is best suited to outdoor work. During our consultation we can discuss whether walk and talk sessions are a good fit for your specific needs and goals.
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Yes — the same confidentiality standards that apply to indoor sessions apply to walk and talk sessions. Sessions are conducted in outdoor spaces that offer a reasonable degree of privacy, and we pause or adjust our conversation as needed if others are nearby. HIPAA applies regardless of the setting. If privacy is a particular concern for you, we can discuss specific locations and protocols that would best support your comfort and confidentiality.
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No — walk and talk sessions are conducted at a pace and on terrain that works for you. These are not exercise sessions. We walk at a comfortable, conversational pace on accessible paths. If you have any physical limitations or mobility considerations, please mention them when we discuss logistics and I will ensure we choose a location and pace that works for your body.
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Yes — even in telehealth sessions, the natural world can be a presence in the work. This might involve taking your session outside on your end, using natural imagery and the sensory world as resources for nervous system regulation, or drawing on the symbolic and restorative dimensions of the natural world as part of the therapeutic conversation. The ecotherapy orientation isn't limited to outdoor sessions — it is a way of paying attention and working with the natural world as a participant in healing, wherever you are.
Come outside. There is medicine for you here.
If something here resonated, if you felt the pull of the natural world as a dimension of your healing, I'd love to connect. Schedule a free 20-minute consultation and we'll talk about whether walk and talk or nature-based work might be the right fit for you.