"I’ve always enjoyed spending time in nature, but living in the city for the past few years has meant that I’ve been around concrete more than the natural world. Therefore I was really interested when I received an invitation from Stuart to take part in one of his nature sensory workshops, and was curious about the way in which the different activities would help me to connect more with the natural world. While I’d experienced something similar to the sensory workshop in meditation exercises, the workshop also incorporated some unique activities. My favourites were learning to recognise bird sounds and then trying to create a visual representation of the sounds. I also loved the activity in which we were blindfolded and instructed to feel the textures of leaves, immediately after looking closely at these textures through a magnifying glass. The workshop made me realise how little time I spend in nature and how important it is to do so. I thought that some of the best advice that Stuart gave were to take silent nature walks and also to be conscious of the way in which nature affects the emotions, perhaps by thinking of one word to encapsulate how you feel every hour. I would be delighted to take part in another workshop or any other activity that Wildman Environmental Learning would offer, and have already recommended to friends and colleagues in the office."