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 [...]
Author: NatureMinded
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 [...]
Conclusions from Workshop on Connectedness with Nature
On 4th of October 2018, the University of Antwerp, the Province of Antwerp and the Belgian Community of Practice Biodiversity and Health, together with many other organizations, including NatureMinded organized the Natuur op verwijziging (Nature on prescription) - event. As the closing event of the Light on Green project and as part of the Healthcare [...]
IFTDays Seminar 2018 Conclusions
The first international Forest Therapy Days was held in Karjalohja, at Elontuli course center in the beginning of August this year. The seminar was a full day of sharing knowledge, life and work experiences, good practices and forest therapy methodologies. The presentations gave to us a possibility to travel the world and to discover how [...]
