Recap Of Our 2025 Healing Hikes With Local Organizations

2025 was such a wild year, but what kept us committed to this work of healing in nature were the healing hikes.

Being in community with people who understood the power of nature to feel better, create deeper bonds with each other, and care for the land was all we needed to stay grounded and steadfast throughout a year that was so wildly tragic and magical.

We hope you enjoy this short video recapping all the beautiful people we walked with and all the places we hiked. This work really couldn’t continue without the belief that what we do here at Rino Consulting Solutions is making real change happen in harmony with nature.

We’re so grateful to the support guides, Julie Salzman, Maio Buenafe, and Patrick Brown who assisted our Founder & CEO in this year of growing the work.

It was truly challenging in many ways as we entered into another Trump administration. And we don’t anticipate this year, 2026 being any quieter or less dramatic than 2025. We believe we’re entering into the height of the administration’s attempts to amplify the colonizer’s and white supremacy culture’s agenda. Remember, our work in providing healing hikes began in 2016, the first time the administration came into office. So, this work is connected to those actions and also provide ways to support our collective community by building leadership capacity, self-determination, and a deep sense of belonging and unity.

We also understand that those efforts of the Trump adminstration and its followers are far less powerful in impact and numbers to distract us from our goals to create a more just and equitable world.

So we encourage you to keep staying close to us here as well as staying close to your community of love, equity, and unity as we face more challenges ahead. Continue to go to nature for grounding, supporting any efforts to better your relationships to others and your sense of belonging to your safe communities.

To book your agency or group for a private group healing hike, please fill out our application below to get started on coordinating your experience.

THANK YOU FOR READING MY STORY!
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Unlocking Team Performance: 4 Benefits of Guided Nature Experiences for Your Organization

The nature of corporate culture can sometimes leave us in the depths of overwhelm, gasping for a moment to surface for some air. But what if we told you that an intentional breath of fresh air, quite literally, could be the game-changer for your workplace wellness needs? Rino Consulting Solutions offers nature-based coaching – a journey that taps into the wisdom of the nature experience and connection to the elements to invigorate you and your team, fueling creativity, and sowing the seeds of success. In other words, nature is a profound way to increase your team’s capacity and amplify that road to success. Here are four key takeaways organizations get from our nature immersive workshops and healing hikes.

Revitalization Through the Elemental Embrace

Reefliction time during a healing hike with wellness in action, a project of the center for empowering refugees and immigrants (CERI), Tilden Park, Berkeley, CA

Sometimes the simplicity of going back to the basics of nature is all that’s needed to amplify your performance. As a nature-based coach I like to lead teams back to the basics of the elements; Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water as a tool to support a transformative experience.–. Because we come from nature, the experience of being surrounded by the elements allows you to access the tranquility of open skies, lush greenery, and the soothing sounds of running water. The wisdom of these elemental forces can teach us something deeper about who we are and the capacity we have to find our way through challenges. And when we’re given that permission to be present and embraced by these elements we are much more open to pausing, breathing, and immersing ourselves in a more spacious atmosphere. When experienced together as a community, the benefits are manifold – rejuvenated minds, rekindled creativity, and a profound sense of renewal that infuses your team with newfound energy.

My studies, as captured in this article from  Yale Environment 360 show the benefits of exposure to nature for our mental health and cognitive functioning. 

Fostering Authentic Bonds and Collaboration

An immersive experience in nature is more than a change of scenery; it's a canvas for forging deeper connections and fostering collaboration. Nature's serene backdrop and the guiding hand of my nature-based coaching work creates a unique environment that transcends the boardroom. Imagine your team navigating through  nature and seeing the powerful resilience in the landscape and the wonder of how it sustains itself on its own. – A shared experience within the majesty of nature can  build trust, camaraderie, and unity as the deeper lessons of life and our capacity to mirror nature’s power are shared amongst each other. Our coaching programs, enriched by the elemental essence, amplifies these connections, fostering an authentic rapport that resonates even after the nature experience concludes. Check out this article in Outside Magazine describing in detail how transformative my healing hikes can be for a community.

