[Sandy Shea]

Foundation Three *Initial Post*
As a client in the threshold, I felt a bit like I was in a dream that I let happen. I was aware of my normal thinking process, but I also let myself be drawn to places. It was as if I was tuned into an internal compass that’s always there, but I don’t sense it very often. When this compass is sensed, I feel as though I’m in a dialogue with nature—that we’re speaking some unspoken language. When I’m in this place of quiet mind, I can ‘hear’ nature speak to me. Is it my own voice that I am ‘hearing’? Or maybe my subconscious? Or is it really Nature—and a kind of Collective Unconscious? Or is it a bit of all of these?

Like a water douser who divines for water, I somehow become a conduit for nature and she speak through me, guides me to certain natural objects or experiences I wouldn’t normally seek out or encounter. I lose the normal “I”, and gain the whole world as Self. This is the feeling.

This experience reinforced previous experiences I have had around the potential for encountering the sacred, or other-worldly, when a client is in the threshold, and how important it is for me to first have a sense of the power of this in myself, to have experienced and internalized it for myself. This is part of what I think of as Deep Listening, and really ‘listening to nature. ’ I realize in these moments how nature can mirror what’s happening for the client, and how a 50-50 relationship allows the threshold session to almost guide itself in a very strange and powerful way. And yet, I need to be aware as a coach of ‘worldly’ stuff like where we are in the process, is the action relevant to the deeper need, client safety, session timing, weather, etc.

The more time I spend in nature seeking and experiencing this level of deep connection and dialogue with nature, the more I can sense what a client is maybe experiencing, and what they might benefit from as the process unfolds. Is it a period of silence, a nudge, and suggestion of moving, or just sitting for a while? The more I can listen to nature “out there”, the more I’m in tune with my own—and my client’s—deep inner nature.

[Sandy Shea]

Foundation Three *Initial Post*
As a client in the threshold, I felt a bit like I was in a dream that I let happen. I was aware of my normal thinking process, but I also let myself be drawn to places. It was as if I was tuned into an internal compass that’s always there, but I don’t sense it very often. When this compass is sensed, I feel as though I’m in a dialogue with nature—that we’re speaking some unspoken language. When I’m in this place of quiet mind, I can ‘hear’ nature speak to me. Is it my own voice that I am ‘hearing’? Or maybe my subconscious? Or is it really Nature—and a kind of Collective Unconscious? Or is it a bit of all of these?

Like a water douser who divines for water, I somehow become a conduit for nature and she speak through me, guides me to certain natural objects or experiences I wouldn’t normally seek out or encounter. I lose the normal “I”, and gain the whole world as Self. This is the feeling.

This experience reinforced previous experiences I have had around the potential for encountering the sacred, or other-worldly, when a client is in the threshold, and how important it is for me to first have a sense of the power of this in myself, to have experienced and internalized it for myself. This is part of what I think of as Deep Listening, and really ‘listening to nature. ’ I realize in these moments how nature can mirror what’s happening for the client, and how a 50-50 relationship allows the threshold session to almost guide itself in a very strange and powerful way. And yet, I need to be aware as a coach of ‘worldly’ stuff like where we are in the process, is the action relevant to the deeper need, client safety, session timing, weather, etc.

The more time I spend in nature seeking and experiencing this level of deep connection and dialogue with nature, the more I can sense what a client is maybe experiencing, and what they might benefit from as the process unfolds. Is it a period of silence, a nudge, and suggestion of moving, or just sitting for a while? The more I can listen to nature “out there”, the more I’m in tune with my own—and my client’s—deep inner nature.

[Sandy Shea]

Foundation Two–Summary Post

In reflecting on this module, and the responses of the cohort, I am reminded of an exercise at Naropa when we were asked to provide a definition of Ecopsychology in one sentence. Our group there struggled with this assignment because the area is SO broad–including ecology, transpersonal psychology, spirituality, indigenous wisdom, systems theory, and deep ecology, to mention just the tip of the iceberg. To assert one of the main tenets of the discipline–namely, that ‘we cannot heal ourselves without healing the planet’ is itself a monumental statement of far-reaching implications for our every moment, for our every breath. The field of Ecopsychology still feels so broad and rich to me, and I am sure it will continue to feel this way, because it really encompasses our entire concept of life on this planet, and beyond, and gets at the whole question of what it means to be a human being in the largest sense imaginable. Its application to Nature Centered Coaching is equally varied and rich, and encourages me to approach each session with a client with a healthy dose of awe, appreciation, and not-knowing. It is from this place that I can hold a container that allows nature to be a 50-50 partner in my work with others.

