Lion's Teeth Forest Therapy Claimed
Business Details
Fostering connections between people and the wild world around them
Hello! I’m Liene Verzemnieks (she/her), a Forest Therapy Guide based in Amsterdam. I’ve been rooted in a handful of places in the world, including 15 years in Portland, Oregon, USA, plus a childhood further north in the Pacific Northwest, along with some years in Vermont and France.
As a guide, I’m especially interested in opening doors to nature connection with people who are curious, but perhaps even a little skeptical, of what forest bathing/forest therapy might offer. I have a strong history of craving more experience with spaces that seem both personally promising and maybe a bit wacky (Forest Therapy and Reiki among them), and one of the things I most appreciate about forest therapy is that whatever we bring to the experience, and whoever we are that day, is just fine.
As a person, my values are deeply rooted in respect for people’s lived experiences and knowledge about their own realities, especially those with a history of personal and/or intergenerational trauma, people in the queer community, and neurodivergent folks (or people whose brains just don’t seem like other people’s). One of the components that first allowed me to relax into Forest Therapy is its existence as an invitation-based, trauma-informed practice, which gives participants space to say no and make the choices that are best for them, without any judgment or expectation attached. I'm a native speaker of English, and also speak French and Dutch.
Beyond that, I have a strong history in the technical/software engineering world, and I know that an appreciation for digital connection doesn’t rule out a desire to disconnect/reconnect from time to time, too. If you think of yourself as an “inside cat,” but are open to standing and/or sitting on the ground outside, I’d love to guide you sometime!