Heightening Clarity and Purpose

Stepping away from the daily hustle gives your team the opportunity to gain perspective and clarity, especially when faced with a complex idea that you and your team can not seem to move forward on. With a nature-based coach by your side, this clarity can come with  intentional exercises and reflection amidst the  powers of the outdoors. With my special guidance your team can gain a renewed understanding of their individual purpose while a collective vision emerges and propels your organization forward. This heightened clarity then becomes a beacon, guided not only by insight but by the lessons coming from the elements. Often times this opening up from a shared nature experience can influence the readiness your team needs to dive deeper into other ways nature can improve team dynamics such as better listening skills, conscious relationship building, and integrating empowering language. To check out some of the nature-based opportunities some teams have experienced with us.

Our transformative experience with the staff and board of the berkeley art center, sibley volcanic regional preserve, Oakland, CA

Hear what an Executive leader of a local organization shared about her experience, “Our experience was powerful, full of wisdom, and very accessible for our group. Their team took a lot of care in their planning and preparation for us, which brought so much ease for us in the process. I am still processing the learnings I gained during our time, but our organization gained so much more than team building. We were able to deeply hold sacred the experiences we are all individually going through, while holding space for each other.” - Kim Arcebo Arteche 

Renewing Focus on Well-being

You can also read our feature in Outside Magazine Online, “Nature Therapy for People of Color in Traumatic Jobs” for an accurate account of what happens on a healing hike”

Amidst the lush landscapes, we lead your team on a journey that prioritizes well-being. Mindful practices include intentional meditation while immersed in direct exposure to nature, coupled with the lessons of reconnecting to the element. This design promotes a reconnection to the self, or a sort of coming back into oneself. I believe the intentional design of our experiences IS our secret sauce for stress reduction, mental clarity, and holistic well-being. This renewed focus on self-care and balance strengthens your team's resilience, ensuring that they return to work with a sense of vigor and a renewed commitment to excellence.

Your team's success story is waiting to be written, with every chapter enriched by the touch of nature's magic. Embrace the transformation, and let the journey begin.

Your Nature-Based Coach,

Raynelle

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Feeling like your team could use an intentional time-out in nature to amplify team performance? Apply for a Private Group Hike below!

"Root To Bloom" - A Program Born from My Healing Journey

Each season we hire community healers, & wellness practitioners as guest speakers to add to the wealth of resources around us. Here we are in the EcoCenter with movement healer, Sammay Dizon.

I used to be a community-based service provider and vocal advocate for diversity within land-based organizations. I spoke out, led efforts, formed groups and containers to drive the narrative of “lack of diversity” and hold myself to the fire, challenging my higher ups and the authorities-that-be, for more inclusive space for people like me and the communities I serve, who often looked like me. But I quickly learned through many failed attempts and fallouts that this wasn’t where my fire for change was going to be affective.

Sadly, like many other passionate (I would even say wounded) providers, I thought vocalizing my needs would get me somewhere, but it only left me burnt out. I was left with bigger questions about “Who am I in this work?”, “Why do I feel the need to stay?”, and the most challenging, “Why can’t I be who I am and focus on the actual work of creating change for my community?”. Well, the story I’m about to share below is a story of many years of the unfolding story that answered these questions. And when I say many years, I’m talking about 10+ years of a swervey, chaotic, and down right traumatic career path.

If there’s anything I hope you gain from reading the origin story of Root To Bloom, its that

(1) the path to your true purpose is hella long and arduous. If it’s not, you probably have more to learn and grow from

(2) when you finally surrender and listen to more than your experience, meaning your listening to your heart, your ancestors, your guides beyond the Earthly realm, you begin to listen to the forces of nature that have always been guiding you since you were born. You begin to trust the things that are beyond this world and magic begins to unfold.

