May The Forest Be With You

Cathelijne Kindlestown Wood THURS4NOV21

t’s hardly a secret around here that getting yourself off into the wilds is the perfect escape.

As social media pushes us ever further away from the here and now – and one another – heading out into the woods is the only logging on that you really need.

It’s something that the newly-formed Wicklow Forest Bathing understands, this umbrella group of 12 nature disciples bringing their own particular skills and outdoor kicks together in one purple patch.

With more than a little help from Evelyn Murray and the County Wicklow Partnership gang, Wicklow Forest Bathing offers up a dozen ways to connect with nature right here in the Garden of Ireland.

Well, given the explosion of developments around here in the past few years, let’s say the Garden Patio of Ireland.

With all 12 taking part in the pilot eco-tourism training programme initiative set up by Evelyn & co (made possible with a hearty chunk of change from the LEADER Rural Development Fund), our nature boys and girls graduated with flying autumn colours last month.

And now they’re all ready and waiting to take us deep into the forest, where we can hopefully turn off our minds and float downstream.

The motley Mother Nature crew consists of Aisling Plunkett (Arc Healing), Cathelijne de Wit (Avonmore Forest Bathing), Sarah Eva Manson (Ballyrogan Expression), Shirley Fitzpatrick (Bosca Beatha), Andrew Scanlon (Derrybawn Mountain), Ed Ledesma (Tipi Adventures Ireland), Rosalinde Schut (Walf Of Leaf), Amanda Marren (Health Coach), Courtney Tyler (Hips And Haws Wildcrafts), Ciara Hinksman (Nature Connection With Ciara), Rachel Dempsey (Full Circle Change), Catherine Nunes (Shaking Bog) and Jake Quinn (Rhythm & Forest Eire).

The idea of forest bathing actually started in the 6th century BCE, when Cyrus The Great planted a garden in the middle of a city to increase human health. By 1982, the actual term forest bathing was coined by the head of the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tomohide Akiyama, in order to encourage more visitors to forests.

With the November sun beaming through the trees, we caught up with Cathelijne in Kindlestown Wood today to find out why good things come in trees…

Cathelijne is offering Guide readers a 20% discount on her upcoming walks in Ballygannon Wood, Rathnew on November 20th and December 18th. Just use the code GREYSTONESGUIDE when booking here.