Slanja Nature Tours

02/19/2025

Join the LEC and Slanja Nature Tours for another Forest Bathing experience 🌲

We will meet at the Farnham Brook Trail off Pictou Rd and enjoy a slow contemplative water in the beauty of nature. Please make sure you are dressed for the weather ❄️

10/19/2024

to get gently rocked by the waves

10/05/2024

lovely thought

One day when you wake up,
you will find that you've become a forest.
You've grown roots and found strength in them
that no one thought you had.
You have become stronger and more beautiful,
full of life giving qualities.
You have learned to take all the negativity around you,
and turn it into oxygen for easy breathing.
A host of wild creatures live inside you,
and you call them stories.
A variety of beautiful birds nest inside your mind,
and you call them memories.
You have become an incredible self sustaining thing of epic proportions.
And you should be so proud of yourself,
of how far you have come from the seeds of who you used to be.

~ Nikita Gill ~

Artist Alla Tsank

10/05/2024

me looking at the intricate patterns of a slug's skin ... and the slug looking back at me

09/17/2024

Trees Are My Life Coach

Trees are truly the most enduring, the most productive and the most helpful living organisms on the planet. Have you ever thought about how they do it all - just by standing still? Their days are spent just sensing what is going on within themselves and making decisions about how they can be interacting with their environment.

Think about everything that a tree has to endure to keep on thriving in this world. Deluges and droughts, heat domes and ice storms, hurricane force winds that bend and break. Bugs that make camp and steal all their resources. Bacteria that seeks to pe*****te their wounds and set them to rotting where they stand.

But they have learned to rise above and store away; to have thick skin and miraculous patience. They stand together and surround themselves with helpers and protectors. They share resources with those who are in need. And they work hard to compartmentalize decay, so when they lose one branch, they let it go and they keep on keeping on.

Trees are the ultimate farmers. They know when to seed and when to sprout. They know how best to collect the rain and how to bring all the water they need to their fields. They actively produce their own fertilizer and insecticide compounds. They make use of every hour of the day. And at the end of the day, or at the end of the growing season, they know how to rest and restore.

They know that their best chance of survival is working in unity with all living things around them. They are forever offering food, homes, shelter and shade; to friends and to foes. The strength of their roots keeps the ground from eroding, the breadth of their bodies helps store carbon away. And the organic process of how they make food just happens to clean the air; providing all the oxygen that is necessary for life on this planet to exist.

It makes me wonder. What would happen if I learned from the trees and tried to practise being more still. We all hurry about so much. And honestly, I can not abide sitting around and doing nothing for very long. I took a course in mindfulness and I was horrible at meditating. But I am starting to get the idea that stillness really isn't about doing nothing. It is about getting my thoughts quiet enough to be able to stretch out with my senses; actively engaging with myself and interacting with the environment that surrounds me.

There are always things to see, hear, smell, taste, touch and be aware of. Things that are seen and unseen, living and inanimate. Interacting with all these things in a nonjudgmental way - not defining them as friend or foe - but just reaching out with curiosity and compassion - this is truly what it feels like to be alive.

I think if we all cared for ourselves more often in this way, we would immediately be more capable of processing everything we need; sharing our resources, helping one another and recovering from our wounds. Being in tune with ourselves and our environment in this way would keep our relationships from eroding. We could be better sounding boards for other's woes and worries. And we could help those around us to breathe better, just by being more authenticly ourselves and more consistently at peace.

07/30/2024

The Old Forest Trail

She comes with the morning sun
Beckoning to my heart with her arms,
“O Come, come walk with me,
down this old forest trail.”

Leaving behind the warm sunshine
we venture into the forest
following a well-worn path.

A small stream gurgles,
singing beside us,
bordered by mossy rocks and flowering herbs.

As we walk,
without a thought, she turns away
running off, chasing a deeper green.

My last driving thoughts
fall off me like dead leaves
that have long lost their way,
somewhere along the path,
like an Autumn of yesterday.

I pause to breathe a deep sigh of release
Drinking deep, the crisp mountain air.

The stillness captures my attention
with the smells the forest,
feeling the earth beneath your feet,
stirring like some quickening wildness
of spirit.

Time itself begins to dissolve
breaking open,
into some larger place
a larger grace,
sinking into an endless story
into the forest earth
opening up the whole world around us.

You get a sense of presence
in that quiet stillness,
seeping into you,
drawing you
into a quiet belonging
that whispers freedom
like a healing green flowing
into your weary soul.

The winds whisper into your ears
rustling through the trees
as splintered sunlight catches your eyes.

The brisk winds cascade through the swaying forest
Calling your heart out
upward through the trees
up to where
the white billowing clouds
sail across a bluebird sky.

The smells of old trees,
growing green in the fresh living earth,
fills your heart with a yearning
vaguely familiar,
like some ancient memory
awakening in your heart
deepening the quiet rhythm
of breath and being.

The songs of a distant waterfall
weaves its way through the trees
Calling you out into this vast mystery
whispering like the echoes of Eden
Opening our hearts in song.

As the sun begins to turn
There’s the echo of a whip-o-will
singing across the valley
Like a lullaby of peace
The fireflies begin their evening rise
like lanterns dancing in the trees.

Here is where Wisdom walks
on a peaceful summer’s evening,
As the sun shadows run
Down an old forest trail.

~ Bob Holmes

07/16/2024

06/28/2024

I had a wonderful time talking about forest bathing at the After Trauma Empowerment Network yesterday. Such a great group!

05/09/2024

There are still spots available for this Saturday's guided nature experience on a beautiful winding trail in the forest at SEEK Wilderness Accommodations at the top of Victoria Park. Come out and enjoy the beauty and calm of the forest, learn more about forest bathing, engage your senses in mindful activities and connect with others who love nature too!

Come celebrate Mother's Day with a relaxing forest bathing experience in nature, connecting with the women in your life and nature.

05/04/2024

Colchester East Hants Canadian Mental Health Association The Club provides a variety of social activities that help promote wellness. May 21st will be a nature walk with Slanja Nature Tours visiting the trees around Kiwanis Pond! To join, either call 902-895-4211 or drop in to make an intake appointment.