GROW Session 4 invited participants to step outside their usual space in Nitiprayan and reconnect with nature, reflection, and community at Kebon Tamantirto. In this fourth gathering of GROW Batch 1, participants explored healing through nature-based reflection, River Cards, storytelling, and collective care in a warm and grounding environment.
This session became a journey of reconnecting with nature, the body, and ourselves.
The theme, “Rooting Back to Nature,” was not only about being surrounded by greenery or listening to the sound of flowing water. It was also an invitation to reflect on the relationship between humans, the earth, and the inner world we carry within us.
Throughout GROW Session 4, participants were invited to slow down and reconnect with themselves through nature, reflection, and shared community experiences.
Returning to Nature, Returning to Ourselves
For the first time since the program began, participants moved beyond the familiar space of Nitiprayan and entered an open natural environment. This shift felt meaningful. Sometimes, to truly hear ourselves, we need to change environments and allow the body to breathe differently.
Kebon Tamantirto welcomed us through the warmth of Pak Dimas and his family, who have been caring for this space with deep intention and love. They chose to answer the call of caring for the earth by protecting the water source in Tamantirto, a small but meaningful contribution to the larger world.
At the same time, they continue nurturing their own inner growth.
Their story reminded us that caring for the earth and caring for ourselves are not separate acts. Both grow side by side through small and consistent steps.
This experience also reflects what many researchers have begun to highlight: reconnecting with nature can positively influence emotional well-being, stress regulation, and overall mental health. A study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health explains that spending time in natural environments can help reduce stress, improve mood, strengthen feelings of connectedness, and support psychological restoration.
In a world that often moves too quickly, nature offers something many people rarely experience anymore: space to slow down, breathe, and feel present again.
Through GROW Session 4, participants were invited not only to observe nature, but to become part of it again listening to the river, touching the soil, and remembering that humans are also living beings who need grounding, care, and connection.
The Two Worlds We Live In
During the session, we reflected on the idea that humans live between two interconnected worlds.
- The first is the greater world: the natural environment that holds, nourishes, and sustains life. It is the earth beneath our feet, the water that flows around us, and the air that keeps us breathing.
- The second is the inner world: our personal landscape of emotions, memories, energy, and growth. It is the quieter space within us, where healing, grief, and transformation often unfold.
These two worlds are deeply connected. The way we care for the outer world often reflects how we care for ourselves, and the way we relate to ourselves can shape how we move through the world around us.
GROW Session 4 became a reminder that healing does not always begin through words or long conversations. Sometimes, healing begins more quietly by touching the soil, listening to the river, feeling the sun on our skin, and allowing ourselves to pause long enough to notice what is alive within us.
River Cards: Looking Back with Gentleness
The session opened with River Cards. Participants were invited to choose one card without seeing its front, a simple but intentional act of surrender and trust.
The first card represented their past.
This activity became a gentle invitation to revisit the paths they had already walked not to judge them, not to rewrite them, but to witness them with honesty and compassion.
For many participants, this moment brought unexpected reflection. Some recognized how far they had come. Others noticed parts of themselves that had been forgotten, hidden, or left unattended. It became a reminder that looking back can also be an act of healing.
Releasing Through the River
After the first reflection, participants walked down together to the river and released fish into the flowing water.
This symbolic activity represented letting go of energies no longer aligned with who they are becoming, of emotions held too tightly for too long, and of burdens they were finally ready to set down.
At the same time, the act carried hope: a quiet offering of intentions, prayers, and wishes for what they wanted to invite into the next chapter of their lives.
Standing beside the river, participants were reminded that life continues to move, just as water does. Not everything is meant to stay. Some things are meant to be released so new possibilities can emerge.
One of the most meaningful parts of GROW Session 4 was the river reflection activity, where participants released fish into the flowing water as a symbol of letting go and renewal.
Past, Present, Future: One Continuous Journey
After returning from the river, participants were invited to choose another River Card, this time representing their present.
Then, each person received a blank medium-sized card to create freely as a reflection of their future.
Together, these three cards became a visual map of their personal journey:
the past that shaped them,
the present they are learning to inhabit,
and the future they are slowly beginning to imagine.
This exercise invited participants to see their stories not as fragmented moments, but as a connected whole. Every chapter mattered. Every version of themselves belonged.
A Space to Listen Without Judgment
At the heart of GROW Session 4 was the idea that healing can happen collectively through listening, witnessing, and holding space for one another without judgment.
The cards were then brought into small group circles, where participants shared their stories with one another.
These conversations were not about fixing, advising, or interpreting. They were simply about listening.
And sometimes, being deeply heard is one of the most healing experiences a person can have.
Within these circles, participants began to notice how many human experiences quietly overlap. Grief, hope, fear, courage, uncertainty, and resilience often show up in different forms, but they connect us more deeply than we realize.
In those moments, strangers became companions in a shared human journey.
GROW Session 4 Reflection: Every Story Is Connected
As a closing ritual, participants were invited to combine one of their cards with another participant’s card and create a new shared story together.
This simple exercise became a powerful reminder that no story exists in isolation.
Every journey carries threads that connect with others through shared emotions, shared struggles, and shared hope.
The closing ritual of GROW Session 4 reminded participants that no story stands alone, and that human experiences are often deeply interconnected.
Through this process, participants reflected not only on their relationship with nature, but also on their interconnectedness with themselves, with one another, and with the earth that continues to hold us all.
Reflection from GROW Session 4
GROW Batch 1 Session 4 became a space to remember something many of us forget in everyday life: we are not separate from nature, we are part of it.
When we allow ourselves to fully arrive in the presence of soil, water, air, and silence, something softens. The nervous system slows down. The mind becomes quieter. And often, we begin finding our way back home to ourselves.
Thank you to Pak Dimas and family for opening such a warm, generous, and grounding space at Kebon Tamantirto.
And thank you to every participant who brought their stories, courage, openness, and presence into this shared journey. What we created together was more than a session, it was a reminder that healing can happen gently, in connection, and in community.
GROW Session 4 and Rooting Forward Together
As GROW Batch 1 slowly approaches the final chapters of its journey, Session 4 became a meaningful reminder that healing and growth are rarely linear processes. Sometimes, transformation begins in the quietest moments sitting beside a river, listening to the sounds of nature, sharing stories in small circles, or simply allowing ourselves to reconnect with community again.
Throughout this batch, participants have carried different stories, emotions, and experiences into the space. Yet through each meeting, we continue to witness how healing can grow gently through reflection, connection, creativity, and collective care.
Research also continues to highlight how spending time in natural environments can positively support emotional wellbeing, reduce stress, and help people feel more grounded and connected. Through sessions like GROW, we hope to continue creating spaces where young people can pause, breathe, express themselves honestly, and remember that they do not have to navigate their journeys alone.
With only two sessions remaining in GROW Batch 1, we are deeply grateful to every participant, facilitator, collaborator, and supporter who has become part of this shared journey so far.
If you would like to explore more stories and reflections from GROW Batch 1, visit our TMH.id Event & Programme Blog to read recaps from previous sessions and other community wellbeing activities.
Stay tuned for the next GROW programme and future community wellbeing initiatives.
