[Kent-Singing Panther]

Foundations 2 Initial Post

Where does Ecopsychology and Coaching come together?
Nature-Connected coaching is the bridge between Coaching and Ecopsychology. I believe that a practice/method like nature-connected coaching is a missing link to some of the gaps in how Ecopsychology functions, or doesn’t function, in the modern world. For me personally, reading through some of the material about Ecopsychology can be frustrating. I agree with it, and it’s important, but sometimes I feel like it’s a lot of unnecessary intellectual information about nature that does not necessarily entice me to be in nature. Ecotherapy, however, is the application of Ecopsychology and employs “Nature-reconnection practices, animal assisted psychotherapy, horticultural therapy, time-stress management, wilderness work, and various restorative methods….in disciplined and systematic attempts to reconnect the psyche and the body with the terrestrial sources of all healing.” (pg 18, Ecotherapy).

Threshold experiences during Nature-Connected Coaching could involve any/all of the methods mentioned above. The difference I see, and where the power of coaching comes in, is that these methods are created by the client. I can’t speak for how Ecotherapists operate, but I imagine it is the therapist that arranges these practices and encourages the client to try them. Not that that is a bad thing, but a client that is able to make choices is much more empowered during the process. Also, “therapy” can carry a bad connotation for some people; the perspective that “I must need help if I am in therapy.” in my opinion, “therapy” is something being given (without to within), while “coaching” could be seen as drawing out something that is already there (within to without). And while coaching is not therapy, Nature-Connected Coaching results in therapeutic benefits due to the connection to natural processes and systems found in nature, and the effect it has on the human body/mind/soul.

In many respects what this material does offer, for me, is a historical account of how movements in environmentalism have fallen short and why (enter Ecopsychology). Ecopsychology, in and off itself, is mostly a study and not a modality for change. The “why” may be clear, but the “how” is more difficult within the functionality of Ecopsychology. From an “outsiders” perspective Ecopsychology may seem like it’s simply trying to logically blend two foundationally different concepts of environmentalism and psychology, while it is actually trying to explain is that the two are intimately connected. The “theory” is valuable to understand, especially for professionals operating in this space, but I do question some of the intellectualism offered in this material such as this statement in the chapter Where Psyche Meets Gia; “Some are quick to see elements of sentimentality or romanticism in our growing appreciation of the sacred ecologies that guide traditional societies. This is mistaken. There is nothing “mystical” or “transcendent” about the matter as we might understand these words. It is homely common sense that human beings must live in a state of respectful give-and-take with the flora and fauna, the rivers and hills, the sky and soil on which we depend for physical sustenance and practical instruction.”(pg 6 Ecopsychology).

I agree and disagree with this statement. I believe it is common sense, but common sense rarely moves anyone into a different space. The reason religion has become as powerful as it is, is because people want to believe that there is something bigger than themselves, watching over them and calling them toward something good. There is a certain kind of romanticism involved. But there are the religious fanatics too who seem to lose sight of common sense. I see the need for balance between the “common sense” and the “mystical” and I think Nature-Connected Coaching can help strike that balance.

Herein lies the gap; human beings do not change based on information. Right now, as I type this, humanity is at a peak of its ability to obtain more information than ever previously known. As a species we know more about everything, and that information is literally at our fingertips, yet we continue to destroy one another and the planet. The unfortunate thing is that we cannot make someone VALUE anything solely based on information. The information must be combined with experience (enter Nature-Connected Coaching).

How does this blend add foundation to your interests as a Nature-Connected Coach.
While some of the details of Eco-psychological theory may not be fully necessary, the higher arcing view of Ecopsychology is why I want to be a Nature-Connected Coach; to help people help themselves through gaining awareness, insight and value with their connection to nature and their soul. It’s like a two for one deal; the client learns/chooses to value themselves and to value nature (as they also learn to see themselves as). Happy people, happy planet.

In many respects I used to value nature over people. I ache over the way Earth is treated and people are the reason why. But I can’t fully love people seeing them that way. Now I see them as nature too, which of course we always have been. I needed to make that shift so that I could fully enter into a position to help others see themselves as nature too.

How might it fall short?
The nature connection cannot fall short. I can on the other hand. If I operate too much out of my head or my own agenda, then I will cause to weaken the delicate thread my client has begun to weave into their lives.

