The Forest as a Space for Learning and Awakening: Interview with Sébastien Coleau
When a mathematics teacher chooses trees to talk about connection, listening and humanity…
Some encounters leave a gentle imprint. A few joyful days shared together, and the happiness of knowing that across France, remarkable people are quietly and humbly working for the common good—in this case, for young people and for trees.
Sébastien Coleau is one of those people 😊
A mathematics teacher in northern France, Sébastien loves numbers, equations and logic 😉 But he also knows that not everything can be solved on a blackboard or an exam paper. So he opens other paths: paths that lead into the forest.
Sébastien completed my training in Spiritual Forest Therapy in Nantes to support his educational projects. He also facilitates Climate Fresks and forest therapy walks, cultivating curiosity and commitment while reminding us that nature is a living classroom, open to everyone 🙏
In this interview, he shares how trees accompany the way he teaches—and the way he lives.
CR: Hello Sébastien, I’m very happy to meet you again for this interview! To begin, could you tell us who you are, what drives you in your work, and what led you towards spiritual forest therapy?
SC: Hello Clotilde. I’m 54, with two children and three stepchildren, all in their twenties. My partner Sophie and I live in a village in French Flanders, surrounded by a large forest and woodland.
I’ve been teaching maths and science in a vocational high school for almost 30 years. Of course, part of the job is helping students build the subject knowledge they need for exams and future study, and showing them how mathematics and science relate to everyday life and their future professions. But what motivates me most is helping students—many of whom have already been knocked around by life—to find their place, rebuild confidence and grow as human beings, through ordinary lessons but also through projects.
For many years, I’ve spent one to three weeks each summer hiking independently in the mountains. I discovered the bond I could form with forests and the feeling of closeness I experienced with trees. When several parts of my life were shaken after Covid, I wanted to reconnect with the younger Sébastien—the one who didn’t always understand everything he felt and could be unsettled by unusual sensations.
In short, I wanted to allow all the sensitivity I had put to sleep to emerge again.
Training in spiritual forest therapy then felt like a natural step. I sensed that the programme you offered and the approach you developed would suit me—and it did! 🙂
CR: Thank you! I’m lucky to have wonderful trainees too 😉
You regularly take your students into the forest at the beginning of the school year. Why did you start doing this, and what difference do you think it makes?
SC: First of all, it’s an activity that builds group cohesion, knowledge of one another and mutual understanding.
We walk to the forest closest to the school, which is already physical activity that not every young person is used to doing.
Some of them have never set foot in a forest. It becomes a discovery of the Living World, of the sensations trees can create and of the wellbeing they may experience there.
It’s also an adventure because they spend a fairly long period working independently—with maps and GPS, of course! 🙂
Most of my students are studying carpentry. They discover different tree species, but above all they understand that wood is not originally an object: it comes from a living being, and it deserves the same respect as the spaces around us.
This activity lets me share a little of what connects me to trees. I say ‘a little’ because they are teenagers: you can’t push them too hard, and you need to introduce things gradually. More importantly, it gives me different kinds of conversations with them. I see them differently, and they see me differently too.
CR: Several months have passed since your week of spiritual forest therapy training. Looking back, what did it bring you personally and professionally?
SC: As I hoped, it deepened my sensitivity towards trees.
But that sensitivity developed far beyond what I had imagined. I had not realised how many subtle forms of contact I might experience; an entire space opened up for me. My connection with trees grew so much that I decided to offer introductions to forest therapy through the different associations I’m involved in—something I had never imagined at the beginning of the course.
Other areas of sensitivity have opened too, and they are asking to be explored further.
Will any of this become professional work? It’s too early to say. But the personal development has been significant, and it inevitably affects the rest of my life.
CR: Your feedback really touches me—thank you 🙏
You’ve also facilitated several Climate Fresks. How does this inner ecology you experience with trees connect with your environmental commitments?
SC: When you communicate with trees, when you feel them living, exchanging and interacting with others, you can’t help being deeply concerned by climate issues because human disruption, lack of respect and lack of awareness affect the Living World itself. Even though this is not an easy time for people trying to change things, we still need to keep acting at our own scale and hope for improvement.
People often tell me not to fall into anxiety, and they’re right. But being connected with trees in particular helps me maintain balance.
CR: I understand that very well!
How do you include nature in your daily life or your work today? Do you have new projects coming up—new forest therapy walks or anything else you would like to share?
Perhaps some new Climate Fresks too?
SC: Nature has always been an important ally. But since my sensitivity has evolved, contact with it has become essential. Nature is close to me in everyday life.
Since the autumn I have led five forest therapy sessions, with two more already planned. I’ve had excellent feedback from participants who trust me and allow themselves to be surprised by sensitivities they didn’t always know they had. I also really enjoy these human/tree exchanges while accompanying people. I’m grateful to them—and to the trees—for what these experiences bring me.
At the same time, several Climate Fresks are planned for next year, mainly with young people. They are the future.
I’m also continuing awareness work around pollution and waste.
I’ve joined a second local environmental organisation, which should allow me to work with the French National Forest Office on future projects that give the Living World a stronger place in our forests.
And finally, Sophie and I have decided to get married—it will be in October! 🙂
CR: Wow, congratulations to you both, Sébastien! I wish you every happiness.
One last question for our readers: is there a word, an image, a powerful memory or perhaps a piece of advice you would like to share about your relationship with the forest?
SC: The only advice I can give, based on my recent experiences, is to remain open, to listen and to know how to let go.
I have several strong memories, but the one I keep coming back to is the particular bond I’ve developed over the past few months with a tree in a nearby wood. It is a mature beech that I experience as a ‘teacher tree’. In my own inner dialogue, I felt it telling me that it would be a close friend, that it would be there and that I could rely on it—almost as though it were taking me under its wing. Since then I feel mentally connected with it, I visit regularly, and the relationship does me good.
To finish, there’s a saying I like: “We do not inherit the Earth from our parents; our children lend it to us.”
We could also adapt it like this: “We do not inherit the Earth from our parents; Nature lends it to us.”
CR: A thousand thanks for this interview, Sébastien! It was such a pleasure to share together again 😊
Thank you too for showing us your living, sensitive vision of education, commitment and nature. The way you invite young people—and adults—to enter into relationship with the forest is a real breath of fresh air.
It is proof that forest therapy is not reserved for therapists or initiates. It can be sown in many environments, including schools and community settings.
May nature and trees keep sharing their lessons everywhere, at every level. What we learn from the Living World can complement what we learn in school beautifully. Thank you, truly 💚
🌳 To follow Sébastien or ask him a question:
📧 By email: sebastiencoleau@gmail.com
📸 On Instagram: @sebastiencoleau
🌱 Do you work with trees, forests or the Living World and have a professional perspective you would like to share? Whatever your profession or country, write to me at clotilde.naturo@gmail.com
You can also experience tree connection, sensory practices and other forest therapy activities during the public walks I offer in the Pays d’Ancenis area in western France (see Forest Therapy Walks & Training).
I also offer gift cards for forest therapy: a meaningful way to offer someone an experience in nature, alone, as a pair or with family.
See you soon for another inspiring interview—or another meeting among the trees!
Clotilde
Comments