So, I’m grateful you can take the time out to hear how this program speaks so much to my journey of healing as woman of color in environmental education work and that’s it is possible to create beautiful things for the people to meet their blooming!

🌺 Years ago when I started my non-profit environmental justice career I worked as a Program Manager in San Francisco's Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhood. I thought it was my dream job and I would be there for a long time. Little did I know, the day I walked into the office on my first day...I was walking into what would be a 2 year nightmare. The organization's leadership had crumbled 2 weeks prior to me starting. Ironically the park site, Heron's Head & the EcoCenter's education programming centered the historic toxicity of SF's Southeast. I was teaching about toxicity and experiencing toxic work environments at the same time.

I don't know if you've ever experienced a level of workplace toxicity that causes you to flee from the community and distance yourself for your own safety and well-being, but I spent many years away from the community except for the few trusted relationships I kept close as I transitioned and explored other avenues of my career.

Almost 10 years after that job I found myself on the same park site, different professional path as an entrepreneur but still working with nature, focused on providing a healing learning space for community-based service providers. I couldn't believe that the path I walked to come back to a site that caused me so much harm would be a place that would not only provide healing for me, but also heal the providers in the program.

Our program theory of change disrupts the cycle and value on productivity in our providers with self care and healing practices

I am always in awe of Root To Bloom being in my life. Being my life's work. It could be that my healing needed this program to be designed to disrupt the toxic work environment of valuing productivity with valuing self care and provider well-being. Because from my experience, I knew that the productivity value that plagues many community-based service centered organizations can perpetuate capitalism’s engine of seeing people as a commodity of labor instead of seeing them as stakeholders of our greater community’s long-term health and wellness. I always wanted someone to acknowledge this in the organizations I worked in, especially those that targeted marginalized communities. So, in the Root To Bloom Program I made sure we talk about colonization’s design to keep us locked into productivity so that we don’t attain the awareness that we can value ourselves as gifted contributors to our own needs for a healthy and fulfilling life. Because if we attain such power, we can’t be controlled.

It always strikes me as my radical stance on loving my community by being able to create this program to say these things and teach emerging leaders to reclaim their power with tools we share in the program. Because I’ve been a product of burn out and being outcasted, “laid-off” or ostracized from leadership in previous organizations where I’ve attempted to integrate these values as was retaliated against in some form or fashion. But something many years ago kept me tethered to my beliefs and stayed steadfast in my search to find a way to still say these things and have autonomy as safety. It just so happened I needed to leave the non-profit structure and create an entity that, to be real, only I can fire myself from, lol!

Root To Bloom has unfolded as this safe place and container for fierce providers like me to have a home for processing and understanding our intergenerational traumas without retaliation or stigmatization; something I wish I had especially when I was providing direct service to adjudicated youth. Now, I have so many people, spirit guides, ancestors to thank for this. More importantly I can thank myself for saying yes to a path most wouldn’t dare step into. That inner voice of my WARRIOR SELF was definitely wounded but committed to my true purpose and I mostly send her rest and gratitude these days.

Testimonial from Denicia, Season 2 graduate

Allowing myself the surrender to other messages in my dreams or the synchronicities showing up in my everyday walk are just some of the reasons why I think Root To Bloom holds such a special vibe and space for the community that surrounds it. Together with my co-creator and conspirator, Kisai of CommUNITY, this program has consistently shown us the power of creating something so unique and exactly what we would have wanted as frontline staff; a holistic and transformative space where we could truly just be and heal.

And as we’ve begun to open our space for the fourth year of Root To Bloom, I’m reminded again of the power of my healing journey to heal some of our community’s deepest wounds. I can’t say that my healing has ended. I don’t believe its even possible to “be healed”. So as long as I’m on this Earth, my healing will continue on. But what I do know is that after these many years of diving into the scary parts, moving through the roller coaster of life and leadership, there are moments that I’m reminded all of my struggles and experiences can serve me later by showing up as healing for others. I just have to keep listening, keep trusting.

