Wellbeing
Wanders
"Where Nature is the Therapist and
the Guide opens the door"
A wide variety of Wellbeing Wanders are available depending on the weather, time and seasons – from beach and bush, estuaries, wetlands and sand dunes, reserves and gardens – from dawn to dusk, and night-time wanders for the dark sky lovers too.
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Options include:
Barefoot beach wanders, beautiful bush trails, estuary edgezones, native reserves, private gardens, beach sunrise, misty mornings, sensational sunsets, stunning views, starbathing, moon gazing, witnessing the power of the elements ......
Every one has its own special flavour and offers unique gifts and invitations to experience, explore and indulge your senses. Wellbeing Wanders may change the way you see Nature forever.
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For rest and relaxation, health, vacations, honeymoons, anniversaries, celebrations, birthdays, women's groups and more....choose the Wellbeing Wander that suits you!
Why do I need a guide?
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There is a simple premise that underpins the work of the Nature and Forest Therapy Guide: 'The forest is the therapist and the guide opens the door'.
Unlike most other therapies and wellbeing practices, we recognise that it is Nature that does the work while the guide's role is to simply help facilitate this by opening the doorways to connection.
The Nature therapy guide does this by offering a sequence of sensory connecting invitations which Nature presents in any given moment.
This helps us to rediscover something we have always known – that we are a 'part of' rather than 'separate from' Nature. In order to experience this we have to really slow down and this is where the guide's role becomes invaluable.
A guide uses their experience and knowledge to skilfully craft simple invitations inspired by Nature. These help us to become more present, to explore, discover and feel connection with the many other beings around us. We often don't even realise these other 'life stories' are taking place as we are just walking too fast, thinking too much or are too busy to notice.
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Nature bathing offers a quality and feeling of timelessness, and sparks a creative flow that stimulates the finding of our own heartfelt stories which we can then share with each other at various points along the trail.
Rediscovering our stories and our connection to the land and to each other allows healing to take place in a gentle yet often very profound way.
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Indigenous people all around the world acknowledge similar practice in their cultures, including many of our own ancestors. But the pace of life in the 21st Century and the growth of technology since the industrial revolution has sped up our world to the point where we have forgotten who we are and where we came from. Nature has taken millennia to shape and evolve us as a species and we still need to directly experience our connection to her in order to live healthy and fulfilled lives.
So Nature Bathing offers us an opportunity to walk in a different way - one that is new and yet at the same time old and familiar to us. Our bodies, hearts and minds remember this once we accept the opportunity and challenge to slow down and connect, and we just know that this is essential for us.
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Shinrin-yoku​ - 森林浴
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This practice, based on ancient Shinto tradition, was promoted in Japan in the mid 1980's as a result of concern about increasing levels of stress leading to death from overwork - 'Karoshi'.