Therapeutic Landscapes: Where I Go to Feel Grounded in Canberra.
There are places in Canberra that act like anchors for my mental state, soft, reliable, healing. I call them my therapeutic landscapes. When days feel too big, or too busy, or when something inside me feels unmoored, these are the places I return to. They remind me I belong to more than the bustle of routine. In this post, I’ll share what “therapeutic landscape” means to me, why certain places calm me, and a few spots in Canberra that consistently restore my balance.
What Is a Therapeutic Landscape?
A therapeutic landscape is more than just a pretty view. It’s an environment, natural or cultivated, that supports healing, calm, reflection, and restoration. It meets multiple human needs: sensory (what we see, hear, smell), psychological (peace, time, perspective), social (quiet connection or solitude), and physical (fresh air, movement). Scholars in health geography talk about how landscapes become therapeutic when physical features, human perceptions, and social conditions come together. In Canberra, with its hills, woodlands, wetlands, and designed gardens, there are many such places. What matters most is the way I enter them, with intention to slow, to breathe, to pay attention, and how they respond: trees whispering, water reflecting, trails winding, light changing.
Why I Need These Places
Before listing the places, I want to share why I seek them. Maybe you’ll identify with some of these reasons:
When thoughts spin or worry builds, being in nature creates a buffer, a distance where I don’t feel trapped in my own head.
Nature gives rhythm: sunrise, birdsong, wind in the trees, the slow movement of water. These rhythms help recalibrate my internal pace when life feels sped up.
The senses are important: the smell of wet earth, the feel of breeze, the sound of birds or water. These cut through anxious loops.
Movement in natural settings (walking, light hiking) feels different to exercising inside. There’s ease, invitation, rather than performance.
There’s a kind of humility and perspective in landscapes: hills that have been here long before me, trees that grow slowly year by year. It helps me ground in something larger.
My Therapeutic Landscapes in Canberra
Here are some of the places in and around Canberra that I go to when I need grounding. Each offers something slightly different. Perhaps you’ll recognise some, or be tempted to try something new.
National Arboretum Canberra
The Arboretum is one of my go‑to places. The fusion of curated landscapes and wildness appeals to me. When I wander among the collections of different trees, slope paths, viewing platforms, I feel both small and connected. On good days, I bring a book; on harder days, I just walk, listening to the wind in the leaves, looking out over the city, letting the vistas breathe out tension. There are trails of varying length; even short meanders can shift my mood. The interplay of light and shadow under the trees is always changing, so even when the mind is full, the surroundings draw me out of my overthinking.
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve
When I need deeper stillness, I head to Tidbinbilla. The landscapes here, rocky ridges, bushland, creeks, feel ancient. There’s less intrusion: fewer roads, fewer buildings, more of what feels primal. The Sanctuary Loop trail is a gentler walk, perfect when I need calm more than challenge. For longer escapes, I’ll do more demanding hikes like Gibraltar Peak. Being surrounded by nature that feels vast helps me regain perspective and release what’s been weighing on me.
Canberra Nature Park & Bushland Hills
Canberra Nature Park isn’t just one place, it’s many reserves spread around the city: lowland grassy woodlands, bush hills, ridge lines. Some of my favourite times are early morning walks in these bush reserves, before the sun warms the land. Sometimes I take the Centenary Trail section that threads through varied landscapes. I like that there are hills (which demand effort) and vantage points (which give reward). There is something very anchoring in walking up a slope, pausing, then looking out.
Lake Burley Griffin (Shorelines & Parklands)
Lake Burley Griffin is especially accessible, so it’s often my fallback when I need grounding but don’t have hours to spare. A walk around the lake edge, sitting under a shady tree looking over the water, or watching a sunset light up the sky, these moments matter. Also good for social grounding: meeting a friend for a walk, or sitting beside the water with someone, sharing silence. The lake edges are ever‑changing, light, reflections, boats, ducks, so even familiar paths feel new.
Small Cultivated Gardens & Green Spaces
I also find grounding in smaller gardens: designed spaces with flowers, sensory elements, quiet seating, defined paths. Places like Telopea Park, or the gardens around the city’s institutional buildings. These are especially helpful when my time or energy is limited but I need a reset.
How I Use These Places: Practices that Deepen Grounding
Simply being there helps. But over time I’ve developed some practices that make the experiences more therapeutic. Here are some that I find work:
Slow walk & pause: Instead of walking to tick off steps, I try to walk unhurriedly, stopping to listen, to peek under leaves, maybe touch bark or wet stone.
Breath awareness: Sometimes I’ll sit quietly, at the edge of a lake, on a hilltop, under a tree, and just focus on breathing. Five breaths. Ten breaths. Let the body sink.
Mindful senses: What smells are present? Earth, eucalyptus, blossoms, water. What sounds, birds, wind, leaves, water? What light, morning glow, filtered light through trees, sunset? Noticing these adds layers of calm.
Journaling / sketching: I sometimes bring a notebook or sketchbook. Even writing one line or drawing a shape helps anchor thoughts away from idle worry.
Photograph not for perfection: I take photos, but not to post them. To capture light, shadow, colour, patterns. Sometimes looking back on them reminds me of moments of peace.
Revisiting: I pick favourite spots, return to them. There’s grounding in familiar places; they become part of my internal landscape.
Challenges & What to Be Mindful Of
Even with therapeutic landscapes, there are things that complicate or limit the healing.
Weather & seasons: Heavy rain, extreme heat, cold, these can make access or enjoyment harder.
Crowds: Some popular spots can be busy. When I need peace, I try to go early in the morning, or pick lesser‑used trails.
Physical limitation: Sometimes energy or mobility or time constraints affect where I can go. It helps to have several options: close‑to‑home, short walks, gentle ones.
Mental resistance: When anxious or depressed, it can be hard to leave home or start walking. Sometimes the hardest part is stepping out. I’ve learned small steps still count: even stepping into the garden or going to a nearby park helps.
Why These Places Stay with Me
What makes these landscapes therapeutic isn’t always dramatic. It’s consistency. Over time, these places become part of my nervous system’s library of safety. When I remember them, smell, image, memory, they act as touchstones. I can imagine the curve of a trail, the feel of wind through grass, the light filtering through gums, and something in me softens. They also remind me I’m part of something bigger: the land, history, seasons. That sense of belonging is healing in itself.
Invitation: Find Your Own Therapeutic Spaces
If you’re reading this and thinking “I wish I had such places,” here are some suggestions:
Make a short list of parks, reserves, gardens near you. Try 3‑5 places with different qualities: water, bush, quiet, cultivated gardens.
Visit them without goal or expectation. Don’t expect big change, just observe, notice what calms you.
Build small habits. Maybe once a week or every few days, carve out time to go, even if only for 15‑20 minutes.
Bring something that nourishes you: water, snack, journal, camera, cosy layer. Let it feel like self‑care, not effort.
Allow seasons of visit. Sometimes you’ll crave quiet; other times, social. Let your needs guide which place you choose.
Final Thoughts
Canberra has many therapeutic landscapes. They are gifts, freely given places of solace, beauty, perspective. For me, they are essential. They help me settle, remember who I am, and reclaim calm when the inner or outer world feels overwhelming. If you give yourself permission to explore, you might find landscapes of your own, places that speak to your soul, places that ground, heal, restore. And then, just like for me, you’ll have places to return, again and again, when you need to be grounded.