“Forest bathing allows us to connect with ourselves and with other people in a more authentic way, a heart-based way. We are open to others and to ourselves. That’s one of the basic solutions to so many problems right now. The way in which we treat the earth and the environment, conflicts everywhere in the world, big conflict, family conflict or internal conflict. To me, it’s really one of the main keys.” This Inside Forest Bathing conversation features Dr. Valérie Duliere, Belgian scientist and forest bathing guide at Sharing Yoku. She offers nature walks in Brussels and its surroundings, and also 24-hours forest bathing retreats. Valérie: “Forest bathing allows us to connect to our true self, to our environment. To stop and be present, and be able to see what’s going on, right here, right now. We have so many distractions these days. There is always something super important or urgent to do. I am not sure how yet, but I have the feeling that the scientific work with its connection to the brain, and my forest bathing work with its connection to the heart are going to connect in some way.”
Interview by Marjolein C. Groot
We first met in the month of May, in a lush garden with old trees, birds and beautiful flowers, belonging to one of those old, charming Sintra estates, overlooking a green valley. One of the stories she shared with my fellow forest bathing guides and me – all in Portugal to conclude our forest therapy guide training programme – was about a guided walk into nature with refugees. Quickly, I realized Valérie was one of those forest bathing guides with a story to share, and I am very happy to include her in this series.
This time, I meet her via a video call on a Saturday morning in November. Behind her back I notice a soft green curtain with white Japanese branches of a tree on it, half closed, offering a glimpse of her Brussels-garden with trees and wild plants. In about an hour, she will join her favo gymnastics class. Valérie : “The participants are all in their 60-ies and up. It’s super inspiring to train with them, they are trying to stay really fit.”
Deep connection between everything
Valérie has always been attracted to ecosystems, wanting to connect with what was around her, realizing there is a deep connection between everything. Valerie: “For a long time, while working as a scientist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels trying to understand how ecosystems work, and studying all kinds of pollution and also solutions to climate change, my connection with nature happened mostly from the scientific, Cartesian corner.” However, one day biking on her way to work, while Valérie went through “one of those difficult moments in life”, she made a little detour, and included the Parc du Cinquantenaire in her ride. Suddenly, Valerie realized why she was doing those additional park rides during these moments: she noticed she felt much better!
Valérie: “I was very puzzled, and surprised, because it was something that I had never thought of or expected.” She laughs. “From that moment on, every morning, or evening, I would pass by the park and would pay increased attention, and I really had this feeling that by spending time there, it was balancing my emotions. When I was feeling bad, I would just spend five minutes in the park and breathe, and I could really feel the difference. In the densely populated Belgian capital city Brussels, with all the traffic and pollution, I think the contrast with being in the park or in the busy city environment was even bigger.”
Nature-time to balance emotions
Valérie recalls a day that she received good news at her work. She went to the park, spent some time there, and realized being in nature also calmed her down. Valérie laughs: “The news I received was really good, but not something to be so full of.” Spending time in nature was really balancing her emotions. “My scientific mind said that nobody had ever told me about this, and I wondered what was going on here, was I becoming a bit mad?” Valérie confesses she did not really dare to talk about it to anyone yet. She adds with a smile: “They must have thought I was becoming crazy.”
This is for me
Intrigued to find out more, Valérie started to research the topic online, and found information about shinrin-yoku (Japanese for ‘forest bathing’). She bought her first book, and realized the practice and its effects were matching her own intuitive discovery. Valérie: “I started to touch trees as well and could really feel what making this physical connection did to my well-being. When I read that people made a practice from shinrin-yoku, and that scientific research shows that connecting with nature has a strong effect on your overall well-being, I thought: ‘This is for me.’ I felt more at peace.” She smiles.
