Romanticising “normal” journeys

How I became a forest therapy guide

I have been asked many times - “what made you decide to become a guide?”.

Often I get a bit nervous to share as I don’t think it was a super interesting journey but more so a heart-full one. It’s ordinary and yet remains so warm in my heart.

Hello everyone!! My name is Khloe and I am a certified forest therapy guide who guides full time in Singapore.

Honestly, my journey of becoming a guide is a very normal one - one that does not have many highs and lows; neither were that major challenges that I overcame. Think about the typical success stories media likes to portray - mine don’t look like that at all. A recent message from a DM on Instagram prompted me to write this post, sitting with all my edges about writing - it is okay to write imperfectly so long as i am writing from my heart.

(Pardon my grammatical and other errors that i will not attempt to perfect).

I am thankful - that people are interested in my normal story so here goes! Allow me to romanticise the beauty of a normal heartfull journey.

My journey began in 2021, right in the midst of covid. I was burnout - a term we hear very often and there are many resources that tells us what to do and how to prevent that. The reality is - we often don’t care so much because we have been taught to keep striving and to always work hard on achieving different goals in our life.

We brushed aside the different messages our body tries to tell us, all in the name of work and busyness. Often, we simply lack courage to face the truth - our own truth.

In the midst of the covid breakout, i started having eczema for the first time and I often felt very “jaded” at work. I was very conscious of eczema appearing on different parts of my body and yet I could function normally, appearing at work and completing my tasks. It is easy to “function” and no one knows if something is wrong, until the body starts to give us more “serious warnings”.

My eczema got really bad and often I felt very anxious. I took a look in the mirror and thought - this is not the way to go on. I finally took the courage to face myself and take action. I was searching for ways to feel better and I came across forest bathing. Oddly, it didn’t felt like I needed to consider for very long. I just felt like attending one. I invited a fellow colleague who is also a social service practitioner to join me.

No words can describe how we felt during the experience. It’s so profound and for the first time in my life, it felt different. We were guided gently to slow down and notice what’s around us. I remembered laying down on the grass and it reminded me of my childhood days when I lay on very thin mattresses (tilam) on the floor of my home and I was super fond of the cooling sensation we could feel back then.

Something stirred in my heart then and I was not sure what, it’s mysterious and yet I am okay with not knowing.

I found myself going back to nature a lot after the experience. There was no agenda, I simply bought a mat and sat for a really long time at Botanic Gardens. It’s one of the invitations from forest therapy - a “sit-spot”. Finding a spot that resonates with our body and heart and sit down, noticing what’s around.

I could hear my voice for the first time in a long time. I was not as afraid to listen to my own voice anymore. I realized how I always choose to put other people in front of myself - in the name of work. Students, clients and many other people are more important. In that way, I have a perfect excuse not to listen to my own heart.

I then decided to go for the certification course (this is a story on its own!) and for the first time in my life, I didn’t had to consider a lot. Everything just felt “right”. My journey started from my first experience and it has not ended yet; it is on-going.

I came home to myself, my body, my relationships and my heart and it is a continuous journey of unlearning and learning as I guide and hold space for other people to experience forest therapy in their own ways. Forest therapy is also sometimes a process of “re-membering”, remembering that we are human beings and come home to ourselves.

Thank you for indulging me to romanticise the normal and ordinary and most importantly, thank you for being here and witnessing my journey.

With all of my heart, thank you.

Khloe