Kandi Karkos of Wilton is a Certified Forest Therapy Guide. The science-based program reconnects people with nature and provides a number of health benefits. Submitted photo
WILTON — Kandi Karkos is a certified forest therapy guide, a new calling for a woman who has always loved nature.
She offers individual or group walks in the Wilton area, on a person’s property or other agreed upon locations.
“Forest therapy is based on the Japanese practice of ‘Shinrin Yoku,’ which literally means forest bathing and translates to taking in the atmosphere in the forest,” Karkos said. “It came about because people are stressed beyond imagination. A 1980 study in Japan found that when people went into the forest cortisol levels went down, happiness went up, depression and blood pressure went down. This is all science-based.”
Karkos’ website, reconnectwithnatureandyourself.com lists additional benefits from forest therapy: it boosts the immune system, speeds recovery from illness, decreases stress and anxiety, and improves sleep and mental clarity.
As nutrition services coordinator, Karkos oversees the food and nutrition departments for the North Country Associates long-term care facilities in Maine.
Karkos is also a professional Maine Guide, a registered Maine Guide for hunting and recreation, and is certified in wilderness first aid. Her latest certification is through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy.
After seeing something about the program on Facebook, Karkos started Googling ‘nature.’ “I love being out in nature, it is where I am happy,” she said. “I came across the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy website and I went, ‘Oh My God, totally this is me!’ I took a chance assuming that it was real and six months later I am certified.
“I got right into it,” she said.
Amos Clifford is a wilderness guide and therapist who wanted to do something to help people, Karkos said. “He went to Japan, created the program. He has forest therapy guides in 60 countries. It just fits.”
Prior to COVID-19, there was a weeklong intensive study period but it changed to once a week for six months online, Karkos said. Students complete homework assignments outdoors where they are and at the end of the course take part in one of the four-day immersions available “all over the world,” she said.
“I chose Colorado because my little brother lives out there,” Karkos said.
“As a certified forest therapy guide I take people into nature,” she said. “Taking someone out into the woods, I get people to reconnect with nature. A long time ago the ‘fight or flight reaction’ was the only time cortisol was elevated. Now it is raised all the time by a variety of things.”
People tend to go from point A to point B and back without stopping, Karkos noted. On a recent walk with a client in Thorncrag Sanctuary in Lewiston she said they went maybe half a mile, looked at everything around them and used all their senses.
“When you use all of your senses you communicate with nature, hear things, what nature might be saying to you,” she said.
Karkos’ walks focus first on pleasure of presence, a form of meditation that gets people to calm down and notice their breathing. Second is what is in motion, or walking very slowly to notice nature such as spiders in their webs, mice trails, or the way some leaves twist while others wave, she noted. After each phase, Karkos stops and asks participants to share what they are noticing.
“Some have an epiphany, some take it in by silence, you can do whatever your body wants to do,” she said. When a really cool tree is seen, she encourages using all one’s senses to determine what the tree might have to offer the observer. Exploring rocks and sharing memories are other ways to connect with nature, Karkos noted.
“We don’t get very far, but explore so much,” she said. “You can feel your body relaxing. Some people are scared to be in the woods, the guide is safety for them.”
A tea service at the end of every walk allows participants to share what they learned and are grateful for.
Karkos stresses the program is not therapy and she is not a therapist.
“The Association of Nature and Forest Therapy has a saying: ‘The forest is the therapist, the guide opens the door.’ We get you in,” she said.
Trees are being cut down like crazy for building and other purposes which stands out to Karkos. She hopes to encourage people to care more and reconnect.
“I am so worried about the world, we need it,” Karkos said. “Kids have lost that contact with nature.
“I think this is what I was meant to do,” she said.
For more information, call Karkos at 207-754-0742 or email reconnectwithnatureandyourself@yahoo.com.
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