Mindful Birding Workshop

Mindful Birding Workshop

Sunday, September 20, 2026

10AM-12PM

20 tickets available; Tickets are $20 each + fees

Workshop will take place at the Crown Hill Nature Trail and Pollinators’ Garden (3402 Blvd. Place, Indpls, 46208)

Please meet your guides at the picnic tables by the wooded area.

Short description: Mindful Birding is a practice combining mindfulness with the joy of birding. Connect with the natural world and the birds who inhabit it. Let go of the need to identify, and focus on what we notice, feel, and wonder. Open to ages 10 and up, all workshop attendees are encouraged to come with an open mind, heart, and willingness to share the space with fellow bird-lovers. 

Detailed description: 

This workshop will be led by Nature & Forest Therapy Guides Michelle Morton and Donna Riner. Mindful Birding is a nature-based wellness practice that combines the practice of mindfulness with the joy of bird observation. This experience is best described as a slow, sensory, and immersive walk. During our time together, we will engage our senses—eyes, ears, hands, nose, body, and heart—to connect with the natural world and the birds that inhabit it.

Michelle and Donna will co-lead the walk with gentle invitations, or prompts, designed to deepen your sensory awareness. These invitations will help you experience birds and their habitats in a mindful, intentional way. Many of these invitations will be grounded in literary quotes, poetry, and visual art, to honor perspectives & stories that have come before our own. 

This is not a traditional, guided interpretive walk. The aim is to slow down and observe birds without any pressure to identify them. Instead we will use our sensory awareness to observe birds, their behaviors, and their habitats with the intent to share what we notice, feel, and wonder within the community.

This workshop will take place inside the Crown Hill Waiting Station and outside along the Nature Trail. The walk will include time for slowly walking short distances, wandering, exploring, sitting, and sharing. Unlike a typical birding hike, this experience covers less than 0.5 miles. The trail surface features grass, woodchips, and small roots along a mostly-flat trail in the shade. There are some low logs along the path to rest (as needed), and a few picnic tables at the entrance to the trail. 

This workshop is open to participants ages 10 and up. Minors under age 10 must be accompanied by an adult at all times. Children have an innate capacity to drop into the present moment, led by their senses to observe, play, and form a relationship with nature. Guides Donna and Michelle will encourage children in attendance to become co-guides in this workshop, as children help us all remember our own capacity to be curious and wander freely. Craft materials will be available during the workshop, and all in attendance will be encouraged to engage as much or as little with the prompts provided.  

Participants will be contacted before the event regarding what to bring and session details. For more information about your guides, please visit: https://www.delightinnature.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/witnessnature_indy/