[Sandy Shea]

Foundation Two—Initial Post

As an ecopsychologist I recognize that nothing is able to be separate from anything else. Thus, ecopsychology—and the premise that, as Roszak puts it “we are sympathetically bonded to the earth”—must also include and fully encircle what we term ‘coaching.’ In nature-centered coaching, a big part of what I seek is to hold space for a reciprocal relationship to occur—to allow the native intelligence of that earth-bonded client to be called forth and re-discovered through their immersive experience in nature. In the same way, as ecopsychologists we seek our own non-verbal experiential immesion with nature, and, open ourselves, as Davis and many others have stated, to self-transcendence and a state of non-duality. Almaas calls it the The Ground of All Being. Ospensky called this the ‘unspeakable truth’, and this seems to fit well with how I view life and within that, how I experience being a nature-centered coach in nature with a client. It is firstly, an experience, a felt knowing not easily translatable to words. Much of what we think we know about nature is nothing but words, concepts, ideas. As Alan Watts points out, words about nature are not nature, any more than the finger pointing at the moon becomes the moon itself. Much of what we have come to know as ‘talk therapy’ fails precisely because it is talk/word-centered, and not of our own true nature as experienced life, as an organic inner knowing (not an outward telling). As Davis referenced, when he asked his students to cultivate an inner knowing by “becoming the eyes of nature perceiving itself”, radical changes in self-perception followed.

When I cross the threshold with a client and they enter nature with an internalized and explicit deeper need, we both, coach & client, have the potential to experience a timeless time of deep ceremony that has it’s own meaning, based on our psychic entwining with mother earth. The inner wilderness of our client begins to merge and become one with the outer wilderness. The information that comes to a client during such a non-dual state will be unique to their psychic needs, and thus will often be profoundly meaningful for them. As Kaplan & Talbot (in Davis 1998) state, “both the environment and the self are newly perceived and seem newly wondrous”.

Holding skillful space so the client can encounter a vastly enlarged and connected version of themselves, and for them to then feel it to be the same as the planetary ecological unconscious— to be of one mind with, and in fact to be and feel as nature itself —is so much of what nature-connected coaching is all about.

Where ecopsychology may fall short is helping to define where we are within the structure of ceremony, where we need to go next, and how to get there. This falls into the realm of good guiding/coaching. For instance, knowing when to draw the client out of this place of deep nature awareness with a few words and invite them to go even deeper, or when to remain still and let the process unfold for us both—this is part of the art of deep listening that I am just beginning to grasp. Watching body language, how the client moves across the landscape, watching the time, or the weather—all these attunements are necessary to being a good nature-connected coach. Rogers details many pitfalls that also fall squarely within the coaching realm: rescuing, advice-giving, leading or suggestive questions, psychologizing, or judging the client are all human traits that we as coaches must do our best to avoid if we are to serve the client’s need to attain a sense of wholeness and agency in their own lives. And the skillful use of succinct, open-ended questions, asked at the right time, has more to do with great coaching, than the application of ecopsychology.

[Sandy Shea]

*Summary Post*
I found this module to be very rich— in terms of developing a daily routine and practicing my awareness skills, what it means to be a nature centered coach, (the definition, and my internalization of that) and also the beginning business/forms/liability piece. A bit daunting that last bit, and this is an area I recognize I want and need to grow and step into.

I’m still working on developing my daily routine to include 360 awareness, baseline, etc. I feel like I will be honing those skills for the rest of my life. This has opened my eyes to a new relationship with my own backyard.

I’ve enjoyed and learned a lot from the conversations in the Forum, and it’s really helpful to feel that we’re all having different experiences, but really there is so much similarity with our learning. Even though we’re coming from different places in our lives, we’re all stretching and growing and it’s been key for me to feel the solidarity around that. I’m not alone in the struggle to begin to master new skills, and to be with some challenging emotions! I’m feeling like I’m finding that new voice that Mary Oliver spoke of, which I’m slowly recognizing as my own. It’s exciting! The container for our intensive, and for our on line learning, feels connected and solid. Thanks to Michael, Ivy & Daniel!

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Taylor,
I really appreciate your analogy to the parent-child relationship here–to let the child run free within the bounds of safety–to trust nature to ‘do’ her part with the client. Although we are encouraged to look at the relationship with the client as partnering with equals, as a coach we are kind of like parents–or maybe shepherds?–to our clients at times, especially during threshold.
I also resonated with your desire to work on more powerful questioning–this is also SO where I feel the need to focus. Thanks for your post!

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Ben,

Thanks for that feedback. I also feel pretty grounded at my place having lived here for 25 winters and wonder how I would do in a place i didn’t know so well. I seem to have a pretty good intuitive feel for the frequency of this place and what it offers clients– and am curious to experiment with places i don’t know so intimately. Would it be easier or harder to let nature have her 50%? Thanks for your post!

