Tag: Nature Healing

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, you must register here or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org

with Melanie Choukas-Bradley, Author, Naturalist and Certified Forest Bathing Guide

Rock Creek Park by Susan Austin Roth, A Year in Rock Creek Park

Do you have your own special place in nature where you can go for comfort, joy, and healing?

 

A place where you can breathe deeply, soak up the scents of the earth, flowers and trees and watch the clouds undisturbed?

 

Join us for an hour-long session on finding and enjoying your own wild home, whether it be your backyard, a neighborhood park or garden, or a front porch or balcony.

 

Studies from around the world have shown the mental and physical health benefits of spending time in nature—lower blood pressure, increased immunity to disease, quicker healing, improved mood and focus and better sleep among them. Melanie Choukas-Bradley will take you on a virtual journey through the beauty of our Washington, DC collective wild home as she guides you in establishing your own special place for health and well-being. She’ll also share some of the simple wisdom she learned on a forest bathing trip throughout Japan. Learn how a relationship with a special place can be as integral to your happiness as your relationships with loved ones.

About Melanie Choukas-Bradley, Author, Naturalist and Certified Forest Bathing Guide

Melanie outdoors, by Ana Ka’ahanui/Capital Nature

 

Melanie Choukas-Bradley is a Naturalist, Certified Forest Bathing Guide and award-winning Author of seven nature books including The Joy of Forest Bathing; Resilience—Connecting with Nature in a Time of Crisis and A Year in Rock Creek Park. She leads nature and forest bathing walks for Smithsonian Associates, the US Botanic Garden, the Audubon Naturalist Society, the Nature Conservancy, Politics & Prose bookstore and many other organizations. Melanie is on the Advisory Board of Capital Nature.

This program is being offered virtually via Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, you must register or by emailing carla@smithcenter.org

with Capital Nature

Bud Break Walk with Melanie Choukas-Bradley on Theodore Roosevelt Island (Photo: Ana Ka’ahanui)
Bud Break Walk with Melanie Choukas-Bradley on Theodore Roosevelt Island (Photo: Ana Ka’ahanui)

Nature has an amazing power to heal. If you’ve ever taken a walk to clear your head, sat on a beach to take in the refreshing air, walked under the trees, or tended a garden, you know how restorative time in nature can be. Especially when dealing with cancer, nature can be healer, friend, and counselor, helping to bring us back to wholeness.

 

Smith Center invites you to join our friends at Capital Nature to explore practices, both ancient and new, that connect us to the potential healing power of nature in our lives. 

 

Stella will introduce Capital Nature’s work in this innovative field, and Ana and Melanie will introduce forest bathing as a healing practice. Their section will include a short nature immersion experience. Brenda will share her work East of the River in DC where activists are bringing healing and justice to their communities through nature engagement.

Capital Nature

Capital Nature is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing nature into the lives of Washington Metro area residents and visitors. We are a fiscal 501c3 project of Green Spaces for DC.

We believe people are healthier, and our communities more resilient when nature is part of our lives. We envision a Washington DC region where a culture of nature engagement and stewardship thrives—where daily contact with the natural world supports human wellbeing  and ecological health across our communities.

Capital Nature provides information on the region’s many available, but not always known, nature events: from forest walks to citizen science adventures to educational workshops and stewardship projects. We collaborate with partners and friends to create new opportunities for nature engagement, and invite all to share their stories of experience with the natural world.

Through Capital Nature’s Biophilic Practice Group, we develop nature-based designs and strategies for wellbeing and community health.

About Stella Tarnay

Stella Tarnay

Stella Tarnay Is co-founder and Executive Director of Capital Nature, a nonprofit with a mission to bring nature into Washington DC-area residents’ lives. She leads Capital Nature’s partnership efforts and co-creates programs with Ana that promote wellbeing, stewardship, and a joyful connection with the living world. Educated as an urban planner, Stella also leads Capital Nature’s Biophilic Practice Group. She is a practicing member of the Shambhala DC meditation community.

About Melanie Choukas-Bradley

Melanie Choukas-Bradley

Melanie Choukas-Bradley is the author of seven nature books focused on the Washington, DC area. She leads nature walks and talks for many organizations, including Smithsonian Associates, the US Botanic Garden, the Audubon Naturalist Society and the Nature Conservancy. Melanie is on the Advisory Board of Capital Nature.

About Ana Leilani Ka’ahanui

Ana Leilani Ka'ahanui

Ana Leilani Ka’ahanui is Co-Founder and Director of Tours & Experiential Programs for Capital Nature. She is a forest bathing guide through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy and is passionate about sharing the practice, which is needed now more than ever. Ana is also a Virginia Master Naturalist and committed to connecting people to nature through citizen science and other biodiversity initiatives such as the global City Nature Challenge. 

About Brenda Richardson

Brenda Lee Richardson

Brenda Richardson is an eco-feminist and community advocate for health, mental wellness, education, welfare reform and environmental justice. She is also a consultant that specializes in community engagement, training, facilitation and government relations. Brenda is a founder of the Friends of Oxon Run Park and is on the Advisory Board of Capital Nature. She is anxious to re-ignite spirits to help re-imagine our new future.