Forest Bathing at Clowes Wood, Solihull

F orest Bathing (aka Shinrin-Yoku) is a set of mindfulness practices and fun activities designed to calm the nervous system, awaken the senses, and bring us into meaningful relationship with the web of life.

You'll be guided through a sequence of gentle activities which invite you to playfully explore each of your senses in turn, expanding your usual range of perception and slowing you right down to experience existence at the speed of a tree – what I call “Forest Time”. This shifts us into a different brainwave state – so often in this modern world, we're locked into the “beta” wave state of constant action and planning and busy busy busy. Forest Bathing gets us into “alpha” state, associated with calm, creativity, intuition and “flow”. It has been scientifically proven to give rise to a range of health benefits such as reduced blood pressure, reduction in stress hormones, improved sleep, increases in anti-cancer proteins and reduced levels of anxiety, depression, anger and confusion too. With regular practice, the wonder, joy, curiosity and playfulness that Forest Bathing draws out of us can gradually start to infuse and enrich our everyday lives beyond the forest.

It can often be hard to step out of the busyness of 21st Century life and give time to nourishing ourselves and our relationships with our wild relatives. But when we give ourselves permission to slow down in this way, we receive such profound gifts of healing, aliveness and belonging that it develops its own momentum and before we know it we can't imagine our lives without it. I've found that doing it in a group allows feelings of connection to develop much faster as we all share our experiences and learn from each other's unique ways of seeing and being - as well as making it more fun!

I'm overjoyed to be working in collaboration with Warwickshire Wildlife Trust to offer these sessions at Clowes Wood Nature Reserve, one of the most beautiful and biodiverse woodlands in the Midlands. 10% of all ticket sales is donated to the Trust to help maintain the Woods for the benefit of wildlife and humans alike.

Please note that these sessions are not suitable for children or pets.

Booking closes at 5pm the day before the session to ensure I'm able to get the confirmation pack to you in time.

Accessibility information: There is a 15-20 minute scenic walk over uneven ground from the meeting point to the forest, and back again at the end. Once inside the forest there will be a little more walking at a slower pace, but the ground can be uneven, muddy, and in places a bit hilly. If you have any concerns about the level of physical activity involved please feel free to contact me on hello@healingearthways.co.uk.

There's often an invitation to sit on the ground at various points during the session - if this is difficult for you I recommend bringing a folding chair or folding stool - if you don't have one I can usually lend you one.

REFUNDS / TRANSFERS POLICY: Please note that group sizes are kept small to maintain the quality of the experience so in order to honour the time, expertise and hard work I put into running these sessions, tickets can only be refunded more than 7 days before the event. Bookings can be transferred to a new date with the following time scales and fees:

More than 7 days before the event: free of charge

7 days or less before the event: transfer fee of £10

Less than 12 hours - unfortunately due to how the ticketing system works, I’m unable to transfer tickets with less than 12 hours notice