Inspiration for so many aspects of life
Forest bathing provided Valérie with a way to get some peace of mind and inspiration for so many aspects of her life. A place to recharge, to regenerate, to see problems and situations clearer. Valérie: “Right now, a close family member is not very well, and I can go and spend time with her, knowing I just go to the forest to help me re-balance my emotions again. Re-find stability. It is everything, really everything.” Once a week, Valérie visits Forêt de Soignes for her solo forest bathing practice. “Parks are quite busy here in Brussels. But in 20-25 minutes, I can reach a quiet forest by car.”
It took Valérie a few years to actually train to become a certified forest bathing guide with the Association for Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programmes (ANFT), and start taking participants on walks into nature, now four years ago. “I read the book ‘Your guide to forest bathing: Experience the healing power of nature’ written by its founder M. Amos Clifford. Its content was really vibrating in me.”
The forest had my back
On her first guided walk, Valérie was still recovering from a burn-out. “I was extremely nervous, not sure if I could actually handle a whole group of people who didn’t know each other. But it was a beautiful walk. Just magical. The forest had my back.” More walks followed. She started realizing that in fact, the forest always knows what her walk participants need. “It’s there for the people, it opens them up and makes space for things or feelings to come, or whatever they need.”
Recommendation to go into nature
Many people just join her forest bathing sessions out of curiosity, or because they feel a calling. Valérie: “During my burn-out, my doctor recommended that I should go into nature, but not specifically how.” She laughs. “Forest bathing is not very well-known in the French speaking part of Belgium yet. It is not considered as something to practice on a regular basis either. But we will get there. I will get there.”
Valérie now offers forest bathing walks in Woluwe Park in Brussels. “There’s an amazing giant sequoia there, and it’s accessible by public transport.” Further, she offers walks in the forest of the arboretum of Tervuren. “The trees are grouped by forest type, and I have a strong bond to North-America, so that’s where I guide my walks. I really enjoy that part.”
Basic solution to so many problems
The main reason for Valérie to offer forest bathing walks is that she feels a calling from the heart to do it. Valérie: “I feel it’s good for me, and by sharing it, I can continue practicing. Forest bathing allows us to connect to our true self, to our environment. To stop and be present, and be able to see what’s going on, right here right now. We have so many distractions these days, and there are so many super urgent other important things to do.”
She ponders that sometimes, forest bathing is also a way to escape reality, a safe bubble where you can be in the moment in a place. This allows us to connect with ourselves and also with other people in a more authentic, heart-based way. Valerie: “We are open to the other and to ourselves. According to me, that’s one of the basic solutions to so many problems right now. The way in which we treat the earth and the environment, conflicts everywhere in the world, big conflict or family conflict.” She laughs and adds: “Or so many internal conflicts. To me, it’s really one of the main keys.”
The forest gives you exactly what you need
When I ask Valérie if she notices any effects of the walks on her participants or herself, she laughs. “I think I can give you hundreds of examples.” She stresses that the main thing is that everyone receives what they need at that moment. “This is true for me, too. From re-balancing my emotions such as super happy ones, or helping me to overcome feelings of grief. To allow me to feel emotions that I was blocking.” She notices the participants of her walks becoming more relaxed, at peace, and nourished. Valérie: “I see them feel safe in the group. To be themselves without any judgement, and express themselves. People don’t experience this easily anymore.”
Super grateful
Valérie recalls a girl on one of her walks who was actively participating in the activities, but didn’t say much during the sharing circles, not truly taking part in the group. “It rained a lot that day, and at the end it rained again, so I drove her back to the tram stop. She finally opened up and told me she had felt really bad the whole week, and had cried so much. She said she now understands tears, they are like rain, so afterwards something can grow.” Valérie felt amazed. “The forest gave her just what she needed.” Another time, she had a participant that was about to get retired. He told her the forest gave him so many insights on what to give up and what to do next. Valérie smiles. “It really fills my heart. I feel super grateful to be able to witness that.”
