[Deanna]

@lesliewier
“As a coach, if I am unable to sit in the present and the unknown, I rob the client of their autonomy.” Spot on. Thank you for reiterating this piece of insight. I also find sitting in the unknown really challenging as a coach. I often forget that it’s not our job to “figure out or fix things”, even if my client perceives my role to be that way. I believe that the part of us that wants to “fix” is coming from good intentions, but often forgets that clients are whole and have their own answers. Do you have any tools for dealing with the desire to “fix” when you are in a session with a client?

@gmlobito1
I am inspired in reading how you have applied our Gestalt training to your meetings in the police department. I imagine that people are highly triggered in those meetings, and I imagine being a facilitator can be really challenging, especially in staying grounded, aware, and present. It sounds like a great (and challenging) opportunity to practice Gestalt. I am now curious and inspired to apply Gestalt in other parts of my daily life, outside of a coaching context.

[Deanna]

@mariarosagalter :
Hey Maria! I really appreciate how you incorporate the integration pieces into your sessions with clients A and B. I was having trouble understanding how the concept of integration can be applied and practiced in our coaching work, but I feel I have a better idea from reading about your session. I suppose all of our tools as Nature-connected Coaches are a form of creating integration for our clients. As I read the Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobio., I keep thinking about partswork, and how partswork is a great tool for creating integration (and therefore compassion) between parts of ourselves. What other tools can create integration? I haven’t read chapter 17 yet in the Pocket Guide. Maybe that will give me some clarity.
I really enjoyed reading about your sessions! It’s like dessert for me. Thank you so much for sharing your stories and process!

@david.fontaine2 :
“I always wanted the client to be in the Action stage, feeling like this is why we’re here isn’t it?”
I have struggled with this desire as well! Even to the point where I get down on myself because there wasn’t enough forward “action” in a session. I’m curious where this desire (in the both of us) stems from. Yes, letting expectations go is very helpful for me too. I am also now realizing that “action” can happen in just being in the stage that my client is at. For example, if my client is in pre-contemplation (which I see a lot with teens), I am working on practicing actions that meets them in pre-contemplation, rather than actions that try to force them into contemplation. It’s definitely challenging for me.

[Deanna]

In nearly all of my coaching sessions over the past few weeks, I have incorporated neuroscience principles that we learned in our intensive. In particular, I have found the concept of creating and transforming neurological pathways (neuroplasticity) to be helpful in explaining the coaching process and meaning of the deeper need to my clients. Explaining the limbic system’s response to trauma (fight, flight, freeze, etc), and what to do in that situation, has also been very helpful to explain to my clients. I have also been more aware of my different states of being as a coach in my recent sessions. I have particularly noticed when I go into an alpha state and parasympathetic state, and the difference that makes in my coaching work. Additionally, the theory of change by Prochaska has been a helpful framework for me to better understand each of my client’s stage of transformation. Overall, knowing and communicating the brain science behind coaching has made me understand my clients better, given my client’s a new, helpful perspective, and greatly impacted my coaching style.

During one session in particular, I met with a client (we can name him “Max”) who I have been coaching for a while now. We started meeting last year, then he moved to college, but is back for the Summer. We have been meeting for the last month or so while he has been at home. Max is 19 years old, and wants to become more comfortable with expressing and accepting his sexuality (he is gay). Max has made huge leaps while working with me, including coming out for his fist time (to me). In a recent session, Max wanted to “get to know” his sexuality more. He felt like he had been putting his sexuality aside and not facing it. He identified an old part of himself, called his “obligation part”, that worries about what others think, and wants to stay safe and familiar (in relationship to his sexuality). His new part, called his “comfortable part”, is comfortable and familiar with his sexuality, and has no issue expressing it. He felt like he needed to let go of old ways of relating to his sexuality (the “obligation part”). I explained to him that he is literally creating or activating a new neural pathway in his brain (the “comfortable part”), and that the old part (“obligation part”) is a pathway that is being transformed or dying. When he heard my input on the brain science behind his process, he lit-up and became even more motivated to work on embodying his “comfortable part”. We dove into a parts work session, and in the end he realized that his “comfortable part” is helping guide him on his path. He feel that he won’t fully ever be his “comfortable part”, but it’s guiding him into being a version that’s even better. Throughout the session, I felt high resonance with Max, as well as an alpha wave state. I believe that our high level of trust in one another allows for the resonance and alpha wave state to occur much easier and stronger.

