Damselfly Forest Therapy

09/02/2026

Life is short. Be sure to pause and admire the gentle orange flutter of a butterfly's wings.

If you could use more moments like this, join my next forest therapy walk and learn what happens when you align your pace with Mother Nature's.

Register for my fall events here: https://www.damselflyforesttherapy.com/event-list

08/26/2026

You're invited to join a guided walk in nature to mark the turn of the season of light to the darker half of the year.

At 7:05 PM—while we're still on the trail—the sun will cross the equator and autumn will officially begin.

Together, we’ll explore the balance of light and darkness as we cross the threshold into fall.

🍂 The Gentle Turning: A Guided Forest Therapy Walk
⌚ 6-7:30 PM
📆 Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026
📍 Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo
🎟$35

Ready to welcome autumn?

Register here: https://www.damselflyforesttherapy.com/event-details/the-gentle-turning-a-guided-forest-therapy-walk

08/05/2026

🌿 Communing with the Living World 🌿

Step away from the busyness of daily life and reconnect with nature through a guided forest therapy walk.

Inspired by the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku (forest bathing), this gentle, two-hour experience invites you to slow down, engage your senses, and deepen your relationship with the living world. Research suggests forest therapy can reduce stress, improve mood, and support overall wellbeing.

This is not a hike or fitness activity. We'll move at a relaxed pace with time to pause, reflect, and simply be present in nature. The experience concludes with tea shared together.

📅 Thursday, August 20
🕡 6:30–8:30 p.m.
📍 Assisi Heights
💲 $39
👥 Ages 15 and older

Take a deep breath, unplug, and experience the healing power of the natural world.

Register today: https://rochesterfranciscan.org/events/

07/23/2026

You're invited to spend an evening slowing down in nature.

Join me for "Communing with the Living World," a guided forest therapy walk at beautiful Assisi Heights Spirituality Center .

🌿 Thursday, August 20
🕕 6–8 PM
📍 Rochester, Minnesota

Forest therapy isn't about hiking or exercise. It's a gentle, guided experience that helps us reconnect with the living world through our senses, curiosity, and presence.

I'd love to share this evening with you.

Learn more and register here:
https://rochesterfranciscan.org/events/communing-with-the-living-world-2/

07/23/2026

We often think of nature as something to look at.

But what if, for a moment, you simply listened?

The voice of a river is water rushing over stones—a living chorus that has been singing far longer than we've existed as a species.

Forest therapy invites us to slow down long enough to notice what the more-than-human world is saying.

🎧 Turn up the volume, close your eyes, and spend a few moments listening.

When was the last time you paused to really listen to a river?

🌿

07/22/2026

This tiny toadlet is only weeks removed from life as a tadpole.

Over the next two to three years, it will quietly grow into adulthood, helping keep insect populations in balance along the way.

It's a reminder that entire lifetimes are unfolding beneath our feet every day.

One of the gifts of forest therapy is learning to slow down enough to see these small wonders. What have you noticed in nature lately?

🌿

07/16/2026

Studies (like this one: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7345658/) have shown that trees are associated with multiple health benefits. This is great news for Rochester, Minnesota residents!

More trees are coming to Rochester!

Thanks to more than $928,000 in grant funding from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Rochester is expanding its urban forest and investing in healthier neighborhoods.

• A $500,000 ReLeaf Grant will support pruning and maintenance of boulevard trees throughout Rochester.
• A $428,450 Shade Tree Bonding Grant will fund the planting of approximately 1,025 trees in public rights-of-way in Rochester neighborhoods identified by the USDA Forest Service as having lower tree canopy coverage and a greater need for investment.

Together, these investments will help grow Rochester's tree canopy and strengthen the long-term health of the community's urban forest.

Learn more: https://www.rochestermn.gov/news/posts/city-of-rochester-to-plant-more-than-1-000-trees-and-expand-urban-forest-through-state-grants/

07/16/2026

A gentle reminder that Book Club on the Creek is almost here.

If you've been thinking about joining us to explore "Braiding Sweetgrass" through conversation, reflection, and a guided forest therapy walk, now is the time.

We'll begin at Garden Party Books MN before heading to the Cascade Creek Trail for an afternoon of slowing down, noticing, and connecting with the living world.

🌿 Sunday, July 19
🕜 1:30–3:30 p.m.

I'd love to share this experience with you!

Registration closes July 19.

Get your tickets here: https://www.damselflyforesttherapy.com/event-details/book-club-on-the-creek-braiding-sweetgrass

07/15/2026

Forest therapy helps us notice the many ways we are connected to nature.

Haiku, an ancient Japanese poetic form, often does the same.

These short poems typically capture a moment in the present and include a reference to the season. In English, they are often written in three lines using a 5–7–5 syllable pattern.

I wrote one for you:

A bumblebee flits
from bloom to bloom, filling her
basket with pollen

🌸

What small moment in nature have you noticed lately?

07/14/2026

Some books change the way you think. Others change the way you experience the world.

For me, "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer did both.

The ideas in this remarkable book helped put words to something I had long experienced—that the natural world has an extraordinary capacity to help us reconnect with ourselves and remember that we belong.

That's why I created "Book Club on the Creek: A guided literary nature experience."

Rather than gathering only to discuss "Braiding Sweetgrass," we'll also spend time outdoors along Cascade Creek, experiencing many of the book's themes through a gentle guided forest therapy walk. No prior experience with forest therapy is needed—just a willingness to slow down, notice, and be curious.

I would love to share this experience with you. Reading the book is not required, nor is prior knowledge of forest therapy. All are welcome.

🌿 Book Club on the Creek
📅 Sunday, July 19
🕜 1:30–3:30 p.m.
📍 Garden Party Books + Cascade Creek

Just 3 spots remain. I hope you'll join us!

Registration: https://www.damselflyforesttherapy.com/event-details/book-club-on-the-creek-braiding-sweetgrass