[Sandy Shea]

Initial post Foundation One:
To be connected to nature to me means first making a conscious choice to engage in a mindful relationship with the inner and outer world simultaneously. As Michael Jospe has said, the more you cast your senses out there, the more connected you are inside. As Steven Harper says, we are nature, so being connected to it means I become intimately connected to myself, and also the larger Self that is universal consciousness. He speaks of ‘letting the wilderness in’ through a full sensory experience, and this approach resonates with me deeply. When I feel fully connected to my environment, I am ‘all in’, and I lose my essential sense of separateness. I feel wholeness, and can rest there without anxiety, fear, or even hope or regret. In those moments, we simply ARE, whether in the rain and the mud, or in the sunny days that will surely follow. My experiences in nature mirror my internal experiences, and as I engage with nature in a curious way, watching for tracks or other signs and wondering ‘why?’ I allow this same process to inform and guide my internal workings, wondering why I reacted a certain way, or why I am drawn to or avoid certain experiences or feelings. This encourages what Rogers calls that inner attentiveness, so we can begin to go from Stimulus/Response to a more deliberate process of Stimulus/Thinking/Decision/Response. Jon Young also speak about this quality of curiosity, of asking the who, what where why and how about what we notice in nature. This can lead directly to the Sacred Questions used in our coaching practice: What do you notice, What does that mean to you, and what might that teach you about yourself or your situation? This opening to curiosity feels to be the key ingredient in any worthwhile connection to nature for it asks that we drop our preconceived ideas about what we will encounter (the story), and open to the experience. Only then can I encounter new information that can guide me to greater awareness of what is, and to a sense of greater wholeness and connection. When we already have a story in mind for what will happen—whether it’s a wilderness trek, or a coaching session with a client—we short-circuit the aliveness that comes from not knowing. This curious openness also allows what Young terms a ‘firsthand knowledge’ of our situation and surroundings. This feels so important to me in working with clients—to create a safe container that allows them to gain self knowledge through their own unfiltered direct experience. As Jenny Rogers points out an effective coach steps back consciously and allows the client to set the agenda. We can do this by encouraging clients to explore nature, and their own inner wilderness, with curiosity and acceptance of where they are at that moment. As she says, the fundamental purpose of coaching is learning, and as a coach I want to be open to allowing that learning to happen for my client –using Young’s 50-50 approach, letting nature and what Rogers calls ‘the client’s infinite resourcefulness’ to play a major part in the process.

All authors point out that connecting with nature allows our brain to form new associations and draw new conclusions about the world. Both Rogers and Young both emphasize the importance of building new neural pathways through conscious mindfulness/sensory awareness techniques to overcome habitual perceptions of the world, with Rogers stating that as little as 10% of our feelings are a result of outer circumstances, with the other 90% formed through our emotional ‘map of the world.’

Harper calls this ‘attentiveness’ and says that in nature we develop a ‘sustained container of mindfulness’. I’ve felt this on extended wilderness trips, and I see in my own practice how repeated exposure through core routines like sit spot and tracking are gradually changing my relationship with a place I previously thought I knew so well, and changing who I thought I was in relation to the world. Kaplan and Talbot provide good support through a large body of research indicating that wilderness can change everyone in some way, and that longer exposure—or repeated exposure—can create state changes in people which other therapy or modalities failed to elicit.

Harper speaks of going into wilderness to encounter and assimilate our shadow side. This is our wild animal side, that part which holds a vast storehouse of instinctual wisdom. When I allow myself–or a client—to become fully immersed by an experiential encounter in nature, this instinctual wisdom can rise to the surface from the subconscious, and begin to guide our lives in previously unimagined, and beautiful ways.

Young points out that we see what we are searching for, and this can help provide a powerful session with a client who is positively ‘primed’ through the severance phase to seek answers for themselves when in that nature threshold phase. Our brains are hard-wired to sift through all the possible sensory clues to find what we need.

