We start with a rather profound realisation – I caught up with Moose late on a Sunday night after a drive home and during the drive I started to believe “I am enough”. Conversations earlier in the evening had got me thinking about ‘how do we know things are just good enough as they are’ and ‘how do we know when to just leave things alone and not try to change or improve’? This then led me down the rabbit-hole of realising in the last 18 months I’ve managed to shed that feeling that “I’m just not that good enough”…and most of the time I believe it.

The Highland Quietlife monthly community forest bathing group in Grantown on Spey is well-established now and we talk about the importance of having that safe space to be vulnerable and heal. There is real value in meeting with the same people regularly to experience nature together. Spending time in silence but not on your own – really powerful.

Why do we automatically hide our emotions? At a recent session someone pointed out that most people had experienced some sort of emotion and quickly wiped their eyes before coming back to the group – it’s ok to show are emotions right, we need to normalise it? Fondly remembering our ANFT Guide training back in January 2020 and the overwhelming emotion we both experienced that week – we had to find that breaking point to be able to fully give ourselves to the trees and find belief in the practise we were learning.

One of my reasons for training with the ANFT was due to their focus on the reciprocal nature of our practise in that we need to look after the land and the land looks after us, but also focus on who has been on the land before us. I’ve always had a fascination with history, those who came before us and learning about who has been on the land before me is a magical part of the journey for me during a forest bathing session. The areas I guide in are rich in Jacobite history and during the silence of a session you can hear the folks from old around us for sure.

Beautiful.

Cath and Highland Quietlife can be found on www.highlandquietlife.co.uk and guides within the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. Moose can be found in BC, on Vancouver Island www.sitkaforestimmersion.com

Music by Orangery from Pixabay.