Treespeed; forest bathing with Highland Quietlife

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 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 practise of immersing yourself in nature; ‘bathing’ in the awesome goodness that trees release into the atmosphere; reaping the benefits from magic little things called ‘phytoncides’ and receiving mental calmness from the fractal patterns, vibrant shades of green and calming blues around us – what better place to do this than the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland.

Find me at https://www.highlandquietlife.co.uk/

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 sunrise and welcome the day.

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’.

You can book onto a guided sunrise or full moon session this year here https://www.highlandquietlife.co.uk/calendar

Forest Bathing, or Shinrin-yoku is the practice of immersing yourself in nature; ‘bathing’ in the awesome goodness that trees release into the atmosphere; reaping the benefits from magic little things called ‘phytoncides’ and receiving mental calmness from the fractal patterns, vibrant shades of green and calming blues around us – what better place to do this than the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland.

Find me at https://www.highlandquietlife.co.uk/

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 awesome rescue called GAGAH (Give a Greyhound a Home).

Nadine Mazzola has written a wonderful and award winning booking called 'Forest Bathing with your dog' and so we started to explore just how different it is if you let your dog be your forest guide! Moose and I both have sighthound / lurchery type hounds and so life can be excitable at the best of times. Moose heads out with Leia and I have newly adopted Clover as my guide...... it is very similar to Forest Bathing with children.......

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 immersing yourself in nature; ‘bathing’ in the awesome goodness that trees release into the atmosphere; reaping the benefits from magic little things called ‘phytoncides’ and receiving mental calmness from the fractal patterns, vibrant shades of green and calming blues around us – what better place to do this than the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland.

Find me at https://www.highlandquietlife.co.uk/

"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 15 minutes. Yes, if people compliment me on this skill, I leap to the defense to justify why I have sat for a period of time and done nothing... sound familiar huh?!

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 practise of immersing yourself in nature; ‘bathing’ in the awesome goodness that trees release into the atmosphere; reaping the benefits from magic little things called ‘phytoncides’ and receiving mental calmness from the fractal patterns, vibrant shades of green and calming blues around us – what better place to do this than the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland.

Find me at https://www.highlandquietlife.co.uk/

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 remotely for a while but eventually gave it a go and could see the power that still emitted from the forest and surrounding nature and could hear and witness the effects participants experienced.

Here, we chat with Pete about how he found the remote session he attended compared with in person sessions. What we did discover is he needs supervision else he gets lost in the woods.....

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 practise of immersing yourself in nature; ‘bathing’ in the awesome goodness that trees release into the atmosphere; reaping the benefits from magic little things called ‘phytoncides’ and receiving mental calmness from the fractal patterns, vibrant shades of green and calming blues around us – what better place to do this than the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland.

Find me at https://www.highlandquietlife.co.uk/

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 joys of forest bathing with your dog!

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 practise of immersing yourself in nature; ‘bathing’ in the awesome goodness that trees release into the atmosphere; reaping the benefits from magic little things called ‘phytoncides’ and receiving mental calmness from the fractal patterns, vibrant shades of green and calming blues around us – what better place to do this than the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland.

Find me at https://www.highlandquietlife.co.uk/

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 immersing yourself in nature; ‘bathing’ in the awesome goodness that trees release into the atmosphere; reaping the benefits from magic little things called ‘phytoncides’ and receiving mental calmness from the fractal patterns, vibrant shades of green and calming blues around us – what better place to do this than the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland. My co-podcaster and fellow guide is 'Moose', or Michelle and she can be found on Vancouver Island, BC.

Find me at https://www.highlandquietlife.co.uk/

Follow me at https://www.facebook.com/highlandquietlife and https://www.instagram.com/highland.quietlife

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 bikers and the Moose had the most magical deer / prisms / water droplets experience ever!!

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 practise of immersing yourself in nature; ‘bathing’ in the awesome goodness that trees release into the atmosphere; reaping the benefits from magic little things called ‘phytoncides’ and receiving mental calmness from the fractal patterns, vibrant shades of green and calming blues around us – what better place to do this than the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland.

Find me at https://www.highlandquietlife.co.uk

Follow me at https://www.facebook.com/highlandquietlife and https://www.instagram.com/highland.quietlife

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 moment and just letting it happen."

#ultrarunner #braininjury #headway #reasonstorun #environmentalprotection #forestbathing #naturetherapy

Cath and Highland Quietlife can be found on https://www.facebook.com/highlandquietlife and emailed on [email protected] 

"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 help me recognise that and importantly act upon it. This podcast explores more about how we act upon the 'wonky' feelings, setting goals and remembering who we are and why we are here. We blether about Higher Powers, nature connection, fear and choosing to take the power out of the problem.

A big shout out to one of my 'happy places' that I mention; the Inverness Botanic Gardens http://www.invernessbotanicgardens.co.uk/

Cath and Highland Quietlife can be found on https://www.facebook.com/highlandquietlife and emailed on [email protected]