
KATE BAST | nature + forest therapy guide | writer + editor
shinrin-yoku madison
TREE TONIC for BODY MIND SPIRIT
May & June 2023 Schedule
DATES Late May TBA: Walks for Nurses: Health and Wholeness with Nature. Celebrating Nurses during National Nurses Month.
May 18-19: International Forum on Consciousness: Nature, Earth and Humanity - The Evolution of Connection
Madison WI. Registration required.
May 19: Madison College Professional Development Day. Private.
May 21: Wisconsin Natural Resources Foundation Field Trip #58. Forest Bathing & Foraging. Pheasant Branch Conservancy, Middleton. Advanced Registration & Memership Required through WI NRF.
June 2: Wedding Party Walk. Private.
June 3-4: Hemophilia Foundation Wellbeing Retreat for families. Collaboration with Hike & Heal Wellness of Madison and Shinrin-Yoku Madison. Contact the Hemophilia Foundation for more information.
JUNE TBA: Walks open to the public.
Any Time! Private walks, retreats, speaking. Contact Kate to schedule.
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forest bathing + nature connection
What is Shinrin-yoku? In Japanese it means "forest bathing," or immersing oneself in the atmosphere of nature. The Japanese coined the term in the 1980s, but really, going to the land is an ancient practice embraced by cultures throughout history for healing and insights.
It is not a hike (no cardio!). Nor is it a naturalist walk filled with facts and data, nor psychological therapy nor even mindfulness.
It is meditative. It is a slowing down and experiential noticing, your senses fully activated to drop you into a state of just beingness.
Time in nature increases our creativity and focus, and softens rumination, anxiety and depression.
It is also healing, with plentiful evidence-based research documenting the positive health benefits: lowered pulse rate and blood pressure, decreased stress hormones, increased Natural Killer cell response, improved immune function—and more.
The positive effects last several days.
The forest is the therapist. Nature provides the medicine each of us needs. The guide opens the door.
"We need the tonic of wildness. ...We can have never enough of nature."—Henry David Thoreau
I will guide you on a
Shinrin-yoku walk to find
the calm + the balm,
the meaning + the connection
with Nature—and yourself.