Healing in Nature

Smita Garg
Dr., Soul Regression Therapist, Meditation Expert, Artist-Educator, City of San Jose Arts Commission Chair, Green Foothills Leadership Program 2016 Graduate

Smita Garg, Ed. D., is a meditation expert and the founder of Kinder Way Healing. She has guided meditations for groups and organizations including Chopsticks Alley, Fil-Am Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley, Parents Helping Parents, and San Jose city departments. She has training and certifications from world-renowned Dr. Brian Weiss and Dr. Linda Backman in Soul Regression therapy, and has practiced the Sahaj Samadhi Meditation style for years. Through the course of her own deepening meditation practice, she has created her own style. Smita is a mother of two girls, an artist-educator, a lifelong community activist, and an involved member of San Jose’s arts community.

Amari Thomas
Advanced Soul Coaching Practitioner, Executive Coach, Advisory Committee member for Green Foothills, and Board Member for several nonprofits

Amari Thomas is a Certified Advanced Soul Coaching Practitioner, one of a select group of people worldwide personally trained by internationally known healer, teacher, and author Denise Linn. Amari is the founder of Wisdom Revealed, a spirit-based personal discovery and coaching/training organization focusing on inspiring and supporting everyone to live their most authentic life. She is a member of the Mapuche indigenous tribe of Chile and comes from a lineage of Earth Healers. Being in nature is one of the most powerful transformational experiences there is and Amari is excited to introduce others to the reciprocal healing power of nature.

Catherine Crawford-Swent has been leading hikes with Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District since 2018. As a registered nurse, she has a passion for health and wellness. Catherine believes strongly that our interconnectedness with nature has healing benefits for individuals and for the planet as a whole. In addition, she believes that as we begin to understand our natural world, we begin to understand ourselves. As a docent she considers herself a generalist, but she has a particular interest in trees, ferns, lichen, aromatic plants, and wildflowers.

Marie Faust Evitt has been leading hikes with the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District since 2018. A retired preschool teacher and freelance journalist, Marie particularly enjoys introducing families to the natural world. She led a nature fieldtrip class for preschoolers and their parents for eight years. Marie also loves gardening and is converting her yard to native plants.

Michael Hawk is a Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority docent, certified California Naturalist, a field trip leader for Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society (SCVAS), and a board member for SCVAS. He also leads groups for BioBlitz events. Michael has an interview-based nature podcast and is starting a new conservation organization. He took a few ecology courses in college, but his professional expertise/education is electrical engineering and computer science. Michael most recently worked at Google, but left in May to pursue nature conservation full time.

Dan Quinn grew up in San Jose and has a PhD in Physics from Stanford. He has lived in Portola Valley since 1977, and has long enjoyed hiking and camping in the Bay Area and the Sierras with family and friends. As his career progressed from academic high-energy physics, through decision analysis, to financial engineering and risk management, he maintained his interest in the environment; retired, he now has more time to focus on the legacy we will leave future generations. Dan has served on the boards of Hidden Villa and Acterra, as a guide with Hidden Villa’s Environmental Education Program, and as a Jasper Ridge docent. He has supported Green Foothills for years. An avid photographer, he contributes his nature photographs to several conservation organizations. His photographs are at CaptureTheLight.Zenfolio.com. Dan is awed by the legacy of Green Foothills and wants to help advance its mission in the future.