Add a Forest Bathing Experience to Your Retreat or Workshop
Can spending time in nature possibly influence higher-order cognitive processes and creativity?
Research tells us it can[1].
Imagine your participants spending a morning in an indoor classroom, workshop, or retreat space, focusing on the content you’ve so carefully designed.
Then, instead of going back to the workshop or retreat space after a break or lunch, you reconvene for a custom forest immersion designed to re-examine the learning in a unique way.
Time with Nature is a transformational experience - even for the most skeptical - as well as giving your participants a high-order cognitive-function boost, more creativity, and refreshing their senses.
This is the ideal way to deepen the learning; offering your participants a forest bathing experience that is customized to your content! Nature is the perfect place to spend personal and group time with what all your participants have experienced and are processing. They’ll leave your workshop and remember what they’ve learned this time! And more.
One-day retreats begin at $500. Weekend retreats begin at $1250. A day prior to your event is required to learn the land, and partner with Nature to create the experience.
Travel and accommodations are not included in these fees. Please contact Linda to arrange dates, times, and locations.
References available upon request.
[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/beyond-school-walls/202009/can-walk-in-the-woods-improve-your-well-being. Beyond attention, cognitive flexibility, and memory, researchers recently investigated the potential effects of forest therapy on creativity. In 2012, a test of remote associations—a broadly used measure of creativity and problem-solving—was applied to determine if four days of exposure to nature would alter participants' creative thinking. The results of the Atchley et al. study indicated there was a 50 percent increase in scores on the Remote Associates Test (RAT) following the nature exposure, suggesting that time in nature may enhance creative ability. More Recently, Chia-Pin Yu and Hsuan Hsieh investigated the cognitive effects of a three-day forest therapy workshop by administering the RAT to participants before and after attending the workshop. The workshop aimed to improve participants' well-being via various sensory and therapeutic activities in nature, such as sitting and observing the forest, meditation outside, listening to running water, viewing flowers, and aromatherapy. The results indicated that individuals who participated in the study had a significant increase in scores on the RAT, with the average post-test score being 23.74 percent higher than the average score before the workshop. The intentional minimization of attentional interruption allows us to activate the brain's Default Mode Network. Activation of this system permits the executive functioning areas—the command and control center—to rest and recharge.
For your learners, there is also strong evidence that time in nature has a rejuvenating effect on attention; relieves stress; boosts self-discipline; promotes self-motivation, enjoyment, and engagement, all of which promotes better learning.