53: Touch A Tree: Reset Your Nervous System in 60 seconds & Lower Cortisol

Your nervous system is overloaded — and your body already knows it.

In this episode of Rooted & Rising, Tara Mychelle breaks down the science behind what happens when you touch a tree — and why nature regulates your nervous system in ways no app, supplement, or scrolling session can replicate.

This is not spiritual fluff. This is physiology.

You’ll learn:

• How touching trees lowers cortisol (your primary stress hormone)
• What forest bathing (Shinrin-Yoku) does to heart rate and blood pressure
• How phytoncides from trees increase natural killer cells and immune function
• Why Polyvagal Theory confirms nature shifts you into parasympathetic regulation
• The science behind grounding (earthing) and inflammation reduction

Research shows that just minutes in nature measurably improves stress response, nervous system regulation, immune health, and emotional clarity.

If you’ve been struggling with anxiety, nervous system dysregulation, burnout, relationship stress, or emotional overload — this episode gives you a practical, zero-cost intervention you can use today.

Sixty seconds. One tree. One reset.

Listen now — and regulate differently.

🔬 SCIENCE REFERENCES

1️⃣ Cortisol + Forest Bathing Study

Park, B.J. et al. (2010).

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12199-010-0153-2

2️⃣ Forest Bathing + Heart Rate + Blood Pressure 

Song, C. et al. (2016)

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12199-016-0542-7

3️⃣ Phytoncides + Natural Killer Cells

Li, Q. (2010).

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12199-008-0068-3

4️⃣ Grounding / Earthing Research

Chevalier, G. et al. (2012).

