Nature Connected: Virtual Forest Bathing

Heart-based Relational Forest Therapy™ focuses on rebuilding relationships with the More-Than-Human World as a foundation for healing people and planet. We start with a 20 minute guided meditation and then continue with sensory invitations. A full Forest Therapy session is 2-3 hours, yet in 60 minutes we may remember who we are in the web of interbeing. You pick a park, yard, or houseplant to rest attention on while being guided on your phone or tablet.

“Forest Therapy is inspired by the Japanese practice of Shinrin-Yoku, which translates to 'forest bathing.' Forest Therapy is a research-based framework for supporting healing and wellness through immersion in forests and other natural environments. Studies have demonstrated a wide array of health benefits, especially in the cardiovascular and immune systems, and for stabilizing and improving mood and cognition. We build on those benefits and look beyond, to what happens when people remember that we are a part of nature, not separate from it, and are related to all other beings in fundamental ways.”~Association of Nature and Forest Therapy. See the research at: https://anft.earth/research/

Shannon Gorres, MDiv, MA, is a certified nature and forest therapy guide with ANFT.  She has led hundreds of folks in discovering the beauty of their internal and external landscapes and in experiencing their healing connections. In counseling, she supports stressed and struggling individuals into an integrative and loving relationship with themselves and the world, for a greater sense of worth, fulfillment, and belonging. She offers embodied spiritual practices, guided meditation and imagery, nervous system science and trauma-healing techniques.  A mother, poet, and queer, she is deeply embracing a hurting world and mending the ruptures that deter us from knowing divine love.  Learn more at DivineNatureTherapy.com