A Walk in the Woods

Coming Back to Your Senses on a Forest Therapy Journey in the San Francisco Bay Area

I think learning how to walk more slowly may be the key to everything •

I think learning how to walk more slowly may be the key to everything •

Michael Pollan | Journalist/Writer

reflecting on his Walk in the Woods with Jen Borrow

 
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What is A Walk in the Woods?

It is an opportunity to experience the practice of Forest Therapy. It is a deep slowing down, reconnecting and building partnership with nature through a series of guided invitations that are simple, open and sensory. Through the senses, physical and imaginal, one returns home to the body - and to nature - our earthly home.

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Slowing Down

By opening to your senses, and awakening to that which is around you, you naturally slow down, feel into your own heart sense, and come into coherence with the natural world and its rhythms.

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Connection

When you come into coherence with the natural world, you reconnect with yourself, the more-than-human world and your fellow humans.

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Partnership

In connecting with the more-than-human world, you begin to remember the relationship you have always had with it. This remembrance allows you to partner with nature through invitations of play, curiosity, and reciprocity.

Interested in diving deeper into the roots of forest therapy and forest bathing? Learn more

Join a Walk

Join me on a regular weekend walk, or customize it. I so look forward to having you join me as we connect back to nature and rekindle our relationships to the more-than-human world.

 
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Walk Reflections

Testimonials

Jen was the perfect teacher, moving us with her eloquent words and gentle guidance. I felt wonderful the rest of the day. I think learning how to walk more slowly may be the key to everything.

Michael Pollan | Journalist / Writer

In a few hours we got to know and connect with the land better than we have in all the years living here. Jen has a gentle and beautiful way of offering invitations for connecting with nature and each other as well as an ability to create a sense of spaciousness and playfulness. After the experience, I felt grounded, calm and grateful

Ughetta M | Mamma / Business Lawyer / Yogi

Wow, this is so much better than TV

Makenna | Age 7

My daughter was turning 16 years old and I wanted to create a unique experience for her and friends to remember this special birthday and coming of age. I had heard of forest bathing and the facilitator Jen Borrow, and asked if she would help me celebrate my daughter in this way. What I didn’t realize was how special and intimate this experience was! I thought we would be barefoot walking in the forest, dodging sticks and animal excrements.

Darci K | Chiropractor

Jen creates an authentic, welcoming container for a Forest Walk. Whether you are brand new or have ‘walked’ many times, the experience is a fresh and completely present moment. For me, the grounding and connection to the Earth brings a gratitude and connected-ness that stays with me long after the walk. Wood Wide Web, we are a part of it!

Eileen N | Scientist / Intentional Creativity Artist

The forest therapy experience was a magical opportunity. All my senses became fully engaged with nature, and my body was able to melt into the colors, smells, and sounds around me, leaving my busy mind behind. Jen was a sensitive, intuitive guide who provided a safe space for each exploration. Can’t wait to do it again.

Susan D | Retired Educator

Refreshing, peaceful, grounding. It was like meditation. Well, if I had ever meditated properly, that’s what I imagine I’d feel like afterwards.

Jon W | Director, non-profit

Forest therapy has given me the opportunity to merge my mind and body into my surroundings. The constant colors,smells, and sounds that surround me make all my thoughts and body aches become background white noise. Having a guide, like Jen, keeps my mind present in the moment.

Janice S | Retired Educator

A Forest Therapy experience with Jen is deeply restorative, inspiring, nourishing and nurturing... it left me feeling as though I had been lifted out of time. She holds and guides with an elegant balance of support and spaciousness and infuses the journey with great warmth. I highly recommend giving yourself this unique gift.

Rosemary G | Yoga Teacher

This was a wonderful way to relax and just enjoy the beauty around us. Jen gave us just enough prompts (invitations) to keep my mind engaged in the moment so I ended up having spent hours in the moment with no interruptions from the monkey mind. Jen is just perfectly suited to lead this kind of experience. Her love for the natural world is deep and authentic, as is Jen herself.

