Register for the Thursday–Sunday, September 10-13 Retreat

$1750 per person
50% Payment due at registration
(Final 50% Payment due July 10th 2026)
Large, comfortable bedrooms. Max occupancy of only 2.

We are born into a world in which every stone is a teacher and every breeze a language. Where trees are our mentors and other creatures our relatives. These are not just poetic metaphors, but apt descriptions of the living, natural world of which we are a part. Sadly, our understanding of this profound connection is too often lost amidst the hurly-burly of life and the demands of a busy world. Douglas Wood’s Forest Therapy Retreats are a rare opportunity to slow down, recharge, and reconnect. To sense the meaning of a single, green leaf or the beauty of a flower; to truly hear the song of a thrush or feel the softness of moss; to walk a forest trail and find that most important person of all—yourself.

Doug draws upon his long career as a wilderness guide, his expertise as a naturalist, and his lifetime study of spiritual traditions and psychology, to create a woodland experience that is not simply ‘forest bathing’ (shinri yoku) but a unique encounter with belonging. With being. With seeing and hearing the natural world, the world of the forest, and sensing that we are a part of it all. And that the ancient connection still has much to teach us in our modern lives.

Elements of the Forest Therapy Retreat:

Gentle guidance and woodland expertise

Plant and tree identification and appreciation

Woodcraft

Nature journaling

Stillness meditation

Walking meditation/the four ways of walking

How to listen

Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing)

Nature study/identification and interpretation

The power of metaphorical thinking

Stories and legends of the forest

Mindfulness

Music

Artistic expression

Worldwide traditions and philosophies

Private, personal time

Group/community time

And more…

All set within the grand beauties, tall groves, streams and wild lakeshore of Osprey Wilds Environmental Learning Center on lovely Grindstone Lake. 

Limited participants, maximum of 12.

Groves of two hundred-year-old pines

Nearly 800 acres of woods, wetlands, streams, and undeveloped shoreline

Housing and gatherings in grand old Schwyzer Lodge. Gorgeous, wrap-around screen porch under the big pines overlooking the lake. Kitchen, beautiful living room and fireplace. Three shared bathrooms and showers, double occupancy bedrooms.

Excellent home-made meals in the Center’s Dining Hall, largely organic, farm-to-table from the Center’s regenerative farm. Great cooks, gluten-free, custom dietary choices available.

Easy walking/hiking, mostly level, no difficult terrain.

Osprey Wilds Environmental Learning Center website link: www.ospreywilds.org