What Healing After Child Loss Really Looks Like

When people hear the phrase healing after losing a child, it can almost sound impossible. For a long time, I felt that way too. How do you heal from a loss so deep, so life-changing, and so tied to your heart? How do you continue living after losing a child you loved with every part of yourself?

The Tree That Held Me

Research actually supports what that woman already knew intuitively. A practice called “forest bathing,” known in Japanese as Shinrin-yoku, has been shown to lower cortisol levels, reduce anxiety, and restore emotional balance. Trees, it turns out, are remarkably good listeners.