A 4 day in-person gathering, with 1 or 2 trainers, and people from different cohorts where you will have the opportunity to apply what you learned, experience in-person forest therapy walks and simply connect and share experiences and stories with other guides.
After you complete your 6 month remote Forest Therapy training, you will get a provisional certification for 2 years. Once you attend the 4 day immersion training, you will get the permanent certification.
In this immersion, you will:
Get a hands on experience of what you learned
Get to know trainers personally
Get to know other guides and connect
Learn from shared experiences with other guides
Deepen into the practice
Get the opportunity to ask specific questions that might come up
Once you complete this four-day immersion, your certification will be moved from provisional to permanent. You have two years after you complete the six month core training course to complete an immersion. It will help to give you a sense of the community of guides that has grown and is active throughout the world.
The Casa Dos Bernardos is located just a few miles from Terras de Bouro and offers a relaxed atmosphere. The construction, in traditional masonry, was recovered by the City Council, its owner, due to its historical and cultural interest. Properly adapted and recovered for tourism, the municipality of Terras do Bouro, Casa dos Bernardos offers five apartments of various types. Here, you can see a Hawthorn of 16 meters, the largest in the County, and a beautiful chapel. The natural beauty of the surrounding landscape is the perfect spot for connecting to the land.
Casa dos Bernardos
3 x single bedrooms with ensuite bathroom - 60€
3 x single bedrooms with shared bathroom - 55€
2 x double bedrooms with ensuite bathroom - 45€
1 x double bedroom with shared bathroom - 40€
Casa Monte de Abades
4 x Single rooms with ensuite bathroom - 80€
Vegetarian
45€ p/day for all meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner
Fly to Oporto Airport (North of Portugal)
Take a Shuttle (Arrange with Geeta) or Uber from Airport to the venue (80€ each way)
Rent a car at Airport:
Train from Oporto to Braga - https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/pt
Bus from Braga to Terras de Bouro - https://www.transdev.pt/sites/default/files/horarios/afi_braga_-_terras_de_bouro_a4h_1801_1.pdf
Once you are approved for the immersion by the ANFT Office, booking of accommodation will be done directly with the trainers responsible for the immersion.
There is no internet connection at this venue.
Participants should arrive on the 24th of March for check-in. The program starts on the morning of the 25th of March.
The tuition for the four-day immersion is $495. Wait to pay until you are ready to register for a specific immersion. You will have two years from the completion of your core guide training to do the immersion.
This does not include transportation, lodging or camping fees and food for the four-day immersion are the responsibility of the trainee.
Tuition figures are current as of January 1 2021 and are subject to change.
Kat is an ANFT certified Forest Therapy Guide, Trainer and an artist, based in the Netherlands. Her element is to help people re-connect with nature, with themselves and others, while focusing on the aspects of reciprocity, respect for all beings, heart intelligence, body wisdom and the state of flow. With her passion for nature-inspired art, and a background in cross-cultural communication, Kat enjoys guiding people and teams from all cultures with her company Way Back Home, and attempts expressing the relatedness of all beings through Shinrin-yoku Art and practicing Flow Arts. She is trained in Forest Therapy, Cross-Cultural Communication and is currently training to be Mind-Body & Eating Psychology Coach. She has nearly two decades of experience in teaching adult students, both on-on-one, in groups and online, holds a Masters degree in Linguistics and Translation Studies and is fluent in Dutch, English, Czech and a passive bilingual speaker of German.
Geeta is a certified Forest Therapy Guide based in Portugal and the founder of the company Renature where she creates and facilitates restorative programs that promote wellbeing and health through Forest Therapy, nature connection practices, clean eating and self-care. She works all over the world with various populations that range from the general public, corporate senior and junior teams, schools, families, mental health populations and individuals recovering from situations of excess stress and resulting depression and anxiety. Her passion is to bring human beings back to nature and support the reconnection to the restorative potency of the natural world. She is trained in Forest Therapy, Embodied Mindfulness and Conscious Resting, Council and Active Meditation Techniques, and in the field of Healthcare as a Pharmacist. She holds a Masters in Business Management and is fluent in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.