Skip to content

Toadstool Walks

Home
About
- About Tam
- About Forest Bathing
Services
Contact
Testimonials
News

I’m in Boston Voyager Magazine!

I’m in Boston Voyager Magazine!

July 31, 2018 Tam

http://bostonvoyager.com/interview/meet-tam-willey-toadstool-walks-jamaica-plain/

Share this:

Twitter
Facebook

Related

Posted in Forest Bathing

Post navigation

Previous postAugust Newsletter

Next postOctober Newsletter

Instagram

What a festive day to turn 41 and celebrate my life with my Forest Therapy Guide training team; “The Forest Five” as well as the trainees and Christine the incredible cook who is a food magician making the most nourishing vegan and gluten free meals with lettuce picked daily from the field here at Bethel Farms. My day stared with a scavenger hunt orchestrated by my beloved stashing clues with my team since I’m away. Then I was led on a blissful Forest Therapy Walk, guided by Trainer Jackie thru a meadow of wild flowers. I came upon a patch of wild strawberries and felt moved to lie down with my face very close to a perfectly ripe one and then I ate it right off the vine. 😆🍓 My fellow guides sang me many songs and brought me lots of gifts of gathered flowers, tiny bouquets and stones. Then I went for a swim in this beautiful pond before lunch. After a long afternoon of content sessions, Christine made us the most amazing vegan mac and cheese with red lentil pasta among other delicious things and then some rhubarb crumb. Then I got to snuggle with my friend, Canyon, this sweet adorable dog. Thanks to all my peeps who blew up my phone with all the birthday love reminding me that “I’m a gift from the Earth. I’m so glad I’m alive. Bless this day of my birth 🎶 And happy birthday to you!❤️☺️🧚🏻‍♂️🍓🌲

New Hampshire bound to help train a new cohort of forest therapy guides on another weeklong intensive training with The Association of Nature and Forest Therapy! If you aren’t too far away, register for our public walk and come out and support these new guides! #foresttherapyguide #foresttherapyguidetraining #shinrinyoku #foresttherapy #forestbathing #naturetherapy #naturebathing #morethanhumanworld #wayoftheguide #reciprocity #natureconnection

The anticipation of the first poppy bud in our yard followed by the first bloom triggers much excitement in my house. From the words of @oats.and.tea “Each year these poppies take my breath away with their intense beauty and ephemeral quality. Here for such a short time yet showing up so fully and completely themselves. Their petals are so tender and with a heavy rain or strong wind, their already short lifespan can sometimes become shorter still. And yet they open themselves so completely to the world.” #poppywisdom #impermanence #plantteachings

Songs Of The Wild was a truly restorative, connecting, inspiring and deeply restful day in the Berkshires. My deepest gratitude to Carrie Grossman for taking this risk with me and guiding us so beautifully through sound. Thank you to all the folks who attended, bringing your hearts and you selves to the circle. Pure bliss dropping into forest therapy with you in this place. Thank you to @oats.and.tea for creating an incredibly nourishing lunch and for your nurturing and always authentic presence. Thank you to @mettabeefarm for your beautiful barn and farm. Thank you to the land for all your wisdom and support: the willows and your raining yellow leaves, the roosters and hens, the swallows, hawks, sheep, clover, worms, rocks, wildflowers and all the beings. Mohican Land What’s alive in me this morning is my body. This weird complex system that my soul currently resides in. This thing that so often feels restrictive and confining and confusing. I’ve been trying to make friends with this body and the progress feels as slow as the willows grow. Yesterday I felt more in my body than I have in a while and I was able to notice this, to celebrate it and to be in the sensation of it’s aliveness. Thank you Carrie for reminding us of our belonging within and without and to everyone for who shared from your heart. I was listening and I still am. #songsofthewild #soundhealing #grief #evolution #foresttherapy #forestbathing #natureconnection #natureretreat #morethanhumanworld #morethanhumankin #naturetherapy #toadstoolwalks #deeprest #ancestralwisdom

Thank you @emeraldnecklaceconservancy for sponsoring today’s forest bathing walk at Franklin Park and bringing together a sweet group of folks including my dad who seemed to drop right into his first experience forest bathing with his humor and his heart. #foresttherapy #forestbathing #naturetherapy #naturebathing #shinrinyoku #foresttherapyguide #liminality #natureconnection #birdsong #emeraldnecklace #franklinpark #roxburypuddingstone #wildernessgrove #urbantreecanopy #techdetox #unplugged #tendingrelationships #morethanhumankin #morethanhumanworld #sensoryactivity

Pure joy guiding these professors visiting from University of Delhi in India. They were looking to unwind before heading to a conference at Harvard Medical School where they will present their work on stress management. #foresttherapyguide #stressmanagement #techdetox #landconnection #natureconnection #airbnbexperience #forestbathing #foresttherapy #wearenature