Ellie W | Educator

Jen designed a custom walk on our property and what a pleasure it was! Slowing down, observing and taking in the beauty of the nature we’re fortunate to be surrounded by. We hugged redwoods, noticed golden spider webs on succulents and saw movement where things previously looked still. Our dog was fascinated by what we were doing. Even our 10 year old son who previously knew the land the best, saw in new ways (especially with the magnifying glass)!

Ughetta M | Mamma / Business Lawyer / Yogi

The forest bathing experience with Jen was eye-opening. The journey and experience in a forest which I thought I already knew well, opened new windows for me. The sounds, sensations, and sights within nature opened a window for me and I discovered a layer deeper than my everyday consciousness and awareness of the forest around me.

Bill L | Builder / Yogi

Jen’s forest bath soaked me in the generosity of nature: under her guidance, I gained insights about so many nuances that I have not noticed before: the veins of leaves, the spider webs on the branches, and the sunshine that changes colors with varying heights of shades. This session made me feel tremendous love from the world—that no matter what I do, whoever I am, they are always there for me, if I open my eyes to this life.

Angel X | Graduate Student

Jen infuses these walks with her knowledge, warmth and humor. Her calm guidance and playful invitations helped wake up our senses. We noticed more of the natural world around us and time pleasantly stretched out. My 8-year-old and I both delighted in the experience!

Lilly M. | Educator & Writer

Jen's walks are fun! You really get to feel nature!

Marz | Age 9

The experience is set up for you to observe nature in a slowed pace, using all senses to create an awareness of what happens in a forest and what senses we use to get an illumination of ourselves. Jen set up the perfect “tone” to embrace what the forest offers and gently probed into my observations so when I walked away, I felt more in harmony with nature and learned a bit about myself. This was unexpected. This experience has stuck with me and highly encourage others to have many of these intimate moments with the forest. So good!

Darci K | Chiropractor

 
 
 
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Remotely Guided Walks

During this time, I am also offering remotely guided forest walks. To participate, you will find a place in nature that you feel comfortable in, be it your backyard, balcony, or a park near your home where you can be for approximately 90 minutes. Or if you can’t leave your home, perhaps a window where you can see nature from, or even an indoor plant.

You will have one headphone in your ear, listening to me and the other ear listening to what is around you in nature. Please contact me to schedule a remotely guided walk.

to schedule
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Custom Guided Walks

Should the current locations for the walks not work for you, please get in touch so we can discover a location and timeframe that works!

Get in Touch
 
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Capturing Moments

Another interest of mine is photography. Gaining perspective, capturing a moment, an angle, the rays of the sun, a laughing flower. I have always loved taking photos. May you enjoy these, as much as I have from taking them.

browse my photography
 

Forest Therapy Resources

A place where I share with you my thoughts on my current interests and books that have helped open my eyes to the beauty of nature within and without.

explore resources
 
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Quotes

“Your body is as ancient as the clay of the universe from which it is made; and your feet on the ground are a constant connection with the earth. Your feet bring your private clay in touch with the ancient, mother clay from which you first emerged.”

John O’Donohue

“Deep down, at the molecular heart of life, the trees and we are essentially identical.”

Carl Sagan

“Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.”

William Wordsworth

“Nature’s rhythm is medium to slow. Many of us live in the fast lane, out of nature’s rhythm. There are two things we can never do in the fast lane: we can neither deepen our experience nor integrate it.”

Angeles Arrien

“Keep close to nature’s heart”

John Muir

“If you trust in Nature, in the small Things that hardly anyone sees and that can so suddenly become huge, immeasurable; if you have this love for what is humble and try very simply, as someone who serves, to win the confidence of what seems poor: then everything will become easier for you, more coherent and somehow more reconciling, not in your conscious mind perhaps, which stays behind, astonished, but in your innermost awareness, awakeness, and knowledge.”

Rainer Maria Rilke

“The forest is itself the therapist, restoring our innate capacities when we slow down and give it our attention. It knows what healing we need and how to deliver just the right intervention.”

Amos Clifford