[Kent-Singing Panther]

I’ve taken quite some time pondering who my ideal client is and I keep thinking about people like myself. Since I was about 14 years old I have been in search of purpose. I vividly remember the moments that I felt like something beyond myself was reaching out, inciting a curiosity about who I really was and why I was alive. I’ve always felt different from most people and for a long time have believed that whatever I “do” would be unique (in a career sense).

Until now nothing I’ve ever done has fulfilled what some might call my “destiny” (for lack of a better word). However, I have uncovered more of the real me through the deep work of nature connecting and am learning to confidently live my truth. And now the other piece of me, the doing piece I’ve finally found, and committed to, is Nature-Connected Coaching. What if the me now was able to coach the me all those years ago? If the me now coached the me 10 years ago, how different would Kent be now? Though I accept the things I’ve gone through and the inner journey I’ve taken, I would have loved to have had a presence like a coach/guide to help me navigate. I would be honored to be that person for those like me who have either struggled to know themselves or their purpose.

In regards to purpose I see two clients with some differences. One client is in their doing zone; they have confidence in their natural skills and abilities. They are doing good work for the betterment of the world but still don’t know themselves deeply. They struggle with being “good enough.” They work themselves to death trying to prove their worth. They give and give and give, but it is taking life away from them. These clients I want to help slow down, step back, and find their innate value.

The other client is more like me; a seeker who know themselves well but lacks vision. They know they have abilities/gifts/skills but are either uncertain, or afraid, of using them. They may also feel stuck in their life situation and cannot see how to become un-stuck. They may lack support because they’re too afraid or proud to ask for help.

Getting more specific, the first group of potential clients I would be excited to work with are people who own/operate small businesses or organizations dedicated to improving the quality of life on the planet; conservation groups, sustainability advocates, etc. This group could also be private practitioners of holistic health services and eco-minded therapists, etc. For the longest time I thought about what category of Earth workers I could place myself in and I felt like I didn’t fit into any of them. I did my best to support the people who did/do while I waited for the right thing for me. Now that I know how Nature-Connected Coaching can change the world, I want to continue to support the kind of people I’ve worked beside be the best Earth workers they can be (sounds corny but it’s true, lol). It’s often ironic that the people working the hardest for nature have the least contact with nature. Though passionate and intelligent, they often overwork themselves. Nature is the perfect respite for them and by nature coaching they can discover who they really are and what they can do to minimize their efforts while maximizing their results.

For the second group nature and Nature-Connected Coaching can help them sift through the things that are holding them back or stifling their vision. In nature they can think more freely, express more openly, and get into the natural flow of inspiration. They are given space and permission to look back into their lives and piece together the elements that have caused self-doubt and fear, or gifts and aspirations they have kept hidden from the world.

I wasn’t sure how to even Google other services such as the one I wish to provide, but I did find this: http://www.womenofgreen.com/content/about-us/about-carolyn/wog-coaching/ This woman is a marketing/business coach who helps women entrepreneurs who want to “go green.”

This guy is a “Vision Coach.” I admit I kinda like that title: http://www.stevemoeller.com/vision-coaching/ He operates out of a holistic perspective but I didn’t see anything explicit about having a positive relationship with the natural world.

I want operate somewhere between these two coaches with the obvious focus of nature being a collaborator in the process. I have no doubt these coaches do a good job and have helped change people’s lives. But people aren’t the only organisms on this planet! Whomever I coach I want that client to walk away from their session thinking about how they can work with nature in their careers and personal lives. I want them to know that they can work for the good of the Earth and not be so run down or upset. I want them to have a vision for their lives that includes a real relationship with nature.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Summary Post:
I think for the most part the threshold is how I, as a coach, can build the most empathy with my clients. I don’t remember much of what was said during my coaching sessions at the intensive, but I do remember my threshold experiences and I carry those closest to my heart. As much as I enjoy speaking one on one with people I am always eager to have them step into the wild. My clients experience in the threshold won’t be exactly like mine, but I have no doubt the impact nature will have on them. I have brought every emotion into nature and she has always met me just where I am. She has healed me and encouraged me to keep stepping forward. I will have days where the trust in myself as a coach will be shaky, but I absolutely trust that nature will more than make up for my lack.