Over the last few weeks, I notice that I am much more confident in my coaching sessions, and I greatly attribute that to our last intensive. I notice major shifts in my brain, mind, body, and state of being during sessions; I am much more calm, aware, open, embodied, mindful, attentive, and curious. My entire body goes into an ultra relaxed, open state, and my mind quiets down, which all allows for the session to flow. According to brain science, I can name this state of being as an alpha wave state or parasympathetic state. I could also say that spirit is flowing through my body. I really appreciate that I have the scientific information and language to explain some of the human states of being, spiritual concepts, and phases of change. With my new knowledge, I have naturally relaxed into sessions, allowing for the sessions to be much more profound and transformative for my clients. I am so excited to learn even more!

[Deanna]

When we first posted for module three in March, we were all at the beginning of quarantine in the US. Three months later, I now view the last three months as preparation for a threshold. I feel that as a collective, we have been, and still are, in the severance phase. We are realizing our issues, realizing what matters and what we value, and realizing what kind of world we want to live in. We are becoming more and more aware of what needs to die, what needs to birth, and what we want and need, individually and as a collective.

I am reminded that in entering the threshold, one must be ready, and have thoroughly gone through severance. Thorough severance is necessary for threshold to occur. I am remembering my vision fast journey. I was ridden with anxiety the night before heading out for the four-day fast, but I also knew that I needed to go. I trusted that the risk was going to be worth taking. My trust was established from the serious intention setting in the days that led up to the fast (during the severance phase). The threshold is nothing without serious severance.

Entering the threshold feels like taking a big risk. It is saying “yes” to something unknown, which can be terrifying for people. In reflecting upon the threshold experience in my coaching sessions, I realize that most of my sessions with teens (which are the majority of my sessions), have not gone into threshold. I have several teen clients who I have been working with for a couple months, but we are still in severance phase. I realize that entering the threshold requires deep trust in self and the coach/guide. Trust can take a long time to establish with teens.

In knowing that it is challenging and can take a lot of time for teens to be ready to enter threshold, I am wondering what this means for our society as a whole. Bill Plotkin refers to our western society as a patho-adolescent society, meaning that our society is stuck in an unhealthy, extreme adolescent phase. I wonder if understanding how teens transition from severance to threshold may give us insight into healing our patho-adolescent society. What is needed for us to sever from and transition out of a patho-adolescence?

[Deanna]

In Foundation 4, I am noticing that my vision is finally starting to become tangible and physical. In being asked the question, “Who are your ideal clients?” I have entered a journey of putting my vision into reality. I appreciate David’s summary post on relating this moment to the peak of the threshold, and entering incorporation. In a sense, vision is similar to the threshold phase, and the reality that is created out of vision reminds me of the incorporation phase.

We are definitely experiencing an interesting, and seemingly fit, time to be finishing up our Foundations. What do we want to offer to the world as a nature-connected coach? Who do we want to serve? What is our dream and vision? How can this work support our ideal clients right now, and in the unknown future? I am grateful to have the pause and space to sit with these questions and slowly begin to manifest my vision. Although I feel challenged with the fear, mystery, and unknown in our present time and future, I also see this challenge as an opportunity to dive even deeper into my true vision and dream. I am also very grateful for our EBI community in keeping us supported, inspired, and empowered. I see our time with EBI right now as very important and special, and I am excited and motivated for what is to come in our course together!

[Deanna]

In diving deeper into the philosophies behind Ecopsychology and Coaching, and the connection between the two schools of thought and practice, I am brought to one word: wholeness. We are each whole beings, and we are all connected together as a whole Earth and Universe. From my experience and knowledge, it seems that Ecospychology and Nature-connected Coaching both invite and guide clients to remember the wholeness with themselves, others, Earth, and the Universe.

