It is simply spending time in nature and connecting with it through all of your five senses. Wellbeing walks do not have to take place in a forest, any green space will do. We all know how being in the natural world makes us feel good, whether that is a city park or a National Park. This is because humans evolved in nature, we are genetically determined to spend time and love being outdoors. But over the last couple of centuries humans have lost touch with nature and our natural senses. In Britain, we spend an average of 8 hours 41 minutes on electronic devices and 90% of our time indoors. Contact with nature is a vital part for our health, happiness and wellbeing, and just as when we are connected with nature, our health improves, when we are separated from it, our health suffers. A forest bathing session will help you unplug from technology and slow down, bringing you into the here and now through practicing mindfulness, de-stressing and relaxing you. As soon as you open your senses, you begin to connect to the natural world. Forest bathing and spending time in nature has been scientifically proven to reduce blood pressure, lower stress, lower blood sugar levels, improve concentration and memory, ease depression and anxiety, increase energy, boost the immune system and help with weight loss. Some of these benefits can last for up to a month after a single forest bathing session. Having a qualified Nature Therapy Guide with you is a great way to fully experience the process and understand how to do it by yourself. A guide can help you slow down, connect with nature, feel more comfortable in the natural world and find practices that suit you. Let the guide provide the framework to rewild your senses, while nature does the therapeutic work.
“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order” – John Burroughs (1837 – 1921)
If you choose Connect with Nature your senses for your wellbeing walk, Joss will be your Nature Therapy Guide. Joss is a qualified Forest Bathing Practitioner and has a BSc (Hons) in Zoology. Joss has always been passionate about the natural world and believes that only a genuine love of the natural world, inspired through connection, will give us the desire to care for it and protect it. When Joss leads the sessions, she has public liability insured, has training in Outdoor First Aid, Mental Health First Aid and Safeguarding, and has additional certifications, including: Nature Connectedness: For a new relationship with nature from the University of Derby, Walk Leadership Foundation course from Ramblers, walking for health and Tracks and Signs from the Fields Studies Council.
