Chau has made history in her country.She offers retreats and much more: A lover of the French language, after graduating in Linguistics she traveled to France for a Master’s degree in Sustainable Business. Back in the prodigious nature of Vietnam, this city girl, marked since childhood by slow walks in the mountains with her father, created a Regenerative Tourism company. Not only to take care of the Earth, but to „make it more beautiful”. Thus, FTHub Forest Bathing Guide soon to be Forest Therapy Practitioner -who wants to do research- Tran Chau Than Trong, has planted more than 5000 trees in 5 years.
„I was born and raised in Ho Chi Minh City, a big city in Vietnam. So I’m a city girl. And my first memory in nature was when my father took me to Lang Biang Mountain in Dalat, in the central highlands of Vietnam. People in Vietnam prefer to take a jeep to the mountain, but my father took me and my sister at a very young age, that made me very happy. And I can still feel that the first impression in nature when we had time to walk very slowly.
„I studied French linguistics and started my first job as travel planner, and I decided to go to France for my master’s study in Sustainable Business Management. Going back to Vietnam, I started my own business, Forest Link, as a social enterprise.We design Wellness retreats, combining physical and mental health care for customers. The retreats help to balance, maintain and restore the mind and body and to bring joy, positive thinking by promoting the activities between people and nature”.
We believe that stress and fatigue problems can be greatly reduced by being near nature; by paying attention to our natural surroundings. Forest Link pioneers to apply regenerative tourism that evolved from sustainable tourism, making the destination better after each trip.
As a social enterprise, we commit to reinvest 51% of profits to plant trees throughout Vietnam to support local people in soil improvement, organic farming, and ecosystem restoration. When using our services, people also participate in the work of planting forests and green covering our Mother Earth”.
MINDFULNESS IN NATURE, MONKS AND DIGITAL DETOX
„I practiced meditation and mindfulness many years ago with the Plum Village Meditation tradition principle. So the monks and the nuns there also taught us mindfulness in nature and how to protect the Earth with mindfulness and a mindful living lifestyle. And decided to have my career touch with nature. I want to bring the practice and also the lifestyle to the tourists and also for the Vietnamese people in the retreat.
„People come with trauma and mental health problems and they want to go to nature and heal. I choose a forest without Internet access, so they can have the digital detox. We choose a vegetarian menu for them. They share that they could relax or that they have their stress relief and that they can recognize themselves. We choose the forest in the central highlands where the weather is quite cool. It’s cooler than in Ho Chi Minh City or in the south of Vietnam”.
„We go camping close to the stream and also we have many activities, combined with art therapy. So we let people do their art like painting or just playing with the colors in the forest, it’s quite peaceful there.
„I wanted to become a Forest Bathing Guide because that means you are well educated and well practiced about this. This is why I want to learn more and have a science-based certificate. I am also following the Forest Therapy Practitioner training because I want to do more research on what the forest and nature can do for people’s mental and physical health.
„I want to apply the regenerative tourism. Instead of sustainable tourism, I want to make the destination more beautiful. That’s why I created Forest Link. 5000 trees have been planted since 2019. I want to continue the work and contribute to the model”.
Ph: Courtesy Tran Chau Than Trong
