Our Mission

To support your overall well-being by guiding you towards a deeper connection with the natural world.

What We Offer

Slow and gentle 2-3 hour forest bathing walks in your local forested green space. Your certified Nature & Forest Therapy guide will offer you a series of “invitations” that will help you slow down, relax and experience the subtleties and the restorative qualities of nature. All our walks include a wildcrafted tea to taste the forest.

Forest Therapy (shinrin-yoku, Forest Bathing) is a research-based practice for supporting healing and wellness through immersion in forests and other natural environments. The decades old practice originated in Japan and is known as shinrin-yoku, which literally translates to “taking in the forest” or “forest bathing”. Studies have demonstrated a wide array of health benefits, especially in the cardiovascular and immune systems, and for stabilizing and improving mood and cognition. Your Nature & Forest Therapy Guide builds on those benefits and looks beyond to what happens when people remember that we are a part of nature and are intrinsically connected to all other beings in fundamental ways.

Forest Therapy is a practice. It is open-ended; there is no prescription for what a person “should” experience, or what benefits they “should” receive. Instead, it is a practice of developing a deepening relationship of reciprocity, in which the forest and the practitioner find a way to work together that supports the wholeness and wellness of each. In Forest Therapy, there is a clearly defined sequence of guided events that provides structure to the experience, while embracing the many opportunities for creativity and serendipity offered by the forest and the individual inspiration of each guide. This practice, developed by ANFT has become the most-widely used framework for Forest Therapy in the world.

Why a Guide?

One can certainly go Forest Bathing without one, but a guide is useful to “hold space” and allow your executive functioning mind to take a rest. Much like a yoga teacher or meditation teacher, your Certified Nature & Forest Therapy Guide will show you new techniques and refine the old to deepen your experience and grow your practice.

About Us

DUNCAN MURDOCH

DIRECTOR/NATURE CONNECTION GUIDE
ANFT Certified Nature & Forest Therapy Guide

Duncan is a Certified Nature & Forest Therapy guide living and working in Vermont. As an interdisciplinary thinker, Duncan has accrued his experience and knowledge from improvisational theater and TV/Film acting in SAG-AFTRA, teaching, producing, painting & sculpting, horticulture, land management and music performance. Duncan grew up on the shores of Lake Champlain in rural Vermont where his deep connection to Nature was formed. After receiving his Nature & Forest Therapy Guide Certification from ANFT in 2015, he began his official practice in New York City guiding the first Forest Bathing groups in Central Park. He worked as a Horticulturalist for the NYC parks Department and co-created the first shinrin-yoku forested walking trail on Randall’s Island. He moved back to Vermont in 2015 and began his work with the Intervale Center growing and planting native trees and stewarding the land. He now serves on the South Burlington Natural Resource Committee and is a board member of the South Burlington Land Trust. He is part of the UVM Integrative Health Practitioner Network and frequently conducts Forest Therapy walks throughout the beautiful state with his organization, Nature Connection Guide.

LISA GWIAZDA

NATURE CONNECTION GUIDE
Registered Nurse
Board Certified Holistic Nurse
ANFT Certified Forest Therapy Guide

Lisa Gwiazda discovered the magic and health benefits of Shinrun Yuko (Forest Bathing) when working on her certification in Mind, Body, Spirit through Massachusetts General Hospital. She is a Registered Nurse, Board Certified Holistic Nurse, Certified Forest Therapy Guide from the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs and Wilderness First Responder. She completed an apprenticeship with Spoonful Herbals in Burlington,Vermont where she enjoyed learning more about the gifts plants offer us. Lisa also manages property in the Upper Valley of Vermont for 21 George Investors Co. She believes the practice of forest therapy deepens and broadens our relationship with the world around us and has definitive healing properties.

ANDREW TEPPER

NCG CONSULTANT
Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Andrew Tepper brings 15 years of individual and group psychotherapy work to consulting Nature Connection Guide.

Andrew specializes in working with pre-adolescents, adolescents, adults and families. His areas of interest include anxiety, depression, mood disorders, stress reduction, anger management, and conflict resolution. Andrew holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Bates College and received his Masters of Social Work degree from Columbia University School of Social Work. He has received extensive training in Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy from the Hudson Valley Psychodrama Institute. In addition, he draws from years of training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS), and Mindfulness techniques to mitigate symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Association-Nature-Forest-Therapy-Guides

*Certified by the Association of Nature & Forest Therapy

Duncan Murdoch

CERTIFIED NATURE & FOREST THERAPY GUIDE Duncan is a Certified Nature & Forest Therapy guide living and working in Vermont. He grew up on the shores of Lake Champlain where his deep connection to Nature was formed. Following his passion for art, he moved to NYC where he lived and worked as a professional actor for 14 years. Nature called him to become a horticulturist so he transitioned to become a NYC parks department gardener which lead him to a life of nature (re) connection. After receiving his Nature & Forest Therapy Guide Certification from the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT) in 2015, he began his practice in New York City guiding the first forest bathing groups in Central Park. He then moved back to his home state in Vermont in 2015 and began his work with the Intervale Center growing and planting native trees where he now serves as the Land Stewardship Coordinator. As a wellness practitioner, he is part of the UVM Integrative Health Practitioner Network and frequently conducts forest bathing experiences throughout Vermont and the world, in-person and online with his organization, Nature Connection Guide.