What skills are needed?
I must make the choice, everyday, to honor my commitment to self, nature and client. Through my personal daily practices of ceremonial severance, threshold, and integration I am able to show up in life as the most authentic me; ready to listen deeply, reflect, and ask powerful questions. As I continue to accept myself through non-judgment and self love, I will radiate the frequency of Earth’s magnetism which will attract the people I work with to be calm, vulnerable, and feel a sense of safety and support.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Foundations 1 Summary

Through Foundations One I have gained much more insight into what “Coaching” is and how a “Coach” operates; more specifically how a Nature-Connected Coach operates and how it varies from traditional Life Coaching, Psychotherapy, Counseling, etc. Like many of my peers (and instructors) I actually prefer the term “guide” instead of coach, but I do really like Jenny Rogers definition of Coaching in her book Coaching Skills: The definitive guide to being a coach; “Coaching is the art of facilitating another person’s learning, development, well-being and performance. Coaching raises self-awareness and identifies choices. Through coaching, people are able to find their own solutions, develop their own skills, and change their own attitudes and behaviors. The whole aim of coaching is to close the gap between people’s potential and their current state.” (PG. 7)
In unpacking this definition in relation to nature-connection I notice first that Rogers identifies coaching as an “art.” For me Art correlates with “flow,” or how energy is created and transmitted in the present moment. As we learned during the first intensive it is the responsibility of the coach to enter into a space of deep listening. Entering that space means slowing down, opening up, and tuning into the present moment. Some effective ways we learned how this can be accomplished is through sensory awareness in/of nature, the 7 Breaths, the 7 Steps visualization, and of course, the all important sit-spot. In this deep listening space it is the soul that is in reception. By guiding the client into their own nature/self awareness they begin to access their soul space as well. And when the soul of the coach is listening, powerful questions emerge that penetrate to the heart of the client’s need. When the client’s answers bubble up they are reflected back to them by the coach who is dancing in the flow of the connection happening between them. The sacred questions of “what do you notice?” “what does that tell you?” and “what does that mean for you?” are among the most potent questions that can be utilized at any time.
Rogers use of the term “facilitating” means that the coach acts similar to how nature does. A person’s connection with nature promotes the potential to make learning, development, wellbeing, and performance easier, smoother, and faster as it does with a nature-connected coach. I experienced this first hand during the intensive as I connected with nature and with my coaches during practice. I think all of us were amazed at how much we grew as people over the course of 9 days. I, for one, have never experienced the kind of soul connection we all shared with one another at some point. The concepts of “soul” and “interconnection” that I knew are true became VERY tangible and reminded me that soul can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
As we all have come to identify, nature awareness is also self-awareness; what we experience in the wilderness is a reflection of our inner wilderness. The awareness of our own choices in life also become evident through nature connection. Nature is always available to us and we always have the choice to connect; to feel her peace, harmony, support, wisdom and unconditional love…all of that, that is already in us. Out of the choice to connect we can better see the consequences of those choices in our daily lives. Choice is really the only thing we have control over and there are no wrong choices, just different consequences. Once we become aware of this and decide to choose how to respond to each and every moment, then we have are able to find our own solutions, develop our own skills, change our attitude as well as our behavior.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

For me, nature connection is the most authentic relationship in my life. I have no disillusionment in my relationship with nature. She lets me BE and lets me know I belong. She doesn’t judge. She takes whatever “junk” I throw at her and still gives me every breath like a gift. She comforts me when I hide in the darkness. She sees my light and my potential. She gently whispers truth to my soul as I stand in awe of her beauty, her mystery, and her power. She is the missing part of me. She is me and I am her.

What I have experienced in my nature connection is real and factual. Though metaphors arise, they are rooted in a realness unlike anything else in my life. As Kaplan and Talbot suggest in the “Wilderness As A Healing Place” reading, “The wilderness experience is “real” in some rather concrete ways, as well as in somewhat more abstract sense. It is real not because it matches one’s ways of the everyday world (which of course it does not do), but because it feels real–because it matches some sort of intention of the way things ought to be, of the way things really are beneath the surface layers of culture and civilization.” I struggled accepting the “reality” of everyday existence for quite some time and I let nature become my daydream. The more I connected with nature the more discontent I felt toward civilization. Everyday existence felt false and I saw people like they were zombies. I had little hope for the future of humankind and decided I didn’t want anything from culture or civilization anymore. I wanted to run. I wanted to escape into the woods to live free. But in my heart I knew that wasn’t an answer. This feeling was a shadow I needed to face and eventually I reached forgiveness. I let go. I leaned into my shadow and learned to love myself in the darkness.

