BEYOND THE SHADOW OF LOSS: NATURE’S WAY INTO
THE LIGHT OF HEALING – FOREST THERAPY SERIES
Forest Therapy is a guided, mindful, immersion in a forest environment to enhance physical, mental, social well-being, and connectedness to nature.
Unlike hiking or exercise-focused nature walks, forest therapy emphasizes presence, sensory awareness, and relaxation rather than destination or speed.
Whether you lost a relationship, lost your vitality through illness or lost peace of mind, you’re welcome to join this small group of adults.
This series has weekly themes related to losses, inspired from Francis Weller’s best-selling book: The Wild Edge of Sorrow.
1st Gate: Impermanence of everything; meaning we will eventually lose what we love, and grieving enables us to open our hearts to who and what we have lost.
2nd. Gate: Embrace self-compassion for the unloved parts within you.
3rd Gate: Earth-grief: Opening our hearts to the losses of our human community and in the body of the Earth
4th Gate: Ancestral Grief, carried silently in our bodies from sorrows experienced by our ancestors.
We will also have short gratitude rituals, focusing on all we have and are, including the magnificent inner core of our being and nature .
On the right, we created these mementos from a clay base provided and used our creativity to ad in some leaves, ferns, branches and other things found in the forest.
According to the science behind forest bathing and forest therapy, which has been researched in numerous parts of the world in the past decades…
Mental/Physical Benefits can include:
- Stress & anxiety reduction; lowering of stress hormones
- Reduction of mental fatigue, and improved attentiveness & moods
- Better ability to engage in present moment, thereby reducing an overly stressed mind’s tendency to focus mostly on past or future
- Enhanced immune response due to increase of natural killer cells, and lowering blood pressure
- Developing a deeper relationship with nature which leads to new healthy habits and a lifestyle that includes more time in nature to sustain the increased overall wellbeing resulting from the forest therapy series.
What We Will Do:
In this gently guided forest therapy series, consisting of a sensory immersion while BEING in nature, time will also be provided for reflection, sharing, and creativity.
Examples of activities that WE WILL DO include:
- Making observations of cycles of decay and renewal in forest
- Sharing (optional) observations and insights as it relates to us, personally.
- Feel the contrasts of textures in forest
- Observe contrasting shades and colors
- Find a spot to sit, reflect and make a short journal entry
- Listen to sounds, near and far
- Create something from natural elements around us
- Share and learn ways to increase sensory input in daily life
- Create a web of sharing (as in picture), showing the interconnectedness of all beings and nature
This series is gently guided, with specific sensory-enhancing activities, by forest therapist and therapeutic counsellor Isabelle St-Jean, RSW, RTC.
Fee for the Series: $ 195.00.
For more info and/or to register, please email: isabelle@alpineclinic.ca
or call Alpine Counselling Clinic: 604 732-3930 for free 15 minutes consult.
When: 4 Saturdays: May 23rd & 30th, June 6th & 13th, 2026
Time: 1:30pm To 3:00pm
Where: Pacific Spirit Park, Vancouver
(Off West 16 Ave. North Entrance Parking)
Can be claimed on your extended benefits as a Registered Social Worker appointment.