So I’ll leave you with some of the coach-y type reflections you can take as you continue on your journey of self discovery and healing in hopes that your journey can find a point of coming full circle. And I hope you can share your thoughts and responses with me below. I’d love to engage with your story of healing.

Click this image to listen to our IG Live session sharing the magic that birthed our program and its impact on our community

Reflections to Reclaim Your Purpose & Power:

🤔 If you were to spend a day doing exactly what brings you complete alignment with who you are and your natural born gifts, what would that day be like and more importantly how are you feeling throughout that whole day?

🤔 If you can speak truth to your power, as in say ALL THE THINGS you want to say to your current workplace/community about what real change looks like, what would you say? Make sure it’s as raw as you would say it if you had all the freedoms to say it all the way you want to say it!

🤔 What do people tend to say or witness in you when they describe who you are or what your leadership is like? You don’t have to agree or believe them because these can be signs of your true gifts and purpose in life whether you like it or not!

THANK YOU FOR READING MY STORY!
 IF YOU FOUND THIS RESOURCE HELPFUL
PLEASE SHARE WIDELY TO YOUR NETWORKS & FRIENDS
Comment below to dialogue with me!

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Racial Justice Every Step of the Way

Back in 2014 I published what would be a key blog post of my career; taking a stand against what I felt were problematic practices of “diversity and inclusion” panels and discussions. My Shapeshifting the Panel piece was me taking a stand against the tokenization, the parading of our POC identities and experiences to predominantly white audiences as an illusion that we were doing something to “solve the problem” of diversity. It was a key post in my career because the article was picked up by a manager in the US Forest Service and I was invited to participate on an advisory council for the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, which then landed me a board appointment for an award winning news magazine, High Country News.

This blog post opened up my voice.

I remember writing the piece over the course of just a couple of hours. I started with my heart rapidly beating in frustration and determination because I knew what I did and experienced on my last diversity panel was something I wanted to let the world know. I wanted the community to know why it was problematic. I also knew I wasn’t going to let my voice be violated by opening up the pathway for defensive responses, blame, or ranting. It needed to come from ME in every sense of the wording, flow, and emotion.

I knew I needed TO OWN this piece.

So looking back on where I was in my personal AND professional development, I can see how those parts of my story are now being implemented in how I function as an independent agent with Rino Consulting Solutions. My values of social and racial justice are more clear.

So how does it show up in my practice?

I focus on THE WORK from a JUSTICE LENS
When I was vetted to serve for the US Forest Service I had to make sure this wasn’t exactly what I was standing against. I asked what would my positionality be with the council, why they wanted me there, and made sure this was an invested working group, not just a talking piece for the agency. I made sure the entire council as a whole was diverse in participation and perspective.

In my Open Space Equity Presentation I challenge the notions of where our separations in environmental engagement come from by looking at the evidence in land use, historical colonization, and the socio-economic impacts of how we engage with the environment today. I show the systems at play and how our personal value sets influence the decisions made in our urban environments. I connect the evidence to show how social and racial justice are embedded in the landscape. Doing the work means presenting a different perspective and understanding how that impacts our personal value sets, which then drive our passion to participate in change and make choices.

We talk about the systems at play for perspective and knowledge

I do racial justice, NOT diversity and inclusion
I remember one presentation I did for a college group really bombed. I mean, really bombed. I lost the audience, there was silence when I was done, and the post Q & A session seemed to just perpetuate my frustrations with diversity work. I heard later that I left the audience drained of their energy, lost, and I seemed really bitter to them. And I was.

I became stuck. I didn’t know how to think differently about how I felt about “diversifying the industry” and my participation in this work in my career. Until a close friend of mine listened to how I spoke about my frustrations with diversity work. And when she said to me, “You know, I’ve always been confused about why so many organizations don’t understand that there’s a big difference between ‘diversity’ work and ‘racial justice’ work. They’re not the same thing.” Instantly it became clear to me! I do racial justice work, not diversity work!

