When the forest answers- Jeanette Srabonian
- 13 minutes ago
- 5 min read
There were so many reasons why I moved to Finland at the end of 2022. It was Christmas and when I look back in hindsight, perhaps the strongest one was the call to come home.
I was born and grew up in Manchester, England and at the age of 50 years old, after 22 years of marriage and two sons starting their young adulthood, it was so clear that we couldn’t stay in England anymore.
In England, I was an Archimedes Forest School Practitioner where I created and led forest school programmes; an alternative educational provision, for different client groups and where I was inspired by so many brilliant young minds to understand the ways to facilitate transformational learning. That is to say, how to bring the wonderful talents and skills that lie within and that are the fuel of our intrinsic motivation to the reality of our everyday lives.
We had an enormous connection to Finland and here I also looked at their education system and the child-led learning curriculum along with the active outdoor life which is embedded in all areas of Finnish culture and living.
Our connection to Finland and its culture was through my mother who is Finnish but who had only lived in Finland until the age of 17 years old and lived in England for over 50 years which was her home from home.
I had come to Finland every year as a child to visit my grandparents and when my children were born, my mother and I also created winter and summer holidays for our family here in Helsinki.
In Finland, we had always felt encouraged and inspired through positive outdoor experiences since my own childhood and then through my sons by following our passions and interests.
I hadn’t learnt Finnish as a child as neither of my parents were English so their priority was that my brothers and I spoke English fluently as they were both also learning to do so.
My father was Armenian, my mother Finnish, and I grew up British. My upbringing gave me a profound pride in being part of the international community - a true citizen of the world. Our family, both immediate and extended, represented thriving generations who remained close and connected despite living across continents from England, Armenia, Finland, Brazil and to America.
My cultural identity was always a global one.
When we came to Finland, I wanted to study Finnish and I first looked at the Kielikahvila (language cafe’) sessions that I found so helpful in Oodi library and other local libraries. I then took intensive Finnish courses and they were excellent in increasing my understanding of the grammar and in working with class partners to improve speaking skills.
I also really loved making friends with fellow students who I found so inspiring with each and everyone’s own story of how they too came to be here in Finland.
I discovered and trained in Metsämieli®, a Finnish practice of strengthening mind skills and methods of creating daily wellness habits through walking and connection to Nature. Here the instant and phenomenal natural health effects of the forest help steer our inner resources, improve our physical health and help us take ownership of our experiences and goals by increasing our self knowledge and wellbeing.
I found that the links in the well established evidence based research which these methods are based on were directly connected to the Forest School practice that I had worked in for the past 10 years and it resonated with me immediately for the infinite applications and benefits that it can bring to individuals and communities and in all ages and stages of life.
We had bought a summer cottage in Nuuksio perhaps as a last attempt to create a project together but it was no longer the same vision of life that was ahead and I found myself on my own there in the forest. It was then that I began to truly understand the Finnish saying “Niin metsä vastaa kuin sinne huudetaan.”
The forest will reply to those that call out to it, which I would also translate as ‘the energy you send out will be returned to you.’
Because it was here in the forest where I learned, unlearned and relearned how to recognise the balance of being instead of doing, how the roles and expectations placed on us in life take their toll and how the natural effects of well-being in the forest can teach us all to understand the path in front of us and give permission and space to ourselves for our emotions and for the present moment which is, in fact, what matters the most.
I used the Metsämieli® methods and the forest school ethos for my own holistic and experiential learning.
I then began to invite friends and family members to Forest Mind walks in Nuuksio or around Helsinki city’s coastal forest routes and I learned more and more about the importance of creating the opportunities for us all to practice these skills and implement the vital elements of everyday calm that we all so need in this current world and in our lives where burnout and high anxiety can become normalised.
I was also so glad to work in corporate events with large and small companies where the client’s needs were to facilitate away days and Forest Mind Walks for staff to break out of everyday life and enjoy recreational and light hearted exercise where forest immersion and gentle connection brought out feelings of relaxation, refreshment and restoration.
I have recently enjoyed creating groups and working in community building organisations such as FinnBrits or The American Women’s Club where vital social and emotional awareness is nurtured and where reflective and informative knowledge can also be shared.
The immense sense of awe and wonder and feelings of pure timelessness in the forest mean that the Finnish resilience and a trust that we are in the right place can be felt and are available to us when we reach out for it.
We need never feel lost in life because the Finnish forest teaches us that the trees know exactly where we are.
With your own or as a group's personalised Forest Mind programme designed to explore the everyday calm of the Finnish forest and to learn practical skills that support each of our individual's growth and development, my passion is to enable and facilitate participants to discover their own wellness paths and walk towards positive outcomes with energised, recharged life feelings.
The physical and mental wellbeing effects of Forest Mind Walks are phenomenal and these effects stay with us and can be added back into our daily lives in countless transformational ways.
A warm welcome to all to come for your Forest Mind Walk soon.
Jeanette
Jeanette Srabonian will be participating in the panel discussion alongside Fardoos Helal, Baby Joy, and several others. Join us to listen to their stories live. Free entrance.
