27th August - 1st September 2024 

Sintra - Portugal

This retreat is an incredible opportunity to learn, in person, from Amos Clifford and Geeta Stilwell in the stunning Sintra Natural Park in the Summer of 2024.

Amos Clifford is the founder of the ANFT and the creator of the Embodying the Way of the Guide philosophy of the ANFT way of Relational Forest Therapy. He is the author of the best-selling book Your Guide to Forest Bathing and is currently writing a new book inspired by the archetypal journey of alchemy and pilgrimage. Amos brings decades of profound experience with this work and a sincere inquiry into the mystery of the human heart and the heart of the forest.

Geeta Stilwell is an ANFT Forest Therapy Guide and trainer of guides and brings with her 25 years of experience with somatics and movement work. Embodiment tools have been an absolute anchor for Geeta’s journey with Embodying the Way of the Guide. After facilitating 4 cohorts of the online Embodying the Way of the Guide course, Geeta is now bringing this work to in-person retreats with passion and genuine generosity of sharing the tools that support her on her journey, in life and as a forest therapy guide and trainer of guides.

Who is this Retreat For?

This retreat is open to anyone who wants to explore embodiment tools and movement as a resource for presence and authenticity. It is open to certified forest therapy guides, guides in training and anyone who has a curiosity about forest bathing and nature connection work. Embodying Way of the Guide will open and deepen your understanding of the archetype of the guide and the foundational philosophy of the ANFT way of Relational Forest Therapy. You will learn and practice how to bring these embodiment tools effectively to your guiding practice and into your life. It is a journey to an embodied understanding and exploration of trust in your body, trust in the forest, and trust in the process of Forest Therapy.

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 retreat will provide tools and resources to navigate the Forest Therapy Guide Training with presence and embodied resilience as well as a somatic understanding and practice of The Way of the Guide.

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 and a deepening into the Way of the Guide.

Explore and Discover Embodied Resources to Support your work as a Guide and your journey with Way of the Guide

What is Included in this 5-day residential retreat

Embodiment Practices and Tools for Trust

Trust in the Body: During the retreat, you will be led on a journey of deepening into trust in your own body through different embodiment practices and tools that will support building confidence and presence in showing up authentically, connected, and present in your life and in your work as a guide.

Trust in the Forest: With trust in our body as a resource, we will journey into exploring trust in the forest from an authentic embodied place within ourselves. We will explore the heart sense and build a relationship with the forest through our five external senses, our heart sense, and deep listening.

Trust in the process of Forest Therapy: This will be the last component of our journey where we will integrate the tools gathered in the first days of the retreat and explore how we can deepen our trust in the process of Forest Therapy to embody it authentically and with confidence.

Forest Bathing walks led by Amos Clifford and Geeta Stilwell: During the retreat, there will be multiple opportunities to experience Forest therapy walks guided by Amos and Geeta that will support the integration of the embodiment tools explored and practiced also during the retreat.

Sharing Circles: Every day will create the opportunity for sharing and integration of our experiences through the process of Circle sharing as offered by The Way of Council tradition.

Exploratory Conversations and Labs: Every day we will have the opportunity to inquire and explore the different nuances and layers of the archetype of the guide. What does it mean to be a guide? In life and in our work as nature connection practitioners? What does it mean to allow ourselves to be guided by life, by the forest, by our hearts and intuition?

Personal Time: Every day you will be offered some personal downtime to integrate the explorations of the day. This will be a spacious 5 days where you will have the opportunity to rest and restore as well as learn and explore new practices.

The Venue and Accommodation

The Shanti Space Nature Sanctuary

A beautiful Quinta set in a forest, bordering a national park. Quietly cocooned in nature it neighbors an Iberian wolf sanctuary, the Tapada de Mafra National Park where wild boars, deer, and owls reside.

15 minutes away from the stunning beaches and surf of the picturesque village of Ericeira also known for being a World Surf Reserve.

This secluded and intimate retreat space is a treasure only 40 minutes away from Lisbon airport.

Accommodation and Food for the retreat is paid separately HERE. Please connect with Geeta at [email protected] if you would like a payment plan for accommodation and food.

Tools we will be working with

This course is an experiential journey to discover and practice embodied resources for presence and awareness and fully embodying the Way of the Guide.

• Movement practices and explorations that offer a non-cognitive experience of the body and the present moment.
• Forest Therapy Walks
• Embodying the Way of the Guide
• Embodied communication.
• 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 practice.
• Breathwork
• The Way of Council
• Shadow Work
• Journalling & Expressive Drawing

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 lose 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, 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, practice and embody the Way of the Guide. By becoming more aware of our bodies and how to consciously develop resources for presence and witnessing, we can have more clarity on what it is that we need to be aware of to remain in the Way of the Guide.