With that said, there is a reason we forgot our wholeness and interconnectedness in the first place, and I believe that if we are to evolve as a species, we will learn a vital lesson from this great forgetting. I am reminded of a client being faced with a major life challenge, and coming out of the challenge with a greater wisdom into themselves and life. Challenge allows for evolution to occur. Perhaps Ecopsychology and Nature-connected coaching are not only about guiding people into a remembering that they are whole, but also into a sort of future consciousness of wholeness that is different from what we have ever experienced, and lasting (not possible to “forget”). It is possible that we are being called into a greater consciousness of wholeness, beyond what we have previously conceived.

A major part of our conscious evolution is a knowing that nature is our greatest teacher. It is vital that Nature-connected Coaching views non-human beings as the co-guide/coach. We must choose to deeply listen and trust our intuition and nature.

In combining Coaching and Ecopsychology philosophies into Nature-Connected Coaching, I am reminded of combining masculine and feminine forces. Coaching seems more masculine- goal oriented, structured, and tangible. Ecospychology and ecotherapy, on the other hand, is much more feminine- imaginative, tender, and ethereal. In combining coaching and ecospychology into nature-connected coaching, we are combining both masculine and feminine forces, which is also essential for the evolution of our species.

[Deanna]

Wow, I see that I truly missed out on these amazing conversations! Here are my responses. I apologize for responding so late:

@hardcorehuntley
James, this stuck out to me: “I have been searching for what is blocking me from a more embodied pursuit of my dream, vision, purpose and Soul directed life, and I believe it is a certain madness that I am not embracing in myself. I can converse with a tree or a stone, but can I ask someone to pay me to connect them to their dream, vision, purpose and soul?” I am hearing that, to you, asking someone to pay you to connect them with their dream, vision, purpose, and soul is the most scary thing of all, even more so than being “mad” for speaking to trees and stones. The beautiful thing is that you are already doing just that (connecting people with dream, vision, purpose and soul). Do you feel mad about it? I would guess it probably makes you feel grounded if anything. I hear that it is about a believing in ourselves. A trusting in our own soul’s, and our soul’s abilities. I feel that this is a practice; it doesn’t happen over night. So happy to be on this journey with you!

@teddy and @lesliewier
Teddy and Leslie, I very much appreciate your thoughtful responses to my writing.
I agree that there is definitely a good reason(s) for the fear behind “madness”. I like that Teddy used the word “threshold” in regards to our society to step into deeper trust with their connection to the natural world. I feel that we must connect back with our roots. Refer to indigenous wisdom. As Leslie noted, Shamans saw speaking/communication with non-human beings as GIFT. However, they also spoke about a type of madness to be weary of. Maybe we are in the process of re-learning and remembering what to trust and what to fear and hold boundaries with.
Deciding what to fear and what to trust, and essentially what boundaries to maintain, reminds me of connecting back with our fight/flight system that Leslie spoke about. We have developed new chronic stressors in our modern world, and aren’t yet evolved to respond, so fear ensues. Perhaps removing ourselves from the modern chronic stressors, or building RESILIENCE, will help us better differentiate what to fear and what to trust.

[Deanna]

@susanfronckowiak
Susan! Our ideal clients and visions are very similar!!! In addition to working with youth and teen girls, I would also love to work with mothers one day (after I have some personal experience being a mom). I would also like to hold women’s circles, retreats, and rites of passage ceremonies! Have you heard of Gaia Girls? Look them up! I may be working with them in the Summer and Fall.
I agree that I really enjoy working with people in-person vs. over the phone or internet. I am curious how you would design a few-hour coaching session. Like you, the thought of combining coaching with a rites of passage really excites me! I am curious to hear more about your experience with Cascadia Quest!
“ I immediately imagine helping people fully step into their lives by claiming their voice, communicating their needs, and expressing their true selves” YES!!!!!!!

