A new leaf has danced on the wind … 🍂
Welcome to all our tree friends - human and other! 🌲🍄🌳🐝🌸🦋
We’ve been enjoying some wanders recently in the sun and with a somewhat autumn hue to the colours. What have you noticed around you?
Thank you to the human beings and other beings that have shared recent Woodlands Breathing events - we’ve connected across the time zones in an online experience and in woods together where we could enjoy a ‘canopy hug’ in the quiet of the woods.
Did you see the Super Blue Moon last week? My camera even saw it a bit blue - the photo is a memory of seeing special that we won’t see its like again until 2037!
WellBEing in the Woods - Forthcoming Events
We have spaces left on the remaining events scheduled for 2023 and would love for you to join us. We are offering a special price on Eventbrite this autumn to help you to invest in your wellbeing.
Group Experience - Gather In-Person
Location: Binning Wood, between North Berwick and East Linton, East Lothian - bookings via Eventbrite here - the investment includes forest tea and refreshments. These events begin at 10:00 (180 minutes).
Friday 20 October - note change of day to a Friday.
Saturday 18 November - the final outing at Binning Wood for the year, back to Saturday.
Online VIRTUAL - Connect Digitally (90 minutes) - book via FBF link
Let’s connect online in a remotely guided experience, walk together and share our land wherever we are on the planet. Let us know if you’d like to connect from a different time zone or day, that works better for you.
Tuesday 10 October at 15:00 - 16:30 - for World Mental Health Day
Sunday 26 November at 14:30 - 16:00
If you would like to arrange a specially tailored experience with a group such as friends or colleagues and either in-person or online, please get in contact to make arrangements.Bookings for some of our events are now hosted via the Forest Bathing Finder platform - please check our guide profile (FBF). We hope you’ll find this platform easy to use, and would welcome comments of your experience, so any tweaks can be made. Start times are given for where I am walking - please check your time zone if its different from GMT. Forest Bathing Finder was created by the daughter of a fellow ANFT Guide in the US and enables you to see who is guiding and where in the world - perhaps you might be curious to join another Guide when you travel to a new place or try an online walk with another Guide.
Walks in 2023 - a few highlights
It’s been a pleasure and a joy to share the practice of forest therapy, or “wellBEing in the woods” with participants from many different places over the year. An online walk with participants over 4 time zones in one call is a special experience - it’s cool to think we can connect across the planet without stepping on a plane. It’s different from an in-person experience when the group is together in one place, and as long as technology plays game, I feel that it can be a good experience. Much gratitude to participants and their fellow tree beings for sharing their stories in our coories!
When I was training to become an ANFT Forest Therapy Guide, we were invited to complete the course with a ‘harvest project’ of our choice. I was inspired by a writing workshop series I attended, led by a friend and author, Linda Cracknell as well as the location of some of my ‘sit spots’ during training. Your ‘What 3 Words’ location becomes the focus of a haiku. We’ve had fun with this concept at some of our events, such as International Dawn Chorus Day in May, and I got creative at Cashel in August. You might guess some of the beings which accompanied our walk that day!
Pesky midges fly
Spicy mix in all beings
Gearbox of apple
🌿 🪰 🌲 🍄 🌳 🦋 🌿
If you follow our social media and these newsletters, you will see a few tree friends who have been acknowledged on our wanders - feel free to share your tree beings in response (and if they have given their agreement).
If you enjoy reading this newsletter, and you have any comments or suggestions of anything else you would like to see included we’d love to hear from you as the laptop doesn’t give much feedback of this type! Also, please feel free to share it with a friend.
Thank you for reading and contributing to the Woodlands Breathing network, and until the next time, enjoy your WoW factor (Wonders on Wanders) with your tree friends!
Looking for Gift Inspirations?
Are you the giver of a gift with curiosity? If you would like to offer someone special a ‘wellBEing’ or ‘green spa’ experience, why not consider a Woodlands Breathing gift voucher? We can arrange a voucher for either an in-person or online experience, for one person or a group. We can also include a ‘wellness pack’ - for example, as a way for online participants to share tea together (UK only). Why not enable the recipient to learn a new practice to support their mental, physical and emotional wellness? You never know, it might become a present that offers more than you expect! If you’d like more details, please email us to discuss options.