Being in the World Differently

A Forest Therapy Reflection

Forest Therapy Golden Gate Park

I was guiding a Forest Therapy walk out at Chaminade in Santa Cruz this weekend when I learned a new word from one of the guests: ontology.

Ontology is the philosophical study of being.It explores what it means to exist, how we relate to the world around us, and how different ways of being shape our experience.

Isn’t that beautiful?Not doing. Not fixing. Just… being.

It landed so deeply because that’s exactly what these walks are about—being with ourselves, being with each other, and being with the more-than-human world.No agenda. No outcome. Just presence.

I’m loving these moments of co-emergent learning—when the wisdom of the circle expands my own. I may be the guide, but I’m always learning, tapping into collective wisdom that arises when we gather in presence. It’s one of the quiet gifts of this work: we don’t heal alone. We remember, together.

🌲 Why Are We So Challenged to Just Be?

Why is simply being—without scrolling, producing, or planning—so edgy these days?

Yep, you guessed it...Our nervous systems are being hijacked and rewired by an unhealthy relationship with technology.We live in a world of nonstop notifications, infinite content, and fractured attention. And it’s changing us. It’s making stillness feel uncomfortable. Silence feel awkward. Slowness feel unsafe.

That’s why these walks matter.

Today, while guiding another Forest Therapy walk, I found myself lying in the warm sun, draped over a large fallen tree. My body had completely surrendered to the earth, but my mind wandered into storytelling—thinking about how I was feeling, constructing meaning, drifting into narrative.

And then it hit me—Sweetheart, come back.Back to the body. Back to the breath. Back to the moment.

You are safe enough to feel.And feeling is healing.

When we create space to feel what’s real—without numbing or performing—we allow our nervous systems to soften, our stories to pause, and our hearts to speak.

🌳 The Forest as Teacher, the Body as Guide

Forest Therapy and self-myofascial release are the two practices I return to again and again. I call them my Portals to Presence.

• Forest Therapy reconnects us with the more-than-human world in a way that’s relational and healing.

• Self-myofascial release helps us feel what’s living in our tissues and teaches us how to treat embodied stress through sensation and stillness.

Together, they create the conditions for what I think of as ontological healing—a return to beingness that is grounded, wise, and sustainable.

Sometimes when I offer a Forest Therapy invitation to drop into one of our senses, people wander out into the forest. Some take a while to find their way back—and I love this.

As phones are silenced and we just sit and wait, I can often see (and feel in myself) the quiet itch to do something—to fill the space.This is the moment when, in normal life, we’d whip out our phone.

But here, we wait.We just be.

And that is becoming radical.Being, simply for the sake of being, is increasingly uncomfortable.And yet, it’s essential.

Without awareness, we have no choice.But I am aware.And I’m choosing to drop down the rabbit hole.To study the art of being.I call this—a Portal to Presence.

🌍 Expanding My World, One Walk at a Time

One of the guests this weekend said, “I didn’t realize how much I needed this until I stopped moving.”Another told me they felt connected for the first time in weeks—not just to nature, but to themselves.

I love how Forest Therapy walks connect people.Strangers walk in, and a community walks out.My world seems to be expanding lately, and it feels good.Not in a loud or fast way—but in the quiet way of moss growing, of nervous systems settling, of real presence returning.

🌱 Being Is Enough

We live in a culture that rewards performance, stimulation, and productivity.But what if healing isn’t about doing more—but about being more fully?

What if your body, in its quiet wisdom, is already pointing you toward what matters?

This is what I’m learning—through the forest, through the body, and through the sacred pauses in between.

🌀 If you’re curious about exploring your own Portals to Presence, I invite you to join me on retreat.Let’s reclaim the art of being—together.

👉 Explore upcoming events: www.somaticecotherapy.com/events