Healthcare professionals and institutions receive first-hand, evidence-based, practice-relevant knowledge about the health effects of forests. Our effective learning formats are designed to support structured professional work with patients and clients.
IM-WALD-SEIN® Academy | Exclusive. Authentic. Scientifically grounded.
The Academy for Forest Medicine, Forest Therapy, and Nature-Based Health Education
The IM-WALD-SEIN® Academy is the educational division of the IM-WALD-SEIN® Institute for Forest Medicine and Forest Therapy. It provides scientifically grounded knowledge, practice-based methods, and quality-assured standards for the professional application of Shinrin Yoku, forest bathing, forest medicine, and clinical forest therapy.
Our work is grounded in a salutogenic understanding of health: forests and nature are seen as spaces for experience, learning, and therapy, where people can rediscover and strengthen their own resources. To this end, we combine evidence-informed knowledge, the IM-WALD-SEIN® Method, and an individualized approach to the forest within a quality-assured educational framework.
Our lecturers bring together a distinctive combination of scientific expertise, therapeutic experience, clinical implementation expertise, and hands-on practice in forest medicine and forest therapy — a profile that is unique in the German-speaking region. We share this first-hand knowledge in a way that is professionally grounded, practice-oriented, and guided by a strong sense of responsibility for working with people.
This is the foundation for training programs designed for professionals and institutions that wish to integrate nature-based approaches responsibly into healthcare, therapy, health promotion and prevention, education, and consulting.
Discover the Academy, the team behind it, and the professional foundations of our work. Our current 2026 course program with certified trainings in forest medicine and clinical forest therapy is available
here.
Why We Teach Forest Medicine and Forest Therapy
For us, IM-WALD-SEIN® is a natural response to psychological stress, lifestyle-related diseases, and the challenges of an increasingly fast-paced world. We know that the experience of self-efficacy is becoming ever more important for health. Still, when it comes to health, we often expect too much from medicine and too little from ourselves. Nature-based approaches such as Shinrin Yoku, forest bathing, and forest therapy can help people experience new health-promoting pathways.
Clinical Forest Therapy in the Treatment of Diseases
Like other experts, we are convinced that the future of our health care system will also depend on how we address major lifestyle-related diseases, chronic stress, and mental health burdens. In addition to medical treatment, we need health-promoting, nature-based, and salutogenic approaches — and clinical forest therapy is one part of this development.
Forest Bathing and Forest Therapy in Disease Prevention
Health promotion should not be associated only with restriction, control, and rules. People need a friendly approach to health, body awareness, self-regulation, and connection with nature. This is exactly where Shinrin Yoku and forest therapy according to the IM-WALD-SEIN® Method come in.
Shinrin Yoku and Forest Bathing for Personal Well-Being
People enjoy spending time in nature and in the forest: immersing themselves in a soothing atmosphere, breathing freely, and allowing a wide range of natural impressions to unfold without pressure. Properly understood forest bathing and scientifically grounded forest therapy foster this individual connection with nature and the health-promoting relationship with the natural world. This is what the IM-WALD-SEIN® Academy teaches.
Our Guiding Principles
Our work is grounded in a salutogenic understanding of health: the forest is understood as a space for experience, learning, and therapy. Within the context of integrative and complementary medical approaches, we combine scientifically grounded knowledge, the IM-WALD-SEIN® Method, and the distinctive expertise of our instructors into a quality-assured educational approach. This gives rise to training programs for professionals who wish to integrate nature-based methods into their work with people in a responsible, reflective, and effective way.
We Support Individual Ways of Connecting with Nature
Every person brings their own nature, personal experiences, and individual way of connecting with the forest. Recognizing, supporting, and professionally guiding this individual access to nature is a central part of our work. With the IM-WALD-SEIN® Method, we have developed a supportive set of tools that addresses the human being as a biophilic, multisensory being.
We Teach Forest Medicine and Forest Therapy at the Source
As the German section of INFOM, the International Society of Nature and Forest Medicine, and in exclusive cooperation with Dr. Qing Li, a leading expert in Shinrin Yoku, the IM-WALD-SEIN® Academy provides scientifically grounded knowledge and practice-based methods.
We Offer a Practice-Oriented Teaching and Learning Approach
Our blended learning courses combine the flexibility of digital learning formats with the social dimension of face-to-face communication. Professional depth, practical teaching, collegial exchange, and hands-on learning in the forest support lasting learning success.
We Specialize in Health-Related Professional Training
Our programs are designed for professionals, professional groups, and institutions in healthcare, health promotion and prevention, therapy, education, and consulting who wish to integrate nature-based approaches into their work in a well-founded and responsible way.
We Offer a Unique, Scientifically Grounded Course Profile
We offer a training and course profile that is unique in the German-speaking region: first-hand knowledge from science and practice, combined with a practice-oriented teaching and learning approach. This combination helps participants effectively expand their expertise in health-related and educational fields.
Directorate and Academy Management
Members of the Faculty
Our Faculty brings together expertise and excellence in key fields related to forest and health. Together, its members stand for the medical, therapeutic, and health-promoting application of Shinrin Yoku as taught by Dr. Qing Li and forest therapy according to the IM-WALD-SEIN® Method.