[Deanna]

@lesliewier
Hey Leslie, thanks so much for your insight. As a new coach in the field, it’s helpful to hear your input. I have found myself wanting to work with people who are like me in a way, but diversity is important to me too. So, it is helpful for me to hear your insight on that. I love that you want to focus on developing resilience with clients. That is so essential right now. I feel that the work we offer as nature-connected coaches is generally “resilience building” for our clients, but I also see how beneficial it would be to make this topic the main focus. I imagine the demand for resilience coaching/guiding will only rise, and continue to rise, in the near future. You asked, “ do I want/need to explicitly teach resilience, or build it implicitly through the use of guiding? I think both are are probably necessary depending on the client’s individual needs.” I agree both are important! How would you teach resilience?

[Deanna]

@david.fontaine
Hey David, thank you so much for responding to my post, and thank you so much for your sweet compliment!!!! I aspire to be a powerful woman, so it’s really helpful to hear that from you!

I agree that it only makes sense that we, as coaches, would be inclined to want to work with people who are similar to us. I also agree that keeping our emotions and advice-giving out of the coaching work will be important with clients who remind us of ourselves. I often run into this issue with the teens I work with. They sometimes ask me for advice, and I sometimes give advice, but with caution of not imposing my beliefs and ideas on their own experience. I like what you said about being prepared for “emotional relapses.” Reflecting on that, I think I have definitely experienced “emotional relapses” as well as picking up on either people’s anger, tension, grief, sadness, etc. Sometimes it’s hard to maintain strict boundaries and not take-on those feelings. In a session like that, I have to make sure to attend to my own self care post-session. Dance, movement, making sounds, and body shakes (like that one experience I did with you on letting go of anger) is really helpful for me.

In response to your post, I really appreciate that you want to work with people who have little-to-no outdoor experience. It sounds like this population of people naturally seeks you out for outdoor guidance and experience, so they must be the people you are meant to work with.
I agree with you about the REI offering. There are a lot of outdoor programs that are missing the connection piece. I am excited that you want to incorporate the nature-connection skills into outdoor activities.
I LOVE what you said here, “Think of the experience one could have if you discovered they resonated with the natural element of fire and then you taught them how to build a primitive fire and have conversation with it.” So spot on! In the past, I taught primitive skills to kids and teens often because I was hired to do so. I didn’t get excited about teaching the skills until I began to deeply connect with the plant or element that I was working with. Once that personal and emotional connection was made, the skills became exciting! Plus, the skills are really hard to learn, so there needs to be a deep connection! Fire is a great example. So, going forward, I am very inspired by your comment to connect people emotionally and spiritually with the actual elements before teaching the physical skill.

[Deanna]

When I think about the populations that most excite me, I am reminded of my own experience and what excites me in my life. In responding to this post, I have found that I want to work with people who are like me, and who are going through challenges that I have faced or am faced with currently. My ideal clients and their goals include:

1. Teen & Adult Women: I want to empower women of all ages to be themselves, to be confident in themselves, to share and express through their voice, body, or art, to be clear on their yes and no’s, to not be afraid to say no, to listen to the earth and spirit, and share the wisdom of the earth and spirit with the world through physical form. I want to guide women in knowing and realizing that they belong to Earth, that they have important powers/gifts, and help them in applying their powers/gifts. I also want to connect women (especially teens) with community.

2. Driven people who have already put work into a spiritual or nature-based practice (or who are ready to do so), and want to dive deeper into relationship with earth, spirit, soul, vision, and purpose. I want to work with people who are awakening to their soul and purpose, living a life that is in focused connection with spirit, earth, and soul (or wanting to), and ready to make big impact in the world. Also, I want to work with people who hold a earth and soul connected vision, and need coaching to create and build their vision into the physical 3-D world.

3. Teens, young adults, and adults who are ready and wanting a major shift in life, like a rites of passage. People ready to be their own person, to change in big ways, and ready to discover their vision and their purpose.

4. Teen and adult leaders who are beyond their years in ways or special in ways, who feel that they do not fit in to the system/status quo, who feel more connected with earth than academia, who are driven for pursuing their purpose and developing a deep relationship with themselves, the land, and spirit.

5. Earth Warriors/Leaders/Tenders/Mothers: People who want to live a life of connection, empowerment, inspiration, leadership, balance, and resiliency, even in challenging times.

