Four years ago, training as a Breathwork coach in a small group of 4 with Breathguru Founder Alan Dolan - the man who first brought Transformational Breath to the UK - we were each encouraged to work out what our niche was. Considered the wild west of wellbeing up until then, Breathwork was just beginning to go mainstream and I needed to be clear: where was my place was in it all?
What would differentiate me from all the other devotes training in this deep, therapeutic form of Breathwork?
Nature! Proclaimed Alan to me one day around the pool (yes, we spent a lot of time training around the pool!).
What he meant by that, was combining my 3-yr training as a International Society of Nature & Forest Medicine Forest Bathing guide, with Breathwork.
Great idea I thought!
But then, heading back from my training in sunny Lanzarote to the east of England where the sun shone a whole lot less and the rain rained a whole lot more, I began to feel less sure. I had some breakthroughs though. In-between the uncertainty, or should I say, impracticality, of being able to make sure my clients were warm, safe and cosy enough to let go and relax into a Breathwork session whilst lying outside in the woods, Trish Halpin, from the well-loved Postcards From Midlife podcast, wanted to come and check the idea out for her show. So we did and got lucky with the weather! Here's Trish sampling some forest medicine (hawthorn tea) before her Breathwork session under a series of beautiful old Yews. For privacy I don't show Trish deep in her process.
Then, I invited a friend and colleague out, Tansy, a fellow Forest Bathing guide, who was in need of some nature and breath healing. It was a truly magical experience and I will never forget it - the combination of deep healing Breathwork and feeling safe, warm and cosy outside in amongst the trees, was spellbinding for us both and allowed for deep releases of long held emotions. But again, the weather was great and it's well, just not always like that is it, not in Britain.
So what to do? I put the idea of combining Forest Bathing and Breathwork to one side and kept the two relatively separate for the next year years.
That is, until last October, when I found the perfect place to put all of the disciplines I so love and believe to be brilliant tools for our times, into one day for women. I added in my other loves, cold water bathing and sitting outside by the fire, to complete the series of Earth, Air, Fire and Water and called the mini-retreat day 'Connecting To Your Wilder Self'.
The setting was the incredible Knepp Estate in Dial Post, West Sussex and the day went better than I could ever imagined. We breathed deeply within a beautiful handcrafted yurt, set within a wildflower meadow on the edge of the rewilding estate where the first pair of breeding storks in the UK for 70 years have taken up residence, high up in the trees and easily visible from our base for the day. Beside the yurt is a beautiful wild swimming pond where we dip amongst the willows and oaks. And just across the meadow lies a pocket of ancient woodland, perfect for awakening the senses to all that nature has to offer.
Then,because people were asking me to, yesterday I ran another day. And again, another magical experience where 9 women went deep (into themselves and the icy water), laughed, cried, made friends and experienced a unique place and a unique series of experiences they'd either never tried before, or wanted to try again. Experiences that made them just that little bit wilder, ones where that helped them to discover a little bit more about themselves. Here's what Lucy had to say
"Justine’s one day wilder retreat was just what the Dr ordered and a great way to start 2025. It encompasses all elements, air (breathing), earth (woods), water (wild lake dip) and fire (firepit). A warm yurt in the middle of an icy cold field, the sun's rays lapping into the yurt whilst the breathwork session unfolded. I’ve been to Justine’s breathwork session once before and knew how amazing they are, but this time something magical happened as I wasn’t feeling worried about the breathing and went with it. I had a magical spiritual tour seeing loads of colours shapes and also a white lion and tiger appear. The pain in my body left and I was yawning relentlessly by the end of it. I accessed some feelings of relief that finally I can find safety in my body. Truly blessed to have Justine help me do this via her conscious connected breathing technique. We then ate a wholesome lunch (nice and hot too) very yummy and nourishing. Forest bathing was lots of fun, with exploration, being and trust in each other. We had some delicious homemade herbal tea that Justine made for us all and left the woods feeling wholesome and grounded. Then for the wild water dip. I didn’t do this due to personal reasons but watching the others do so and feeling their energy afterwards was so amazing. I highly recommend this part of the day if you can. So invigorating and people got such a rush at the end of it. The final ritual of the day was sitting around a campfire with sticks from a tree that meant something to us. We then spoke about what it meant and read poems to each other.
Such a wholesome day with like minded beautiful humans. Justine is the best for holding a safe space for everyone in the most kind, caring and inspiring way.
Justine was made for this day. I highly recommend it to anyone. My fave part was breathwork as I had a truly magical spiritual experience. Thank you 🙏🏻 from the bottom of my heart."
So with this, I'll be running another day on Sunday May 18th from 10am-5.45pm at the Knepp Estate. If you'd like one of the places, which includes a delicious lunch, head on over to this page.
Have a great week and thank you for reading.
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