Guardians of the Forest

Guardians of the Forest

Become a forest guardian and learn from teachers and leaders from over 30 nations

A transformational journey in somatic, spiritual, and practical approaches to forest care with practitioners from 30 nations across the world. This course has a simple objective: to transform the way you live with trees.

Trailer

Course modules

Introduction

We ask "why and how do we transform the way we live with trees?" Learn what forests have to teach us about alternative systems that foster planetary health, why a connection to place and memory is vital in the global movement for land and climate justice, and the role that Indigenous Peoples play in knowin...

Embodying the Forest

We examine who plants and trees are from embodied perspectives. We focus on building personal relationships with plants, drawing on somatic and spiritual approaches (Qi Gong), and exploring the potential held in animal-human relationships. We also explore the medicinal properties held in forests, their pro...

Plant and Tree Wisdom

We focus primarily on Gaelic knowledge of plants, herbs and soil, and the importance of knowing your land and forests. The module builds on the preceding learning to focus on well-being and medicinal connections between humans and plants, and the importance of trees and soil in the affirmation of a sense o...

Ancestral Futures

Ancestral forests and traditions are essential to re-imagining a future where humans and trees can cohabit harmoniously. In what ways does ancestral knowledge inform the way future treescapes are being imagined, specifically in relation to iconic forests such as the great Siberian Forest and the Boreal For...

Forest Culture

Cultural practices affirm ethical and ecological relations to land and forest. Song, story, dance and other cultural and creative practices are vital to an experiential and lived-in understanding of how we can care for trees, and how forests transform human society.

Forest Action

In this module, we learn how traditional ecological knowledge can form the basis of action and community organisation to defend endangered forests. We explore frameworks for environmental activism and rights of nature that draw on Indigenous Forest Knowledge.

Land Justice

How do communities work together to manage and protect soils, plants and forests? How are human-tree relations held together and how does justice guide the process? What can forest carers learn from Indigenous Wisdom grounded on biocentric values? We will explore Indigenous struggles for land justice in Pe...

Community Organising

In this module, we explore the power of community and group participation in developing advocacy and conservation work. We build on what we have learnt about the power of community action and the importance of traditional ecological knowledge as a way of developing conservation work with the aim to achieve...