About Us

The Great Banyan tree at the Botanical Garden near Kolkata, India, is in essence the Founder of Nature Connections. Most people are drawn to this 250 year old tree because of its magnanimous size; almost a mini forest in itself and no camera can capture a picture it in its entirety.

In October 2016 it was this tree that initiated Vaishnavi Viswanathan to being the channel to start Nature Connections. Of course it was cryptic and she had no clue what the tree had initiated her into. The only thing she knew was she was deeply moved like no other experience in her life. There was a lot of crying, hugging, talking and confusion on what the experience meant. Luckily she had a spiritual coach and later a life coach to help her decipher the messages that were passed on by this tree.

Apart from the spiritual coach, it is the mother tree at Cubbon park in Bangalore, India that guided Vaishnavi on what exactly she needs to do. Communicate with trees. And enable others to communicate with trees. Now it seems easier to believe this but at that time Vaishnavi felt that was a silly, illogical thing to do. So she experimented, read, spoke to other crazy tree people and it all started to make sense. And now she is called the Tree Communicator though she believes and knows everyone can and have been communicating with plants and trees since ancient times.

Vaishnavi Viswanathan, is a vagabond by heart and loves to explore life to the fullest. She loves to dabble in anything creative, play with her daughter & stray dogs, spend time with family and friends, learning new things, watching movies and generally to laze around, rest and have fun… and most importantly play in and with nature elements, especially trees. Along with the trees mentioned above, she believes to be the Co-founder of Nature Connections.

Professionally she is an Entrepreneur and Founder of 2 firms, with 20+ years of experience as Leadership Skills Facilitator, 11 years as a certified Coach, 12 years & as an Expressive Art Therapy practitioner working with organisations like Accenture, LinkedIn, Seimens, IBM, Oracle, SBI, L& T Infotech, etc. She is Certified by the European Institute of Forest Therapy to conduct research based Nature therapy coaching/workshops/walks for Public and Corporate Leaders. She is also a mentor for a few people who wish to integrate Forest Therapy with their work and for the past 2 years she has been a Faculty with Forest Therapy Hub (a European university that certifies Forest Bathing and Forest Therapy practitioners across the world).

For the past 6 years she has been enabling leaders in connecting with Nature to understand self, reduce stress and anxiety, hone their decision making skills etc. With a collaborative team of 12 members across India, we have conducted nature connection sessions for 1400+ participants and a part of the proceeds has helped in planting & nurturing 2516 trees so far.  In a nutshell, she combines her knowledge from Psychology, Philosophy, Nature, Ancient wisdom and Art therapy to provide a space for others to dive deep within to discover their authentic nature in and with nature.

Feet on ground, sights of green, brown and myriad dancing, touch of breeze, rustle reaching ears – gives him the feeling of being home. A home where everything is just is, welcomed and allowed. Aashish believes the nature of this home is our true forgotten nature. Any moment, every moment at home is a calling to remember and embrace our true nature which he wishes to explore and enable this experience to others. Being in the industry of Hotel management, he is now experiencing the world of conscious living through workshops and his own practices. He is an enthusiastic nature lover who would like to spread this work in Chennai. He is also the typical millennial who immensely and seamlessly helps to combine technology to spread the work of Nature Connections.

Anish quit a management role in the IT industry to do things that hold more meaning for him. He is a Bhoomi College Fellow in Holistic Education (Bangalore). He is drawn to approaches that help access our individual well being, humanity, and wisdom, in addition to storytelling, art, and theatre.In nature, he feels sacredness and a sense of belonging to it. He believes healing nature walks help get us in touch with that part of us, once more. He helps in spreading the work of deeply connecting with nature as a facilitator in Nature Connections.

A picture speaks a 1000 words and that’s exactly what Jepin helps us with. Having experienced a walk 2 years back, he now supports us by taking fantastic pictures which capture the essence of the walks. He is like a silent bird that flies around without being noticed by anyone, as he goes around capturing the intimate moments we have in nature. He brings in a calming divine presence and our walks seem incomplete without him. Professionally he is an online marketer and client services manager for 12+ years. He totally enjoys taking photographs for noble causes, sketching and pottery.

Sunil Kishore has been gracious to come onboard as a Mentor for Nature Connections to spread its wings in the direction that can make this world a better place. He has over 30+ years of experience and has worked in organisations like HCL, PepsiCo, Xerox, Oberoi Hotels, Coca Cola and Manipal Global education in positions like VP HR, Executive Director etc. He is currently the Founder of orgX, a consulting firm which engages CEO’s and top Leadership team in enhancing their capabilities through coaching, strategy facilitation, OD interventions etc.

Swati is a Curator of Natural Wonders. She is a dreamer, a moon lover, a stargazer, a tree-hugger, a dandelion blower, a rainbow-chaser, a paharan (mountain girl), a book-smeller, a speck of stardust and an aspiring beam of light. Trees, yoga, and meditation grounds her, while butterflies and the love of travel give her wings. She loves to pen down her travel and nature related experiences which take people on a sensorial journey. After being part of one of the Nature Connections sessions, she came on board to write more nature related blogs to enable people to connect with nature through her words.