[Mandy Bishop]

Awesome! Thanks Ivy!

[Mandy Bishop]

Does anyone have contact information for Derek (last name, email address)? I’d like to be able to stay in touch with him and thank him, but only know his first name!

[Mandy Bishop]

Works for me! Yay!!

[Mandy Bishop]

I’m available any night except Wednesday.

[Mandy Bishop]

Yes, I would love to coordinate a meal again! I’m curious how many of you plan to be here for the practice coaching session Sunday evening? That might be a good night. Or Friday?

[Mandy Bishop]

In summary, one of the things I’m taking away from this module is how important it is to surrender to the threshold. Entering the threshold is really like being in an altered state of extreme presence, awareness and connection to all that is. In reading everyone’s post and reflecting on my own experience, it is so important as a coach to help my client’s enter this state. I could see this happening through practicing sensory awareness to increase that capacity, talking about “the pull”, probing into how the client knows what feels like a yes and a no, and building up the moment before the client literally steps into the threshold, emphasizing that this is an altered state and to notice everything inside and out. In reflecting on all of this, I’m aware of how the threshold is incredibly powerful both in terms of connecting to nature and trusting her, and in connecting to ourselves and trusting our knowing… Getting to know how we know our knowing.

[Mandy Bishop]

I totally echo the summaries that you all have shared so far. This module definitely came at the perfect time and I really appreciate the challenge to describe my ideal client. It is much easier and more comfortable for me to stay in the world of big vision and general ideology. When asked to really get specific with my vision, I initially seized up a bit but really pushed through as if following the threads of a dream to try to remember details and sure enough the answers were inside me — at least the answers to the questions at this point in time. It is a mirror reflection of the concept we’ve been working with over and over — that the answers we seek are inside us.

I am totally amazed as well that each one of our visions is developing in such a unique way. I love the way this program is supporting us all to follow our inner truths and be so unique! It’s so inspiring and motivating for me to watch this develop in you all, as well as in myself. And to see the greater picture that this is the exact work we will be doing, each in our own unique ways, with our clients! It’s freaking awesome how these circles go out in every direction!!

[Mandy Bishop]

The answer to this question is still very much evolving for me. In general, I want to work with soul seekers; those wanting to be honest, present and truly look at themselves; those who may have lost their way, their voice, or their direction; and those who are committed to growth and self-discovery. Having named that, there are several populations that stand out to me as populations I feel a little more drawn to working with at this time.

What is the population that most excites you, and why?

I’m interested in coaching to help others discover their capacity for creativity. This population would be people who already identify as artists or creatives, and also those who don’t but who are beginning to feel a calling to create in some way. I can imagine coaching them along their expressive journey, to grow within their craft and develop further into their authentic expression. There are two kinds of ideal clients in this group. First, there are those who consider themselves to be creatives such as visual artists, musicians, writers, performers, dancers, actors, etc. that are stalled out in their growth or hitting some sort of block in their inspiration and expression. They are seeking greater contact with their vision, their authentic voice and the artistic flow. These are people seeking to continue to develop their spiritual and artistic capacity as co-creators on this planet bringing forth inspired creations, allowing themselves to be bridges between spirit and earth, and allowing these bodies to make and create as offerings that arise out of a conversation between what is without and what is within — spirit and soul — to bring a unique and inspired expression into this world as an offering to this beautiful and precious life. There are also those who are feeling a calling towards creative expression but who have no experience with it and probably doubt in their ability to create. This is very fertile ground to tap into a deep well of creativity and unleash the artistic voice that lives inside. These are people who are not yet aware of their capacity and who will be on a journey of self discovery and deep listening which will affect every other part of their lives and their decision making, as the place where true creative expression lives is in the same seat as the soul. These are people who may use creativity to deal with strong emotions, trauma, big decisions, grief, etc. I’m super excited about working with this population because I have gone through extreme ups and downs along my own creative journey and have sort of coached myself along my path. I have come to a place now where I truly feel we are hollow bones (or we have the capacity to be if we can get ourselves out of our own way) that are able to allow creative inspiration/spirit to flow through us and manifest in creations of some sort in the world. We all have this capacity and for me there is such a feeling of deep purpose in participating in this co-creation. It is our human nature to create and to make, and it is our birthright to collaborate with nature and spirit in this beautiful process. When I hear people exclaim that they aren’t creative at all or have zero artistic capacity it saddens me tremendously. I want to work to break down those false notions, to help open up awareness to the creative instinct that every human is born with, and to help people grow in their capacity to open to the flow in order to bring their own unique creativity into the world. The world, in every direction — all that lies behind and below and all that lives above and ahead — all seven generations, needs the creative gifts of every one of our unique voices.

