Forest Bathing Recap: Dreaming into the Speaking Land
On Saturday, October 19, 2024, a group of Balanced Soul Forest Bathers gathered for our last Forest Bathing event for 2024, “Dreaming into the Speaking Land.” We met at The Nina Mason Pulliam Ecolab on the Marion College Campus to experience the forest as an oracle. Activities and discussions were presented to encourage attendees to experience the forest speaking to us through signs, symbols, and synchronicity.
Forest Bathing Recap: Journaling Among the Trees
On Saturday, September 14, 2024, eight Balanced Soul Forest Bathers met at the Marion College Nina Mason Pulliam Ecolab to explore "Journaling Among the Trees." The group shared about a favorite tree from their lives and their connection to it. Other highlights of the day included nature journaling, capturing responses from nature through creative writing, collecting nature for a Mandala, and a closing ceremony with Dandelion Tea.
Forest Bathing Recap: Healing with Nature
On Saturday, July 13, 2024, fourteen participants joined in a Balanced Soul Forest Bathing experience, "Healing with Nature." The group spent the morning exploring their reciprocal and symbiotic relationship with the trees and experiencing ways to engage with the forest for healing and personal well-being at the Marion University Nina Mason Pulliam Eco Lab.
Forest Bathing Recap: Connecting with Mother Earth
On Saturday, May 4, an adventurous group of Balanced Soul Forest Bathers explored the Marion University Eco Lab for the first outing of the 2024 Balanced Soul Forest Bathing Series - “Connecting with Mother Earth.”
Forest Bathing Recap: Healing with Nature
On Saturday, November 4, Balanced Soul Forest Bathers met at the Marion University EcoLab for the final Forest Bathing Experience of 2023 “Healing with Nature.”
Autumn Preparation for Winter Holidays
We all know about spring cleaning. No doubt you have gone through the process of decluttering, dusting, scrubbing, and cleansing your home at some point during those early spring months.
Connect with the Rhythm of Nature
The sounds of the forest, the scent of the trees, the sunlight playing through the leaves, and the fresh, clean air give us a sense of comfort. They ease our stress and worry, help us relax, and think more clearly. Being in nature can restore our mood, give us energy and vitality, and refresh and rejuvenate us.
What is Forest Bathing?
Forest Bathing is a practice that belongs in each person's self-care toolbox. It is also a powerful path of activism for those who are called to help heal the broken relationships between people and the natural world. As stated so beautifully by author and founder of the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy, M. Amos Clifford, "Healing of people and forests happens together, or not at all." Like many practices is easy to begin, but like many self-care tools, there are layers of learning and complexity that reward us when we make it a regular part of our lives.
Dreaming into the Seasons Recap: Dreaming into Autumn Walk: The Nature of Thresholds
Our small group of amazing women were blessed by gorgeous October weather and a pair of swans on our leisurely 4 mile autumn hike in Carmel Central Park. It was a perfect day to dream into Nature’s messages.
We began our morning with introductions and an invocation about the nature of thresholds in nature and in our personal lives with words by John O’ Donohue, from his book, To Bless the Space Between Us. Participants were asked to ponder these words during our hike.