Treespeed; forest bathing with Highland Quietlife

As 2024 comes to an end we talk about the reciprocal nature of our practise and showing people how they can connect with nature on their doorstep in accessible places – so they can go back easily and form lasting connections. We talk about guiding shorter sessions and still helping people find that connection in the best way for them. Note: We are joined by Newt the aged Greyhound and our foster p...

When are guiding we aim to have 'one foot in and one foot out', meaning that we are able to benefit from the session along with our guests, but that we also need to keep our awareness' to ensure we look after the group and remain the guide. It can be a tricky line to keep sometimes and we talk more here about how we deal with being vulnerable in front of guests and remaining profess...

This is the start of a series of episodes focusing on specific areas that are important to us as guides. Our first one the importance of safe spaces and vulnerability. Why? Quite simply because we've spent too many years being judged by others and not feeling comfortable in certain settings. Species survive by having ‘tending’ relationships with other species; we look after, or out for each o...

We start with a rather profound realisation – I caught up with Moose late on a Sunday night after a drive home and during the drive I started to believe “I am enough”. Conversations earlier in the evening had got me thinking about ‘how do we know things are just good enough as they are’ and ‘how do we know when to just leave things alone and not try to change or improve’? This then led me down the...

We are back! It was fantastic to sit down with Moose again and blether about forest bathing. In this episode we catch up on what we've both been up too but also talk about forest bathing with children (including digging for dinosaurs); ecoanxiety in the younger generation and how forest bathing can help; health equity and removing barriers and also the importance of letting go of any egos as...

Join me as I chat with fellow guide, Jeannie during this episode; we recorded this back in December, when she was kind enough to sit down for a blether one winters evening. Jeannie guides under her company, Woodlands Breathing and is based in West Lothian, Scotland. During our chat we meander through the 'whys' and 'hows' of training to be a Nature and Forest Therapy Guide and...

The Cold – love it or hate it, for some, there is a fear of the cold or a hatred, for others a beauty of the peace that snow can bring (I'm in that camp). I love guiding sessions in winter and this episode starts with Ana’s first experience of guiding a session in the cold, (podcasting 101 – press record at the very start! So, what started as an anecdotal chat before we really started was act...

The Podcast is back!….well kind of……but I need your help – and I’m not very good at asking for help. Give episode #21 a listen, it’s a hard one, not because there is anything especially upsetting but because I am incredibly self-conscious about how my voice sounds at the moment. I’ve tried to keep it short but have tried to explain where the podcast has gone over the past months. For all my 42 yea...

For this episode we had the chance to chat with Ben Page. Ben was one of our trainers in LA in 2020 as myself and Moose began our journey to become Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and among many things he is now, also a published author. 2021 saw the release of his book, ‘Healing Trees; a pocket guide to forest bathing.’ Ben’s book is beautiful and comforting. Delivered in short, easy to read chu...

Welcome to our third podcast series. I’ve taken a while to get myself in gear for this one and that is mainly to my own pressurising and sometimes paralysing standards and expectations – I’m sure we can all relate to that at times! I’m really pleased that the first full episode of this series (episode 2) can be Ben Page. Ben was one of our trainers in 2020 and in 2021 he released his book; Healing...

Do you ever have that overwhelming urge to stop and appreciate the wonder of the place you live or location you are in? Sometimes it’s too easy to forget and be busy rushing from A to B; we all need that reminder to just stop and see and breathe for a moment. During this shorter episode, Cath holes up in the greenhouse before a visit from the Tawny Owls as the sunsets behind the trees and we chat...

This podcast recording was an experience for many reasons; Cath sits with the sunrise in the Cairngorms, Scotland and Moose sits by a campfire and under a full moon on Vancouver Island, Canada. A sunrise gives us the chance to wake up with the day and everything around us; a time of quiet reflection; story telling with friends; meeting new friends and in some cases being invaded by a couple of pol...

