In Invitations from the Forest, we explore how nature gently supports trauma healing, nervous system regulation, and embodied presence. Therapists and clients alike can use simple forest‑based practices — slow walking, sensory grounding, EMDR‑informed resourcing, and mindful attention — to reconnect with safety and inner steadiness. The forest becomes a co‑regulator, offering spaciousness, beauty, and ancient wisdom that help us return to ourselves with more compassion and clarity.

Mary Oliver’s Messenger has inspired countless beings. The forest inspires us in unexpected ways!

As the Salmon surrender to the dance of renewal, we learn to ride our breath to return home to our selves, to return to the peace that lives in our hearts.

As a long time practitioner of EMDR Therapy, I have contemplated the origin story of Dr. Shapiro’s eyes moving side to side as she noticed the trees on a walk. 

Here on the land, new ideas and experiments, explorations and insights have come from gazing upon the trees at different times…

When we sit together in shared silence, we are not doing nothing. We are practicing the conditions for collective steadiness.

Learning to fill my lungs with fresh clean air is new for me. Having been an urban dweller until recently, my lungs are so familiar with smoke and smog, exhaust fumes and off gassing! In the relative quiet and stillness of this spacious backyard…

Warm Welcome from the School of the Trees. 

Over the past year, these big trees here have become some of my closest friends. They inhale what I exhale and I am so grateful to inhale what they exhale…