\ Outward Journey / \ Inward Discovery /
\ Outward Journey / \ Inward Discovery /
Nature is a ‘capital’ component available to businesses that can promote workplace well-being and result in value added to guests.
Whether you are a city hotel, a beach-side resort or a destination wellness retreat, Forest Bathing can be incorporated into your well-being offers.
Our curriculum is founded on solid research about Forest Bathing and its holistic well-being benefits, with a total of 15-hour theoretical and practical training.
Forest bathing, referred to as “Shinrin-yoku” in Japanese or nature bathing, involves spending time in a natural environment or specifically in a forest environment to improve one’s health and well-being.
Designed to guide all trained practitioners in their day-to-day professional conduct. It focuses on four ethical principles:
a) respect
b) competence
c) responsibility
d) integrity
Forest bathing leads to achieving a state of relaxation, resulting in a decreased heart rate and blood pressure, a release of stress, and a boost to the immune system, all of which facilitate recovery from trauma or illness.
The ability to effectively regulate emotions and manage stress in times of deepening mental health crisis partially caused by the worldwide coronavirus pandemic is more than ever needed, as it serves as a protective factor against depression, anxiety, and decreased wellbeing. Lockdown and isolation have created a situation whereby individuals may feel both more disconnected from other fellow-humans and the natural world. Literature shows that contact with nature through nature-based interventions ( NBIs) and nature connectedness practices, such as Forest Bathing (Shinrin Yoku), in different settings fosters positive emotions, improved mood and better attention focus.
A strong structure, i.e., well-designed activities, prior preparation, knowing the location, abiding by ethical standards, etc. gives you, The Mindful Tourist Shinrin Yoku Guide, increased flexibility to play with ideas. This may feel a bit counterintuitive [“structure means control! there is no room for improvisation and creativity!” – one may say]. But actually, you have all the power over your activities/content of your Shinrin Yoku Experience and how you want to show up to yourself and your guests.
During forest bathing, individuals are guided to slow down their pace and are soothed through connecting with a forest environment, using their five senses: 1) listening to the sounds of nature i.e. birds chirping, streams flowing, and wind blowing, 2) looking at trees and seeing sunlight penetrating through tree branches, 3) breathing in natural aromas and smelling trees’ bark, 4) tasting the freshness of the air and wild gifts of nature, and 5) touching leaves and trees, and lying on the ground.
Nature-based and green space strategies can play a vital role in improving health and safety for dwellers in urban environments. NBIs are programs, activities or strategies that aim to engage people in nature–based experiences with the specific goal of achieving improved health and wellbeing.
In a vicious circle, the exhausting fast pace of life promotes overstimulation and overscheduling, which become chronic stressors that lead to behavioral, mood and attention disorders. We cannot see that we are causing our physical, emotional and behavioral health problems as we try harder to go faster, and then turn to medication to treat the unforeseen consequences. We believe we should be able to go this fast and there is something wrong with us if we cannot keep up.
We also see changes in our attention and thinking. Technological advances were supposed to free up creative thinking, but the mass of incoming information has actually eroded our attention and our creativity. People have less time to reflect on anything as they become dominated by a need to act, a need to be online, robotically always checking. Multi-tasking stimulates internal chaos and fragmented attention.
Modern life is forever moving, unrelenting in its eagerness to push us forward onto the next thing and the next thing after that. And so our minds are just as busy. Too infrequently do we stop and enjoy the stillness of a place.
From the latest Research done by Global Wellness Institute, connection time nature ranks number 1 on the Top 5 Wellness Expectations on Next Trip, post pandemic. From a commercial perspective, this means there will be a rising demand for nature connectedness activities. If your wellness strategies include sleep, nutrition, fitness, then you need nature connectedness to complete the puzzle of wholistic well-being.
Shinrin Yoku, also known as Forest Bathing, brings us back to nature. It takes us out of our busy lives and heals us – reconnecting us with our environments and ourselves.
Shinrin-yoku, literally Forest Bathing, was developed in Japan in the 1980s and has become a cornerstone of preventive health care and healing in Japanese medicine. Shinrin-yoku Forest Therapy, the medicine of simply being in the forest and taking in the forest atmosphere.
To bathe in the forest or nature means to bask in it. Your five senses are open to receive nature. You smell the flowers and the natural essential oil from tree barks, you taste the fruits or the air, you see the tall trees and thousand shades of green, you hear the sounds of birds and nature around you, you feel the forest with your palms and sole of the feet, deep within your soul.
We understand what it take for your team to provide an authentic wellness and nature immersion experience to sophisticated travelers and guests with the most discerning of tastes. Our training program is curated in such a way that the wellness team can confidently guide guests to a mindful nature connectedness experience safely.
Our curriculum, meticulously designed by Milena A. Guziak, Ph.D., is a distillation of several latest medical research papers and academic journals on Forest Bathing, Nature-Based Interventions, Human Health and Psychology. Our training methods, code of conduct, and practice guidelines are based upon scientifically backed research in health science.
With more than 40 trained guides in 20 countries, The Mindful Tourist is the leader in Shinrin Yoku training, originated in Kyoto, Japan. We deploy student-centered teaching approach which gives learners increasing responsibility for the learning process and creates an ideal environment for learners to learn from and with each other.
CEO, Co-Founder, Program Creative Director, and Head Instructor of The Mindful Tourist
Milena spent nearly 17 years abroad, including 10 years in Japan. She first encountered Japanese culture when she went on a one-year internship in Japan during her studies in England. That year changed her life. After graduating with a degree in chemistry, she relocated to Japan with the purpose of embarking on a PhD course in engineering. During this time, explored the forests and cultural corners of Japan and taught at universities using ‘reflective education’ and a ‘student-centered approach’.
It was in the forest that she found her path and ‘befriended’ her past filled with sexual abuse. It was there that she found her creative soul and the goodness within herself that still accompanies her until these days.
Her belief in the goodness of people and connection to nature, her academic background, knowledge of teaching methods and the Japanese language have allowed her to create informative trainings. She is the author of the guide and instructor courses; until now she has trained almost 50 guides worldwide.
“The last 10 weeks have gone so fast. I can’t believe I am at this part of the course already. I have questioned myself, and doubted myself that I did not know enough and was not ready to do practice sessions yet. I have been putting it off, thinking that the more weeks I learn something new the better I will be at facilitating a session. I see now that this is a self sabotage and an untrue thought trying to keep me safe form entering the unknown.
From the first week until now I feel I have learnt so much about myself and how I want to conduct my sessions. What I have developed from the start is I see now how important it is for me to be myself when facilitating. At the beginning when I was writing up session scenarios I would just read something someone else had done and think that I would do the same. Now I am writing up sessions based on my values and based on what I feel is for the best interest of the group. I also have so much more knowledge about the science behind Shinrin yoku. I feel I am confident enough in my knowledge to be able to educate and share the information in a brief and interesting talk. I have learned so much about trees that I had no idea about 10 weeks ago. Every week I am discovering new and helpful information that will help me be a better guide. I have begun to resonate with the quote from Albert Einstein “Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better”. The more time I spend in nature and the more time I spend studying nature the more everything in my life seems to be coming together and making sense. I have gone into the forest alone for the first time and have done quite a bit of self practice. I am on holidays for the next two weeks and look forward to getting in many practice hours,” Deanna Dichiera, a holistic massage practitioner from Perth, Australia.
themindfultourist.net@gmail.com