In addition to this population, I’m interested in working with those people who are beginning to sense that there is a reason they are here in this life. These are people that are just beginning to remember the Dreamtime that they came from, who have heard the distant whisper of their ancestors reminding them of the vision they had when they came in. These may be people living a prescribed life, doing what they think they should be doing to achieve status or success or just stability, but that have a subtle knowing that they chose this life and had a vision and a purpose that they are not quite living. They want to live more on purpose and be more intentional about the choices they make. They are people who are beginning to question the external authorities they’ve been listening to that have led to their current place in life, and they sense that they have gifts to bring forth but they don’t quite know what they are yet. They want to get more in touch with their own wisdom, knowing, inner truths, and soul gifts, and are interested in making changes to begin living on purpose, to heed their own original instructions, and to bring their unique medicine into form. These are people that may be facing a big decision, want to make a change in their life, or are going through an initiation or a rite of passage and are faced with the dying of old ways and looking for clarity and direction to step into the new. I want to work with this population because I think there is a great need for support in going against the grain of a prescribed life, or of what many of us have grown up thinking we should do or how we should live. The hour is late, and to me it feels critical at this time that we all get real honest with ourselves, connect to our soul wisdom and awaken our own internal authority, and touch that place of remembrance to connect to the ancient thread of why we chose this life. We are here to bring our unique medicine and gifts into the world and the world needs it more than ever. And I think this can be a scary and difficult thing to do that many people could use support, guidance and encouragement around.

How do you imagine working with them? How would you like to collaborate with nature to support their awareness and success?

With both of these populations, I imagine there would be some overlapping themes of self-doubt, fear, shame, judgment, lack of trust, trying to control, having a lot of mind chatter, and above all not being able to hear the voice of the soul. I would like to work with both populations in an outdoor setting doing grounding exercises, body scans and sensory awareness exercises like the Seven Stairs and Breaths to increase their awareness of themselves and what is clogging the highway of internal knowing. I think there are a ton of opportunities to explore and practice detaching from the mind and the “shoulds” and listening to the soul. I could see utilizing Medicine Walks, creating art in nature, and having any number of unique threshold experiences in nature to increase this capacity to hear oneself. I can imagine that some parts work might become important as well.

With regard to coaching the growth of creative expression, I also see this happening outside and would like to experiment with different ways of experiencing flow, of following instinct and gut knowing (like the Medicine Walk, or finding tracks), and with finding the inner child who is not afraid of total expression and is not trying to achieve anything. Play could be great for this.

With the population that may be facing a big decision, change, or rite of passage, all of the above applies. And I think creating a strong sense of ceremony would be incredibly important. It also seems it would be important to give a lot of attention to the support and belonging that nature gives us, as times of change can be so unsettling. This may be done with encouraging a sit spot, a morning ritual, or by noticing how nature comes to meet us with support in our wanderings.

Also, search the web and share with us a few examples of individuals or organizations who work with similar populations. Add to your post, a comparative critique of these organizations based on what you know about Nature-Connected Coaching.

There are a couple people who are working as mentors or coaches with individuals and in small groups that I resonate with. Specifically around the coaching creatives piece, there is Kaitlin June who mentors people with the voice to work through whatever is stopping them from fully expressing. She works with individuals in an outdoor setting, connecting with nature first and working with the body somatically to find safety before going into voice work. Her work addresses the deeper emotional issues that are at the root of a constricted voice.

Relating more to helping guide others to their particular soul gifts and medicine, there are a couple people coaching and guiding individuals and holding small workshops or gatherings. There is Hannah Jermstad who does one on one council, archetypal astrology readings and has a 7 month course on hearing your soul’s calling. There is also Kedar Brown who does rite of passage work, retreats, individual council, West African divination readings and storytelling; and there is Christiane Pelmas who works with individuals and couples to guide them through major transitions and coming more fully into their power and authentic gifts.

I’m also really drawn to the work of Anna Swisher. She does individual mentoring and group mentoring, pursues her own writing and creative expression, and partners with other professionals to do larger programs like wilderness quests and earth dance programs for women.

