As 2024 comes to an end we talk about the reciprocal nature of our practise and showing people how they can connect with nature on their doorstep in accessible places – so they can go back easily and form lasting connections. We talk about guiding shorter sessions and still helping people find that connection in the best way for them.

Note: We are joined by Newt the aged Greyhound and our foster pup Quinn during this one, so we do get a bit distracted for a moment by dogs!

“The beauty about forest therapy, is it is a way for people to be sociable without having that pressure of being sociable.” Cath

“Attention is love.” Moose

Cath and Highland Quietlife can be found on www.highlandquietlife.co.uk and guides within the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. Moose can be found in BC, on Vancouver Island.

Music by Orangery from Pixabay.

When are guiding we aim to have 'one foot in and one foot out', meaning that we are able to benefit from the session along with our guests, but that we also need to keep our awareness' to ensure we look after the group and remain the guide. It can be a tricky line to keep sometimes and we talk more here about how we deal with being vulnerable in front of guests and remaining professional.

We've both been busy guiding recently and for different types of people; work colleagues, research groups, fabulous combos with Forest Bathing and Pilates and so much more! It was great to catch up with the Moose and share our recent experiences.

Cath and Highland Quietlife can be found on www.highlandquietlife.co.uk and guides within the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. Moose can be found in BC, on Vancouver Island.

Music by Orangery from Pixabay.

This is the start of a series of episodes focusing on specific areas that are important to us as guides. Our first one the importance of safe spaces and vulnerability.

Why?
Quite simply because we've spent too many years being judged by others and not feeling comfortable in certain settings. Species survive by having ‘tending’ relationships with other species; we look after, or out for each other. If we don’t receive this from the people around us, we start to feel sad, defensive, left out of things, different to others, unliked, confused….the list goes on.

This is an area we have to be acutely aware of as Forest Therapy Guides and was a really important one for us to discuss.

As always, please reach out with feedback and enjoy.

Cath and Highland Quietlife can be found on www.highlandquietlife.co.uk and guides within the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. Moose can be found in BC, on Vancouver Island www.sitkaforestimmersion.com

Music by Orangery from Pixabay.

We start with a rather profound realisation – I caught up with Moose late on a Sunday night after a drive home and during the drive I started to believe “I am enough”. Conversations earlier in the evening had got me thinking about ‘how do we know things are just good enough as they are’ and ‘how do we know when to just leave things alone and not try to change or improve’? This then led me down the rabbit-hole of realising in the last 18 months I’ve managed to shed that feeling that “I’m just not that good enough”…and most of the time I believe it.

The Highland Quietlife monthly community forest bathing group in Grantown on Spey is well-established now and we talk about the importance of having that safe space to be vulnerable and heal. There is real value in meeting with the same people regularly to experience nature together. Spending time in silence but not on your own – really powerful.

Why do we automatically hide our emotions? At a recent session someone pointed out that most people had experienced some sort of emotion and quickly wiped their eyes before coming back to the group – it’s ok to show are emotions right, we need to normalise it? Fondly remembering our ANFT Guide training back in January 2020 and the overwhelming emotion we both experienced that week – we had to find that breaking point to be able to fully give ourselves to the trees and find belief in the practise we were learning.

One of my reasons for training with the ANFT was due to their focus on the reciprocal nature of our practise in that we need to look after the land and the land looks after us, but also focus on who has been on the land before us. I’ve always had a fascination with history, those who came before us and learning about who has been on the land before me is a magical part of the journey for me during a forest bathing session. The areas I guide in are rich in Jacobite history and during the silence of a session you can hear the folks from old around us for sure.

Beautiful.

Cath and Highland Quietlife can be found on www.highlandquietlife.co.uk and guides within the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. Moose can be found in BC, on Vancouver Island www.sitkaforestimmersion.com

Music by Orangery from Pixabay.

We are back!

It was fantastic to sit down with Moose again and blether about forest bathing. In this episode we catch up on what we've both been up too but also talk about forest bathing with children (including digging for dinosaurs); ecoanxiety in the younger generation and how forest bathing can help; health equity and removing barriers and also the importance of letting go of any egos as a guide.

We also talk a lot about our new community forest bathing group in the Cairngorms. We meet on the first Sunday of the month in Grantown on Spey and see several people coming via the Green Health Prescriptions in Badenoch and Strathspey. Get in touch for more info!

Cath and Highland Quietlife can be found on www.highlandquietlife.co.uk and guides within the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. Moose can be found in BC, on Vancouver Island www.sitkaforestimmersion.com

Music by Orangery from Pixabay.

Join me as I chat with fellow guide, Jeannie during this episode; we recorded this back in December, when she was kind enough to sit down for a blether one winters evening.

Jeannie guides under her company, Woodlands Breathing and is based in West Lothian, Scotland. During our chat we meander through the 'whys' and 'hows' of training to be a Nature and Forest Therapy Guide and current inspirations, making it a great episode if you are considering training or newly qualified. Jeannie has also recently taken part in a research study of the effects of Forest Bathing on Long-COVID, you can read the paper here.