Mind you, diversity as a “body of work” is more than a thing, it’s a BEING. And some strategies like increasing the number of POC staff is a stopgap to cultivating your being a more diverse entity, culturally. It just gets you the numbers. Racial justice on the other hand, focuses on the actual systems of society that create the separation of communities, land, economics, power, status, and the disparities in industry engagement. It gets to the belly of the beast and works from the core. And I'm presenting THAT as the take away or starting point for the work. That’s what I do.  

So, going back to my bombed presentation. I had another opportunity to present to a similar audience. This time I changed the words on my presentation from “Diversity Engagement Strategist” to “Racial Justice Centered Engagement”. And I focused in on the language and content from a racial justice lens. What was the response from the audience? They wanted to know more about racial justice and what I meant by that. They shared stories of feeling the same ways in the workplace or in internships, and one student  even came to me after the presentation crying because it brought up similar emotions and challenges in her identity at her agency. She found deeper moments of relating to me and my experience as a WOC. I have to say, I think I landed that presentation!

Calling IN, not calling OUT
I consider myself a super-duper empath. The level of sensitivities I have with people and energies  around me are so enormous sometimes that I’ve actually had to devote intentional time and investment understanding how to manage my sensitivities. That’s the healer in me. So, when I see people in pain emotionally and physically it affects me A LOT.

In previous experiences as a training participant AND facilitator I’ve seen too many instances when activities done around power and privilege go nowhere the next day or just go south. I see and feel the pain and frustration. If not held and cared for in its delicacy and safety, triggers can bring out the ugly parts of us. I could shovel out a bazillion articles of what happens here, but I think we've all been around the tension in a room with diverse perspectives talking about race, power, and privilege. Why do I (1) want to risk being a part of that and (2) make efforts to try and manage and facilitate those types of incidents? That work drains me and always just leaves me with all kinds of negative feels. Or I have to go home and do all this extra work to decompress and level my emotions out. 

What’s my conclusion and solution to this? I believe in doing A DEEPER KIND of work in these trainings. At the root of all of this we long to be seen and heard on our own individual terms AND as a source of greatness to the world. I want to see EVERYONE achieve THIS. So, bringing in deeper practices of communication skills to the individual level allows people to OWN their experiences. Also, understanding when and if the processing needs to happen in the safety and privacy of the individual, within a shared identity group, or in solitude. Identifying safety is a key approach I began to implement in my trainings and a key component of how I coach. 

So, instead of asking folks to role play their power position or act out some implicit biases, I challenge folks to focus on language and deep listening during dialogue. I challenge folks to reach deep into their life and values and understand WHO THEY ARE FIRST before taking action. I offer tools that reach into our human condition after presenting our divided societal condition. I guide the development of individual growth towards impacting community growth, safely and effectively.

By knowing who we are in the world can we navigate it to create a world we want so that we are seen and heard on our terms

I CALL YOU INTO YOUR IDENTITY and reveal your unique gifts.

Check out what I did with Gateway Mountain Center’s Team by subscribing to my newsletter!

I choose to begin with the INDIVIDUAL
developing deeper communication skills IN SAFETY

Personally, this choice brought me some NEXT LEVEL adulting and resulted in some major shifts in my life and the people around me. And because I've practice this approach myself, I know how to hold this process for others. More importantly, when we take personal responsibility, it lands the overall responsibility of creating change in the world to the individual, not others!

Racial justice IS self-care
I have to credit my business coach, Anthem for handing this one to me! He said that when we’re not working on racial justice we’re not taking care of ourselves. It was a reminder and validation that all the self-care time and investment I have done and continue to do in my work simultaneously informs and develops me. All of these challenging times; the times I felt stuck and times I felt like I was talking to crickets in the room were all meant to be there for me as 'trail markers' for which direction to walk next.  

And the way I feel about my walk is that it is more in alignment today with who I am and the values I hold in my life. What's your walk like?

What are your thoughts on a racial justice lens? Does any of this resonate or trigger you? Let me know by commenting below or forwarding to your awesome community of change makers!