FAQs

All sessions that I guide are a little different, but most of them involve the following:

• Arriving, settling in, land acknowledgement, overview, and introductions

• Trauma-informed guided meditation to help you settle into the here and now, bringing your senses to the forefront and easing our analytical minds.

• Invitations to explore the natural world around you in a way that feels good to you, led by your senses as opposed to your thinking brain. This usually involves some wandering/walking/meandering, but we usually don’t cover much distance. This varies by site, but is usually around a half mile to a mile.

• Facilitated circles to share what you are noticing, and to practice deep listening while others share.

• Closing and gratitude ritual to thank the Earth, yourself, and each other. Often this involves a tea ritual with homegrown herbal tea.

• Optional hanging around and chatting, slowly making our way back to the rest of our day.

Please see my page: How to Prepare (Health, Safety, and Comfort)

You can definitely do this practice on your own (and I encourage you to), but you may find that doing Forest Therapy with a trained Guide helps you to get more out of the experience, by helping you stay in your senses and body, instead of getting distracted by your thoughts or other distractions. There may also be benefits from practicing with others, both in a practical way of hearing some ways they are experiencing their senses in moments of sharing, and in a less tangible feeling we may get when having a shared, meaningful experience with strangers or loved ones. 

No, I’m not a licensed mental health provider. I don’t diagnose or treat any conditions. Feel free to learn more about my training and qualifications in my About Me page.

In my training, my teachers liked to say “The forest is the therapist; the guide opens the doors.”

Everything about this practice is invitational, which means that you are free to adapt any invitations to what feels good and right to you. Maybe you’ll roll your eyes or laugh if I invite you to talk to a ladybug, and/or maybe you will feel moved to hug a tree — either way is all good! Forest Therapy is truly not prescriptive, and as a guide, I won’t be judging how you experience the walk.

All experiences are welcome. Maybe in moments of quiet or stillness, you’ll experience joy, or grief, or insight, or playfulness or laughter. Maybe you’ll experience all or none of the above – and that’s OK! Sometimes people have a very meaningful experience, and sometimes it’s just a chance to be outside and experience subtle (or not-so-subtle) physiological benefits. I like to think that nature provides whatever experience you need at the time, if you’re able to be fully present. As a Guide, I am truly not trying to get you to have any certain type of feeling, emotion, or experience. This practice is truly that — a practice — and is meant to be returned to again and again.

Forest Therapy is a secular practice; people who identify as agnostic, atheist, spiritual, or religious are all welcome. Some people find that slowing down and really tuning into their senses in nature allows for moments of feeling connected to whatever higher power they relate to, but as you guide, I leave that up to each individual.