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Whispers of the Forest

Whispers of the Forest

Listening deeply

We feel into the messages of the forest

We feel both her grief and resilience

Her power and vulnerability

Her voice is strong

She has been ignored

She speaks through me and through others who hear

We can all listen to her call.

What does she say?

Slow down

See the flowers

Place your hands and feet on the Earth

Come to me for a loving embrace

Share love

Share gratitude with me, with the more than human world

Be still.

Be silent.

Allow nature’s wisdoms to come to you.

Listen to the bird calls

Listen to the breeze

Know the fluttering of a bird’s wings and sense his size

Listen to the pitter patter of cracked seed hulls falling to the earth

Look up to see rosellas grasping pine cones in their beaks

Watching leaves fall to the Earth so gracefully and gently, a reminder that letting go doesn’t have to be hard

It can be done with ease

The ease of surrender

Flow into the new as water rushing down a stream

Renewed, flowing sinuously, sensually in a flow converged within a greater flow of life

A drop of water in the universe

The universe in one drop

Such is our presence on this earth.

© Rachel DeSumma

Artwork by Diana Shrimpton
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Cascading Waterfall

The forest is filled with a thunderous clap of water 

Crashing down

Glorious, glistening sheets of water

Pounding the rocks and smoothing them slowly

Creating a mist

That comes to rest

Gently on my face

At first a caress

That then forms droplets

Running down my face

To rivulets 

My own mini waterfall

Akin to tears of reverence

Palms out

I stand erect arms outstretched

Receptive to your thunderous power

Energised by this resounding strength

Remembering water is not only a placid meandering flow 

It is an unrelenting force when it falls from a cliff face

Cascading

Down

Powerful teacher you remind me

The water and energy in me 

Can be summoned to become an unrelenting flow of power 

To cascade down the cliffs of resistance

To cascade into a new beginning

© Rachel DeSumma

Photo by Rachel DeSumma
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Virtual Guiding

It felt strange to pack my backpack with my laptop, phone, portable charger and thermos and head off into the forest on my own knowing I would be guiding for a group for a Virtual Forest Immersion experience.

We connected in over video chat to introduce ourselves, to introduce the experience and then participants awakened their senses, explored, and wandered through a nature space of their choice. For some it was their backyard. For others, a local park and also, from within the home.

In these times of social distancing and restrictions to limit non essential activity it felt really good to be able to share a nature connection experience with others in this way.

I noticed how it is possible to create invitations that people can do from anywhere that can drop us into a space of presence and open minded awareness, and that the sequence of guiding I learnt in my training really helps people to drop in and open to a connectedness with the natural world.

Our tea ceremony we shared with tea that my collaboration partner Danielle and I dropped round in care packages to our participants before the walk. Then the final treat of the experience was the sound bath and meditation that Danielle offered to conclude the experience. To be guided intuitively and to drop into the healing space of resonant sounds was such a beautiful way to close our time together! I was so overjoyed that the benefits of Forest therapy can cross the lines of virtual world and that we could still connect so beautifully in this way. Stay posted for further Virtual walks and Sound Meditation collaborations!

Testimonials from Virtual Walk Participants

‘ Each time I attend a Forest Immersion walk with Rachel I feel like I’ve been bathed in love. The feeling lasts for days afterwards. I find myself smiling a day or two later as I recall a magic happening or gesture of authenticity. There is magic in the offerings Rachel and her co-facilitators are offering.’ – Becky

Highly recommend Rachel’s Forest Immersion. She guides you so beautifully. You can tell she loves nature and the earth and trees as she is so intuitively connected. I’ve experienced her forest immersion in the forest with her and now via social media and both work. Each time has left me feeling grounded and connected to the earth and to myself. Thank you Rachel! – Emma

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ANFT Forest Therapy Guide Training

It was a month ago now that I embarked on a learning journey with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy. Training was held at Govinda Valley Retreat, right next to a rushing stream in a small town of Otford, between Woolongong and Sydney, near Royal National Park. The training was an incredible, immersive 8 day experience where I slept on the land, connected with the land, the space, and the other guides in training and trainers. We built such a beautiful little community with each other and we were all learning, growing and sharing with the land around us. There was such reciprocity and exchange and this was what I found so beautiful and deeply connective about being in this space and on this training. In the picture below I’m connecting with the tree here, giving it thanks for being here and asking what I can offer, how I can be in this space. A need for openheartedness arose and so this was my intention for the week. To engage with all beings, and with myself with openheartedness.

So much has happened since then! I’m sooo grateful for the learnings, the inspiration, the deep connections I built with my fellow learners and guides and also the connections I built and am continuing to build with the land and the other beings we share our experience with. With the onset of restrictions due to the COVID-19 virus at the end of our training, I returned to a completely new reality and I have been co-creating this new reality in each moment, embracing the changes as they unfold. I am so deeply grateful to everyone that has shared this journey with me and continues to journey with me. Two legged, four legged, winged, and leaf or frond filled, I love you all. Thank you You Min for the photos

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Sitting with Mother Earth (Pachamama)

Pachamama, she calls to me

She whispers in the wind

She sings through the chitter chatter of the birds

I hear her in the moments of silence

In between the gusts of wind

In the haunting call of the magpie


She opens her heart to me

I feel at once the deepest grief of her destruction

And the deepest appreciation for her presence:

Her nurturing, and her eternal seamlessness of eons

Past, present, and future held within her essence

A knowing that is timeless, of the ages before, and after us
It is almost incomprehensible to me

Like trying to grasp the size of the universe or a drop of water in the ocean

But I glimpse it in flashes,As an instinctive, deeper knowing, beneath thought and sensation, beyond words

As the urge to sit still, to immerse myself in the moment

As the desire to flood my senses with Earthly presence

I see it in each leaf, each speck of soil, each blade of grass, each delicate feather

In the intricate bark of each tree, in the sway of trees in the forest

Each creature, each stone, each cloud, is being here with me

Exactly as it is

Doing it’s part for the thriving pulse of our joint existence.

Each one being itself, while being connected, interwoven into this pulsing web of life

My heart sings in joy and reverence

At the beauty and wonder of it all

The ephemeral gentleness

The fragility and enduring strength

Side by side, intertwined, synergised

Sitting with me as we graciously unfurl into life

© Rachel DeSumma

Image courtesy of Amy Gonzalez

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Visioning a life affirming future: ‘the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible’.

I’m playing with the idea of creating a visioning movement where we co-create an alternative way of being in the world that is in rhythm with nature.

We have so many Dystopian visions of our future. I’m not trying to shy away from that or negate the possibility of immense loss, catastrophe, disconnection and destruction that may take place.

What I am curious about is how we as humans move towards the future we desire rather than away from a future we fear.

We have seen that science fiction novels created a possible reality for our future and we have lived and created into these possibilities.

I am inviting us to do the same in reforming and transforming our relationship with our natural world. A transformation of the structures we live within, a clarity in our intention and a presence and care in our actions. What would a more connected, beautiful, nourished and cared for planet look like? How would we as humans interact with ourselves, with others and with our natural world? How would you ‘be’ in this space and what is it about a environmentally regenerative, socially just and spiritually fulfilling human presence that you yearn for, that you wish to call into being?

For me it’s a life in rhythm with nature, in line with seasons, in step with the beat of the Earth, breathing in sync with the trees.

How this looks in the everyday for me is a deep appreciation for our natural world, and a presence of awareness that gives thanks for the gifts of each day. Bringing a quality of presence and joy to my interactions with others and being willing to look within, to reflect, to learn and to grow. How does it look for you? Comment below.

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