From Horticultural Therapy to Natural Healing: Types, Development, Mechanisms, and Prospects

Under the impetus of the “Healthy China” strategy, the concepts related to natural healing in China have developed rapidly, making it urgent to sort out the types and development history of the main healing methods in China and explore their common mechanisms.

This research inductively summarizes the main types and common mechanisms of existing natural healing methods in China, and conducts a comparative analysis of the differences and similarities between different types of natural healing in such aspects as concept, foundational discipline, research hotspots, mediator, and degree of correlation with human.

Currently, China has formed a diversified natural healing system that includes horticultural therapy, landscape for well-being, agriculture for well-being, and forest therapy. This system is featured by the coexistence between the landscape for well-being, agriculture for well-being and forest therapy based on environmental carriers, and the horticultural therapy relying on specific activities. Although different healing methods differ in research focus and development situation, they share common mechanisms in promoting human health, which can be divided into the two pathways of “neural regulation” and “immune regulation”.

In the future, the construction of a theoretical system ranging from horticultural therapy to the entire spectrum of natural healing should place greater emphasis on the needs of diverse populations and the characteristics of industry development, thereby advancing the development of natural healing methods towards precision and personalization. Simultaneously, it is necessary to delve into the effects and mechanisms of the aforesaid two pathways in different types of natural healing, with the aim of providing a more solid scientific foundation and theoretical support for the field of natural healing.