Meet your guide…
Nicole Craanen
Hello! I am a biophilic design expert and a certified Nature & Forest Therapy Guide through the Association of Nature & Forest Therapy. I found my way to Forest Therapy to help others more deeply connect to nature in the way that has helped me navigate life’s challenges. I am not a therapist, forest therapy is truly about the forest as the therapist, I am there to guide you through the process and hold space for whatever arises.
I have a beautful and inquisitive preschool-aged daughter, an amazing husband, and 2 cats. We live in Brookfield, WI, a suburb of Milwaukee and one of my greatest joys is watching how naturally my daughter connects to nature without any encouragement from adults, what a great teacher she is!
Why am I so drawn to this work? We live in a beautiful but often challenging world. We live in a world that is constantly changing, where we are always connected and rarely take time to just be present. However, humans have existed intertwined with nature since our beginning, and we have adapted to it in very deep ways. Our disconnection from nature has real and measurable impact on us. Spending time on a Forest Therapy walk can lower concentrations of cortisol (indication of stress), increase Natural Killer Cell count (enhanced immune response), lower pulse rate and blood pressure, increase parasympathetic nerve activity (rest and digest) and decrease sympathetic nerve activity (fight-or-flight responses). ​In a more esoteric sense though, Forest Therapy offers us space. Space to be present is something we so rarely give ourselves the gift of. Something happens when you spend time exploring your senses in these spaces, we remember that deep down we are connected to everything around us, we are not alone.​
I am also a biophilic design expert, this is the study of our deep connection to nature and how it applies to the architectural world - the places we live, eat, work, heal, learn and commute. For a deeper dive on the research and how it relates to our health, please take a look at the rest of my website! On this site I post all of my public walks that are open to anyone. For more information about Forest Therapy architectural walks or workshops, please see the consulting page of my website.
