We have changed our Practitioner Training program. Now more than ever the world is seeking to rewild human consciousness along with planet Earth, and now you can make this happen no matter where you live. Join us for our "Practitioner" Training Camps both in person or online. You can also become a Certified "Guide" through our Distance Learning Program.
Our Practitioners training allows participants to deliver a 12 Session Forest Therapy Program to individuals, groups and into the public and private sectors. Training begins online when you register and then you completer your certification at one of our 5-day camps.
As a second option you can now complete your certification online and your registration includes placement into one of our 5-day support camps or retreats that you can attend here in British Columbia at anytime in the future.
Yasei Shinrin Yoku Practitioners Training provides participants with certification to perform our unique version of Forest Bathing which includes the delivery of a 12 Session Forest Therapy Program, which combines the healing abilities presented by the natural world with spiritual and environmental stewardship. Shinrin-Yoku (Forest Bathing) was developed in Japan during the 1980s and has become a building block of preventive health care and healing in Japanese medicine. Researchers primarily in Japan and South Korea have established an extensive body of scientific literature on the health benefits of spending time under the canopy of a living forest.
Yasei Shinrin-Yoku means “Wild Forest Bathing” and incorporates wildcrafting, and includes a tangible understanding of the sentient forest. Yasei considers the expansion of our health, purpose and well-being as being directly related to the work that we do for the benefit of the forest – the practice considers that we and the forest are “one” and that through this presence the true natural balance of energy can be achieved that benefits both the individual and the natural world. If we invest in the health and growth of the forest then the forest will invest in us – the medium of exchange is “life-force”. Courses offer learning experiences with nature’s nutrients, which include phytoncides and also includes teas, oils and aromas.
Yasei Shinrin-Yoku Practitioner Certification provides training for participants to deliver a 12-Week Forest Therapy Program with an opportunity to set up an independent practice and provides planning support for practitioners to establish a Yasei Sanctuary Forest. This series provides an understanding of wilderness therapies, nutri-ecopsychology and aspects of building meaning and purpose. Upon completion of the camps, participants will be able to apply for a Yasei Shinrin Yoku Practitioner Certification, which can assist them in both career and self-employment endeavors especially suited for counseling, alternative healthcare, the spiritual arts, theology, energy work, education, food, nutrition and outdoor recreation.
•I will study and seek to understand wild places and plant spirit medicines, craft and food that considers biodiversity and shadow biodiversity. I promise to re-wild food, medicines, community and the human experience including key aspects of political, economic and social structures.
I will study and seek to understand wild places and plant spirit medicines, craft and food that considers biodiversity and shadow biodiversity. I promise to re-wild food, medicines, community and the human experience including key aspects of political, economic and social structures.
ethics
Yasei Shinrin-Yoku Guide Primary Certification - Distance Learning
contact the forest
250.547.2001
Option 1 - Attend a Training Camp:
details
Section 1
Introduction to the Yasei Shinrin Yoku 12 Session Program and Practitioner Training
- Creating Relationships with Nature
- Therapeutic Journaling Methods for Rewilding
- Applied Wild and Indigenous Sciences
- Plants and Ecology Studies, Biosemiotics, Microbe Studies
- Mother Tree and Stewardship Studies
Section 2
Yasei Shinrin Yoku Meditation and Activity Exercises
- Individual Sessions
- Group Sessions
- Energy Work and Nature Communication
- Intuition and Cognitive Skill Exercises
- Ancestral Relationships
- Storytelling
Section 3
Plant Spirit Medicines and Rewilding Methodologies
- Exploration, fieldwork and Vision Quest in one of the following ecosystems: Rainforest, Mixed Forest, Tundra, Savannah or Aquatic.
- Plant Spirit Guilds and Shadow Biodiversity
- Plant Deities, Ceremonial Protection and Sacred Practices
- The nature and methods of Ecstasy and Soul travel.
Section 4
Wild Regenerative Logic, Design and Project Development
- Yasei Sanctuary Forest Planning
- Strategic planning, Bioregional planning, grant writing, shadow biodiversity, Sanctuary Forest Partnerships.
Each camp retreat is 5 days in length and takes place on the dates listed below. Regular Camp Series Cost: $1900 (Canadian Dollars) and includes advanced online training.
- Maximum 8 people per camp
2024 Camp Dates are now closed.
Thankyou for participating in our 2024 camp program.
