“I didn’t come to teach you,
I came to love you
And love will teach you”
Unknown
So, that’s it. I am a certified Nature and Forest therapy guide. What does that mean? Is it just a new line on my CV? Is there something more behind the title.
When I signed up to become a Nature & Forest therapy guide I thought I would get the tools to help people to feel how amazing it is to be and to connect with nature. I will be able to make people understand how great nature is. How naïve I was…
This was one option, the top of the iceberg. Indeed I got those tools. Indeed I do personally feel that to be and connect with nature is amazing. But that’s me. And that is not my job as a guide to force people into nature connection.
I am not a teacher expecting an outcome from my guidance during a forest bath. I do not want to win people over with my believes. I am a door opener offering sensory invitations, letting nature act and help people to approach the process of relationship. Relationship with themselves, relationship to other beings.
This means that I must cultivate love and humility.
This means that I have to trust that each person knows within his/her heart the way to connect.
This means that it is difficult, that I struggle sometimes. Because of course I wish from my heart that people sharing a walk with me will enjoy my guiding, of course I wish them to feel that it is awesome to be in nature, of course I wish them to feel relaxed, energized, at peace.
But Nature and Forest therapy guiding is not about teaching: it is about setting people free; offer them the possibility to find their true selves again.
To read more on what the guide does, why you need a guide and the impacts on participants experience follow the links!