6. Dancers and Body-Oriented People: People who have a strong body-based practice (or want one) such as dance, yoga, and acrobatics, and want to use their connection with their body to deepen their relationship with their vision, purpose, soul, spirit, intuition, and Earth.

Words/phrases that stand out to me: femininity, feminine-masculine balance, empowerment, belonging, expression, embodiment, sexuality, spirit weavers, earth tenders, purpose and soul explorers, rites of passage, authenticity, mother, tending, grounding

The following organizations and individuals work with the above populations:

Trackers Earth:
Trackers Earth is a very popular and large-scale outdoor education school based in the Portland, Oregon region and Bay Area. I worked as an overnight Outdoor Educator for them last Summer in Oregon. They work with people of all ages in groups/community (not 1-on-1), and focus on teaching wilderness survival skills and nature-connecting living. They work with all ages in year-round programs, including teens who are driven and motivated to connect with the Earth and community (the types of teens I would like to work with!). I notice that teens and youth are drawn to this school because it is social and they get to learn technical skills. Similar to Trackers Earth, I would like to offer group courses and gatherings focused on teaching nature-based skills, and hopefully find coaching clients through the group work.

Gaia Girls:
Bay area nature-based program and rites of passage program for groups of pre-teen and teen girls. They involve mothers and elders through community gatherings and summer camps. I appreciate the community aspect of this program. They do not offer coaching or 1-on-1 guidance.

Stepping Stones Project:
Bay area rites of passage program for all gender teens. Similar to Gaia Girls, they involve the whole community (parents, adults, elders) in frequent community gatherings, fire circles, and council. Again, they do not offer 1-on-1 coaching.

Samantha Sweetwater:
Awakening Coach, Founder of “Dancing Freedom” (organization offering dance ceremonies, gatherings, and teacher trainings), Vision Quest Guide, Executive Coach, Speaker, Writer, Group Facilitator, and Teacher. She guides/coaches people in connecting with their soul and purpose, and how to bring those gifts forward into the world. She doesn’t advertise incorporation of nature-based practices, but I see that she leads vision quests and ceremony. Her work is similar to what I want to do, and I am drawn to her online presentation, though I want to incorporate more nature-based courses/gatherings/events.

Amanda Biccum:
Evolutionary Coach, Embodiment Coach, Speaker, Teacher, and Group Facilitator. Connects people with their purpose, and initiates women into connection with Goddess and the divine feminine. She incorporates practices/tools in mindfulness, yoga, embodiment, holistic sexuality, tantra, and nutrition. Based on her presentation and marketing, I imagine that her main audience is young adults. Her work is similar to what I want to do, except I would offer a more gentle and feminine presentation, and incorporate nature-based practices in my work.

Spirit Weavers Gathering:
Empowering women in connection with Earth, Spirit, Ancestors, and Community. Happens once per year. May be a great place to connect with other women in the field, offer workshops, and find clients.

Women’s Herbal Symposium:
Very similar to Spirit Weaver’s Gathering, but twice per year and has a more casual website presentation.

[Deanna]

Hi everyone, I know that I am coming in late on this conversation. I plan to do better with due dates in the future! I really appreciate all of your words. You are all so insightful!!!

Crossing the “threshold” is like crossing one massive edge. To cross that edge, I must feel safe, trusting of my guide/coach, and have a clear plan. Otherwise, I will not want to cross. Once I do make the decision to cross the edge into the threshold, I may experience waves of emotion, such as excitement, empowerment, fear, doubt, and vulnerability. When I feel fear, doubt, and vulnerability, my guide/coach becomes very important. I am reminded of a parent guiding a child. A five year old child can play all day without even thinking about their parent, but once the child gets lost, scared, or hurt, all they can think about is finding their parents for comfort, safety, and guidance. Similarly, as a client, I can get lost in the play, excitement, and beauty of the threshold, but once I feel lost, confused, fearful, or doubtful, I may want to refer to my coach/guide (parent) for reassurance. By my coach trusting in my process, empowering me, and reassuring my safety, I feel safe and ready to be in the threshold, explore new edges, and maybe even cross new edges.

