Verla Fortier

Author, Columnist, Podcast Hostt

Verla Fortier is a retired nursing professor who was diagnosed with systemic lupus just as she was retiring to her hometown of Pine Falls, Manitoba, Canada. Verla uses green space research to help her to take control of her health and happiness. She draws on university approved studies with thousands of people over decades that prove the game changing mind and body effects of time spent outside. These research results were so astonishing that she knew that needed to share it with others so she wrote a book, “Take Back Your Outside Mindset: Live Longer, Stress Less, and Control Your Chronic Illness,” and started a podcast “Your Outside Mindset.”

The same year she was diagnosed with lupus, her closest childhood friend died of sudden cardiac arrest. Her death haunted Verla until she became a detective using the green space research combined with her years as a critical care nurse to find out what happened to her best friend. This is what her latest book “Optimize Your Heart Rate: Balance Your Mind and Body With Green Space” is all about.

Both books are best sellers on Amazon in the categories of lupus and heart disease. And her podcast Your Outside Mindset has listeners in 42 countries.