I think back to just before the program started and my first conversation with Ivy. As I spoke about my state of being at the time, she shared a vision she had of me paddling a boat. I saw myself paddling and enjoying myself, though getting tired because I could not find a place to rest. I considered this vision and brought it with me to a lake, which is actually made by a damned river. As Winter approaches the floodgates are opened and the water level recedes exposing several islands. This made me think about my vision and the meaning of the water. To me the water symbolized intention. I had let so much of my intention build up that I believe it caused an inner flooding of sorts. I realized then that in order to find a place of rest I had to open my own internal floodgates.

So as I’m making connections I see the threshold as the floodgates. I remember during the intensive, Michael talking about the building up of intention and then having a release of stepping through the threshold. “Intention” had been a keyword for me for the past couple of years, and now it has come back around to help me see that intention is only a part of the process of soul work. This process has a “flow” to it and understanding it is helping me navigate my soul and purpose so that I can support others to experience the same.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

The threshold allowed me to solidify and commit to the insight, awareness, and goals I gained during the severance. And the fact that, for the most part, I designed what my threshold would look like was very empowering. I believe that sense of empowerment is important for my clients to experience, especially after a participating in a vulnerable severance process where they may, or may not, have stepped closer toward their authentic selves. Severing old ideas, beliefs, and routines most often feels confusing and scary. Stepping through the threshold, and into nature, naturally helps relieve feelings/sensations of unease, anxiety, fear, doubt, etc. This has been my experience in the threshold and I trust it to be steadfast for my clients as well.
In many ways I see the threshold as the “filling” after much has been emptied during severance. This is a unique, and attractive, action utilized as a NCC. I also see the threshold as the “breathing out” portion of the ceremony. During severance a lot of “breathing in” and tension can be built up, even if the client is experiencing many positive insights about themselves. Threshold turns the focus, energy and intention outward and into the wild. The wild is the best place to be filled and to feel a grand, supportive, expansiveness.
Threshold also offered me the opportunity to celebrate who I am and what I’ve learned; to take my goals into nature to acknowledge and honor them as a part of the real me. This is part of accomplishing what Jenny Rogers encourages in Coaching Skills, “Goal setting is at its most effective when it builds on strengths – so it is even more motivating to ask How can I be better at something I’m already good at? “ (133). In severance I was aided by being coached to clear out the clutter of my mind and allow space for the soul to be present. With soul present I was able to see a deeper, truer me that has natural strengths; some of which that were hidden away or denied their usefulness. Becoming aware of them/me, I was more than ready to step through the threshold to fully accept myself/my vision and give thanks for the positive changes happening in me.
Like it says in Coyote’s Guide, “We already know the Natural Cycle intimately.” (197). The cycle, rhythms, and flow of the day directly affects me regardless if I’m aware of it or not. But when I do become aware of my interconnection with it I gain deeper insight into how I can better spend my energy for the day, or more specifically in my threshold. The threshold provides the space to move within the cycle and attune to the moment where I can hear the soul speak. Even the best coach cannot be substitute for nature’s unfiltered reflection of myself and visa versa.
However, during the coaching session my coach helped guide me to the intention of my threshold. That guiding gave me the confidence to give a sense of direction for, and to enter through, my threshold. Even the couple times when I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for my threshold experience, as soon as I walked through the Starhouse door I felt like I immediately knew what it was. My coach and I could have sat around trying to come up with what I could do in my threshold to force some kind of experience, but I believe if I would have made a plan that wasn’t coming from a soul space my encounter would potentially have been muddled. Trusting that nature would provide as I stepped through the threshold served to increase my trust that much more. But it was a dual effort with my coach, my coaches trust in nature, and nature herself, that awarded the most power to the moment.
As a coach I see myself being responsible for setting a good foundation for my client of which the experiences of nature connection can be built upon. By aiding my client in obtaining a sense of direction through powerful questioning, together we lay the grounds of intention. This is done by establishing trust and intimacy and by creating a safe, supportive environment that produces ongoing mutual respect and trust.
As a Nature-Connected Coach I am also responsible to be nature connected! As I maintain that connection, reflect it, and make it an integral part of my existence, it brings me into the present moment where I am able to be fully conscious, creating spontaneous relationship with my client and employing a style that is open, flexible and confident. Deep, active listening is also necessary as I need to be sure my client clearly understands where they are coming from and where they want to go. And of course creating awareness is certainly key in my place as a coach; integrating and evaluating multiple sources of information to create interpretations that help the client gain greater understanding, awareness and clarity in order to achieve agreed-upon results.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

