Faith communities

Many of my clients are faith communities. Wild Path Forest Therapy walks are employed in clergy retreats, church youth events, religious conference group development, and campus interfaith cohorts as well as more explicitly secular spaces.

For people who participate in organized worship and grew up being taught different ways of being in relationship with God there is powerful resonance between the experience of a forest therapy walk and other spiritual disciplines. One Wild Path participant wrote of their Forest Therapy walk:

“IT IS GOOD FOR YOUR SOUL”

And another evaluator, asked what they would say to others about the experience, wrote:

“…I believe you will be blessed in the process”

So it was an easy "yes" when my certifying organization, the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy, asked me to be a panelist for a professional network call about faith and forest therapy last weekend.

A rabbi from Idaho and a member of the United Church of Canada in Ottowa joined as well. Hearing how this practice, whose origins are in nature-centric Shinto-infused Japan, can be thoroughly-woven in the annual cycle of a synagogue's sacred days and in communities of Canadian spiritual seekers affirmed my own use of it in church confirmation classes and adult discipleship.

When the client asks for it I've even got an extra content piece connecting Christian scripture and John Wesley's articulation of grace to elements of the walk, helping us understand how this mindful way of being outdoors can be an authentic part of religious practice well outside Shintoism.

The practice of Forest Therapy does not have to be spiritual or religious. You don't need a doctrine. You aren't expected to affirm or reject any particular belief system to experience the benefits of nature connection and strengthened relationship with the more-than-human world.

But I do believe Forest Therapy's potential for transformation is augmented when participants bring their whole selves - including their spiritual sides - into the woods with them.

Other participants wrote about their own experiences of a Wild Path Forest Therapy Walk:

“I WAS EXPECTING A SIMPLE OUTDOOR MEDITATIVE SESSION BUT THIS WAS MUCH MORE MEANINGFUL”

“I FEEL INCREDIBLY PEACEFUL AND LIGHTER”

Is your faith community looking for a new way to strengthen relationship with the Creator by paying more attention to creation? Are you exploring different spiritual disciplines? We offer a discount off our normal prices on Wild Path Forest Therapy Walks to ministry-oriented groups. By doing so we hope more people can experience the awe and wonder that can nourish a soul.

Feel free to reach out.