Amanda Kenyon is a nature therapy and meditation guide, woman, voice for the land, dancer, accountant, cook, sister, volunteer, student of plant and spirit communication, teacher of mindfulness, hiker of high peaks and a humble human learning every day from all the beings of this shared planet Earth. She is a community member amongst the housed and unhoused people living on the unceded homeland of the Elnu Abenaki people, in the place called Wantastegok, “the river where something is lost”, at the confluence of the Wantastekw/West and Kwenitekw/Connecticut Rivers, known as Brattleboro, Vermont. Amanda guides mindfulness and sensory-based nature experiences that promote holistic well-being and strengthen our relationship with nature, ourselves, and other humans. Her forest immersion experiences and nature therapy sessions are rooted in the Japanese tradition of shinrin-yoku–forest bathing, and are powerful tools for finding presence, connection and wellness in one's life. Amanda is certified by The Forest Therapy School and is also Wilderness First Aid trained. Her business is called Landkind Guide in recognition of our kinship with all beings---mankind as well as the more-than-human beings who we share this land with.

From Amanda:

At a crossroads in life in late 2021, I sought an answer for what would come next in my life. Eventually the answer arrived as clear as a lark: create a retreat space in the forest where people could connect to nature and themselves through mindfulness and movement. But what did this calling mean? I Googled the terms, “nature, mindfulness, movement”, and the unanimous result was forest bathing. Shortly thereafter, a conservation non-profit that held land for healing community with nature offered me the space to begin guiding, and I completed my certification with The Forest Therapy School.

Already a lover of hiking and a practitioner of meditation and Buddhism, the subject matter of forest bathing came easily to me. What took me by surprise was how natural it was for me to be a guide. I also discovered that the richest rewards from being a guide were not my own, but rather the profound effects I saw others experience when I facilitated their forest immersion experience.

Being a guide has deeply transformed me, on many levels. I always had a mediocre to poor sense of smell. No longer. Every leaf of every tree and plant has a scent and I notice more scents in the air than I ever imagined could be possible. That palo santo that you burned around your picnic table two hours ago? I noticed it when I walked by. I touch everything. My fingers drag across a wooden table’s surface as I walk by. The forest beings are greeted by my touch. I talk to everything. I sing to the forest, I thank the rocks for their help, I kneel to the fox and ask aloud if I can have a closer look at their face.

I have had a tree stop me in my tracks to tell me that I was on the right path. I have had visions of pine trees tell me that I am loved. I have had Ancestors admonish me to accept my role as voice for the land. I have had the spirit of the hummingbird call me to a meadow where I would find flowers to pick a bouquet for the family who had to lay their pup to rest. I’ve had intense anxiety and distress transmitted to me by fungi who were being picked and discarded by a group of people, prompting me to take reconciliatory action.

Never did I imagine that this would be me. And still the transformation continues as the boundaries between human and other-than-human dissolve, and new directions call to me. As my path continues to unfold, I can no longer deny that forest bathing has changed me from a person adverse to the word “spiritual” to a person who now sees that I am a spiritual guide. Nature connection work is spiritual connection work, whether we feel that at first of not. The gateways of using our sensory channels and tools of mindfulness bring out the immediacy of the natural world around us, leading us to find a profound presence amongst all beings. This presence in nature gifts each one of us exactly what we need, wherever we are on our personal journey. The benefits of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health are abundant. I am grateful for the neverending gifts from Nature that I have received, and I look forward to connecting you to whatever medicine you may be needing from Nature.

~Amanda

Certifications:

Certified Forest Therapy Guide by The Forest Therapy School

Wilderness First Aid Certified by SOLO

Sierra Club Certified Hike Outing Leader