From what I can tell from the internet, it seems to me these are people who are connecting with nature in similar ways to NCC and are looking for the deeper needs and deep knowing of each individual’s soul gifts. So far, I am very interested in working with individuals and small groups, putting together workshops and partnering with other professionals to do larger quests and intensives, and also continuing to develop and express my own art.

[Mandy Bishop]

Brian, to me it feels like your post answered exactly what was being asked. It seems you are becoming more and more clear about what is calling you and, like our mentors say, I’m sure the vision will keep evolving as time goes on. But, I can sense the excitement in your writing about how to incorporate what we are learning into working with children. The two seem incredibly intertwined and important to me. This quote really stood out:
“Watching children play and interact with nature inspires me. I hope to get back to that place of curiosity in my own interactions with nature. Young children are one of the best examples of basic nature connection and a group of people all adults could learn from. With guidance my hope is that the children I work with will carry this connection to their families and their friends in the school systems. I hope that they desire to connect with the natural world more than they desire the technological one. A feat not easily reached in this day and age.”
I can’t imagine anything more noble than this. I’m excited to see how this continues to unfold for you!

[Mandy Bishop]

In my experience as a client in the threshold I seemed to have received something I had needed to receive for a long long time. I felt listened to, paid attention to, I felt like my issues and my feelings and my experience mattered and were important. I was given the undivided attention of my coach and I was allowed to be imaginative, to dream and to play. It felt as if my inner child and the deeper terrain of the soul were intertwined in an exploration that existed outside of time, outside of age, and outside of inhibition and fear. They both seemed to receive drops of nourishment they had desperately needed after what seemed to be a long trek through the desert.

In my session, my coach helped me to become clear about how there felt like a cloud of doubt and confusion around my head, and it felt difficult to see and hear through that thick cloud in order to hear the voice of the soul. My mind and soul felt like separate entities all together that were not in communication, and what I really wanted was to foster a greater relationship between the two. By the time we got to the part of the session where my coach asked me how I’d like to play with this realization and deeper need, there had been enough trust and safety built up that the voice of the soul spoke up. She knew exactly how she wanted to play with this need and knew that she wanted to create a visual representation of myself on the land. I needed to see myself, my critical space, the cloud that was hindering my senses, and my soul space all laid out to make sense of it. I had a sense that if I could map it out in the land visually, something else might transpire. My coach readily agreed to this plan and we stepped into the threshold. My coach helped build up the sense that I was actually crossing a threshold by having me stop at the edge of a structure and having me restate in my own words what my intention was in crossing over the threshold. I reviewed what I was aiming to do, and then I stepped into the dreamtime. I began gathering pinecones and twigs and herbs and all sorts of supplies to create this “drawing” of myself. The gathering proved to be just as powerful as every other part of the threshold, which I wouldn’t have expected. Once I got into the space of following the pull and listening to my instincts, I picked up things based on instinct that my coach then inquired about. For example, my coach asked me about why I was gathering pinecones and what significance they held for me. This caused me to reflect on something I had done just purely based on the call of my instinct, but immediately I knew the significance these held. And it has really impacted me to have articulated this significance to my coach. It really helped me to go deeper into my own process and to understand the symbolism that my soul speaks with.

This is one example that I think points to the power that this process of coaching holds as I am coaching others. Had I been alone in this experience in a solo Medicine Walk, I would have still had the powerful experience of creating the drawing on the land, but I probably would not have taken the time to really reflect on why I chose pinecones and what they represented to me. I’m sure that the same part of me that answered my coach would have known why I was choosing them, but there is something very potent about bringing the deep intuitive knowing to the surface, and expressing and articulating it to someone who listens with an open and understanding ear. It nudges the client to dig deeper to understand themselves more, to bridge the gap between their heart/soul and their mind/brain, which is exactly what I needed. It builds that relationship between mind and soul, and builds the client’s internal trust that they contain all their own answers within themselves. They know what they need, and why they need it, and they can hear themselves speak it aloud which has a lot of power.

The threshold experience continued and unfolded in some ways I expected and some ways that surprised me, and my coach allowed for the 50/50 rule that Jon Young speaks about in the Coyote’s Guide. My coach held space for the experience to move in the direction that it needed to flow while we both held onto the original deeper need and intention for the experience. This gave me a sense that my needs and my experience were the most important thing during this time, and it empowered me to truly lead the experience. This can be such a powerful and reparative experience for clients that have perhaps been disempowered in some way, or have not had the experience of being respected or listened to in their lives. It gives the client a taste of what it feels like to be the leader of their own life, igniting a sense of empowerment and excitement that can fuel the change they are looking to create.