I harbored a dilemma for a long time; the desire to run and the desire to help others. Nature had become the catalyst for my personal transformation and I wanted others to connect with nature so that they too could accept healing and gain wholeness. Yet at the same time I despised others, and myself, for living out such a cruel, unconscious existence onto the Earth. As much as I wanted to see the light in others (as I believed nature saw the light in me) I also saw much darkness and it felt overwhelming to deal with. My pendulum swung between peace and harmony with nature, to disgust and hopelessness in my everyday life. I couldn’t see how these two, seemingly opposite, existences could ever come together. Out of that mindset and during a difficult time in my life, I went numb. I had a hard time feeling anything at all, good or bad.

After nearly a year of existing in this numb state I was invited to a men’s wilderness retreat and had also met a mentor who helped me enter onto a spiritual path I felt a lot of connection with. But it was on the retreat that I had a very brief dream. Much of the retreat focused on dream work; nothing interpretive, just noticing what we feel in the dreams. The last night I dreamed that out of the darkness a coyote walked up to me, looked up, and smiled. I got the feeling that he was happy and it made me happy too. I didn’t really spend anytime trying to figure out what it mean, I just let it be and it has stuck with me.

Over the f2f Michael talked about the coyote and how adaptable it is; having the ability and adaptability to live in both natural places and civilization. This deeply resonated with me as that is the space I see myself living between. I’ve slowly learned to accept my place in civilization and the “reality” of everyday life. It exists. I can’t deny it or change it. And that includes people too of course. I can’t deny or change them. What I can do is deepen my relationship with nature, remember who I am, and live my life from the place of my soul. And I can show up for those who are lost and hurting. I have learned to trust my own inner knowing and I trust that other also have that inner knowing. If I can guide them to that place, then I believe they will find their own path and purpose.

As I read back through this post I sense the heaviness I used to feel and I am beyond grateful for the second to last day of the f2f when I was sitting in the place of client. The issue I brought to my coach was basically my desire to play more. I knew of the importance and freedom of play, but I was still holding on to some heavy baggage and desired liberation. The coaching experience was wonderful and led to an epic snowball fight that turned out to be just what I needed (and what others did too). Then over this past week I started reading “Coyote’s Guide To Connecting With Nature” and I was stunned to read about the relationship of coyote and playfulness. I really believe “play” has been the missing piece of my life puzzle. “Coyote goads us to be willing to have a true sense of play and abandon, knowing that this new, uncharted way will truly be the only way out.” (pg. 10).

Coyote teaches me balance and how to walk the edges of the worlds I find myself in. And this is what is needed because this is where I meet those who are seeking their wild souls, but feel trapped in the cage of civilization or their own worlds of illusion. Also, as stated in Coyotes Guide on pg. 13, “Coyote teaches us to straddle the edge between “two worlds”–the ancient, primitive world of wilderness and instinct, and the modern civilized world of science and technology.” The role of a coach/guide is one who is walking these edges; running a private practice business and all of its modern trappings, while tapping into soul and primitive instinct/awareness. What an exciting and empowering place to be in! I am honored to walk between these two worlds in hope that I will guide even one soul to their origin. Who knows what good that one soul will do for the world.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Thank you for your honesty, Kaity. You’re not alone in the feelings you expressed. I think you are on to something with this statement, “Perhaps the ecopsychology I am currently diving into is the courage and openness to sit with the deep unknown, with the dread and pain, not run away. To hold it and breathe with it, just as Mandy described in her beautiful recollection about the cottonwood tree.” I trust you will discover your own resolve. I remember when we were working together in a practice session and I visualized your answer being built up in your belly then moving its way up your center and out of your mouth. I see this happening with you again.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Mandy! Thank you for sharing your experience with grandmother cottonwood! I could envision it in my minds eye and relate to the sensations and feelings you encountered. Really, really beautiful. And this statement really hit home for me, “As a result of this detachment and even dissociation from the ground of our beings and from the living Earth, there has become an ever present feeling of NOT belonging. I think there is a strong sense that many have that they don’t belong anywhere or to anything. When I really feel into this, NOT belonging to something or to someone or to someplace removes you from any sense of responsibility to it. It is through connection and belonging, through relationship, that we begin to recognize our responsibility to that thing and that we feel a moral obligation to honor it and to tend to it.” I always mention the sense of belonging I feel in nature when I talk about nature connection with other people. I used to cling to that feelings so strongly that I often didn’t see or feel belonging to anything or anyone else, and in some respects didn’t want to. I believed nothing BUT nature could give me that feeling so I didn’t even attempt to connect. In my sense of belonging to Earth I felt/feel that responsibility but I felt like people and society rejected me because they couldn’t understand me. How much that has changed for me and I am so grateful. I BELONG. That encapsulates everything for me and I am honored to carry this responsibility.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Thanks Hannah. This statement you made almost sounds too simple to be true, but I really believe it is, ” In both the fields of coaching and ecopsychology, I have an overwhelming perception that problems that arise in those seeking healing are not isolated events occurring simply in the interpersonal realms of their lives, but a much larger, and almost generationally-based trauma around their whole connection to all life on the planet.” I do think this is the crux of our planetary trouble and not just a particle of it. It stands as my opinion, but I stand firm because I also know how I, and others, feel about reconnecting with nature. To me, reconnecting (on all levels; with nature, self, others) IS the solution we’re looking for therefore disconnection with nature is the problem. The holistic approach in this work is what we all seem to be attracted to, and I think it is the most successful approach.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Thanks Brian. You’re not alone in your opinion as you stated “In my opinion these articles over intellectualize the idea of connection to Nature and Soul. Things just seemed to get watered-down and convoluted.” I agree and said similar things in my post. And fundamentally I think you nailed it on the head with this statement, “I simply want to guide people to a deeper connection to Nature and to Soul, thus allowing a life lived with purpose and passion. If I can help guide my clients to this deeper connection, then their devotion to help heal the earth, and their relationships will naturally unfurl.” I think it’s best we keep it simple. I think we all understand the weight carried through this work, but we need to keep it light and accessible to be successful.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

