This is your journey as a visitor to the Kii Peninsula as much as my journey living here and wanting to show you all there is. I facilitate experiences that combine nature immersion with spiritual exploration: Forest Therapy and Shugendo, and I give you the opportunity to reflect upon your experiences with Proprioceptive Writing. I hope to encourage a transformation by stimulating an inner journey to go along with the outer journey: time for reflection, meditation, journaling after walking, exploring and experiencing.

Forest Therapy Experience

Also known as Forest Bathing, this is a health management practice that was born in Japan in the 1980s and has taken off internationally in recent years. It involves visiting forests or other natural environments, move at a very slow pace or not at all, and immerse oneself with all your senses in your natural surroundings. It is typically guided, but “The Forest is the Therapist, the Guide just opens the Door!” (Quote from ANFT)

I hold a Forest Therapy Guide license (2015) for trails in the Yoshino area and a national license issued by the Japanese Society for Forest Therapy (2020). I am also an ANFT qualified Forest Therapy Guide (2021).

My articles about Forest Therapy:

• Bathing in the Forest in Yoshino (published in Aug 2017 in Kansai Scene)
• Forest Therapy (published in Mar 2021 on JapanTravel.com)
• Seeking Relaxation in the Forests of Japan (published in Mar 2021 on JapanTravel.com)
• In search of forest medicine in Japan (published in Jan 2022 on JapanToday.com)

Shugendo Experience

This is a spiritual tradition that has its roots in ancient Japan but is still practiced today. It is the “way” of training and testing in the forests and mountains in order to gain special powers. The main practice involves trekking through the mountains and visits to spiritual sites there.

I have been training as a disciple of Kosho Tateishi at Sangakurin, a Shugendo temple in Kumano, since 2009. In addition, I have been training as a disciple of Tatsumi Ryounin at Sakuramotobou, a Shugendo temple in Yoshino, and I received Tokudo at Sakuramotobou in May 2016.

My articles about Shugendo:

• Shugendo Diaries (published bi-monthly on BuddhistDoor.net)

Proprioceptive Writing (PW) Experience

This is a method for exploring your mind though writing. It helps to gain self-knowledge through a process of expressing and reflecting. PW was conceived by Linda Trichter Metcalf and her partner, Tobin Simon and was made widely available through their lectures and workshops but also in their book “Writing the Mind Alive”.

I am a Proprioceptive Writing Instructor by the PW Center (2021).

Retreats

Retreats are small-scale and tailor-made, in other words, private and personalized. All retreats happen face-to-face (in-person) and face-to-place (in-place). They aim to be grounding and embodied.

I qualified as a Retreat Facilitator with Vibrant Women- Retreats and Inspirational Journeys for Women (2020) and I am looking forward to designing and hosting retreats on the Kii Peninsula once meeting in person is possible again.