Like yoga, forest bathing can be considered a ‘practice’, which after having learned the basics, you can do on your own. Practicing it initially with a certified forest bathing guide, you will learn the intentional flow and sequence, truly slow down your pace and keep your mind in the present.
Forest bathing guides are trained to enhance sensory perception, facilitating connection with place, body, nature and the more-than-human world. This is what we can call ‘opening the doors’. The forest bathing guide is trained to slow people down, help them turn off the stream of habitual thinking and establish embodied contact with the present moment. They work in partnership with Nature and also have a function of supportive witness, enabling participants to experience whatever the natural environment has to offer to them at the moment, without interfering and disturbing this process. A forest bathing guide is trained to provide the open, non-judgemental space for people to share and connect with one another, as well as with the natural world.
Forest bathing guides will know the local area and conditions very well and set out a trail that matches the goals of forest bathing and would fit the chosen invitations to open the senses.
Finally, like yoga, when doing it with a group of like-minded people to share your experiences and connect with, your forest bathing experience can be much more fun!
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better” (Albert Einstein).
stillnessnature.com 