Talk to those who have been there from the beginning. Trainers who have guided in forests throughout the world. Guides who have met and managed a myriad of situations encountered on the trail. People who know this practice in their heads, hearts, and bones. Learn the details of ANFT’s acclaimed training. Is it the right training for you?
Forest Therapy Training Worldwide - Online and In-person
Uniting a global community bound by passion & expertise
Become Part of the Movement that is Helping Others Discover The Healing Power of Nature
Forest Bathing
Forest bathing is not the same thing as hiking or a simple walk in the woods. The destination in forest bathing is “here,” not “there.” The pace is slow, not fast. The focus is on connection and relationship. The heart opens.
Immerse your senses in that ambience of the forest. Walk slowly and notice things. Feel the touch of the breeze on your skin; notice the sounds of the brook and the birds and the movement of trees in the wind. Let what you notice find its home inside you; give it hospitality. You are home.
From “Your Guide to Forest Bathing” by M. Amos Clifford
Forest Therapy
The Forest is the Therapist, the Guide opens the Doors.
This is the motto we work and live by. We believe that the forest and nature in general carries the wisdom and offers the healing that each person needs. As guides we work in partnership with the forest. We support others as they awaken their senses and slow down to become fully present in and with the forest.
Guides are not therapists. Support for wellness, personal development, and perhaps healing comes to participants from their interaction with natural environments. The sole aim of guided activities is to create and sustain safe, meaningful, and relational contact between participants and nature.
From ANFT Forest Therapy Guide Training Manual
Relational Forest Therapy™
There are two strands of forest therapy. One is founded in research oriented to public health. The other, pioneered by ANFT, is called “Relational Forest Therapy™.” We find ourselves in expanded webs of interbeing, in which the other-than-human beings we encounter in the forest become less like objects, and more like friends and family.
Relational Forest Therapy™ will help you remember who you are. You were born to take your place in the great work unfolding every day, everywhere. Training as a guide is a way to help you prepare to step up, accept your calling, and find your joy through skillfully bridging the human-built world and the wild world of nature.
Embedded in this expanded community, we experience greater degrees of freedom in how we explore the world, and in what we are able to learn about ourselves.
Choose Your Cohort
(Upcoming Training)
- Cohort 137
Enrollment Open
Start Date & Language
- October 9, 2024
- English
Live Calls (Times in PST)
- Wednesdays
- 4:00 pm
–
- 6:00 pm
- Cohort 138
Enrollment Open
Start Date & Language
- October 15, 2024
- English
Live Calls (Times in PST)
- Tuesdays
- 2:00 pm
–
- 5:00 pm
- Cohort 139
Enrollment Open
Start Date & Language
- October 28, 2024
- English
Live Calls (Times in PST)
- Mondays
- 4:00 pm
–
- 6:00 pm
- Cohort 140
Enrollment Open
Start Date & Language
- November 12, 2024
- English
Live Calls (Times in PST)
- Tuesdays
- 4:30 pm
–
- 7:00 pm
- Cohort 141
Enrollment Open
Start Date & Language
- January 15, 2025
- English
Live Calls (Times in PST)
- Wednesdays
- 4:00 pm
–
- 6:00 pm
- Cohort 142
Enrollment Open
Start Date & Language
- January 27, 2025
- English
Live Calls (Times in PST)
- Mondays
- 9:00 am
–
- 11:00 am
- Cohort 143
Enrollment Open
Start Date & Language
- February 4, 2025
- English
Live Calls (Times in PST)
- Tuesdays
- 3:30 pm
–
- 5:30 pm
- Cohort 144
Enrollment Open
Start Date & Language
- February 26, 2025
- English
Live Calls (Times in PST)
- Wednesdays
- 4:00 pm
–
- 6:00 pm
- Cohort 145
Enrollment Open
Start Date & Language
- March 12, 2025
- English
Live Calls (Times in PST)
- Wednesdays
- 10:00 am
–
- 12:00 pm
Nature Needs You
There is hope. You are needed now. Follow the call of your heart.
Experience a 5 minute Forest Therapy Break
Develop a Rich Array of Skills & Knowledge
Journey toward skills and knowledge through 14 modules, over 120 lessons
Join 14 live calls presentations from your trainers and cohort
Participate in small group discussion calls guided by ANFT trainers
Read the latest edition of our landmark manual
Learn from our top experts through 30+ short videos on different topics
Learn by completing 40+ assignments/ self exploration activities
Experience 20+ nature connection activities
Learn the research papers and studies
Test your growning knowledge through "Fun Facts and Reflections"
Experience Remote Forest Therapy walks guided by trainers
Guide your own walks and debrief them
Join the largest forest therapy guide's community worldwide
What will you say after you have earned your ANFT Forest Therapy Guide certification?
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"It's a great combination of reading, videos, assignments, Zoom meetings and walks. I also really appreciate the group/chorort that is formed as it feels very supportive to be able to share with others who in the same stage of learning. Having 3 different instructors, each bringing their own experiences, perspectives and thoughts to the training is also really valuable."
Jacquie
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I have to say my view of the guide has definitely evolved over time. I felt like I always understood the “Way of the Guide” and my role as guide, but it was not until I attended the Council of Waters and Trees in Estes Park Colorado that my understanding become evident. Amos spent some time discussing the archetypes of the guide, mentor, and healer and that took my understanding to a new level. I am still processing some of this. I have found the before my walks I check in with myself and review the importance of the “Way of the Guide” and the responsibilities that are now required of me by accepting that role.
Traci
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The training and practicum has changed my life. Thank you for bringing healing into people’s life and the planet. Deeply, deeply appreciated.
Maja PilsarRead more -
In my view ANFT training is a self-transformational process with a wide and heartful influence in every aspect of living. Loving yourself and all other beings in a more deeper and thruelly, gratitude way. This lead me to bring up the idea of my personal ecological self. What can I do to protect the world? This question is gaining more and more important in my life.... how to act, what to eat etc. Only people with a true deep nature connectedness lives respectfully and caring for each others for the best of every being.
Gisela ImmlechRead more -
The ANFT training opened my eyes. There is 'before ANFT' and 'after ANFT'. I will/can never go back to that previous state (of mind/body). Everything I experienced during this 6 months journey has a direct impact on my daily life, on the choices I make, the decisions I take, the course of life I imagine, the accents, nuances, priorities and so much more. You brought this to the surface. Awakening. Now I want to 'touch' others, particularly in their superiority as mankind, to make them understand we are equal to/part of nature and animals. All answers of our existence can be found nature.
Ann TilmanRead more -
From this training I have come to notice more deeply that I am with the nature, not in the nature.. and have realized that we human beings and nature beings we are equal when entering the more than human world. That is because I walk in Finland with the tourists or visitors around the world, we truly are equal... I understand the meaning of cultural repair more deeply too. I also feel more proud to help people around the world to connect with our pure and clean nature and air... and understand how important this movement is.
Mari RotkoRead more -
Remembering has been my biggest change. Remembering that as a child I loved to be at the park most days or exploring the local fire roads. Remembering that as a young adult I had a trail guide of the Santa Monica mountains and would try a new trail every week. Remembering that my weekday day off was often spent in the Berkeley hills. Remembering that when my son was little we would go to two parks a day, explore the beach tides or hang out in the redwoods. Remembering how much I enjoyed the years of botany and wildcrafting in the Santa Cruz mountains. Remembering how ever step I take on my FT trail brings all these experiences and more to life again!
Frank LeonardiRead more