24-hours forest bath
With her fellow forest bathing guide and friend Donatienne de Borman, Valérie organises 24-hours forest bathing immersions. In the Arendonk region, near Turnhout and the Dutch border, they host the retreat on a large private piece of land. Valérie: “It has a big lake, surrounded by woods and fields, and a house to stay-over for the night. Participants could also opt to spend the night in a hammock, or tent. We can go on long forest bathing walks, and make a campfire. There’s no wifi and little phone network, which is very uncommon in Belgium. We are so lucky to have this.”
The first time they organised the retreat, it had been pouring rain, and the ten participants were soaked until their underwear. Most people chose to sleep in the house. The next time, in Autumn, most participants slept outside in nature, in tents. Valérie: “Everything is possible. Depending on the circumstances, the weather, or the participants, we can really adjust.” She adds that the cooperation with her colleague forest bathing guide, a grandmother and prison chaplain, works super well. “So smooth and inspiring.”
Forest therapy bachelor parties
For girls, Valérie organizes forest therapy bachelor parties, to celebrate the girl that is getting married. “Maybe, one day, for men also” she adds with a smile. Going into nature for a forest bathing session with your girlfriends and doing sharing circles offers a new and deeper dimension to the friendship. “By celebrating the girl-to-be-married, you also celebrate so many things, right? It’s a beautiful bonding.” Valérie adds that sometimes, the girls want to party and forget about the active listening that is common practice during a forest bathing session. “I have to remind them, and then they open up, and I think this is really nice. Being in a circle, in which they all in turn have the opportunity to share without being interrupted, is often something unusual. This allows us to connect and bond in a deeper way.”
Feeling equal and welcome
Together with a psychologist and an interpreter, Valérie also offered a series of forest bathing walks to refugees. “Amazing” she says. “Usually, participants are a bit more, how to say, privileged people, having food, income and shelter, with concerns about ‘why’ they don’t feel happy, for example in a job. These participants were afraid of not knowing where to sleep the coming week, or to be sent back to a country they do not want to live in anymore. Or feel in danger, have family members that are missing, and sometimes also have the responsibility of a family. Their worries are from a different level, and the forest was able to be there for them.”
Valérie recalls one participant, who told her at the end of the guided walk that for a long time, he had not felt so equal and welcome. “The forest for sure helped us with this.” Others shared with her that they had been in Belgium for some time, and aspired to become more socially immersed in Belgian society, but somehow never managed to. “After the walk they said: I could connect to my roots back home and I could feel that I also have roots here now.” Valérie: “It’s beautiful to notice what a forest bathing walk can bring to them, really. Sometimes they have been going from one country to another, missing their home. To feel they also have roots here in Belgium is a huge relief to them”.
Bringing climate change scientists into nature
Valérie would really like to bring her colleague scientists more into direct contact with nature, too. “I think some of them really need that. They really do.” Especially in her field of work, research on ecosystems, all kinds of pollution and climate change, she says that people have this sensitivity, caring about the environment during their job, and also trying to do what they can to protect the environment in their private life. Valérie: “But in the meantime, when practicing science, you ought to be super objective, trying to provide facts, not letting your emotions decide on the results of your study.”
She pauses for a moment. “It’s a tough balance, you have to separate yourself from your emotions, while working in a field that would make your emotions go through the ceiling. These scientists really would benefit from being more in contact with nature in a different way.”
Valerie says she doesn’t know how yet, but her scientific work and her forest bathing work are going to connect in some way. “To me, it’s the way to go. The heart-based approach from the forest bathing, while also using all the scientific knowledge we have. I think we need both: The connection to the brain and the connection to the heart. I would like to be guided by these two in a smart way.”
Bringing people into nature without disturbing it
Valérie wishes forest bathing to become more known, but at the same time, she doesn’t want it to be too strict and regulated also, without a bit of freedom. She would like the forest to be quiet, without too many visitors, but now she’s bringing people to the forest. Valerie laughs: “A bit of a struggle.” Valérie: “My dream would be to have my own forest, with a little house, where I can host people, and maybe use only one or two parts of the forest and take turns, so the third part would just be for me.” She laughs. “Without anybody there.”
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