Treespeed; forest bathing with Highland Quietlife

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 other. If we don’t receive this from the people around us, we start to feel sad, defensive, left out of t...

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 rabbit-hole of realising in the last 18 months I’ve managed to shed that feeling that “I’m just ...

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 a guide.We also talk a lot about our new community forest bathing group in the Cairngorms. We meet on t...

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 current inspirations, making it a great episode if you are considering training or newly qualified. Jeannie has also ...

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 actually interesting so it’s part recorded!) You still get the gist though.I met Ana in January 2020 (bef...

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 years of life, I have always relied on my voice and being able to blether to people, laugh and talk ab...

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 chunks, it is an easy read not because it is simple, but because it just flows and tricks you into re...

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 Trees, a pocket guide to Forest Bathing, so hope on over to episode 2 and have a listen!More Abou...

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 all about remembering to say thank you and appreciate nature around us.More About Highland Quietl...

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 polite Clydesdale Horses!Anyway, tune in, enjoy and next time you get the chance, get up for the sunr...