Songs Of The Wild daylong immersion is June 2nd. More info at ToadstoolWalks.com link in profile 👈🏻 #foresttherapy #naturetherapy #forestbathing #naturebathing #sacredsong #retreat #immersion #circle #soundhealing #sacredrest #slowdown #unplug #berkshires #mettabeefarm #reset #foresttherapyguide #landconnection #natureconnection #wearenature #morethanhumanworld #morethanhumankin #tendingrelationships

I invite you to lean against a forest being. I wonder what this place smells like? I wonder who was the first lilac to bloom here over 200 years ago. I wonder who is blooming for the first time today @arnold_arboretum #lilactherapy #foresttherapy #forestbathing #foresttherapyguide #languageofinvitation

I recently learned that when a baby is born with ovaries that they are born with all their eggs which means that whoever birthed that baby was born with the egg that would one day grow that baby which means that we came into being in an egg at the birth of the person who would then eventually birth us. Fun fact about my mom: she’s been reading tarot since the 70’s. Here she is shuffling the same deck she’s had for over 40 years. She’s been giving me readings since I was a small child. #ancestralhealing #ancestralwisdom #ancestraltrauma #life #otherworlds #queenofcups #doors

One day, I went out to my car to find a note under my windshield. It was pouring rain and the note was carefully wrapped in plastic. I opened it and it read something like “ I believe I may have left a scratch on your bumper” and the note left a phone number in case I wanted to pursue the “damage”. So I walked around to the back of my car unable to distinguish one little scratch from another. Living in the city, bumpers are for bumpin and I am not one to get too caught up about bumper scratches. Regardless, I was so touched by the note that I texted the phone number letting the person know that I was not at all concerned about any scratches on my bumper and I asked if I could take them out for coffee or lunch or something like that out of appreciation for having left the note. So we met at a café and talked about life and reciprocity. She told me that she was an herb farmer and gifted me a little mason jar full of herbs from her farm to make tea with. I told her I was studying to become a forest therapy guide and when we shared our intentions in missions and there was much in common. On their website, they say "While we specialize in cultivating healing herbs for people we also believe in growing plants that are nourishing to the many animals, insects, and other living things with whom we share our field. Our organic and mindful practices ensure a safe environment for bees, aphid-eating ladybugs, and the other helpful creatures that aid us in keeping our crops healthy. We are also proud to grow milkweed for monarch caterpillars (before turning it into human cough medicine!)." Two years later, I am a proud CSA member and this past Sunday we collaborated and offered Forest Bathing at Muddy River Herbals Farm. It was my first walk to fully sell out this season and it was incredible. Such a sweet group of folks gathered with us on this 1 acre farm and we woke up our senses and found so many threads of connection. The farmer shared a very 1st harvest of this season's lemon balm along with some violet for our forest tea which made a greenish purple tea that was so tasty and lovely. When trail magic meets street magic the reciprocity is wild.

Have you been to the Arnold Arboretum lately? Why be a visitor when you can be a regular? Or maybe you already are a regular. I've been a regular visitor of the Arnold Arboretum for over 20 years but only in recent years did I become part of this community and I'm not just talking about the human community. In addition to maintaining my membership with the Arboretum, I also am a member of this more-than-human family of trees, plants and many beings. Maintaining a regular practice of forest therapy helps me re-member that I am nature and that there is so much to see, hear, feel, taste, smell and sense when I slow down long enough to notice. Wanna join Toadstool Walk's May Forest Circle but can't make it tonight? Sign up and join us next week! Learn more @ToadstoolWalks.com (link in profile) #forestbathing #foresttherapy #shinrinyoku #forestmedicine #techdetox #unplug #interconnection #wildtending #liminality #selfcare #phytoncides #attentionrestoration #heartratevariability #foresthealing#relationships #reciprocity #culturalrepair #natureconnection #morethanhumankin #treewisdom #treefriends #allbeings #brainhealth #naturehealing #naturetherapy #naturebathing #arnoldarboretum

Whether you have experienced a Forest Bathing Walk before or are trying it for the first time, this is a chance to go deeper. With the support of the forest and our group, you will learn to foster your own authentic ongoing relationships with the natural world. Each week, we will come together and bear witness in circle with each other and the more-than-human kin. This is an opportunity to go beyond just being a visitor of the Arnold Arboretum. Discover how you may become part of this place. From increased cerebral blood flow to stronger immune defenses, forest therapy is most effective when done over time. These slow-paced guided therapeutic wanderings combine sitting, standing and just being in a way that supports ever deepening connections and relationships, opening us to the healing medicine of the forest. No experience necessary. Learn more @ToadstoolWalks.com (link in profile) #forestbathing #foresttherapy #shinrinyoku #forestmedicine #techdetox #unplug #interconnection #wildtending #liminality #selfcare #phytoncides #attentionrestoration #heartratevariability #foresthealing#relationships #reciprocity #culturalrepair #natureconnection #morethanhumankin #treewisdom #treefriends #allbeings #brainhealth #naturehealing #naturetherapy #naturebathing #arnoldarboretum