Forest Therapy Guide Training
France - Cohort 44
Fully Registered - Accepting Wait List
Registering for a training begins by completing an application which may take 20-30 minutes. This application is a way for us to get to know you and to determine if we think you will make a good forest therapy guide. Once your application is received, our admissions team will review it and, if you are accepted into the program, send an acceptance letter within three weeks. This letter will contain all the information for next steps, including a registration link to reserve your space in the training. To promote an optimal learning environment, we generally cap enrollment at 21 participants per training. Applications we receive after we have filled the training will be placed on a waitlist. If an accepted applicant drops out, we will contact the next applicant on the waitlist until the training is full again.
In this training, you will learn:
- The Standard Sequence of Guided Forest Therapy Walks
- Professional standards and competencies: what a Forest Therapy Guide should know and be able to do
- The pedagogy and fundamentals of nature connection
- Nature and forest therapy research and effects on health care and well-being
- Our framework for the Way of the Guide, wisdom on the inner aspects of the art gained through decades of experience
- The leadership skills and style of the Guide archetype
- Creating space for others to find their own authentic nature connection
- Accelerating connection to deep mindfulness and bodyfulness through simple sensory invitations
- What makes a good setting for forest therapy
- How to facilitate restorative human connection through storytelling and witnessing
- Our theoretical framework of deep nature connection through embodiment, liminality, reciprocity and relationship
- Sequencing forest therapy invitations for maximum impact and benefit
- Expressive arts activities for forest therapy
- Somatic techniques for embodied awareness
- Our aim is simple: to train competent guides. However, many participants report that this training profoundly affects many aspects of their lives.
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Gardoussel (which means “guardian of the birds”) is a magical oasis of calm in one of the most beautiful and untouched parts of France. Set in the lush Cévennes mountains of the Languedoc region, this family-run retreat center is a place of stunning simplicity and natural beauty. Hammocks hang from an assortment of trees, and a swimming hole on the property invites guests to cool off during the late summer.
Gardoussel is surrounded by glorious pine, holm oak forests, and chestnut trees and provides shelter to an assortment of animals such as cats, donkeys, chickens, and the occasional wild beaver. The retreat is tucked away in a picturesque hamlet set in 45 acres of private meadow and woodland, and features a stream running below the property. While secluded and private, Gardoussel also has easy access to small French villages, and offers the perfect opportunity to tune into nature and to ourselves.
Rooms are shared and accommodate 2-4 people per room. Shared rooms for participants will be 615 euros/week, and will be same gender.
Single rooms might be available based on the number of participants attending the program or camping. Should they be available, they will be available for 740 euros/week.
The above prices include catering, linens, and use of the property. Please note: you will need to bring your own bath towels.
Participants may also camp for a reduced price of 400 euros/week. Gardoussel has two tents available, but they welcome people to bring their own camping equipment as well.
Book all reservations by emailing Sharon Black at sharonblack1969@yahoo.com directly.
Please note: this is a vegetarian training. There are restaurants and a market around a 20 minute walk away. Participants may cook meat for themselves in the kitchens available to them, but it will not be provided by the venue.
Meals will be made onsite by a chef. Prices for food are built into the cost of accommodations. Gardoussel uses almost entirely local and organic food. Dietary preferences/allergies must be communicated to Gardoussel as soon as possible, and no later than 2 weeks from the beginning of the training. For questions about food or to share your dietary preferences email Alex at alexduncan1974@gmail.com.
You can read about transportation options on Gardoussel’s website, here: http://www.gardoussel.com/travel.html.
Lodging:
Rooms are shared and accommodate 2-4 people per room. Shared rooms for participants will be 615 euros/week, and will be same gender.
Single rooms might be available based on the number of participants attending the program or camping. Should they be available, they will be available for 740 euros/week.
The above prices include catering, linens, and use of the property. Please note: you will need to bring your own bath towels.
Participants may also camp for a reduced price of 400 euros/week. Gardoussel has two tents available, but they welcome people to bring their own camping equipment as well.
Book all reservations by emailing Sharon Black at sharonblack1969@yahoo.com directly.
Meals:
Please note: this is a vegetarian training. There are restaurants and a market around a 20 minute walk away. Participants may cook meat for themselves in the kitchens available to them, but it will not be provided by the venue.
Meals will be made onsite by a chef. Prices for food are built into the cost of accommodations. Gardoussel uses almost entirely local and organic food. Dietary preferences/allergies must be communicated to Gardoussel as soon as possible, and no later than 2 weeks from the beginning of the training. For questions about food or to share your dietary preferences email Alex at alexduncan1974@gmail.com.
Transportation:
You can read about transportation options on Gardoussel’s website, here: http://www.gardoussel.com/travel.html.
Fitness Requirements:
Light to medium. There is a small village a 20 minute walk away. There are hills nearby, but also a large offering of meadow trails and easy to access swimming holes.
Schedule for Live Events
Tuition
Registering for a training begins by completing an application which may take 20-30 minutes. This application is a way for us to get to know you and to determine if we think you will make a good forest therapy guide. Once your application is received, our admissions team will review it and, if you are accepted into the program, send an acceptance letter within three weeks. This letter will contain all the information for next steps, including a registration link to reserve your space in the training. To promote an optimal learning environment, we generally cap enrollment at 21 participants per training. Applications we receive after we have filled the training will be placed on a waitlist. If an accepted applicant drops out, we will contact the next applicant on the waitlist until the training is full again.
Apply NowTrainers
Our trainers are among the most experienced guides in the world and each one undergoes a rigorous training process beyond their certification as guides. The trainers listed below are subject to change based on trainer availability. No matter which trainers you work with, you will be taught by the best in the field.
Entrenadores
Manuela Siegfried was born and raised in this beautiful, bio diverse country called Costa Rica. Having a biologist as a father, he made contact with nature an intrinsic part of her life. This passion led her to work as a naturalist tourism guide for 3 years. She came across the concept of Shinrin-Yoku and the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy and immediately felt inspired and related to it. Manuela was trained and certified in 2018 and has been guiding very actively since then. She is passionate about helping people awaken their senses and slowing down in a natural setting so they can reconnect with themselves and the more than human world. Falling in love again with the natural world helps to rediscover our intimate, personal relationship with the forest and we become aware that we actually ARE nature. Manuela is also a mentor and trainer of guides with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy and is absolutely committed and in love with her job.
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.