Like a parent, my guide/coach must embody trust and safety in order for me, the client, to feel safe in diving deeper into the threshold. Knowing this, I am reminded of how important it is for me to be confident and trusting during a session with a client. As a coach, I must fully trust that nature will provide, and that my client is whole and fully capable of guiding themselves. If any of my own fear, self doubt, or anxiety comes up before or during the threshold, I know that my client will feel that, and it could potentially disrupt their process. I am realizing that the coach must be just as ready to enter the threshold as the client.

Some of my most powerful moments as a client in the threshold (if not all) have been when my coach is not saying anything, but simply holding a safe space/container. I think that this method works for me because I have already worked on developing a deep relationship with nature. For clients who have not worked on developing a relationship with nature, they may need the coach to provide more words of guidance in the threshold. Therefore, the amount of input and guidance that a coach provides in the threshold greatly depends on the client.

In working with teens, I have found that they are typically very hesitant to enter the threshold. To me, this makes sense, because the threshold is a very vulnerable experience, and teens can often be self-conscious, insecure, and fearful. However, I have one teen girl client who is ready and willing to enter the threshold in most sessions. This teen and I have a long-standing relationship, so the trust is high. In working with teens, I realize that the trust must be securely established before we can even get close to the threshold.

The specific ICF Core Competencies that I think are essential for me to practice and develop in feeling confident to guide client’s through the threshold are “Coaching Presence” and “Powerful Questioning”. I know that I can work on my coaching presence by building my self-trust and trust in nature. I can more often surrender and allow nature and intuition to take a lead, rather than my mind thinking it needs to keep everything in control. I believe that I can work on building trust by committing to more solo wanders and sit spots in nature, which I am working on this month. As for “Powerful Questioning”, I would like to work on being more mindful of my questions in the threshold, or even in general when coaching. I would like to work on asking stronger open-ended questions.

@hardcorehuntley:
When you said, “Many of my sessions as a coach have led to my client having internal thresholds, as take place in a partswork session, or not leaving severance at all.” I am curious if this is your emerging coaching style? I feel that you are really good at partswork. By reading your response, I am realizing that there is a vast inner landscape to explore in addition to the vast outer landscape (this is what you mean, correct?). I think it’s special that you can dive so deeply into helping people navigate their vast inner landscape, without even physically moving through the outer landscape. That’s pretty special! I wonder if you are being called to guide people deeply through their inner landscape before combining both inner and outer landscape exploration.

@david.fontaine:
David, I really loved reading your threshold story. I am inspired to bring client’s into the threshold after reading about your experience. I really like what you said here: “I really felt like we were connected and going through the process together, not as me doing it and him observing.” I am reminded of how we are all interconnected, and all in this life together. Although we are holding space for our clients in the threshold, we are in the experience with them at the same time, and we can trust that our intuition and insight into the experience may be helpful for the client. Although we don’t want to assume or project our experience onto the client, we can include our insight in an open-ended question, such as when your coach asked you, “what if you used this same kind of slowing down and patience with your partner?”. And, it seems we can’t go wrong with open-ended questions, because if something doesn’t feel true for the client in the threshold, I have found that they will communicate that.

@teddy:
Your description of the threshold is so spot-on! I really like your following quotes:
“In any case, threshold is a liminal state of being between who we are and who we are becoming.”
“we’ve ventured from the known into the unknown; not only that, we may also be embodying a future version of ourselves – the person we ‘need to be’ in order to meet our deepest needs.”
“By embodying, if only for a few minutes, the beings we need to become, a porthole to some divine creative force opens and, with the right guidance, we might swim through it and immerse ourselves in the oneness which surrounds and binds us constantly, but which most have forgotten how to access on their own.”

