Trainers for this course

Mentor, Trainer

Youmin Yap

Youmin is one of Southeast Asia's pioneer ANFT certified forest therapy guides. She trained with Cohort 18 in 2017 and has since been offering the practice full-time. Together with her professional and academic backgrounds grounded in science and research, she excels in navigating the worlds of logic and quantification, as well as that of the subtler art of wellbeing. Having guided thousands of participants, Youmin has worked on various projects including designing bespoke journeys for global brands, wellness workshops for hotels and spas and MNCs, support programs for community groups etc. Her work has also been shared at various local and international conferences. Youmin founded Forest with You (formerly known as Xiu Nature Connections), an award-winning wellbeing entity based in Singapore. For the innovative and collaborative ways of bringing forest therapy into the urban landscape, the company was conferred the prestigious Singapore Tourism Board Awards: Outstanding Wellness Experience award for 2023 and 2024. As a trainer, Youmin has trained and mentored 16 cohorts of guides from all around the world. One of her greatest joys is supporting and witnessing each individual’s discovery of their unique stories and offering their gifts to the world as they embark on the journey. She is also a qualified educator, a Certified Shinrin-Yoku International Instructor, and is trained in Yoga Nidra, Yoga (200 YTT), Forest Therapy Trail Consultancy and Mindfulness. She holds a Master’s in Science (Life Sciences) and is fluent in English and Mandarin/Chinese. Youmin currently spends time in Singapore and Thailand.

Mentor, Trainer-in-Training

Katarina Čuk

Katarina Cuk Owl is the first certified Forest Therapy Guide in Slovenia, EU, author of the book Our Timeless Nature, Forest Selfness guide and a certified meditation guide. Her Slovene surname Cuk means ‘little owl – athene noctua’ in English. Living really close to nature from childhood, she has always sought comfort, support and inspiration in the forest. A few years after moving to the city as a student of translation sciences, she realized she longs for that deep connection again - to re-connect to her-self. At a major career shift she decided to work in nature, for nature, with nature, got educated in different areas needed, wrote a book about our connection to nature, and started to promote the importance of returning back to nature for support, and helped people do that through workshops, articles and meditation in nature. She joined the team of Forest Selfness green tourism program as a guide in 2014, through it met Amos Clifford in 2016 and immediately knew ANFT is the embodiment of work she feels has to be done in the world. She did her training in Cohort 10 in California in 2017. Currently she combines her work in sustainable tourism and Forest Therapy Guiding.

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