Executive wayfinder Angie Stegall invites people on a restorative inner journey in the woods
Most of us have been there—stuck in a moment, overwhelmed, exhausted, or just plain burnt out. So we step outside for a breather. We go for a walk in the woods. As we walk, a wren twirls. Flowers waft. The wind tickles our skin. Within minutes, we’re calmer, our breathing is deeper, and a way forward becomes more clear.
Whether conscious of it or not, we’re forest bathing, a term coined by Japanese foresters to describe the restorative benefits of spending time in nature. And one Gastonia, North Carolina, guide is taking clients into the woods for a bath to help them find peace.
Angie Stegall is an executive wayfinder. It’s like a life coach or a forest therapy guide (she’s licensed as both), but instead of focusing on goals or strategy, Stegall invites her clients out into nature to pause and listen. Through breathing exercises and mindfulness practices, she guides people into a quiet space so they can actually hear themselves, or as Stegall puts it, find their true north.
“It’s my belief that we are all moving so fast that we don’t realize how much we are silently suffering,” Stegall says. “We rarely pause our busy minds, we rarely pause all of this outside input in order to listen to the actual original solutions and original possibilities that are available to us with our own inner wisdom.”
There’s a lot of science to back this up. Studies have shown spending time in nature reduces blood pressure and stress, helps you breathe, and activates your parasympathetic nervous system. Even just five minutes a day can increase energy, improve sleep, and boost strategic thinking and creativity. But Stegall knows it works because she’s lived it.
Battling burnout from life and careers, Stegall and her husband, Nelson, decided to take an adult sabbatical in 2017. They sold almost everything they owned and traveled for two years across the States, immersing themselves in wild spaces.
“I had time during that two-year period to sit out in nature like I had never done before. It was transformational for me and my husband to have that time, without the pressure of everyday life, to sit and listen to our thoughts, to sit and just breathe on the shore of a crystal clear lake in Alaska and watch the eagles fly overhead.”
Finding your way
During that time, Stegall, already a business coach and author of multiple books, discovered her true north—she wanted to invite her clients outside and help them get in touch with nature, their natural body, and their own intuition. So she started taking what she calls “turtle steps” and slowly transitioned her business, which now offers three-hour individual forest sessions and weekend wilderness retreats.
Jeanie Duncan, president of the Raven Group, spent time with Stegall at Latta Nature Reserve in Huntersville, North Carolina. “I reached out to Angie as I began the new year. I feel myself in a place of transition where I have more questions than answers,” Duncan says. “I’m wanting to learn how to be even more present in nature, to connect with all the resources—trees, water, birds, creatures—and become more open to receive their messages. Angie led me on a reflective journey, calling me to notice my surroundings and gently coaching to support me tuning in to my innermost self and what it’s telling me.”
Whether she’s guiding clients like Duncan at a nature reserve or backpacking with women in Pisgah National Forest, Stegall finds immense joy watching the transformation, the light turning on, for people when they walk with her in the woods.
“I have the best job in the whole world,” Stegall says. “We walk, we talk, and your world changes for the better.”
For more information on Stegall, her books, and wayfinding retreats, visit angiestegall.com.
