WHY NATURE CONNECTS WAS FOUNDED
Nature Connects was founded by me, Karen, after I came back from a 2,5 year trip through Europe with my camper van. The story started a few years earlier when I was doing my yoga teacher training in Spain. On one of the days we had to make a silent walk. Alone I went into the forest and arrived at the edge of a valley with massive green trees. Swallows were flying around me chasing mosquitoes. I was standing there, just looking at them. It was a beautiful sight, but all of a sudden I felt really sad.
How is it possible that we got so disconnected from nature, ourselves and each other?
I thought about my life in the Netherlands, the speed with which I was living, constant impressions, constant noise, always busy and so many hours inside an office. It was intense. I experienced the beauty and tranquility of the valley and at the same time I saw the busyness of the western world. There and then I took a decision, I am going to reconnect people with nature, each other and themselves. Step one, I had to start with myself.
QUIT MY JOB
To the outside world my life looked pretty good. I had a well-paid job in real estate, I pretended to care about my career and I had a busy social life. On the inside I knew my life was a compromise, it felt empty. I had put aside my passions and dreams, in the name of security, status and fear. I was living on automatic pilot and my life didn’t fulfill me. On the contrary, it took away a lot of my energy. I wanted to feel alive again and against everybody’s advise I decided to quit my job.
BACK TO NATURE
With my camper van I traveled through Europe. I windsurfed, became a snowboard guide, spent time with Thich Nath Hanh (a meditation guru), did a Vipassana course (10 days with 10 hours of meditation), took people through the mountains on a horse, taught yoga and met loads of beautiful open minded people. I finally felt alive again. Nature, meditation and stillness were my greatest teachers. After 2.5 years I decided it was time to go home. It was time to live the dream I had many years ago and I founded Nature Connects.
MISSION
We believe that Connection is the key to everything. Deep down we all crave it: a connection with the people around us, the natural world, ourselves, our passions, our intuition and our dreams. Our mission is to create a better and more beautiful world in which people are reconnected to nature, the people around them and themselves. Let’s go into nature, try something new, challenge ourselves and make new friends along the way.