This past Wednesday, I had the privilege of guiding my Cancer Lifeline group through a specially designed Yoga Nidra session centered around forest bathing. It really stuck with me, so I want to share this with my followers! As someone who has been teaching these classes for some time, I’m always touched by the experiences we share together, but this particular session left an indelible mark on both my heart and theirs.

The 45-minute session was carefully crafted with this specific group in mind—individuals on their unique healing journeys, each carrying their own experiences of both challenge and resilience. I approached the practice with a trauma-informed mindset, creating a safe container where everyone could feel secure enough to fully surrender to the practice.

The forest bathing visualization formed the centerpiece of our Yoga Nidra experience. As the group settled into a comfortable position, I guided them to imagine themselves walking along a gentle forest path. The imagery was rich with sensory details—the soft cushion of pine needles underfoot, dappled sunlight filtering through a canopy of leaves, the earthy scent of moss and bark, birds calling softly in the distance.

AI-generated image

What made this session particularly powerful was witnessing the profound relaxation that washed over each participant. One woman later shared that she had been unable to fully relax for months due to her treatment, but during our forest journey, she felt her body completely let go for the first time since her diagnosis. Another participant mentioned feeling a sense of spaciousness he hadn’t experienced in years—as if the weight of illness had temporarily lifted.

A Miraculous Moment

During our 15-minute community forum following the practice, something truly extraordinary happened. A gentleman in our group who lives with Parkinson’s Disease shared a revelation that left us all in awe: during the forest bathing visualization, his tremors had completely stopped.

The tremors that had been a constant companion in his daily life had, for those precious minutes of our practice, been entirely absent. As he shared this experience, his voice filled with wonder and emotion, a sacred hush fell over our circle. This wasn’t just relaxation—it was a glimpse into the profound mind-body connection that practices like Yoga Nidra can facilitate.

His courage in sharing this experience transformed our classroom into a space of collective wonder. Other participants nodded in recognition, as if his experience had given voice to their own moments of unexpected relief and respite during the practice.

The Sacred Role of Teaching

As a teacher, I felt both humbled and validated by this moment. There’s something profoundly moving about creating a container where such healing can take place—not because I personally cured anything, but because I had the privilege of facilitating an experience where someone could access their own innate capacity for wellbeing.

This moment reminded me that teaching isn’t just about sharing information or techniques; it’s about holding space for transformation, for moments of grace that arise when we create the right conditions. In that community forum, I glimpsed the true meaning of being a facilitator—not as someone who makes things happen, but as someone who creates the conditions where healing can unfold naturally.

The trauma-informed approach seemed to create exactly the right atmosphere. By emphasizing that each person had complete control over their experience—that they could open their eyes at any time, adjust their position, or simply listen to my voice without following the visualization—it allowed for genuine surrender rather than forced relaxation.

As we slowly emerged from the practice, the zoom room held a palpable sense of peace. There were gentle smiles and a collective exhale that seemed to speak volumes about the healing that had taken place. I was grateful that my students were open and stepped into our virtual community circle to share their expereinces, which was deeply uplifting to others in the group, and myself, of course!

What struck me most was not just the temporary respite the practice provided, but the reminder that even amid difficult health journeys, moments of profound peace remain accessible. The forest we visitied may have been imaginary, but the restoration it offered was undeniably real.

For anyone working with individuals facing health challenges, I cannot recommend this approach enough. The combination of Yoga Nidra’s systematic relaxation with the nature-based imagery of forest bathing seems to bypass the thinking mind and speak directly to the body’s innate capacity for healing. According to Stanford Lifestyle Medicine site, “Studies show that forest bathing can decrease the stress hormone cortisol. In one meta-analysis, researchers reviewed 971 articles and found that forest bathing effectively reduced serum and salivary cortisol levels, indicating its potential to reduce stress.”

Supported by research in visualization, I left that session reminded of why I do this work—because sometimes the most powerful medicine isn’t found in hospitals but in the quiet spaces we create together, where healing can unfold naturally, breath by breath, moment by moment. And occasionally, in those spaces, we’re blessed to witness small miracles that remind us of the mysterious and powerful connection between mind, body, and spirit.

Angela Rosoff is a yoga teacher, face yoga teacher, and Ayurveda Digestive Health Coach. She loves teaching yoga to bring unity in her community of all genders and ages of people. Angela applies science-driven applications into her yoga classes within the framework of yogic principles. It is an absolute pleasure to be a part of the Cancer Lifeline organization and a teacher to individuals on a healing journey!