How Slowing Down in Nature Boosts Creativity & Clarity
In our fast‑paced lives we often sprint from task to task, screen to screen, hardly pausing to simply be. Yet research shows that nature has a unique ability to restore our attention, reduce mental fatigue and unlock fresh creative insights. According to one study, participants in a forest therapy workshop improved their creative performance by nearly 28%.
Another model, the Attention Restoration Theory (ART), proposes that natural environments engage our attention effortlessly through “soft fascination,” allowing our directed‑attention resources to recover.
For the creative hiker‑artist, this sets the stage for something magical: slowing down on the trail and letting the forest speak through your pen, brush, and movement.
Why the forest + sketching combo works
When you pair forest bathing (sometimes called Shinrin‑yoku) with sketching or nature journaling, you amplify the benefits. Forest bathing invites you to immerse your senses in the natural world listening to the leaves, inhaling the forest air, noticing light and texture.
Sketching gives your experience form. It anchors the moment in your sketchbook, makes you slower, more observant, and more present. Instead of just walking by, you stop. You breathe. You mark a leaf, a shadow, a moment of clarity. And that pause becomes creative fuel.
A simple step‑by‑step forest sketch practice
Here’s a framework to bring into your next hike:
1. Choose your pace – Begin your hike at your usual pace. After 10‑15 minutes, slow deliberately. Let your steps soften, your breathing deepen.
2. Find a spotting point – When you feel your body settle, stop. Maybe the trail opens to a mossy log. Maybe a golden‑leafed branch catches your eye. Sit or lean so you can sketch, journal or observe.
3. Engage your senses – Close your eyes for 30 seconds. What do you hear? Rustle of leaves, distant bird, your own breath? Open your eyes and notice 3 new colours, textures or shapes.
4. Sketch or journal – In your watercolor or sketchbook: draw the leaf, the branch, the light. Write one line: “What did I notice? What changed in me?” Then add a light colour wash if you carry paints.
5. Finish the loop – Pack up, resume your hike at a steady but mindful pace. Use the sketch to fuel your next minutes—the trail becomes a walking gallery of your inner reflections.
What happens next?
As you engage in this practice, you’ll likely notice that your creative ideas start to appear in unexpected places. Your mind shifts from “how do I finish this workout?” or “what’s next on my to‑do list?” to “what did I just feel under my boots?” “What colour do I still see in my mind’s eye?” Studies show that exposure to rich natural environments increases divergent thinking, the kind of thinking that generates many possible solutions, ideas, and creative pathways.
And those small reflections on the trail become sketches, journal entries, color swatches, and eventually, art pieces, posts, or new movement practices.
Here at Workout Artist we believe that hiking, creating, and mindfulness are not separate, they are threads woven into the same tapestry of living wholly. When you pause in the forest, hold your sketchbook, and let the landscape breathe through you, you’re inviting your body, mind and artistic self into a shared moment. You’re saying: “I value this time. I value this breath. I value this colour.” And that is a radical act in a world that tells us to rush, to produce, to finish. This is your invitation to slow. To observe. To create.
Ready to step into that pause? Choose your trail. Pack your sketchbook or journal. Download our free “Trail Art Starter Kit” to help you begin. Then share your page, one leaf, one colour, one line with our community on Instagram using #WorkoutArtistTrails. Explore our blog for more guided practices in hiking, creativity and mindful movement and remember, the forest is calling. Will you answer?