You’re always with us in Spirit Sarah! When Mandy, Brian and I did a zoom meeting last week to share our vision boards we discussed the desire/idea to do our own Zoom meeting catch up apart from the webinars. We tossed around the idea of trying to do it once per month, but any of us could send out invitations to each other any time we feel like chatting. Like in your case Sarah, you could send an invite during a time that works best for you and see who else shows up.
I’m telling this to myself too because it really does help keep me focused when I’m in connection with you guys.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Sarah, reading your post really made my heart smile 🙂 I loved watching your journey unfold over the intensive. Even though you and I didn’t delve into much conversation, it was easy to see how you were being affected. This last paragraph you wrote really touched me “So, why do I need to run away? If I AM nature, I don’t need to escape from me. I can allow myself to be here. For myself and for my future clients. I am here for the process. To be amongst it. Amongst the beauty, but also the shadows. To be present and experience each moment, fully. I am here to be sturdy like the trees when someone I love doesn’t quite understand my vision, but flexible enough to see them and theirs – to stay solid for clients, but flow with them throughout their own discovery. I am here to be light and dance like the clouds across the sky, but be fully present to ride out the storms – to use humor when it’s called for, but to hold space for the sad, the angry, and the solemn moments. I am here to allow myself to feel. To be seen and to see. “I am here to be alive, to be aware, and to practice” ”
And I will carry this from now on as well, “practice does not make perfect, it makes progress.” Patience has been a virtue I have not allowed myself to accept to the fullest and has caused me much unnecessary stress in the past. I have learned to be more kind, gentle and forgiving of myself when I feel like I’m not where I want to be, but holding this mantra of “practice makes process and progress” feels very good to me.

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Kaity, I appreciate how you highlighted the nature-body-brain connections. That was something I kept coming to over the intensive. It isn’t new information to me, but acknowledging how everything works together helped me to understand wholeness on a deeper level. And it’s fascinating to see how sciences like neurobiology is confirming what most ancient/nature-connected people have always known. One of my goals is to sketch more during my times of connection/meditation and during a hike this past week I found a beautiful shell the inspired me to draw. The drawing took on some interesting forms that I am still allowing to unfold. When I went back to view it recently I felt like one of the images is a neuron. Reading your post really affirmed that image as you stated, “Simply stepping out into the natural world begins creating new neural pathways of awareness and aliveness, and this is absolutely my experience. I feel as if my nervous system relaxes, opens up, and reaches out to my surroundings rather than contracting inwards to save me from sensory overload. Adding purposeful connection to nature through Nature-Based Connection can amplify these effects tenfold for myself, and from what I’ve seen, others as well.” Your reflection nourished my understanding of my own subconscious!

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Zak, thank you for the intention you put into your post and crossing the threshold of writing it. I know you’ve been very busy so I respect that you took time to really reflect and not just slap some words on the page to get it done. I admire your integrity. I expect all of us will come back to this question time and time again. It is the question that continually drives us toward building the bridges with nature and society we’ve been called to build. I too am slowly learning what it means to BE in a nature connected state; a state we awake into and drift off to sleep in. We are always connected; it’s only the illusion in DO-ing world where we misplace our inner knowing. I hear the yearning in your writing that you never want to give into that illusion and constantly BE in conscious connection. It’s hard work but that is why we are here!