[Sandy Shea]

Hi MJ,
I really liked your personal reflections in your post, and how you made the readings feel alive for you, not just some intellectual exercise. I really appreciated how you are seeing and owning your own way, and can sort out what others think from what you feel deeply. To me this feels super authentic and powerful. Thanks for your post.
xo, Sandy.

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Ben,

i really liked your post and the concepts of vast and minute. For me it brings up the whole idea of feeling overwhelmed by environmental AND personal issues, and how they can both seem so big that we just give up. The concept of incremental change seems valuable here–whether in the realm of the personal or the planetary. To work with my personal levels of consumption, or to carve a new canyon of beliefs in myself or with clients, I need to chunk it down to see that some visible progress is being made. To tackle issues and try to fix the whole thing at once makes us feel apathetic and helpless. The vast and minute are connected, and your post reminds me of this fact, and not to lose heart. Lao Tsu said: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” 🙂 Thanks for your post.

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Adrianna,
i appreciated your emphasis on DNA. When put in this way, it seems so obvious in a Western scientific way that we ARE nature and that no separation is possible. So, this physical relationship is made more real–it’s not an airy fairy thing, or a spiritual thing, its a scientific fact. Somehow this perspective helps me feel more solid in the idea that we are nature, and allows me to feel that wholeness in myself and with my surroundings is already a fact, I just need to tap into that deep belief more often. Thanks for your post!

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Taylor,
I share your enthusiasm for Ecopsychology! Having gone through the Naropa program, I find i need constant re-acquaintance with these types of thoughts as culture’s SO strongly oriented in the opposite direction. I am thinking about your comment “It’s no wonder people can’t hear us – they are hearing shame.” I feel that my own experience as an environmental activist was one of self-rigtheously trying to get others to feel shame, and failing almost all of the time b/c my attitude put them off, AND they weren’t connected to nature in a way so they could feel personally responsible for (and deeply connected to) something that seems outside of and totally separated from us. I did burn out, and Ecopsychology has become my life line for sanity and hope.

I often think about indigenous wisdom, and the fact that our western culture of nature domination is only a few hundred years old, versus several thousand years for many older cultures living in intimate connection with the land. Mental illness and levels of personal angst are very low in such cultures… This fact alone helps me see how far off track our present culture is, and helps point the way back to some practices and ways of perceiving (those ‘meta-states” Lisa referenced) to help us get into that right-relationship with nature. Thanks for your post!

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Lisa,
I so appreciated your post, and in particular the statistics about pychologists! Wow! That is eye-opening that so many are self-reporting such degree of struggle with their own selves. That almost 50% would rate themselves as failures and that 30% had suicudal thoughts seems to me to speak about the failure of the modality to address a pan-cultural (Western culture) dis-ease, and a deep seated malaise that most of us feel a lot of the time. I also really appreciate the phrase’right relationsghip’ as it brings up for me aspects of indigenous ways of life, and ways that are antithetical to our current mode of viewing and living IN nature. I so appreciate your perspecive as an active therapist, and someone who is stretching her own self (and practice), and putting these pieces together in unique ways. Thank you for your post!

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Cory
The phrase that really got me was: “Every action I take with this soul is intertwined with my own.”

This phrase helps me form a powerful mental image of being one with a client, and lets the thinking about who knows more or who values who more drop out of the picture. I become them, and then our minds are one. It kinda feels like in a funny way we hold space for (and AS) each other, with nature nudging, informing, and guiding both of us along on this journey. Thanks for your post.

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Daniel,
I feel your post shows you’re already more connected than most people–wondering about where the coffe or the bread come from and how many hands were needed to get it to your body. These kinds of questions only come when we are aware that deep connection exists, even if we sometimes judge our own feeling of that connection to be wanting. I really appreciate the reminder to ask “What am I missing?” rather than ‘What do I notice?’ Someone once said “the first step to escaping prison is to recognize you’re in one…”. for me, the taking off of the headphones was your breaking out into the freedom of absolute connection in that moment. so cool. Thanks for your post.

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Ben F,
Thanks for your post. What struck me was this :”My nature may be in a gym setting, so it will be important for me to know what the client may need as far as a specific exercise for a specific feeling or action.”

I found this interesting because I’ve known about somatic awareness, and how our moods can be shifted or awakended through movement, but I’ve thought mostly about dance, thai chi, yoga, etc. Your post gave me awareness about how time in the gym–or any other place where I’m moving my body–is a powerful invitation to also engage this somatic awareness for myself and clients. Questions arise like: how does physical movement help me and/or a client when we’re stuck? How can a specific exercise or action TRIGGER unintentionally some deep emotions? I admit i haven’t thought alot about movement when working with clients, so this was great to think about. Thanks for your post.