We all know how to walk through the woods. But in a fast-paced world, it's easy to move through a beautiful landscape while our attention stays elsewhere.

Welcome to The Quiet Canopy.

I lead guided Forest Bathing sessions in the ancient woodland of Ashtead Common — a landscape I care for as a conservation volunteer, and see with an artist's eye.

Ashtead Common is one of Britain's significant ancient wood-pastures: grassland, wetland and woodland meeting within a few steps of each other. Its ancient oaks, gnarled and hollowed, give this national nature reserve much of its character. It's rare in a British and European context — and it rewards close attention.

Under its shelter, the usual demands of everyday life can be left at the edge for a while. There is nowhere else you need to be, and nothing you need to achieve — only an invitation to step away from the constant activity of your thoughts, and let your senses lead instead.

Notice more

I know this woodland through years of walking it, helping to care for it, and spending much of my time here as an artist. I'm attuned to its rhythms through the year: where the frost lingers, how the landscape responds to the work of caring for it, and the colours and forms that reveal themselves when we look closely.

It's this attentiveness I share with you — an invitation to take in the sights, sounds, scents, textures and tastes of the woodland, while discovering more about the living landscape around you.

Each session follows a gentle, considered sequence — sensory invitations, mindful breathing, moments of stillness and guided meditation — shifting with the seasons, so the same woodland reveals itself differently throughout the year.

More alive to the world

As attention shifts, the familiar becomes absorbing again. Small details begin to hold your gaze. And perhaps that's the lasting gift of practising attention: not simply to feel different while you're here, but to leave more awake to the world around you.