Back to Nature Guided Hike- 2 Hours on the trail with Author, Holistic Life Coach and Contemplative Adventure Leader

Brian Germain. Larger groups may include additional trained leaders.

Family/Friends Clusters 3-7 participants

School Groups Welcome! (group sizes vary but large scale walks are available)

Religious/Spiritual Groups Welcome! (Let's Connect with Creation!)

Locations Available throughout Montgomery County Maryland. Let us find the closest location to your area. There is beauty everywhere.

What is a Nature Appreciation Hike?

Brian will guide your family on a contemplative journey into the natural world, providing mental focusing exercises to reunite you and your family with our real home, the natural world.

Using all of our senses, we can awaken a part of ourselves that may have been dormant for a very long time. Technology may offer us many amazing conveniences, but it will never replace our need to immerse our senses in the sights, sounds, smells and emotions brought forth by our living planet.

Hikes are 2 hours in length, and are appropriate for most families. Challenge is scaled with the capabilities of the group, however the focus is less on physical challenges and nature awareness games and more toward mental exercises based on the teachings of famed adventure leader Joseph Cornell. "Sharing Nature with Children", Cornell's creative and inspiring book offers a powerful antidote to the technologically accelerated life experience of the modern human. Come out in the forest, and tune into the larger Self, the planet of which you are a part.

What is Nature Therapy?

I lead individuals, families and groups in nature immersion experiences. We explore and observe tiny things and big things, and tune in to the natural world. We listen and we smell and we touch nature so it can touch us.

AWAKEN YOUR CONNECTION TO NATURE!

Who is Brian Germain?

Brian Germain is an acclaimed author of four books on adventure safety and the psychology of courage. As a skydiver with many thousands of jumps who literally wrote the book on parachuting safety, Brian has a great deal of wisdom collected over his 38 years of safe skydiving,

Brian has learned a great deal of adventure wisdom through his backcountry parachuting throughout Scandinavia, what the Vikings call an Inn Hoppe. He has been a teacher of students ranging from Elementary School to the Various Special Force groups for more than 30 years. Brian is currently working in cooperation with school systems and other educational groups throughout the DC and Baltimore area, teaching Science Technology Engineering and Math Seminars (STEM) at iFly Vertical Wind Tunnels in many locations.

As a parachute designer and test pilot, Brian has a unique perspective on the study of fear and the means and the reasons to pursue our heroic thinking and skillful action. The survivor of many dangerous descents from the sky, he has found a mindset of resilience. When Brian crashed in 1994 was told he would never jump again, a few years later, in 1997 Brian Germain won the ESPN X-Games Championship in high speed acrobatic skydiving. He has spent more than a decade teaching kids about parachuting at the National Air and Space Museum and at Career Day events at many schools. Kids love him, and they benefit from his messages about reaching toward courage, wisdom and measured caution in our lives. In April 2024, Brian spoke to a crowd of over 700 civilian and military leaders in Poland, in a one hour seminar on the Holistic Approach to Skydiving Safety. This uplifting holistic message is infused in all that he teaches.

His well-rounded approach to negotiating danger has created a solid basis for his present area of focus, contemplative, inspiring nature hikes with families and groups of all kinds.

As a long-time nature lover and international hiker and mountaineering instructor, Brian brings a powerful sense of meaning to walking in nature. He has led countless people, young and grown, through natural environments, bringing deeper meaning to our little expeditions. Communication and cooperation are among his core messages, the natural result of a caring, supportive environment.

When we walk in the forest, in harmony with nature and with each other, we can feel that we are doing what we were meant to do. We are meant to be exploring the outdoors together, walking in wonder of the magnificent diversity of life's creations, and the holistic system of ecology that keeps us thriving. We must learn from these intricate and homeostatic systems, so that we may become more like the way of nature. We must learn from its grace and abundance. ,The genius of life unhindered by the mindset of separation from the natural world leads to the joy that our souls all desire, We are happiest in the Garden, as its children. Daily exposure to nature is a missing component to the modern human experience, and Brian's inspiring perspective and love of the natural world may even give you the consequence in finding a train near you that you learn, and you get out there on a much more regular basis. If more people did this, humans would be much easier to be around.

We must walk as one with the wondrous living world that gives us identity and meaning to be a part of it. We are Earthlings.

What is Nature Deficit Disorder?

A host of psychological and physiological problems have been linked to deprivation of nature immersion. Stress stands as the root of most of these disorders, diseases and family friction. We all know accumulated stress is one of the biggest problems in our society, and now the world has gotten even smaller with the pandemic lifestyle. Tension builds from constant demands on our attention, and expands unchecked when we do not have adequate ways to let go and return to who we really are. The internet, the TV shows, the news programs and social media have cornered the human spirit in a way that has never before occurred. So many among us feel lost and helpless in our hopes to escape the emotional pressure cooker of modern family life.

It is time to do something about it.

The Japanese government has funded a highly successful program of what they call "Forest Bathing", which has shown to have a great many benefits to health and psychological wellbeing. You can read a National Geographic Article on the topic https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/...

It is time to unplug from the virtual reality of screen-time and plug back into actually reality…nature!

Trained in Contemplative Psychotherapy, Expedition Leader Brian Germain offers a unique program for families and groups of all kinds looking for something completely different. These hikes can change your perspective on life and lead you to a feeling of relief of your burden long enough to truly let it in. This is something we all need and deserve.

The leader of these expeditions is Brian Germain, the author of acclaimed book Transcending Fear: the doorway to freedom and numerous other books articles.. A leader in the skydiving industry on a great many topics, Brian specializing on managing fear and encouraging skillful courage. Brian is the leader of many online and in person discussions in his 35 year teaching career, and his many years as a life coach have given his leadership manner disarming and inspiring. Brian did his masters work in Contemplative Psychotherapy at Naropa University in Boulder Colorado, and his focus holistic approach to stress management has proven highly effective for thousands of people all over the world.

Our creative pursuits are either expanded in the intrinsic love of the experience, or limited by avoidance of risks that could have brought great rewards. Stepping off the pavement is scary for many of us, and this is nothing to be ashamed about. It is a product of our daily life. The problem is, there is not enough life sustaining inspiration within the constructions of humanity alone, so we must return to the garden from whence we came, because the garden is literally who we are.

Come experience nature in a new way, for a new reason. Please bring your bug spray, a water bottle, appropriate attire, and for evening hikes, two light sources, just in case. Lastly, make sure your phones are all on Airplane mode, or better yet, don't bring them.

Regular Maryland Hiking Sites include:

Rachel Carson Conservation Park

Zion Rd, Brookeville, MD 22201

Meadowside Forest

5100 Meadowside Ln, Rockville, MD 20855

Sandy Spring Quaker Meeting House Forest