In late November, trees in Tokyo - the capital city of Japan and one of the largest cities in the world - are still relatively green. Three members of the IFTDays team (myself, Heidi Korhonen and Nitin Das), we have arrived to explore the concept of shinrin yoku that is gaining popularity in the Western [...]
Author: NatureMinded
PERSBERICHT: Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen ondersteunt NatureMinded bij de ontwikkeling van innovatief welzijnspad in Vurste
Woensdag 18 december 2019 — De Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen ondersteunt de ontwikkeling en de praktische realisatie van een ‘Veerkrachtpad’ in het bosgebied op de site ‘Borgwal’ van de zorginstelling Broeder Ebergiste in Vurste. De deputatie verleent een éénmalige toelage van 5 000 EUR aan het innovatieve project van het Merelbeekse NatureMinded. Het Veerkrachtpad bestaat uit een [...]
Opening words of IFTDays 2019
Dear Friends of the Forest, 11 months ago we were opening the first IFTDays. Somewhat nervous, but driven by a need to arrange this gathering of people. A year later, we are still somewhat nervous but something is different. We have experienced how this community carries. Our team has grown from two stressed out women [...]
Thoughts & ideas after BOS+Badweekend
My tent is still drying in the veranda as I am writing this. This past weekend I got to take part in the event supported and funded by BOS+ (my favourite forest advocate organisation in Flanders) and CM (my favourite health insurance provider in Flanders). The concept of the weekend was to offer people different kinds [...]
Forest Bathing Pocket book – Zakboek voor het bosbaden
Stapschoenen aan en het bos in trekken. Even tot rust komen in de natuur. Het is een efficiënte manier om te ontspannen in deze stressvolle tijden. Hoe langer, hoe meer ontdekken wetenschappers wat bosfans al langer intuïtief aanvoelden: het bos is goed voor je! De natuurlijke stoffen die je binnenkrijgt tijdens een boswandeling maken je [...]
How the wild child can save nature
Some weeks ago the biggest nature organisation in Flanders, Natuurpunt, shared an article that was titled "How the wild child can save nature" (Hoe het wilde kind de natuur kan redden). It got me thinking about how there´s still a knowledge gap between what we well-meaning adults think our children need and what they actually [...]
Thoughts about the different approaches to Forest Therapy
Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the definition of Forest Therapy and my approach to Forest Mind. What I realize is, my approach, which is inspired by Metsämieli is still my own interpretation and adaption of a highly Finnish approach to the Flemish soil. At the moment when I was looking for a [...]
30/30 campaign: promoting physical and mental health through daily exercise in nature
The naturalness of the residential environment has been associated with a lower prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress (Cox et al., 2017). Furthermore, people who have access to green spaces in their neighborhood, use these areas more and tend to be physically more active (Pietilä et al., 2015). Finally, people with a strong connection with [...]
How to add more nature to your workday?
A friend of mine poked me to write a sugesstion to a post on LinkedIn, where someone was thinking of how to add more nature into the workday. That became this post. How to add more nature into your workday? There´s plenty you can do, even at the center of city! Though there´s enough proof [...]
Relationship lessons from nature
This text I wrote originally appeared on March 29th, 2018 on Healing Forest, an amazing initiative that aims to connect people and forests for both of their health. This text is edited by my dear friend and colleague Nitin Das, the man behind the well-loved film, India´s Healing Forests. What can nature teach us about [...]