More About Highland Quietlife

Nature heals...sitting, sharing space with nature, admiring beauty or simply playing amongst it...nature is awesome. Welcome to the world of ‘Forest Bathing’.

Forest Bathing, or Shinrin-yoku is the practise of immersing yourself in nature; ‘bathing’ in the awesome goodness that trees release into the atmosphere; reaping the benefits from magic little things called ‘phytoncides’ and receiving mental calmness from the fractal patterns, vibrant shades of green and calming blues around us – what better place to do this than the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland.

Cath and Highland Quietlife can be found at www.highlandquietlife.co.uk and guides within the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland.

The Cold – love it or hate it, for some, there is a fear of the cold or a hatred, for others a beauty of the peace that snow can bring (I'm in that camp). I love guiding sessions in winter and this episode starts with Ana’s first experience of guiding a session in the cold, (podcasting 101 – press record at the very start! So, what started as an anecdotal chat before we really started was actually interesting so it’s part recorded!) You still get the gist though.

I met Ana in January 2020 (before lockdown was a ‘thing’) as we trained with the ANFT to be nature and forest therapy guides. Ana Leilani Ka’ahanui is a Co-Founder and the Director of Experiential Programs with Capital Nature. During this episode we start off in the cold and with discussions including Chris Hemsworth of all things, before we get down to the mission of Capital Nature and the importance of reciprocity.

Ana’s work inspires me to do more great things and to keep growing and developing my own practise – hope you enjoy!

More about Capital Nature:

Capital Nature is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing nature into the lives of Washington Metro area residents and visitors. We are a fiscal 501c3 project of Green Spaces for DC.

We believe people are healthier, and our communities more resilient when nature is part of our lives. We envision a Washington DC region where a culture of nature engagement and stewardship thrives—where daily contact with the natural world supports human wellbeing and ecological health across our communities.

Capital Nature provides information on the region’s many available, but not always known, nature events: from forest walks to citizen science adventures to educational workshops and stewardship projects. We collaborate with partners and friends to create new opportunities for nature engagement, and invite all to share their stories of experience with the natural world.

Through Capital Nature’s Biophilic Practice Group, we develop nature-based designs and strategies for wellbeing and community health.

Useful Links

Capital Nature https://capitalnature.org/

iNaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org/

You can read more about Ana’s nature story in this article. (pages 12-19)

Craigsfarm Community Hub, West Lothian, Scotland http://craigsfarm.org.uk/

Also, if you need a bit of colour in your life check out https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/thedailyrainbow

More About Highland Quietlife

Nature heals...sitting, sharing space with nature, admiring beauty or simply playing amongst it...nature is awesome. Welcome to the world of ‘Forest Bathing’.

Forest Bathing, or Shinrin-yoku is the practise of immersing yourself in nature; ‘bathing’ in the awesome goodness that trees release into the atmosphere; reaping the benefits from magic little things called ‘phytoncides’ and receiving mental calmness from the fractal patterns, vibrant shades of green and calming blues around us – what better place to do this than the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland.

Cath and Highland Quietlife can be found on www.highlandquietlife.co.uk and guides within the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland.

The Podcast is back!….well kind of……but I need your help – and I’m not very good at asking for help.

Give episode #21 a listen, it’s a hard one, not because there is anything especially upsetting but because I am incredibly self-conscious about how my voice sounds at the moment. I’ve tried to keep it short but have tried to explain where the podcast has gone over the past months.

For all my 42 years of life, I have always relied on my voice and being able to blether to people, laugh and talk about stuff when it needs to be. As much as I try to write things rather than speak, (I am one of those people who has a book in them somewhere), I am just much better at speaking and talking it through, over the last few months that has been taken away from me and my head is now at the point of bursting with things I have to say!

This podcast needs to get back on track and at the moment I need you to help me with that, as I cannot expect anyone to listen to my croaky awful voice alone! The only way I’ve been able to talk for these 7 minutes or so for this episode, is force my voice and I’ll pay for it tomorrow I’m sure.

Give it a listen and if you feel inclined get involved and give me a shout to talk about your own nature experiences. You’ve maybe been on a session with me in the past, you are maybe a guide with your own practise or just quite simply, you want to talk about nature…. Please get in touch and lets see if we can make something work.

More About Highland Quietlife

Nature heals...sitting, sharing space with nature, admiring beauty or simply playing amongst it...nature is awesome. Welcome to the world of ‘Forest Bathing’.

Forest Bathing, or Shinrin-yoku is the practise of immersing yourself in nature; ‘bathing’ in the awesome goodness that trees release into the atmosphere; reaping the benefits from magic little things called ‘phytoncides’ and receiving mental calmness from the fractal patterns, vibrant shades of green and calming blues around us – what better place to do this than the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland.

Cath and Highland Quietlife can be found on www.highlandquietlife.co.uk and guides within the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. Moose can be found in BC, on Vancouver Island www.sitkaforestimmersion.com