When I can work with the client’s agenda to identify and clarify their deeper need, and engage as feeling, curious, and not-knowing partners with nature, I have laid the groundwork. Then I must TRUST that nature will do what is appropriate for that client at that moment.

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Everyone!
My name is Sandy Shea, and I look forward to this momentous journey with all of us! I apologize for being so late to the discussion here. I’ve been doing environmental activist work for the past 30 years. I recently got a master’s degree in ecopsychology from Naropa. I live in Crested Butte, CO.

I have space for three people if you need a ride to Starhouse. I will be staying with friends at 20th & Mapleton, so pretty central for anyone who still needs a ride. You can reply here or call me directly at (970) 349-6424. I’ll also post this on Googlesheets when allowed. 🙂

[Sandy Shea]

My wanders in Saspol village in Northern India:

I went on an unintentional wander up the path toward the mediation caves. I noticed wild rose bushes to my right and then a chorus of fluttering within the dense bushes—many small birds were feeding on the rose hips. I couldn’t see them but the bushes moving signaled me. I stopped my wander and was very still. The birds sensed I was there and watching them. A group of 20-30 birds began fluttering into the top of the apricot tree just behind. I could see them now, and looked at them intently, feeling they were up there to get a better look at me before saying goodbye. Then that group all took flight at the same time, creating the wonderful fluttering sound of many small wings as they flew to the west. This happened two more times; the birds would rise into the tall tree behind, and then after 10 seconds or so—at some signal I could not sense— that group would flutter away. I could almost feel their wing beats and I was astonished to find the bushes held so many birds. My thinking has totally stopped and I was just in awe at the event. Of course I wondered what the message was in that moment. I still wonder. But I am certain that there was a connection between me and those birds—that we were deeply aware of each other. For a while I got lost in trying hard to decipher—to make meaning out of— the encounter. Now it seems very simple: I am connected always, and more connected when I am in a state of deep awareness. They were pausing there to let that sense of connection take place. They were so delicate and innocent, and I felt honored by their presence. Lesson: When I pause, to let the beauty in as John said, and stop trying so hard to find something—meaning, answers, whatever—then I feel (at least for a moment) that I AM that beauty and all is right with the world and my place in it.
Thoughts in terms of life and career: I find myself struggling to let myself be guided, to relax into this moment. I want an outcome, a goal: “Go to that tree, maybe I should make it to the top of this hill”, etc. For me there are “thinking-related” goals and “feeling-related” ones. I experience difficulty in my life when only focusing on the thinking. As for my career, I feel that being a life coach is something that speaks to my heart. My thinking mind sometimes finds all kinds of reasons why this is a stupid idea. “Not good enough” “How could I possibly…”etc. But these are exactly the thoughts many clients would have. As they say, you can’t take someone to a place you haven’t been before yourself”. So that’s where I am.

[Sandy Shea]

Discussion question: What is nature connection? For me, nature connection is coming home to our truest Selves— a self in tune with its environment, be it an inner city, or a deep wilderness. This Self recognizes intuitively and deeply our coming out of the earth, not coming into it, (as if we’re aliens, thus we feel alienation!). Nature connection is about deep attention and observation to outer phenomena, and to our inner response(s). Nature connection also involves trusting the rightness of what’s happening at this moment—not denying our experience because it may be uncomfortable or new. Ultimately, our degree of connection with the outer nature is a mirror for our connection with our inner nature. When we are deeply connected, we enter into a reciprocal relationship with our outer environment, one that informs our inner selves to the deepest soul level.

Why is it important to you? Nature connection is essential to me because without it, I am like a motherless child, cast upon the hard shores of a soul-less industrial society! Nature connection makes me feel deeply alive and reverential for all life. It connects me to the more-than-human world in unspeakable, but deeply felt, ways. The connection is also infinitely scalable: It connects me to long cycles of cosmological time, to my human ancestry, to a grove of brilliantly turning aspens whose scent carries in the breeze, and to the black ant who I almost stepped on. Nature is our universal mother. I am not human without a connection to, and a dialogue with, nature.

