Embodiment for Forest Therapy Guides - Self Paced

Who is this Course For?

This course is open to any Forest Therapy Guide that wants to explore embodiment and movement as a resource for presence and authenticity and how to bring these tools effectively to our guiding practice.

Forest Therapy Guides in Training: that are wanting to develop an embodiment practice in support of their learning journey to become Forest Therapy guides. This course will provide tools and resources to navigate the Forest Therapy Guide Training with presence and embodied resilience.

Certified Forest Therapy Guides: seeking to deepen their embodiment practice as part of their professional development as Forest Therapy Guides. Learn and experience new embodiment tools and embodied resources that will support presence and awareness for guiding and for life.

Trainers, Apprentice Trainers and Mentors of Guides: that are wanting to deepen their own journey with embodiment and explore embodied resources and tools to support their work as facilitators and their own guiding practice.

Explore and Discover Embodied Resources to Support your work as a Guide: (Video) 

 



What is Included in this Experiential Self-Paced Course:

  • Video Guided Embodiment Explorations: Each module includes an introductory video to the course and a series of guided movement exploration videos that will support your own movement practice and deepening exploration with embodiment.

  • Audio Guided Invitations: Each module offers audio invitations to bring the embodiment explorations outside into the More than Human World to support integration of the embodiment practices within the context of Forest Therapy.

  • Explorations: A series of invitations and explorations to support your home practice of the embodied resources discovered in the experiential lesson.

  • Theoretical Framework Modules: Each module includes a written chapter that supports the cognitive learning and understanding of the content offered in the experiential lessons.

  • Monthly Live Calls - These calls will serve to bring together all guides that are taking the course, wherever they may be in the course, to create a field of practice, witnessing and listening to each other. It will be a space where live embodiment practices will be offered as well. We aim to build a community of guides with a shared interest in embodiment.


What You Will Learn:

This course is an experiential journey to discover and practice embodied resources for presence and awareness: 

  • Movement practices and explorations offering a non-cognitive experience of the body and the present moment.
  • Three fundamental orientations for presence: Earth, Space, and Breath
  • How different anatomical body systems offer different qualities and resources for each element of the Standard Sequence and for Life.
  • Embodied and authentic creation of a field of presence that supports your guiding.
  • Embodied communication.


This 11 Module Course Covers:

  • Introduction to the Course
  • Establishing Nowness
  • Breath of Life and Reciprocity
  • Embodied Perception of Wholeness
  • Alignment and Clarity and the Introduction to a Forest Therapy Walk
  • Sensory Perception of the World and POP
  • Yielding and WIM
  • Embodied Play and Resources for Vitality and Partnership Invitations
  • Embodied Listening and the Art of Witnessing
  • Tone and Fluidity - Edges and Headroom
  • Authentic Embodied Communication
  • Integration and Tea

 

About Embodiment and Forest Therapy

 

Our bodies are present from the moment we draw our first breath to the moment we draw the last one. As we develop and grow from babies into adults we become conditioned and progressively loose our embodied sense of presence and beingness. We learn how to interpret ourselves and the body through the lens of our cognitive and rational minds moving away from the language of the body that is simply the non-cognitive language of movement. 

 

The Forest exists in the present moment. One of the crucial aspects of being a guide is to attune to this frequency of the forest, in each moment, so as to be able to “open the doors” for the forest to be able to be seen and experienced by participants in this present moment. Another important aspect of our work as guides is to understand and practice Way of the Guide. By becoming more aware of our bodies and how to consciously develop resources for presence and witnessing, we are able to have more clarity on what it is that we need to be aware of to remain in Way of the Guide.

 

In this 11-module course, we will go on an experiential journey of embodiment and movement exploring different body systems and the resources they offer for our journey in life and as Forest Therapy Guides. Each module of the course relates to the Standard Sequence and to different key elements of being a guide like Way of the Guide, Language of Invitation, Deep Listening and Edges and Headroom.


FAQ

  • How much time should I expect to put in to this experience?

    The embodiment journey is unique and unfolding and will be different for everyone. The more time and space you dedicate to your embodiment practice, the more you build vocabulary and resilience in the somatic language and expression of your body. The course is self-paced and there will be a 1h30min live session every month for group practice and witnessing and sharing independently of where you might be in the course.

  • Do I have to be a Forest Therapy Guide to take this course?

    Yes. Certified Guide or in Training. This course is designed around the ANFT Standard Sequence of a Forest Therapy Walk.

