I want to give FREE Forest Bathing Groups to Denver Adults
You Lost Yourself Long Ago...
You can’t remember when the Colorado Rockies became the background of your life. You can’t remember the last time you went out into the woods and didn’t get a work email. Even if you turn off your phone your mind races like a commuter on 225 trying to drive faster than the train. Solid works projects, budgets & deadlines, timeline extensions fill your find. You find yourself at the top not knowing how you even got there, wishing you could let all of your adult responsibilities go and leave them there.
You speed through Teams Meetings with your camera off and dodge emails like the Average Joes dodge wrenches in the hope you can squeeze out that extra outdoor time. In a blink of an eye, it’s Sunday night again. You are getting exhausted of the rinse & repeat cycle washing you of the color life once had. Your family and friends can see it on your reactionless face, in your absent presence out for drinks. This isn’t who you are.
...and Your Ready To Find Yourself Again
The thing is that you don’t need more time outside. Your hikes, bikes, & daily walks are giving you enough sun and exercise. You need a mindset change. Your relationship with the world truly sucks, and that extends to your time outside. And that’s not your fault. It’s what you were taught through ages of platitudes and niceties from professionals of “just go for a walk” and “just keep a journal”. No one actually taught you how to build a relationship with the forest.
You’ve been caught on this hamster wheel of weekday hustle & weekend warrior mentality. I trust you are fantastic at working hard and getting shit done. But there is no way to work hard and crush a mindset change. You can’t cure your relationship with the world with more hard work. That’s how you got here in the first place. You need a space to slow down and actually observe the path your traveling. You need time to observe what’s happening in the moment around you.
I’m offering free forest bathing until July 31st for any any in the Denver Metro Area.
Ready to start a new path?
Sign Up for FREE Forest Bathing Groups
What Is Forest Bathing?
Short answer: Forest Bathing (aka Forest Therapy) is a practice developed by the Japaneese to encourage their population to visit nature more during a time when commercialization was booming and everyone was stuck living in the city and suburbs. Sound familiar? Their studies found that spending time outside actually has many benefits for physical and mental health (I’m working on a blog post compiling all of this). But the term forest bathing can often be mistaken for “mindfulness outside”, so I’ve completed this quick explanation for you.
Forest Bathing in Colorado Is Slowing Down
Commuting anywhere in Denver feels like a race. A race against traffic, racing the RTD train down 225 (because for some reason going slower than a train feels wrong), and racing up I-70 to avoid the bottleneck. But once you get where you are going, the adrenaline stays and you are rushing through your hike to beat the bottleneck back home. Forest Bathing is about stopping, and slowing down. The adventure isn’t in the destination.
Building a Relationship with Nature
You do have a relationship with Nature. If you look back, you might just notice that your experience with the outdoors is simply using it for your benefit. Even if you’ve volunteered and cleaned trails, how deeply did you get to know the woods around you? The goal of forest bathing in Colorado is not to hike up a fourteen for a view, but rather look up at the mountains in awe and amazement. It’s about connection & admiration, and sharing that with the forest.
Getting to the Edge of Your Story
Everyone has a story. Witnessing everyone’s story is the beauty of the work that I do. Forest Bathing allows you an opportunity to find the edges of your story. It’s a container to hold it a little looser so that you can hold onto what you need, and repurpose the rest. If you are willing to take the time, you’ll find yourself letting go of burdens you didn’t even know you were holding onto, and you can thank the forest for that.
Why You Need Forest Bathing
There are prolific amount of studies highlighting the benefits of how guided forest walks improve immune functioning, improve mood and energy, assist in mental health recovery, improve cardiovascular health markers (resting heart rate & blood pressure), and other physiological benefits.
Its discovery during the time of industrialization and city life should say something what we’re doing to ourselves now and where we are heading if we don’t do something different. Hell, we live in one of the most beautiful states out in the continental US. And I came from New Jersey where our pride about our state is bigger than our arguments over Central Jersey’s existence, so that says something.
You need to do a forest bathing group. Your brain is exhausted, your energy is drained, and you don’t have anything left to the people you love. Work is burning you out faster than you can refuel yourself. You’ve lost who you are long ago in these woods after you left them behind for dedication to the working world.
Your Colorado Forest Bathing Guide
Hey there, I’m Your Forest Bathing Guide! I’m Tim (He/Him), a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, nature-loving poetic, rooted dreamer. There is no better place to feel lost in your own life than on my therapy couch, whether it be virtual, in-person, or in the more than human-built world.
You’ve lost your relationship with nature, and ultimately yourself. Been there, done that. I absolutely get absorbed and focus on all the adult responsibilities and work-related tasks too. But it is meaningless without this sense of connection to the bigger world around me.
I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Work (LCSW) who has been studying journaling, poetry, and forest therapy for some time now. To be clear, in this role I’m not a psychotherapist. If you need a therapist you should totally go find one, because therapy is awesome. I am a Provisionally Certified Forest Therapy Guide through the ANFT, here to pass along my adventures and expertise in meeting the world we live in. (The provisional is temporary, I’ve completed the training and can totally guide you, pinky promise)
Frequently Asked Questions
The fact that you made it down to this FAQ means that you are totally interested in this. You’ve read this page and have found it interesting enough to stay, so something within you says “I Need This”. If not, then why are you here? What are you searching for? I promise this isn’t a gimmick.
If it’s individual therapy for your mental health, then you are on the wrong page. Go to my services tab and click on “Individual Services”
All of my walks take place at Lair o the Bear Park in Jefferso County! Instruction on where to meet, thing you need, and any other additional details come in an email a few days before the scheduled walk.
Until July 31st, groups are FREE. So Don’t wait to sign up! Colorado weather is really starting to bloom, and with all of this fear and unsettling world events, everyone deserves to find a space of connection to the world that is positive and healing.
Groups can be attended as often as you want! I venture to guess that there might be “too much of a good thing” somewhere in there, but the balance is different for everyone.
Forest Therapy is not a hike in the woods, and for sessions the total distance traveled is somewhere between 0.25 miles and 1 mile, often leaving towards the lower end.
That being said, even outside the home is difficult to manage sometimes. My goal is to all this experience to reach anyone. Walks are Offered at Lair o the Bear Park in Jefferson County, which is relatively flat ad reasonably accessible. You can always email if it is not clear or you have specific concerns.
You certainly could, but will that actually change anything? Forest bathing is all about changing how you relate to the world, not what you do in it.