What are the real challenges you face in maintaining your connection? I often fail to be outwardly observant enough to make a real connection with my environment. I go too fast. I see it, I label it, but then I just go on. Thus, the thinking about my own personal drama begins, and the rest is…history. Then I’ve totally lost any connection with anything outside my own fear-based ego center. So, I have to be going slow enough to REALLY notice my environment, and then have the intention to engage with it, as you would a lover or a small child. Lots more listening, little inner chatter. Use multiple senses. Be present, and open to the experience.

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Josh,
I appreciate your searching for the ‘nature container’ or experience that feels right for you to offer for your clients. Cory’s post said alot to me here about always being connected, so wherever we are–even in the midst of a city– we can find deepest ourselves and find a connection to ALL that is. It feels like we have been programmed to seek those far-out wilderness or exotic types of experiences–I myself fall into this trap by going to India so often. Yes, it’s different and stimulating, but when I trust and allow deep opening from somewhere in my center, i can enter the same mind/heart-space right here at my home. Thank you for your post, and the reminder for me to be here now. Have you found sign of any foxes yet? 🙂

[Sandy Shea]

Taylor,
Thanks for your post and the reminder: “I really wanted to focus on people being more mindful with our planet and helping to be an advocate for her. What I found was, not only did I burn out incredibly fast, but people could not hear what I was saying. With the realization that the disconnection from nature also means a disconnection from self, makes complete sense.’
This was me for SO MANY years! And I burned out hard. I was the angry, impatient enviro, who always knew better…and I was often a self-righteous a**hole! This leads me again to think about “I value you, I value me” and how that plays out in my life, and with others. I can see now how I’ve had the tendency to be either the one who is above others –who ‘knows better than they’ OR the one who feels less than others (thus the anger and alienation). When I come home to our mutual connection to nature, this is connection to ourselves and each other on a deep level. As Cory says in his post, we can’t be really disconnected–we always ARE. Just realizing this puts a lot of my mental gymnastics into perspective. Thanks for your post!

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Lisa!
Thanks for that visualization of peeling the orange. Wow. I tried it just now and it was a cool experience. It amazes me how we are on autopilot so much of the time, allowing our brains to run with stories that are not empowering for our awareness and growth. This reminds me of the power of the 7 stairs exercise, and how that can totally change my focus and emotional baseline–literally changing our reality. I have a *real* orange here that I’m going to savor slowly now. Thank you for your post!

[Sandy Shea]

hi Ben,
I really appreciated your post, especially the whole idea that we already know what it is to be deeply connected to nature–we just have to create the conditions to support it. Sometimes I get in my head and wonder why I’m not feeling more connected. This leads me down the rabbit hole of self judgement. Energy goes where attention flows!

But if I just do the practices and trust that I already am nature, the connection arises. So instead of ‘trying to make something happen’, I shift it to ‘allow my true nature’ to connect with my environment. This reminds me of a Pema Chodron quote that I sometimes use in meditation class-it goes something like: “we’re not here to get rid of anything, but to uncover who we really are.”

I also like your focus on community. It’s a good reminder for me that when I’m working on myself or with a client, I am also healing the larger community. This feels empowering and gives my life’s work a far greater sense of purpose. Thanks for you post.

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Lisa,
Looks like we’re all set. I’ll pick you up at the parking lot at Tantra X Table Mesa. My cell is 970 275-0058.
See you Friday AM at 8:15

Sandy

[Sandy Shea]

Hi Rollin,
I enjoyed reading your post here, and one line really struck me–“I have accepted this battle of the mind and the heart as a mountain with no top.” This was a good reminder for me that the tension I perceive between feeling and thinking is constantly changing and never-ending. Thinking, thinking, too much thinking, I tell myself.

I too tend to view it inside me as an on-going ‘battle’, and i now will consider re-framing the relationship to be more like a partnership than a battle, for upon reflection I see i cannot have one without the other.
Thank you for spurring this idea in me!