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Hannah, thank you for your intelligent, insightful and articulate reflection! There is so much maturity in this statement you made, “My connection to nature looks like cultivating a practice of seeing the nature in everything, and letting it be as it is without judgment. Whether I’m in the forest, observing the patterns of lichen and the effect of wind through the trees, or on a city bus observing the energetic reactions of people to an act of kindness or an act of distress, nature is always unfolding, and the shift of one being affects the state of all beings. I think that is how I’ve come to recognize that nature connection isn’t a state part of separate and compartmentalized states of being; it is more integral to the flow of energy and oneness between all things (as we are all nature!).” This is the way I desire to see the day to day. And it’s so refreshing to share in this desire with others as well as the vulnerability in the tension.

And how rare is it that someone shows up the way you described here, “This realization and intentional way of being can support the way I coach in a myriad of ways. First off, if I am able to maintain a close connection to this process of giving up control over (while maintaining my responsibility to) my environment – both internally and externally – I am able to quietly observe the changes that occur and not become attached to a particular idea or state. This is of the utmost importance to the client because they are able to arrive and stay just as they are, and can be witnessed and express without judgment.” Way to BE coach!

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Thank you for your reflection, Mandy. I loved reading about your childhood experiences connecting to nature; how innocent, pure and natural it came to you. To share in that relationship at a young age and see how it has helped shape you is a deep reminder of the importance of helping the next generations get outside to not just be in nature, but be connected to nature. I also really liked the way you defined the difference between being in nature and “be-ing” in nature. I think that’s a great way to explain why we are doing what we are doing in relation to nature-connected coaching. I see that chasm all the time between programs that help get people outside but lack a know-how of guiding others into deeper nature connection.

I really liked this statement you made, “Our senses become keen observers to the landscape that surrounds us, and as we notice and track the outside world we begin to notice and track our inner landscape as well.” Again, a great, simple way to share with others how nature connection works. I also resonated with this statement, “I believe that if I continue to see the true mentor as nature, that my role as coach is really to be more of a bridge to the remembrance of nature, without and within.” We are that bridge between being in nature and be-ing in nature, as you said. That is something we can hope and trust in!

[Kent-Singing Panther]

Thank you Professor Thor 🙂 I felt like I was reading a text book for the soul. You brilliantly weaved together body and soul in way that affirms how I felt over the intensive; a greater understanding of how body, mind and soul works together. I resonate with this statement you made in relation to that, “The “spiritual path” used to feel “out there” to me, something external or higher to seek. But more and more I am unpacking its overlaps with our natural evolutionary needs. It makes sense that we feel an extra strong evolutionary chemical reward when the things we desire match the things that help us survive, AND that lead us to the ultimate bliss, which we know as transcendence. Our evolutionary history LIKES IT when we get all these things aligned.”

And I LOVE your closing statement, “So I think that as a coach, the more comfortable I become with the skills and beliefs needed to be settled in a world of unknowns, the more competently I can trust joining the unknown of my clients. Likewise as a guide, practicing those same skills and maps makes me more capable of guiding someone into and across a threshold of unknown terrain, because ultimately one of my goals is to give other humans those very skills and beliefs they need to traverse the wilderness of their internal landscapes with curiosity and ease – the same unknown that lives “outside our houses” lives inside our hearts – because we are nature. To be connected to nature is to be in intimate relationship with the unknown, which includes the vast and mysterious depths of our own souls. And that is why I love coaching!” RIGHT ON SISTER!

[Kent-Singing Panther]

What a rich reflection David, thank you for that. I feel like your reflection and mine can be summed up with what you said at the end of your post, “When I ask myself my ultimate goal in life, the answer is to unearth my soul – reown the vital and powerful energy within my and experience flow. Maybe that’s not everyone’s goal in life, but for those who have that deeper need, true guidance can only be found in experienced wisdom of connecting deeply to the Soul. That is how my relationship with Nature can support my coaching.” For me your words reflect what I experienced through creating my vision board…essence. I trust that when WE walk in our essence, as our goal in life, all else will align as it should and our coaching becomes something that is both everything about us and beyond us.

I also resonate a lot with this statement, “The word “soul” is a new staple in my vocabulary. Not because I have to use it for EBI, but because the word has gone from from theoretical to experiential.” OF course I’ve had moments of soul contact in a tangible way, but for the most part it feels like it’s just something I talk about like it’s a theory. The intensive solidified how real soul connection is. And not just within myself, but with all of us.