[Deanna]

Ecopsychology is one of the foundational philosophies/sciences behind Nature-Connected Coaching. “Ecotherapy” is applied Ecopsychology. Nature-Connected Coaching is not therapy, but as Nature-Connectd Coaches, we do may use Ecotherapy methods (applied Ecopsychology) during our work with a client. Both Ecotherapy and NCC aim to awaken the “ecological unconscious” that Roszak refers to in Ecopsychology- The Principles, which is our unconscious (and conscious for some) relationship with nature within the web of life. Roszak says, “…the goal of ecopsychology is to awaken the inherent sense of environmental reciprocity that lies within the ecological unconscious.” From my perspective, NCC shares this goal, but awakens our client’s sense of environmental reciprocity through a coaching lens, rather than a therapeutic lens. Although I am not experienced with therapy, I have taken one Ecotherapy course, and it seems that Ecotherapy focuses on how we can heal through tending and reconciliation with our client’s “broken” parts from past traumas. NCC does this to the extent that the coach is confident and trained in doing, but the focus is also to discover how we can heal through enlivening and illuminating our client’s empowered parts and inner-knowing/wisdom. Overall, Ecotherapy and NCC still seem very similar to me, but maybe Nature-Connected Coaches don’t go as deep into the trauma (unless they are equipped to do that). Also, NC-Coaches may take-on more of a Nature-Connected Mentoring role (as described in Coyote’s Guide), which is about guiding people to their own answers. Traditional therapists prescribe treatment, whereas coaching and mentoring seems to help clients come up with their own “treatment” plans.

Even though there may be differences between ecotherapy and NCC, the Ecopsychology theories are absolutely fundamental to NCC. There seems to be a MINDSET that is shared with Ecopsychology, Coyote Mentoring, and other foundational theories behind NCC. Maybe this mindset comes down to us all be interconnected. As I stated before, Ecopsychology aims to awaken the “ecological unconscious” so that people can truly remember that everything is connected. NCC uses the fact that we are all interconnected when we guide/coach a client (e.g. paying attention to baseline shifts in the environment in relation to the client’s experience), and we also aim to awaken this fact, this remembering, in the people we coach. As an outdoor educator and nature-connected coach in-training, I feel that I have been working on remembering that we are all interconnected the last few years, and I am noticing that it takes a lot of TRUST. Trust in our self and our connection with nature and great mystery. I am also noticing how conditioned my mind is to thinking that I might be “crazy” if I think I can listen and communicate with trees, birds, and Earth. This conditioned fear of “madness” is a product of the “old colonial-consumerist mind-set” that Linda Buzzell and Craig Chalquist refer to in Psyche and Nature in a Circle of Healing. In choosing the interconnected mindset over the “colonial mind-set”, we are choosing a new norm for the consciousness of our species (and ultimately directing the evolution of our species), and perhaps trust and surrendering will guide the way.

Something inside of me stirred and illuminated when I read one of Roszak’s bullet points on Ecopsychology. He stated, “Among the therapeutic projects most important to ecopsychology is the re-evaluation of certain compulsively “masculine” character traits that permeate our structures of political power and which drive us to dominate nature as if it were an alien and rightless realm. In this regard, ecopsychology draws significantly on some (no all) of the insights of ecofeminism and Feminist Spirituality with a view to demystifying the sexual stereotypes.” I am not sure how this directly applies to the kickoff question, but I feel called to acknowledge that this point stood out to me. I feel this statement speak to my vision, my soul, in an intangible and abstract way right now. I feel strongly that healing the masculine and feminine, and empowering the masculine and feminine into their most healthy states of being, is a big part of our work as nature-connection guides, and will be one focus point for my work as a guide and coach.

[Deanna]

Foundation 1 and our first intensive have proven to be life changing for me. Although I feel a lot of blockages coming up in my life right now (which have, I believe, surfaced in response to this work), I also feel a deep strength and courage to hold my ground, stay patient, and eventually learn from these blockages that have been arising. I attribute a major part of this deep strength and courage to my stronger connection with nature, which has become stronger in the last month through EBI. Since starting our work with EBI, my relationship with nature (myself and other human/nonhuman beings) has been a central focus in my life, and I feel this connection expanding and deepening daily. My deeper connection with nature has not only benefited my work as a coach/guide for youth, but has also benefited my relationships with friends and family. I feel more present, compassionate, kind, gentle, authentic, and vulnerable with others. When I look into people’s eyes and feel into their space, I feel a lot more sensitive and empathetic to their energy and soul. When I sit or walk in nature, I am much more aware of the sounds of the birds, the wind, and the trees, the baselines shifts, and how nature FEELS in my body. I am listening in a new way.

