Our Connection to Nature includes a rare, near-by Great Blue Heron Rookery that comes to life wildly each Spring.
We’re back, weathering what’s proven to be a fairly mild Midwest Winter, now with late April warmth showing up weeks ahead of a typical Michigan Spring. The 14th warmest winter in recorded history FYI. We’ll take the smoother seasonal segue, especially considering last year this very week we were often subzero, with bare hours above freezing all week. That said, like you, we’re enjoying overall milder Pacific air, with a south westerly jet stream flow slated to promote a more robust surge of spring-like weather across most of the continental U.S.
All this talk of Spring has us looking forward to getting Outside and the upcoming retreat season; once the frogs begin their evening chorus, the Great Blue Herons aren’t far behind. The annual reappearance of the large, wading bird community that springs up in our nearby wetland’s Blue Heron Rookery is quite the natural wonder. And this year we’re celebrating their return by welcoming all birds and other beings for a late March Nature Immersive Weekend, offering another authentic Forest Therapy Experience. Lead by ANFT trained Wild Heart Guide John Scott Campbell, here’s Scott direct on the healing experience:
Forest Therapy is a research-based framework for easing the harshness of our modern culture’s effects on health and well-being. You will be offered possibilities to interact with the natural world in a way that can lead to increases in both mental and physical health. A non-rigorous experience, participation by almost anyone is possible. Walk into the forest. Sit among the trees. Feel the breeze. Watch the ripples on the water. Find the magic that silently waits for you to become present. Step into the healing that has always been available to you from the Earth. Invite the relationship to all living Beings to come alive.
John Muir said, “The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
The Universe is calling you home.
There is a path I can show you.
Let me open the door.
For more on Scott’s open invitation to join the Universe, see him at the door at www.wildheartguide.com. And register to reserve your spot for the Blue Heron Weekend here. More shortly on our Saturday monthly meditation class, late Spring comprehensive retreats with John Ashbrook, Fall yoga offerings and more.