I think the threshold had the ability to nourish me in such a profound way because of a number of factors that were continually and conscientiously being built throughout the entire experience. It helped me realize that as a coach there are several things that could really contribute to the threshold experience being a transformative experience for my clients, such as creating a container in the very beginning of a safe environment for the client to explore the really deep and vulnerable feelings happening in their heart, building up the moment just before stepping into the dreamtime of the threshold and having the client re-state their intention, being open and flexible to allow for the 50/50 rule and allow nature to be a collaborator in the threshold, and asking relevant questions of my client during their experience that allow them to hear themselves speak their own truths.

Some of the essential core competencies for creating a threshold experience are in the Coaching Presence section. It feels essential to be “present and flexible during the coaching process, dancing in the moment”, in addition to “going with your gut” and “open to not knowing and taking risks”. These speak to the 50/50 rule that Young talks about, contributing to the empowerment of the client and the collaboration with the natural world. It also feels important to practice Powerful Questioning in “asking questions that evoke discovery, insight, commitment or action” at appropriate times during the threshold to allow the client to articulate what they are experiencing and hear themselves speak their own truth. This is also reflected in Creating Awareness as “invoking inquiry for greater understanding, awareness and clarity”. Plus, the entire threshold seems to be part of the Designing Actions competency in that it “helps the client ‘do it now’ during the coaching session”.

[Mandy Bishop]

Kent,

I love how clear you’ve become about the nature of your ideal clients. You were able to describe the entire person, not just limited to who they are and what they do in the world, but including how they operate and what some of their deeper psychology might be around. It seems like this will be very helpful as we continue to follow the paths our visions lead us down.

[Mandy Bishop]

Sorry sorry! I meant to say DAVID, not Brian

[Mandy Bishop]

Brian,

It’s so awesome to read your post and hear how you’re honing in more and more on the specifics of your vision. It has been amazing to watch this unfold for you and I’m excited to continue to see where it leads. I totally hear you on the cultural appropriation piece and it is something that feels really tricky with this kind of work, because we do draw a lot of the practices from indigenous peoples. However, in my mind this does include vision quest and sweating in a lodge. This is such a complex topic because part of where our society has fallen short or has become a little lost is that we have lost touch with these practices that all indigenous peoples have held onto. These practices and ways of being have deep truth and wisdom in them. I may be wrong or overgeneralizing, but I feel like we need rites of passage, we need ceremony, we need reflection and communion with nature — I think these are universal needs of human beings. I feel we are at a place now where we need to acknowledge, honor, and thank those that have held onto and protected these ways and figure out how to participate in a way that is allowing the practice to call us rather than us force our will with it as a gimmick or as something unique that we offer. And this is so so tricky because where does one participate in a tradition and when does it become appropriation? Where is the line? And where are we in terms of helping carry on the ways? Who are we in the lineage of the seven generations? Ahhh, I have so many questions alive in me about this!

[Mandy Bishop]

Hannah,

I hear a lot of empowerment and strength in YOU as you write about this topic, particularly in this statement: “Recent research shows that millennial women are more at risk than anyone else to suffer from anxiety and depression, and my heart aches knowing that these women are being driven away from their power, purpose and peace by these tragic conditions. However, I have endless hope for the strength and perseverance of women in this generation (and all generations), and I feel totally driven to helping them step into their true soul’s purpose in any way I can.”

I can’t help but notice a trend that we all seem to be drawn to coaching in areas that we have had real intimate experience with ourselves. I can totally imagine that your strength and hope informed by your own journey of learning to trust and step into your own power will be very potent for those that you end up working with. I’m excited to see how this continues to unfold for you.

[Mandy Bishop]

Kaity, I’ve had a similar question around how to integrate nature into a Skype session especially when it can be so potent in real life. I’m not sure the answer to this yet. I’m trying to do a couple Zoom practice client sessions to test it out and see what I find. So far, it is affirming the concept that we ourselves are nature and that nature is not just out of doors but is everywhere and that a threshold can happen in any setting. That being said, the threshold experiences I’ve had outside in person with a coach have felt much more potent, so I’m curious as well of ways we can incorporate that into online.