Our connection to nature is embedded within our DNA, the forest provides us with all the psychological and chemical attributes needed to live healthy lives – but our challenge is to learn how to reconnect with the living forest. Shinrin Yoku is Japanese for “forest bathing” or “taking in the forest atmosphere” this popular Japanese therapy represents a new form of nature-based healing.
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.
Yasei Shinrin-Yoku Guide Primary Certification - Distance Learning
contact the forest
250.547.2001
Program Details
Section 1
Introduction to the Yasei Shinrin Yoku
The Forest Therapy Landscape
Yasei Shinrin Yoku Comprehensive Guide Level
Creating Relationships with Nature
Yasei Guide Level Exercises and Meditations
Section 2
Yasei Shinrin Yoku 12 Session Program and Practitioner Training
The Science You Need to Know
Yasei Shinrin Yoku Clinical Basics
Botany
Yasei Guide Level Exercises and Meditations
Section 3
Therapeutic Journaling Methods for Rewilding
Life Force: From Wild Systems to the Micro and the Macro
Understanding the Forest and Biological Systems
Plants and Ecology Studies, Biosemiotics, Microbe Studies
Yasei Shinrin Yoku Practitioners Meditation and Activity Exercises
Section 4
Energy in Nature and Regeneration
Energy Work and Nature Communication
Intuition and Cognitive Skill Exercises
Ancestral Relationships
Storytelling
Presentation Planning Individual Sessions and Group Sessions
Yasei Shinrin Yoku Practitioners Meditation and Activity Exercises
Section 5
Meaning and Purpose with Intention
Plant Spirit Guilds and Shadow Biodiversity
Plant Deities and Trees that Heal
The nature and methods of Natural Ecstasy, Dreamwork and Soul travel.
Yasei Shinrin Yoku Practitioners Meditation and Activity Exercises
Section 6
Mother Tree and Stewardship Studies
Wild Regenerative Logic, Design and Project Development
Sacred Places and Stewardship
Applied Wild and Indigenous Sciences
Yasei Sanctuary Forest Planning
Strategic planning and Partnerships
Next Steps: Getting Started with Certification
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 10 people per camp
2026 Camp Dates - Open for Registration
- May 18-22
- June 15-19
- July 12-18
- August 17-22
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
Yasei Shinrin Yoku: 5 Day In-person Training 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.
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.
As a second option you can take your Yasei Shinrin Yoku Certification training entirely online. To learn more visit this link.
Wildcraft Forest School - Camp Programs
Yasei Shinrin Yoku
Comprehensive Forest Therapy Practitioner
Certification Training Camp
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.
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.