https://upliftconnect.com/alan-watts-breaks-down-whats-wrong-with-the-world/

Alan Watts is always inspiring to listen to; this brief interview really struck me so I wanted to share it.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Looking forward to the discussion on here! I’ve been thinking about starting a blog about how my personal nature connection experiences are translated through art. Just taking a sketchbook and pencils on a wander then letting whatever wants to speak to me, speak through the images I create based on that silent conversation. This is relatively new idea for me but I really enjoying looking back over my sketches to hear/see a dialogue deeper than words.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Thanks Zak. I really like the way you put this “The NCC coach is an individual whom has done their own “self-recovery” work and exists in a state of heightened awareness which is supported by their re-connection to Earth. That sense of awareness informs their ability to guide (coach) a client in their “self-recovery” process. I’m a firm believer that a teacher or guide cannot lead someone to a place they have not been.” This as well, “Nature connected coaching is the love child, the expression of the merger of these two oddly paired concepts.” I feel that way about NCC when I read Coaching Skills then hop over to Coyote’s Guide. I love reading both books in their own rights and then seeing where they can intersect…or have intercourse 😉

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Sorry, that last response was for David. And I forgot to say how awesome your experience was with the coyote!!! Just wow.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Thank you for the breadth and depth of your post even though you feel like you didn’t have much energy to put into it…I think you did 🙂 I appreciate this statement,”some people likely haven’t felt Soul- or Nature-connection, the academic world of ideas can help people to take a step into the depths of being in relationship with themselves and the Earth.” I think I have lacked having this empathetic insight. Just because I’m not highly intellectual doesn’t mean the intellectual side of this discussion won’t attract those that are. And then hopefully those folks will eventually move into soul space.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

I appreciate your desire and depth of understanding, Hannah, thank you so much.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Wow David, at eighteen it’s so awesome to see that you braved such an adventure on your own and gained such a rich experience to set you off into “adulthood.”

This statement stood out to me as a great example of why NCC is important, “After identifying a deeper need of self love, my coach asked what I see in the structure. While I otherwise may have moved on, afraid of the impact of feeling the symbolism, I cried while speaking the words “feeling held,” before I dropped into the space and allowed myself to hold my body and give myself love.”

I’ve silently asked the “guided vs un-guided” question to myself in the past. I know my unguided experiences have transformed me but for the most part it took a longer amount of time. Having someone like a coach to reflect back to me and encourage me to go deeper would have, I believe, brought me into that tranformative place faster. I related it back to the chapters we read for this module in Coyote’s guide about direction. On my own, my experiences felt like a lot of wandering without much intention. Sometimes that is good thing, and a needed thing. My unguided wanders were a result of my “seeking” but I didn’t really know what I was trying to find. Have the kind of sense of direction talked about in Coyote’s guide would’ve helped me with that.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Thank you for your wondeful metaphors, Hannah 🙂 I though you showed great insight/awareness in this statment, ” As someone who feels passionate about what the threshold can show my clients, I also need to relinquish control over where it goes. This feeling informs my coaching by allowing myself to surrender so that my clients can fully surrender to the magic of the experience.” We do have to put a great amount of trust in the process, our clients, and nature, that what happens, happens and it is good.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Thank you Kaity for sharing some vulnerable parts of yourself; parts that are transforming into strengths. I re-read this statement several times and it has sunk in for me too, “But once I make the move, fear transforms into wonder. Awareness and connection open up and I feel like I am finally listening to lost parts of myself, to my deeper needs. In threshold, I listen to the need and take action on behalf of it. What could be more precious and powerful than that?” Indeed, what could be more precious and powerful? I think what you said here is at the center of this work and it IS extremely precious and powerful!

[Kent-Singing Panther]

I really like that idea, Ivy. Especially if for some reason a client can’t get out into nature as much, they might be able to reflect on those materials in the moment.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

WHAT!?! Your site is STUNNING Rachel! Seriously, gorgeous 🙂 I LOVE your natural mandalas too, BTW.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Hannah, I totally think your post IS about ecopsychology 😉 I applaud you for wrestling with these concepts and how you respond to them. I got a sense of how you might operate getting to know you over the intensive; I could see in you some of that tension you are describing. I also trusted that you would find your own way through it, just as we all are doing. And I don’t mean “tension” in a bad way. That word tends to have a negative connotation, but to me, if we aren’t in tension then we aren’t really learning and growing. Breathing itself is all tension and relaxation; you can’t have one without the other. And I don’t think we’re able to fully relax until we’ve breathed in and allowed that tension to speak to us.