Hi, I'm Jovena.
Like many of you, I grew up in urban Singapore and had limited interaction with nature outside of science classes. I had an innate affection for small animals, but the wild natural world was always fearsome to me.
It took me many trips and adventures outside of this island, to warm up to nature and experience its wonders. The magnificence of Mother Earth moved me to tears on a few occasions, and it was these moments that inspired me to deepen my relationship with nature.
I only chanced upon forest bathing in 2021, when I was going through a rough time from work, family, covid blues and an existential crisis. Nature became an important medicine for my anxiety and a training ground to build self-acceptance, courage and faith. After making it a consistent practice, I've felt all its positive effects on my mental and physical health.
Experiencing the advantages firsthand, it became clear that I was to answer a calling to build a kinder world in partnership with nature. My dream is to create a gentler earth, through this heartful practice to benefit others, connect the good in us, and mend our relationship with nature. I warmly welcome you to join me on Gentle Walks.
Jovena is a Forest Therapy Guide certified by the US-based Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT). She's a marketer by profession and is working on her dreams of becoming a soulwork guide, cat mum, and eco-bnb owner.
The forest is the therapist, the guide opens the doors to it.
- Amos Clifford
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CERTIFIED BY
ASSOCIATION OF NATURE & FOREST THERAPY
ANFT was founded in 2012 as a response to global warming and other environmental catastrophes. It serves the mission of supporting planetary health by nurturing heart-centred relationships between all people and the More-Than-Human World of Nature. ANFT’s Relational Forest Therapy is a heart-based approach to bridge relationships with the More-Than-Human World as a foundation for healing people and the planet.
In the process, we find ourselves in an expanded web of interbeing, in which the other wild beings we encounter in the forest become less like objects and more like friends and family. Embedded in this expanded community, we experience greater degrees of freedom in how we explore the world, and in what we are able to learn about ourselves. Relational Forest Therapy has the purpose of helping us to remember who we are, so we can take our place in the great work that is constantly unfolding around us.
The Association was founded by M. Amos Clifford, after getting inspired by the Japanese practice of Shinrin-Yoku. His four decades of experience in wilderness guiding, Zen meditation, psychotherapy, educational consulting, and nature connection supported him in creating a framework for Forest Therapy called the standard sequence. It provides a strong framework that helps participants slow down, awaken their senses, and reconnect with the natural world.
This framework, along with the knowledge of forest medicine based on scientifically backed research, is imparted to forest therapy guides through ANFT training. These techniques and knowledge effectively assist participants in receiving the full health impacts of forest medicine.
Excerpts taken from ANFT official website.
2024 June & July | North Bali
Priority sign-up is open now till 5 May 2359h.