Melanie will inspire us to connect more deeply with the beauty and wonder of Montgomery County’s green spaces, including our own backyards, as we celebrate our ten years of activism and stewardship.
Our fall tree walks will take us deep into the swamp and tidal inlet along the boardwalk where willows, bald-cypresses and cattails frame views of the city behind it. Melanie will share details of the island’s fascinating history during this year-long exploration and we’ll witness the ebb and flow of the Potomac tides along with the changing seasons.
Explore Washington DC’s beautiful and wild Theodore Roosevelt Island with renowned naturalist Melanie Choukas-Bradley and Capital Nature.
In this workshop, you’ll learn about the history and global enthusiasm for forest bathing as Melanie guides you through incorporating this soulful practice into your life. You’ll learn how to conduct your own forest bathing walks using the environment around you, including your own backyard!
Connecting with nature mindfully in your own backyard can bring beauty and wonder and a sense of calm into your every day life. Whether you live in the heart of the mountains or the heart of the city, learn how the practice of shinrin-yoku or forest bathing can bring comfort, joy and inspiration into your daily life.
In 2016, as the presidential election dealt a body-blow to progressive thinkers in the US, Melanie sought the solace of Theodore Roosevelt Island. In this book she reflects on the inspiring environmental legacy of Roosevelt, and how immersing oneself in nature can help to heal, restore and encourage a person...
Pick up your late winter spirits with a virtual visit to Theodore Roosevelt Island, a D.C. woodland memorial to our foremost conservation president, who preserved 230 million acres of land during his presidency.
Savor the natural joys of each season on forest bathing walks led by Melanie Choukas-Bradley, a longtime ANS field trip leader and author of The Joy of Forest Bathing and Resilience: Connecting With Nature in a Time of Crisis. Discover the magic of shinrin-yoku, translated as “forest bathing,” a nature-oriented mindfulness practice that originated in Japan and has become popular all over the world.
The Man on the Island tells the story of this unique place and its changing relevance for Americans over the past century. The story is told by Michael Patrick Cullinane and distinguished guests including Melanie Choukas-Bradley.
We’ll witness and study the winter magnificence of the island’s trees and soak up the wide open vistas across the Potomac River before the trees leaf out. Of course, we’ll keep our eyes open for wood ducks, great blue herons, belted kingfishers, early-returned ospreys and bald eagles.
If you’ve ever taken a walk to clear your head, sat on a beach to take in the refreshing air, walked under the trees, or tended a garden, you know how restorative time in nature can be.
Melanie will demonstrate ways that you can connect with nature despite limited mobility due to Covid restrictions and/or health issues. And she will introduce the popular practice of “forest bathing,” based on the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku.