One of my first words was 'dog' and it was certainly one of my most used words (probably is now truth be told). I think there has always been at least one dog in my life since I was 8 years old, the first being a little Westie called Pip who was the dog I had always asked for. Currently, there are three in our family home, all rescue Greyhounds; Newt, Edie and Clover and we foster for an...

"Being told by the universe and humanity to stay put is an opportunity to explore our surroundings...….it's OK to just go and sit for 10 minutes and just listen to what's around you." - said by two wise Nature and Forest Therapy guides! It's true though eh! It's only this past year I've learnt and permitted myself to just sit and take time out, even if only for 1...

I like to look for the good things and positive outcomes in life, but... it's been a funny old 12 months huh? I'm not going to say the C word or the P word (you can go figure those out yourself), but I am going to acknowledge that sometimes it's been hard to find the positive! However, remotely guided Forest Bathing sessions - who knew these could be a thing!? I resisted guiding rem...

Are you as weary of staring at video calls as we are? It would seem we certainly both reached our limit on the same day and headed into nature to reconnect and switch off, forming, without realising it, a threshold into the 'more than human world'...... however our ways were quite different! We also touch on how you can find that connect with nature if you are an urban dweller and the jo...

A year on from starting our journey as Nature and Forest Therapy Guides, this week we touch on our fears, group acceptance and feeling safe in the dark.   More About Highland Quietlife Nature heals...sitting, sharing space with nature, admiring beauty or simply playing amongst it...nature is awesome. Welcome to the world of ‘Forest Bathing’. Forest Bathing, or Shinrin-yoku is the practice of immer...

Hot chocolate, chocolate brownies and snow...... welcome to family Forest Bathing! After recent guest Pete coined the phrase 'treespeed', this and our future podcasts will focus on our nature connection and 'what are we noticing?' - a fundamental element to any Forest Bathing session. Cath tried out family sessions in the Scottish snow, tackled iced up footpaths and mountain bi...

Join myself and Moose for a diverse chat with Pete Wright about ultra running, learning to just stay in the moment, brain injuries and the importance of acceptance. Pete was a Forest Bathing sceptic before I trained and he took part in his first session, now he talks about "Tree speed" and well and truly sees and has received the benefits himself. "It's about being in the momen...

"I'm completely not OK" one of those realisations we all get at some point or another. But what do we do with that thought? How many of us bury it and ignore it? How often do we actually stop, feel it, do something about it and importantly share it with someone else?!? This episode was recorded mid-October and me personally, I was not OK, but I'm grateful I have some tools to h...

Season 2 of our Forest Bathing podcast kicks off with the most perfect of forest fairies; Leigha Horton of Minnesota based Nature and Forest Therapy company, Silvae Spiritus. The beauty of this girls company name sums her up; Silvae Spiritus is Latin and translates to "the breathing of the forest" - pure beauty in words. During this podcast she talks the 'whys' and 'how&ap...

With the end of our training to be Nature and Forest Therapy Guides in sight, its time to round-up our experiences and look to the future! Highland Quietlife https://www.facebook.com/highlandquietlife

A 'solo walk' can be such a powerful event and it's deeply personal. Sunset to sunrise or sunrise to sunset, your choice; walking on your own; no communication with other people or screens, just you and the 'more than human world'.   My first Solo Walk was an important finale to my intensive training week in LA, six months later my next walk was from sunset to sunrise and...

Invitations are how we, as Forest Therapy guides create opportunities for you to connect with your senses and the forest around you. “The guide is not there to speak for the Forest. The guide is there to create space for the forest to speak.” (ANFT) When we guide a Forest Bathing experience, we follow a specific sequence over the time we are together, part of this includes invitations. Invitations...

The wonders of liminality..... from the Latin word līmen, meaning "a threshold". That glorious space between the 'tamed world' of mobile phones and general busyness and the 'untamed world' of unpressured, non-restrained relaxation. Example - twilight serves as a liminal time, between day and night—where one is 'in the twilight zone, in a liminal nether region of...