Mayumi Kataoka Forest Therapy: Cognitive Recovery for Independent Professionals Artwork

Wisepreneurs | Independent Professionals Building Practice on Their Own Terms

Wisepreneurs is a podcast for experienced independent professionals building practice on their own terms.

Working lives now extend far beyond what anyone predicted.
Organisations need people who can navigate complexity and ambiguity — and increasingly, experienced professionals are choosing independent practice over employment.

Real conversations with experienced professionals — particularly women — about what that transition actually takes.

What we explore

Positioning accumulated expertise as visible market presence
Building independent practice through partnerships and collaborative networks
AI tools that amplify rather than replace experienced professional judgment
Navigating the transition from employment to independent practice
Sustaining cognitive vitality for the long term

90+ episodes. Real conversations. No motivational fluff.

Your accumulated expertise is your competitive advantage. This podcast shows you how to systematically position it.

Hosted by Nigel Rawlins Find transcripts and more: wisepreneurs.au
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Wisepreneurs | Independent Professionals Building Practice on Their Own Terms

Mayumi Kataoka Forest Therapy: Cognitive Recovery for Independent Professionals

October 31, 2025 • Nigel Rawlins • Season 1 • Episode 78

0:00 | 37:31

Forest therapy as cognitive restoration for over-connected professionals who keep optimising when they need to stop. Mayumi Kataoka is a certified forest therapy guide in Sydney who takes professionals on three-hour walks covering barely 1.2 kilometres.

Participants consistently report losing track of time and finding clarity they did not know they were missing.

Mayumi's path from IT professional and martial arts instructor to nature photographer to forest therapy guide built the observational capacity she now brings to her practice.

She explains the science behind shinrin-yoku, why our genes expect natural environments, and how systematic sensory engagement creates measurable cognitive benefits.

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetize expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

Connect with Mayumi Kataoka

Website (Individual Practice): forestminds.com

Website (Collective): foresttherapycollectivensw.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/forestminds

Books discussed: Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy Paul, The Distracted Mind by Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen

Key concepts: shinrin-yoku (Japanese forest bathing backed by 40 years of research), biophilia hypothesis (E.O. Wilson), 4E cognition (embodied, embedded, enacted, extended)

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Website: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/

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