Guided by Nature

Guided by Nature Eco-Therapeutic Arts. Nature, Creativity & Wellbeing Sessions. Nature & Health Facilitator Training. Artist exploring the living world through natural pigment.

Let's hear it for the boy. ๐Ÿ˜ Out with me today and every day. 14 years old in September. Diolch o galon hen gi bach. Tha...
01/02/2026

Let's hear it for the boy. ๐Ÿ˜ Out with me today and every day. 14 years old in September. Diolch o galon hen gi bach. Thank you from my heart old puppy.

Day 31 of 33 daybreaks. Eco therapeutic landscapes. Watching light return until Imbolc/ 3rd Feb.

Alder Moon - Working with Alder during January (following Environment Art Therapy model - Ian Siddons Heginworth & Gary...
31/01/2026

Alder Moon - Working with Alder during January (following Environment Art Therapy model - Ian Siddons Heginworth & Gary Nash) I do love Alder with her purple catkins and tanin rich cones who lend themselves to making lovely ink. So much to say about Alder, Gwern in Welsh (a feminine noun). She is a great lover of watery places, her wood gets harder when submerged hence Venice was built on Alder. She grows alongside rivers and her roots help to protect the banks against erosion. In the Mabinogi Gwern ( Alder) is the name of poor Bronwen's child who was thrown into the fire and is the sacred tree of the giant Bran, King of Britain. At this time of year we can see both catkin and cone together, the male and female side by side.

Day 30....Not the end.....Bore Niwlog a Llaith/ Misty and damp morning. So I always meant to go out for every daybreak f...
31/01/2026

Day 30....Not the end.....Bore Niwlog a Llaith/ Misty and damp morning. So I always meant to go out for every daybreak from when dawn began earlier on 2nd Jan until Imbolc. If Imbolc was actually on the 1st Feb that would be just fine. However being a full on nerd who follows the Almanac, I can tell you that since cross quarter day of Imbolc lands between the solstice and the equinox, it is actually 3rd Feb this year ! These dates are not fixed they follow the solar cycles not our calenders! Personally I think if we are going to have a nature based practice, its important that we follow natures cycles rather than impose our humancentric dates on a seasonal festival.

Anyway after Imbolc, we might notice winter loosening it's grip, the pace of dawns arrival coming faster and the increasing return of light. The goddess Brigid is often associated with this returning light, sometimes described as a dawn goddess herself. So it feels like it'll be the right morning to complete the daybreak walks.

30 days of dawn. Day 30. Eco therapeutic landscapes.

I never look back on my daybreak walks. . if I do I would look South, and there is Penrhyn, the largest slate quarry in ...
30/01/2026

I never look back on my daybreak walks. . if I do I would look South, and there is Penrhyn, the largest slate quarry in Britain. It's a huge hole in the landscape and all lit up at night. I am a romantic, I'd rather see Lleuad, the moon, Ser the stars, Mynydd, the mountain and Tywyllwch, the dark night! And the quarry has a dark history. Lord Penrhyn was a slave owner, an anti abolitionist and treated workers brutally especially during the Great Strike. However the town here, the houses with their slate roofs are all the legacy of the quarry, which is now part of the UNESCO Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales, so without the quarry this town might not exist. Anyway it's complex. For me it's something about the possibility of trying to hold it all. To be with the raw natural majesty of the mountain landscape, the industrial human landscape, the trauma to land and people, the beauty and sometimes the necessities and harsh reality of life as one.

30 days of dawn. Day 29. Eco therapeutic landscapes.

I've got to say today felt like a bit of a chore. Very tired. The day breaks are indeed getting earlier! Just sat quietl...
29/01/2026

I've got to say today felt like a bit of a chore. Very tired. The day breaks are indeed getting earlier! Just sat quietly with Hawthorn for a bit and watched the sky change colour. Best thing about nature is, we are not asked for too much, we just show up as we are, no questions, no judgement, no pressure. ๐Ÿ’š I also realised I didn't actually know the Cymraeg for awyr/ sky or gwawr/ dawn!!! Always a school day with dysgu Cymraeg ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ

30 days of dawn. Day 28. Eco therapeutic landscapes.

Moody.....me and the morning. Strange to be doing a daybreak project as someone who struggles with mornings in the past ...
28/01/2026

Moody.....me and the morning. Strange to be doing a daybreak project as someone who struggles with mornings in the past few years. In the kind of eco therapeutic work I do we try not to 'pathologise' feelings and emotions, we don't dismiss them but equally we don't encourage overly identifying with them. As it happens I enjoyed the sunny brightness of the day and managed another walk and to get on with some work and art! A brighter mood altogether for now.

I am not sure what the Welsh is for moody, Google said 'oriog' does anyone know?

30 daybreaks. Day 27. Eco therapeutic landscapes.