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2012/291541/

5️⃣ Polyvagal Theory 

Stephen Porges, PhD

https://www.polyvagalinstitute.org/whatispolyvagal

Transcript

Touch The Tree, Feel The Shift

SPEAKER_00 0:00

When was the last time you actually touched a tree? Not walked past one, not glanced at one through a window, touched one. Skin to bark, hands on trunk, body present. I'm gonna tell you something that science backs and that your body already knows about what happens in that moment, about what nature is doing to your nervous system, that no app, no supplement, and no scroll session can replicate. Stay with me. This one's short, this one's real, and it might be exactly what you needed to hear today. Welcome to Rooted in Rising. I'm your host, Tara Michelle, intuitive guide, storyteller, and fellow traveler on this wild path of becoming. This is a space for the soul led, for the ones unraveling old stories tending to their healing and rising, not perfectly but powerfully into who they are here to be. Here we explore what it means to live with intention, to love with depth, and to trust that even the hard things are shaping us. I'll share pieces of my own journey, the cracks, the beauty, the breakthroughs, and invite voices who are walking this path too. Because I believe life isn't happening to us, it's happening for us. So come as you are, root in and rise up. And thank you. Truly thank you for being here. Welcome back to Rooted in Rising. I'm your host, Tara Michelle. If you're new here, this show is for the person who's done performing their healing and is ready to actually do it. We don't bypass the hard stuff. We walk straight into it. We talk about relationships, nervous system regulation, conscious living, and what it actually means to rise, not just talk about rising. No fluff, no mimic loops, just truth. And if you've been on the journey with me, thank you so much. Truly, thank you for showing up week after week. Excuse me, I am recovering from this thing that's been moving around. But I I want to say thank you for showing up week after week because it's something I don't take lightly, and you're the reason why this show still exists. So thank you to all my listeners and to those of you that are new. Thank you. So last week I told you I was gonna come back and talk about a moment that I had. It was a real one, not a concept. It was a moment. I was on the phone with a dear friend, walking and talking, the way you do when a conversation is that kind that it needs that movement underneath. And at some point, I stopped and I just put my hand on an oak tree. Now I have several oak trees on my property, and and this one, I don't know, this one has always spoke to me. It's just a really beautiful tree. So I also don't feel this was a choice as much as it was a pull. Like I was being pulled to touch the tree. Like something in my body said, Hey, stop here. And when I did, I felt it. I felt an immediate connection, energy through my hands, immediate drop within my body, the exhale that starts literally from your chest and moves all the way down. That quiet that doesn't come from silence, it comes from something shifting inside you. And that's when I had the aha. The kind that doesn't just live in your head, it moves through your entire body. How often do we step outside and walk right past trees without touching them, without ever letting them touch us back? That was the aha I'd had in that moment. We live in a world that is loud, chaotic, overstimulating, and we are reaching for everything, okay? Our phones, our people, our habits. And we reach for those things to regulate ourselves, but we're walking right past the medicine that is free, always available, and has been there longer than any of us have. So let me give you some science because this isn't woo-woo stuff that I'm talking about. This is actual physiology, believe it or not. First, your stress hormones drop fast. Research published in the journal Environmental Health and Preventative Medicine found that touching a tree for just a few minutes measurably reduces cortisol, your stress hormone in the body. Not a meditation retreat, not a therapy session, a few minutes with your hand on bark. That's it. Second, your nervous system will literally shift states. There's a Japanese practice called Shinrin Yoku, forest bathing. And it's decades of research on it show that time spent near trees decreases heart rate and blood pressure and moves you out of sympathetic activation, that's your fight or flight, and into your parasympathetic nervous system, your rest in regulate state. The state where healing actually happens, where digestion works, where your immune system functions, where you think clearly. So you don't have to do anything, you you just have to be there. Third, trees are exhaling medicine. Trees release compounds called phytocides, airborne oils they produce to protect themselves. And when you breathe them in, your body responds. Studies show phyticides increase the activity of natural killer cells, the white blood cells that fight tumors and uh viral infections in your body, and the increase can last for up to seven days for a single forest visit. Seven days from one walk. Fourth, this is polyvagal theory in action. Okay. For those of you who are really familiar with the nervous system, you know about the ventral vagal state. That's your calm, connected, socially engaged state, the one where you can feel, relate, and be present. So research confirms that touching trees, walking in nature, even just being near moving water activates that state. Nature co-regulates you. Co-regulation isn't only something that happens between people. Your nervous system can sink with a calm environment. And trees, which are rooted, still ancient, are one of the most stabilizing environments that exist. And fifth, there's an electromagnetic reality here. The earth carries a natural electrical charge. When you make contact with it, bare feet on soil, hands on bark, your body absorbs electrons. Research into what's called earthing or grounding suggests that contact has measurable effects on inflammation, sleep quality, and nervous system function. We were designed to be in contact with the earth. We have systematically disconnected from it, and our bodies are paying for that disconnection every single day. So here's what I want you to sit with today. We are the most medicated, the most therapied, the most self-help consuming generation in history. We have apps for our anxiety and podcasts for our healing and supplements for our cortisol. And we walk past trees every single day without touching them. And I'm not going to pretend otherwise. There is real noise out there, real instability, real uncertainty. And when everything outside feels like it's spinning, we reach for something to hold on to. The tree is something to hold on to. Not metaphorically, literally. So reach for it. 60 seconds, one hand, that's it. That's the practice for today. Not because it fixes everything, but because your nervous system is craving something ancient and real, and it is right outside your door. You don't have to earn it. You don't have to deserve it. You just have to show up to it. Now, I am going to also say before recording this podcast, this episode, I went out and I hugged on my trees. And there's one tree where I just every time I go to pull away, it would pull me back in. Like there's just this connection that I needed to recharge, refuel, and regulate my system. I encourage you to try it. It's freaking amazing. Now, before I let you go, I want to tell you about something. If you've been listening to the earlier podcasts where I was talking about situationship uh to commitment and I created an e-guide, which I did, and it's down in the show notes, but I want to tell you about it because I updated the name, it got a bit more clear, and it's called fuck almost. That's right. Fuck almost, your guide to being fully chosen in love, work, and self-worth. Because almost is not a relationship. Because almost is not a commitment. Almost is not enough. And if you've been living in almost, you already know it. You feel it in your body every time you explain it away. This e-guide is for the person who's done settling for almost, done holding on to someone who won't hold them back, done negotiating their worth, and done being almost chosen. And as I mentioned, it's called Fuck Almost, your guide to being fully chosen in love, work, and self-worth. The link is in the show notes. If you're ready, it's ready for you. And if you're not quite there yet, that's okay. Keep listening, keep showing up. The clarity comes. I'm Tara Michelle. I want to thank you all for being with me on this journey this week. Thank you for choosing to stay rooted when everything around you is pulling you off ground. Walk outside, touch a tree, it'll make a difference for you. But I look forward to seeing you guys next week on the next episode. Have a blessed week. Thank you. And stay rooted and keep rising. Thank you for rooting in and rising with me today. If something in this episode stirred something in you, take a breath, take what you need, and let the rest soften. Be sure to follow the show so you don't miss what's next. And if you feel called, share this episode or leave a review. It helps the space grow and reach others on the path. Until next time, may you walk with trust, speak with love, and rise in your own time. I'm so grateful you were here with us, and thanks for being here. We'll see you on the next episode.