Guiding forest bathing experiences, creative writing classes, and nature-based mindfulness workshops in the Nashville area and beyond!


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"Melissa combined her experience and expertise as an educator, writer, and mindfulness guide to create a safe, comfortable, and grounded space for connecting with ourselves, our consciouness, and our written expression. It was a beautiful day, and we sat outside in the sunshine among the mockingbirds and violets. Her work as a nature and forest therapist came through as she encouraged us to use our senses to experience the present moment with awareness and bring a more embodied and non-judgmental approach to our creative writing. Melissa paced the class with a relaxed and intentional precision, was inclusive and welcoming, and provided us with choices to help us self-differentiate based on our preferences."

“Melissa was a pleasure as an instructor. She was well-prepared and inclusive. Her class was inspiring.”

— Jennifer W.

My next online course offering will be Writing in the Now, a one-week mindful creativity experience for The Porch. The week of June 29-July 3, we will have a daily one-hour zoom meeting at 11 a.m., plus daily journaling prompts and mindfulness exerci
"And the only choice we really have is whether to try to be in relationship with the truth or to live in ignorance. There are no other choices. You have to actively engage. How did I come to be? How do I think of myself? How did I get what
"...all of us rooting around for the light." (Ross Gay)
I spend a lot of time thinking and talking and teaching about breathing. This week all I can think about is how George Floyd and Eric Garner and so many others had their breath stolen. How the coronavirus is disproportionately taking the breath of pe