  • Do I have to attend all the calls?

    You do not have to attend all the live sessions. They are intended to build community around embodiment for forest therapy guides and they are a space for sharing and witnessing.

  • What do I need to participate in the live calls

    All the live sessions will be guided movement explorations. We strongly recommend that you create a space at home that is comfortable for you to move freely around the space and on the floor. You might consider the following: - Create a comfortable space where you can move freely around the room and on the floor. - Having a yoga mat, blankets and pillows and any other props you need for comfort. - Drawing materials that include A3 blank drawing paper and any colouring materials that you lie to work with like crayons, pencils and colouring markers. - A journal - Water bottle and any other drinks like warm tea. - Speaker or sound system to connect to your computer or digital device through which you will connect to the live session

What Guides are Saying about this Course

Elisabeth Wahlgren

It will deepen your understanding of what the "bodyfulness" experience of FT is and what it feels like. You will get a lot more headroom around this. You will have fun and have heartwarming connection with other FT guides. Your body will love it, and you might even love your body more.

Ken Macleod

If you wish to enrich and deepen your personal experience of forest therapy enabling you to be more fully present for the guiding of others, to understand more of the science and anatomy of the body, it's woven relationship with the MTHW, this is the course to take. It's personal enrichment for you will radiate to others.

Nadine Mazzola

This is a great course/workshop to connect with, deepen in, and build headroom in being authentically embodied while guiding. The methods also support ways to connect with ourselves when we meet challenging situations or we encounter our own nerves. And, it was just plane fun and well as opened new doorways to sensing my own embodiment.

Monika Stelzl

This course helped me to deepen my skills and practice as a guide. It also facilitated joyful and creative exploration of the connection within my body and with the forest. Geeta and Stana are perfect to teach this course!

Lori Rynke

The possibilities for experiencing peace, joy and healing increase exponentially with embodiment. You, your clients, your family and friends will all benefit if you take this course.

Jean Hammond

This is a personal practise that will deepen access to the animal body , your body , bringing alive exquisite moments to your partIcipants.

Anne Kristin

I would say that it is a great deepening course, which will certainly improve my practice, and which made me see things in the nature and forest therapy more clearly and more practical.

Tom Larkin

Be open and be prepared to deepen the FT experience therapy process

Shelley

Being in touch with your body lends support to your practice and can help you when you encounter edges.

Instructors

Mentor, Trainer

Geeta Stilwell

Geeta is a certified Forest Therapy Guide based in Portugal and the founder of the company Renature where she creates and facilitates restorative programs that promote wellbeing and health through Forest Therapy, nature connection practices, clean eating and self-care. She works all over the world with various populations that range from the general public, corporate senior and junior teams, schools, families, mental health populations and individuals recovering from situations of excess stress and resulting depression and anxiety. Her passion is to bring human beings back to nature and support the reconnection to the restorative potency of the natural world. She is trained in Forest Therapy, Embodied Mindfulness and Conscious Resting, Council and Active Meditation Techniques, and in the field of Healthcare as a Pharmacist. She holds a Masters in Business Management and is fluent in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.

Mentor, Trainer

Stana Luxford Oddie

Stana is an certified ANFT Guide (cohort 6, 2016) and Trainer (2018) based in Canada. She is now in her twenty-third year as the Senior Conservation Educator for Cataraqui Conservation. Inspired by Earth Education, 8 Shields - Coyote's Guide to Nature Connection, the Forest Schools movement, and all the beings she has met, Stana facilitates and holds space for all ages, to experience nature connection that touch the head, heart and hands. Through Cataraqui Conservation, Stana guides in-person and remotely guided Forest Therapy Walks for private and public organizations, as well as offering guided Forest Therapy experiences to elementary and secondary school aged children and youth. Cataraqui Conservation was the first conservation authority in Ontario to offer Forest Therapy. Stana received her BA from the University of Waterloo in 1998, in the Applied Studies Co-op program with extensive outdoor and environmental education, English as a Second Language and Camp experience during co-op placements. She completed her degree at Waterloo with an Honours in History and teachable subjects in English and Geography. She is a certified OCT teacher with additional qualifications for exceptional students. Stana earned her Bachelor of Education from Queen's University in 1999 from the Outdoor and Experiential Education Program. Stana spends much of her time out on the land, most often accompanied by her dog and sometimes the company of her son, partner, mother and friends. Her work related to Forest Therapy and her growing mindfulness and embodiment practices continue to open her heart and deepen her relationship with all Beings.

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