International Women’s Day Spotlight Series: Forest Therapy Guides

International Women’s Day Spotlight Series: Forest Therapy Guides

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day that celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. This year’s theme is Breaking the Bias.

To continue our celebration and sharing the stories of female outdoor adventure guides on the Yervana platform we sat down with four Forest Bathing Yervana Locals to find out what drew them to becoming a Forest Bathing Therapist and how they feel about breaking the bias in the outdoor adventure industry! Want to learn more about Forest Bathing? Checkout our Forest Bathing 101 blog!

Read on to hear what they had to say!

Milena: Forest Therapy guide in Edmonton, AB

What is your favourite part about being a forest therapist?

Being in the forest is so beneficial to my own mental health, and the practice of forest therapy is something that helps me immensely, filling me with awe and gratitude. Being able to share that experience and the health benefits of forest therapy with others is a real gift. I’ve had feedback from participants saying that the sessions were profound for them and that is so rewarding. There is always something to marvel at in the woods!

What inspired you to become an outdoor guide and forest therapist?

I’ve always been drawn to time in nature. I have worked as an environmental education guide in the past and being a forest therapy guide really appealed to me when I learned it was a thing!

I’m very interested in mental health and environmental stewardship and this practice allows people to develop a deeper relationship with nature, each other, and themselves.

What does being a female guide and breaking the bias in the outdoor industry mean to you?

As a female guide and business owner, I strive to create space and opportunities for all people to feel safe and welcome in nature, especially in ensuring that women and marginalized individuals feel empowered and comfortable in the outdoors. Breaking the Bias to me has to be intersectional.

Melody: Certified Nature Connected Coach in Chilliwack, BC

What is your favourite part about being a Certified Nature Connected Coach?

My favourite part about guiding people in nature is being witness to them giving themselves permission, to simply BE, to just slow down, notice, feel and connect with nature and themselves, and that I get to spend my days outdoors with clients!

What inspired you to become an outdoor guide and forest therapist?

What inspired me to become a guide/coach is that I’ve always enjoyed being in and caring for the earth and I strongly believe that helping people connect with nature and their environment helps them take better care of the earth and themselves.

What does being a female guide and breaking the bias in the outdoor industry mean to you?

Being a woman guide is important to me because I get to model that women can do whatever we put our minds to and follow our hearts and dreams! In nature there is no judgment, just connection, everything working together for the highest good and humans can learn a LOT from nature in this way.

Grace: Forest Therapy Guide in Barrière, BC

What is your favourite part about being a forest therapist?

I love the peace of the forest and I love helping people find their “missing peace”.  People are always to curious, engaged and excited that it’s hard to not love it. I also really like meeting people from around the globe and sharing the wisdom with them about their nature experiences.

What inspired you to become an outdoor guide and forest therapist?

I went on my first walk with my niece thinking it was going to be “hokey” and way too “holistic” for my tastes. But as I walked I found that it was meaningful to me and gave me peace…and totally wasn’t “hokey”. So, then I wanted to share the opportunity with others for them to have a great experience too…and I live on a mountain and love the forest, so I just wanted to share the love!

What does being a female guide and breaking the bias in the outdoor industry mean to you?

I think nature is the great equalizer. In the forest, it’s just you…as you are… there is no need to be someone you’re not. The forest accepts you and shows you that wisdom comes in through the cracks. Regardless of gender, anyone can be a Nature and Forest Therapy Guide and in its gentle understanding way, this breaks any bias that may have existed. There’s just no need for it.

Kim: Forest Therapy guide in Harrison Hot Springs, BC

What is your favourite part about being a forest therapist?

My favourite part about forest therapy is when participants come to a realization about themselves or their lives. They couple this awareness with inspirational action of how to make their lives more meaningful and purposeful. I come away from every forest therapy walk, saying, “Ah, this is why I do what I do. I help people come back home to themselves to find their true nature”.

What inspired you to become an outdoor guide and forest therapist?

I didn’t find forest therapy, forest therapy found me. Forest therapy entered my life at a time when I needed a life preserver. The healing I received from forest therapy had me want to bring it to my community and to others. As a practice, forest therapy saved my life, changed my life, and continues to sculpt my life. How could I keep it to myself? 

Forests have always been a part of my life and so it seemed natural that this was the next phase; for reciprocal healing. So now, as a forest therapy guide, I am helping myself, the forests, and individuals. As we each do our individual part to heal we can better care for ourselves, our families, communities, and our earth. 

Although I am doing my masters in psychology counselling and will be a therapist, I am a guide. The Association of Nature and Forest Therapy, where I am certified, has a saying, The forest is the therapist; the guide opens the door. Only the forest knows exactly what each unique individual needs. My job as a guide is to help you slow down, and open your senses so you can receive what it is you need. However, when I graduate I will be marrying my counselling with forest therapy together. It is going to be magic!

What does being a female guide and breaking the bias in the outdoor industry mean to you?

We all show up with our own individual worldview, beliefs, and perspectives which results in conscious and unconscious biases, assumptions, and judgments. To be completely neutral is quite difficult. Being a woman is just one of many cultural identities that are marginalized. 

Breaking the Bias is very much a sociocultural construction that plays into the patriarchal ideology allowing this paradigm to continue. We are starting to wake up which is resulting in the resurgence of the matriarch and the Divine Feminine. The patriarch’s long-lived grand veil of delusion has had its day. Women are coming into their power on a soul level and its impact is just starting to take traction. 

My job as a forest therapy guide is to help people wake up and see their true potential, their true worth, their true power, and their purpose. Once it is viscerally felt, this ‘knowing’ begets inspirational action, which in turn dissolves the bias altogether as we truly are all one. Let’s celebrate our humanness and let’s focus our energy on what makes us soar. 

I feel I need to be sensitive towards the fact that I am privileged and marginalized and I want to be respectful that this ratio is different for everyone. In that, I feel honored to be a forest therapy guide as it has been a crazy ride. Did my social location, and cultural identity help me or hinder me? Who’s to say. I just know that I am grateful I arrived! I want to help you to arrive too!

Reconnect with yourself in nature

Head out on a Forest Therapy Adventure with one of these inspiring ladies!