Wild Places

Rest-Restore-Reclaim













Wild Atlantic Forest Bathing

Awaken The Forest Inside

Welcome to the Atlantic Coast and an invitation to slow down and benefit from immersing yourself in the rhythms of some of the few remaining emblematic forests in the Irish landscape. A Forest Bathing walk with Wild Places returns you to your senses and allows your body to rest and restore inviting you to experience, explore and better understand your own unique nature connectedness.
Whether you are visiting the area or call this place home our walks offer you the opportunity to awaken your inner Forest and carry that with you wherever you return to.

What To Expect

Each Forest Bathing walk is unique and one of the main principles of a walk is that we follow what we need, allowing ourselves to trust in our connection to ourselves, each other and the Forest. Participation is always a choice. Below is an outline of what to expect on a typical walk.

  • You can expect to be welcomed on arrival and some friendly easy chat and sharing of what brought us to ease us into a sense of community.
  • Transitioning into to the woods we will participate in a sensory meditation to bring our attention to our senses and begin to tune into and slow down to the rhythm of the forest.
  • We will spend time deepening into this experience by exploring a series of “invitations” designed to offer pathways to explore your connection to nature through all your senses, your creativity, your movement your whole being.
  • Between invitations we will share our experience in a circle to help integrate the experience.
  • Before parting ways we share a cup of locally foraged tea with each other and the forest to bring the experience to a close.
  • Our Locations

    Our regular locations for Forest Bathing walks are Old Head Woods near Louisburgh, Brackloon Woods outside Westport and Tourmakeady Woods on the shores of Lough Mask. See below for more on these locations. One-off offerings will appear in our Events section and Facebook page . Check in there for more nature connection goodness.

    I had learned that you only have to walk in a big wide-open place without open fences and the fences in your mind will begin to come down.

    J. Moriarty
    img-author

    Hi, I’m Shane Furlong owner of Wild Places.

    I’m a certified Forest Therapy Guide with the Global Institute of Forest Therapy (GIFT) and Mentor of Guides in Training with GIFT.
    I’m also a Forest School Leader. I’ve been working and training outdoors in Nature education and Nature connection for 10 years in wild edges, forests and meadows in Ireland, England and Australia.

    After falling in love with the mountains, woodlands and waterways surrounding Westport my family and I have made a home here - Wild Places is now offering Nature Connection opportunities on the West Coast of Ireland.
    I am passionate about the potential for healing and regeneration for person and place that comes from reconnecting the human with the wild.
    I love to be outdoors, surfing, hill running and scrambling through the wild edges and places in our landscape but what nourishes me most is slowing down and spending time seeing,hearing,smelling,touching and sensing the world around me in places that support diverse life, our Wild Places.
    My experience is that when we do this together outdoors, we naturally experience a sense of belonging and gratitude that encompassess all life, awakening our joy, vitality and sense of aliveness, soothing our nervous systems and motivating us to be active stewards of our natural environment.