I remember Michael telling us a story about either Stalking Wolf, Jon Young, or Tom Brown (one of those three incredible people!) saying that they knew that a pack of coyote’s “got the kill” far away, without the coyote’s even in sight, just by tracking and attuning to the cocentric rings. When I heard this story, or similar stories, I thought to myself, “Wow, that sounds really cool, but nearly impossible for me to become THAT connected with nature…” A part of me believed that I would never get to that point, but another part of me fantasized about getting to that point. Right now, I can say that I feel like I’m starting to understand how the depth of that connection feels. This morning I was sitting at my sit spot, listening to a beautiful bird singing non-stop in the distance. Suddenly, I began to feel a major cocentric ring in my body that felt uncomfortable, but I didn’t hear any new or changed sounds in my surroundings. I thought to myself, “Is this discomfort really a cocentric ring? Or am I making something up right now?” Soon after I felt the discomfort and asked myself these questions, the bird stopped singing. Moments like this continue to remind me of the power of my connection, and to trust in my intuition. This work truly is a remembering.

I really appreciate that Foundation 1 has been so deeply focused on building our EBI community, tuning into our vision, developing a deeper connection to our intuition, and strengthening our connection with nature. The pace has been slow and deep, which has allowed for me to seriously ground and settle into this program. I feel that Foundation 1 has offered us the tools, experiences, and teachings to prepare us all for the wealth of information and experiences to come in the next year. I feel prepared to embark on this journey with EBI, and I am so happy and grateful to be taking this journey with our amazing Nature Baked community, Cohort 19!

[Deanna]

David:
I low your quote from the Tao. The sentence, “Live in Accordance with the nature of things” really hits home for me. This reminds me of being in alignment, in FLOW. Like you said, this requires a surrender and a TRUST that we have everything we need and everything is in it’s right place. Wow, what a beautiful reflection on what it means to be connected with nature!
I love what you said about connecting with nature “opens up the possibility for nature to reflect back to us and our client.” It reminds me of a really good story that we, as coaches, just get to listen deeply to.. So true that we “need to be able to really HEAR what our clients are saying beneath the story.” Sometimes I find myself not even really listening to the details of a client’s story, but rather analyzing the connections and ties between the major points of their story. I’m finding myself feeling guilty on not catching all the details, but maybe that’s what needs to happen for me to listen to the deeper meaning right now…as someone who has listened deeply to others and my surroundings my whole life, I’m finally being challenged on listening even deeper. It’s great.

David & Gina:
David brought up, “stand by your word”, and Gina brought up “accountability”. This stood out to me, because coaches help clients stay accountable. I agree that staying true with our word is an indicator of nature connection. We talked a lot about that in my native american history & literature class. It’s beautiful how coaches can help keep clients accountable, and how this is one way of guiding them into deeper connection & relationship with nature.

Maria:
I really appreciate your way of referring to nature as “Sacred Space”, and to your clients as “Sacred Space”. I think that if we feel this same sense of reverence for nature towards our clients in a session, it opens the door for our clients to connect deeper to who they truly are, and what their true answers are.
P.s. Per your comment on David’s post- I love your self-expression, and I admire how you always seem so fully self-expressed!!!

Leslie:
I really appreciate how you pointed out that we have a much different relationship with nature in our modern society than we did when “nature connection occurred as a matter of subsistence.” You said, “Now we must explicitly and strategically cultivate deeper nature connection.” It’s very interesting for me to think about how our connection with nature (or rather, nature itself) is being called to evolve in this way right now. I feel that we are faced with a task that is much bigger and much more important than the majority of our society realizes. Your comment really makes me feel the power and importance of our work as nature-connection guides. I am also thinking about how difficult it may be for some people to TRUST their connection & relationship with nature right now, because this connection & relationship is so drastically different than what we are used to from an evolutionary standpoint. We must trust in something that may feel completely unfamiliar right now, and I think that our awe and reverence for nature can help build and strengthen that trust.

I would love to respond to every single one of your comments, but this is what I’ll write for now…
Love you all, thank you all for your wisdom!!!