I loved running this workshop on Sunday with the Gofodglas project for North Wales Wildlife Trust. A fantastic project l...
27/01/2026

I loved running this workshop on Sunday with the Gofodglas project for North Wales Wildlife Trust. A fantastic project looking at ways to care for and build relationships with the waterways around the Conwy river catchment'. One of the trees we worked with was Gwern/Alder who loves water and made some lovely ink and dye for us. We made books of botanical colours and experimented with dyeing fabric ๐Ÿงก thank you for inviting me Lou Lin Cummins

27/01/2026

A workshop for Gofodglas, what a wonderful project... 'Through collaboration, learning, and sharing ideas, discovering new and sustainable ways to live alongside our rivers, lakes, and streams in the Conwy river catchment' we had big fun with natural colours. ๐Ÿงก I love delivering this kind of event. Lou Lin Cummins thank you for inviting me to do this ๐Ÿ™

I was actually going to give it a miss this morning because it was so grim wasn't it! But hey we were already up and abo...
27/01/2026

I was actually going to give it a miss this morning because it was so grim wasn't it! But hey we were already up and about.. though even Buddy was looking at me like 'are you sure about this mum'???? I fell over twice in the mud because the wind was so strong I couldn't stand up. And the rain was actually stinging like hell and hurting my face so now I know why the Welsh for heavy rain talks about sticks! "Mae hi'n bwrw hen wragedd a ffyn," which translates literally to "it is raining old women and sticks"!

30 days of dawn. Day 26. Eco therapeutic landscapes.

Anweledig is a new Welsh word for me, it means invisible, hidden or unseen. This morning was all grey, dark and cold out...
26/01/2026

Anweledig is a new Welsh word for me, it means invisible, hidden or unseen. This morning was all grey, dark and cold out on Y Garth. I feel caught up in despair as hatred and destruction seems to be increasingly legitimised around the globe. What are my whimsical morning walks in the face of all this? I am not much of an activist, I can't do crowds and noise. But I guess what I do know is that connection with the natural world, with beauty and our creativity offers us something different and healing, so that's what I offer in my own small way. When I took this photo the sky was all grey but on long exposure the camera can sometimes pick up colours that are invisible to the human eye. Like this little slither of dusky pink, hidden, unseen, 'Anweledig'.

30 days of dawn. Day 25. Eco therapeutic landscapes.

Yesterday morning I went back to sit with Draenen Ddu, Hawthorn. I noticed how her roots are anchored deep into the grou...
25/01/2026

Yesterday morning I went back to sit with Draenen Ddu, Hawthorn. I noticed how her roots are anchored deep into the ground and how her sculptured shape reaches back swaying in the wind. Standing there I felt a surge of care and love towards her. Today I returned with thoughts of the horrific injustice in Gaza, Tehran and the recent murder of protesters in the US. I looked at the gnarled, resilient toughness of her. Hawthorn is known as medicine for the heart and has so much to teach us about vulnerability, healing, protection and courage. A fitting symbol for times when we need to choose between hate and fear, or love and courage. Today is Dydd Santes Dwynwen, the day of the Welsh patron saint of love, Saint Dwynwen.

30 days of dawn. Day 24. Eco therapeutic landscapes.

You might say there's nothing much going on here. Maybe there isn't and perhaps that's part of it's beauty. 'Heddychol',...
24/01/2026

You might say there's nothing much going on here. Maybe there isn't and perhaps that's part of it's beauty. 'Heddychol', peaceful, despite the wind and rain. We can notice the evening light is coming back quickly now but the daybreaks are only about 15 mins earlier. The latest sunset was way back in early December! But the latest sunrise was only in early January. Our clocks measure time in a strict 24-hour cycle, but Sun does not, Sun moves to her own rhythm not ours. Apparently Plato said 'Time is the Moving Image of Eternity' ๐Ÿค” I dont really know what that means tbh but it sounds suitably philosophical. Buddy can tell the time, he wakes me up at pretty much bang on 6am every morning now ready for his breakfast and a walk.

30 days of dawn, day 23. Eco therapeutic landscapes.

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Who we are and what we do

Living Bridge Community Interest Company (CIC)

Based in the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, we are a small collective of experienced therapists and mental health professionals with a passionate belief in the transformative healing power of the โ€˜great outdoorsโ€™. We have created the Living Bridge CIC to be a conduit between nature-based practitioners such as ourselves and people and groups interested in exploring how spending time in the living world can enhance mental health and well being of individuals and communities.

We work with people on a range of activities and workshops designed to enhance connection to the environment and the sense of belonging to place. This can help improve mood, reduce stress, anxiety and loneliness, provide support with bereavement and loss and cultivate greater emotional resilience.

Underpinning everything we do is our desire to provide an experience of the joy of reforging a personal, close and life-time relationship with nature, often lost or sidelined by the pressures of modern day living.