2025 Camp Dates - Open for Registration (Availability as of October 27, 2024)
- May 19-23 (4 seats remaining)
- June 16-20 (4 seats remaining)
- July 21-25 (3 seats remaining)
- August 18-22 (2 seats remaining)
- September 8-12 (2 seats remaining)
If you choose to register for our Practitioner Certification through Distance Learning we will begin your training within 5 days of registration. Your registration includes placement into one of our 5-day support camps or retreats that you can attend here in British Columbia at anytime in the future. Practitioner Certification Distance Learning Cost: $1900.00 (Canadian Dollars)
REGULAR REGISTRATION
5 Day In-person Camp Series Cost: $1900.00 (Canadian Dollars)
You may register using this secure PayPal link:
You may also register by Interac or
Wells Fargo Transfer. Send us an email and we will send you instructions.
- Camp Accommodation is Included
If you have questions please email us or call 250.547.2001
Growing your Yasei Shinrin Yoku
Guide Certification
You can grow your Guide Certification and become a Practitioner which will allow you to deliver our 12 Session Forest Therapy Program. We understand that as a Forest Therapy Guide you are challenged which trying to retain your clients for return visits. Currently the largest segment of Forest Therapy clients are those who become a “one-off client”. It’s this dynamic that has plagued ecotourism and nature-based guiding for decades. At the Wildcraft Forest School we have developed a 12 session Forest Therapy program where clients have a more enhanced opportunity to follow through with nature-based healing with your guidance.
You can now become a Practitioner and we will deduct the Distance Learning Registration Fee that you have paid, which will allow you to enroll in the Practitioner Training Program.
Wild Forest Therapy Winter Tookit
If you have been a past participant in our Guide or Practitioner Programs and you would like to receive “Wild Forest Therapy Winter Tookit” you can register today and begin the online program November 15th. The winter program will help you to continue your practice during the late autumn and winter months and includes print material, videos and question and answer sessions.
It doesn’t matter how much snow is on the ground, or how long the winter is, your Yasei Shinrin Yoku practice does not have to be put on hold.
Register now at $180 (Canadian Dollars)
Yasei Shinrin Yoku
and Spiritual Stewardship
Nature is returning as a key element within the human spiritual experience. Don Elzer talks about how Yasei Shinrin Yoku delivers a practice where-by we create a working relationship with nature through stewardship.
Yasei Shinrin Yoku (Forest Therapy) Practitioner Certification
Wild Forest Bathing and Wilderness Therapies with Sanctuary Forests - Presented in 5 Day Camps or online through Distance Learning Certification.
This calm connecting of “being” in the forest, turns into tangible results. Physicist Fritjof Capra described the process…“During (these) periods of relaxation after periods of concentrated intellectual activity, the intuitive mind seems to take over and can produce the sudden clarifying insights which give so much joy and delight.”
New research from University of Utah psychology researchers is helping prove what American authors John Muir and Henry David Thoreau tried to teach more than 150 years ago: Time spent in nature is good for the heart and soul.
At the Wildcraft Forest School we teach people to become Yasei Shinrin Yoku Guides and Practitioners and we have even developed a clinical program connected to this practice which takes a wilder approach to forest therapy but also combines with forms of Earth-based spiritually and practical applications of stewardship. Yasei is now being delivered in over 30 countries.
Our world both locally and globally is in a great transition so it becomes important to plan our lives so that we can continue to survive and thrive during these challenging times. So I would like to share with you a few important points as to why you might want to embrace this training for economic reasons.
“This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of nature. Take the power to control your own life. No one else can do it for you. Take the power to make your life happy.”
― Susan Polis Schutz
Time in nature helps older adults with improved health and purpose in life. Live long and prosper - move through space between big trees and connect your brain.
At the Wildcraft Forest School the largest percentage of our Shamanic Coaching students are coming out of the hospice work sector. Our training program is slowly being recognized by many as providing powerful tools for those who are seeking to address challenges with ageing – whether it is for themselves or for others.
Within our society we have a great number of people who have lived without any spiritual awakening and when they find themselves near the "end" they have no logical or peaceful approach to how they might be "beginning".
Our Shamanic Coaching program really helps hospice care workers and other health professionals create a connection with these folks during one of the most important times in their lives. The program also helps the coach retain their own healthy meaning and purpose within this mission which depends on a powerful connection to nature and spirit.
