Nature Therapy
SHINRIN YOKU - FOREST BATHING
A GUIDED EXPERIENCE
Nature Therapy Walks
ORIGINS
Nature and Forest Therapy originated from the Japanese Shinrin Yoku or ‘Forest Bathing’. It was formally developed only in the 1980’s when the Japanese realised that their peoples’ health suffered from stress related diseases. The Japanese culture is well known for their appreciation of nature’s beauty and related wellness for their people!
ANCIENT WISDOM
Indigenous people all over the world know how to allow nature to become one’s healer by simply opening up to its many gifts. In our modern civilisations time pressure, constant demands and a lack of quiet, natural places are the main cause for high stress levels.
"Who can ever express the ecstasy of the Woods?"
-Ludwig Van Beethoven
To counteract and balance the effects of stress, true nature connection provides the purest and deepest source of wellness.
Nature connection happens by opening up to the senses rather than entertaining the mind.
Through various invitations to experience the world through our five senses, we also begin to further develop seven more senses.
In our modern civilisation, constant demands, time pressures and digital entanglements are the main causes of high stress levels as well as the lack of quiet and natural places to slow down in.
Seven Senses More
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Proprioception (felt body sense)
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Interoception (awareness of body needs)
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Mirror sense
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Intuition and body radar
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Feeling (heart sense)
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Subtle energy sense
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Imaginal sense
Activated
When our senses are switched on and the mind quieted, we can receive what nature has to offer according to our needs.
Since the ill-effects of our technological era have become obvious, our modern world begins to acknowledge the essential need of humans for direct nature connection.
BENEFITS OF FOREST BATHING
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Reduces stress
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Lowers cortisol levels, improves sleep and mood
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Lowers blood pressure thus benefits the heart
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Increases memory and concentration
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Enhances intuition and creativity
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Increases sensory perception, expanding awareness and allowing for full enjoyment of life’s simple pleasures
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Opening up to ones ‘personal medicine’, one’s vocation or calling
Many trees give off organic compounds called phytoncides which support our NK cells (natural killer) that are a type of white blood cell and part of the immune system to fight diseases (even cancer) and infections.
Upcoming Walks
We are in the process of setting dates for summer and autumn 2021. Please send us an email if you'd like to be informed when we get the schedule set!
** If you are interested in bringing a group together for a Nature Therapy experience, please send us an email to discuss! **
What’s Involved?
Your Certified Guide
Nature Therapy Walks are lead by Marion Edler-Burke who is a certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide. Marion gained certification with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapists, the world leader in nature and forest therapy guide training. Marion was a presenter at the BurrenBeo Trust Landscape Symposium March 2017.
The Satoyama Zone
On a Nature Therapy walk we guide participants into the ‘Satoyama Zone,’ which is the Japanese term to describe that zone between the tamed and the wild world, a safe place to open more fully to the restorative and healing relationships of nature accessed through the pleasures of our senses.
Invitations from Nature
Every walk begins with practices to open and stimulate sensory perception, which we call ‘Pleasures of Presence’.
Then the guide offers the participants a sequence of ‘Invitations’ (various ways to experience and interact with the natural world) to find that deep nature connection. Entering the liminal time and space, or the ‘place between’ we can get in touch with our wild indigenous soul, allowing understanding and learning from non-ordinary experiences.
Between the various ‘Invitations,’ the ‘Council Rounds’ allow for sharing of experiences.
Tea Ceremony
Every walk finishes with a ‘Tea Ceremony’ out in Nature, with greens picked on the walk. A time to reflect and integrate the experiences while slowly coming back into the ordinary tamed world, refreshed, strengthened and inspired.
DEEPER PERCEPTION
Why a Guided Walk?
Trained Nature Therapy Guide
Nature and Forest Therapy Guides are trained to facilitate and help the walker to access a deeper experience of nature than most people will allow themselves to go into when simply going for a walk, even if in pristine landscapes. It is typical for most people to remain in the mental and emotional patterns of their daily life, even in nature.
Guides use techniques and approaches to Nature Connection that invite their fellow walkers to experience for themselves the many gifts of Nature that present in the here and now.
This leads to enhanced perceptions which expand beyond the edges of the typical experience of life and thus offering new perspectives and insights.
Beyond Normal Perception
Your guide will invite you to experience nature in ways that release restrictions to sense perception, and encourage you to perceive with additional senses, such as intuition, imagination and body radar, that for many of us in the modern world remain forgotten, under utilised and are potentially uncomfortable.
Discomfort can be related to lack of familiarity with nature, fear of nature, lack of respect for nature, personal fears and perhaps unwillingness to slow down and step into the more peaceful and restorative flow of nature.
This can usually be resolved with gentle perseverance of focusing on the multitude of pleasurable experiences that sensory perception can provide.
“These approaches rely little upon fact giving and explanation. Instead they cultivate curiosity, direct experience, and close observation.”
Amos Clifford – Founder of Association of Nature and Forest Therapists.
NATURE CONNECTION
Perfect Place and Setting
Your Guide - Marion Edler-Burke
Marion is a certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide. Marion trained with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapists, and also hosted the organisation for their first training program outside of the Americas, at Crann Og. Also a Yoga, Meditation and Forest School instructor, Marion conducts regular classes in all these educational streams and brings experience from these other disciplines into her Nature Therapy work.
Crann Og Eco Farm
The ecofarm is ideal for connecting with nature, with it’s 14 acres of hobby ecofarm combined with organic veggie gardens, herb gardens, wild forest gardens and orchards. There are sweeping living willow features and fedges, a beautiful pond area and lots of animals. Marion and Flor have previously hosted ecotourism and wellness events at Crann Og and are now focused on community building and sustainable living.
Special Area of Conservation
Crann Og borders the Drummin Woods, a Special Area of Conservation managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Drummin is a rare pristine oak woodland in Ireland, retaining much of it’s original biodiversity. Marion and Flor act as stewards of the woodland with fellow neighbours. NPWS have granted approval for conducting Nature Therapy Walks and Forest School classes in designated areas of the woodland.
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