Sara Brells
Forum Replies Created
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F2 Summary Post
In reflecting on the rich discussion in this module and how it connects with the ceremony and severance focus of the in-person portion of Fondation 2, I notice something that is very important to me: I believe deeply in the criticality of regenerating human’s relationship with the natural world. And I see nature-connected coaching as a means to this important work – whether that is what clients initially come to me seeking or not, I want to weave in and promote this re-membering (in the truest meaning of the word) with the psyche’s bond “to the Earth that mothered us into existence.” I do really agree that there is “an inner deadening, an increasingly deployed defense against the stresses of living in an overbuilt industrialized society saturated by intrusive advertising and media, unregulated toxic chemicals, unhealthy food, parasitic business practices, time stressed living, a heart-warping culture of perpetual war and relentlessly mindless political propaganda.” And I also know deeply that there is a more soulful, joyful, connected way to live, and I want to guide people toward that way of walking on Mother Earth. Not because She needs “saved” by us (as John pointed out, Earth has done just fine without us for over 4.5999995 billion years!), but because life is beautiful, and I want so deeply for future generations to experience right relationship with one another and Mother Earth.
And I see more and more clearly how the Severance phase of the Coaching Ceremony relates directly with this. It encourages a literal severing from the old, disconnected way of being. We can guide clients simultaneously into deeper connection with nature and with their inner knowing, because they are intrinsically linked. Severance is essentially guiding the client toward their empowered creation of the new story they want to step into; a new way of being. The question I am carrying with me from this module is an exploration of my own directiveness in bringing nature connection into the client’s story and process.
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Summary Post
In reviewing my notes from Foundations 4 in Gunnison, I’m recognizing this portion of the Coaching Ceremony is an area I would like to grow stronger in. Sure, I can guide a client through the SMART goals process at the end of the session. But the art and science of facilitating an experience with high threshold energy that fuels creative ideas and solutions, guiding back into a meaningful planning stage connected to new beliefs and images of ideal self? Yea, I haven’t done that yet with a practice client. And that’s ok – like others of you have said, this process is messy and imperfect and beautiful just as it is. AND, I want to dig into this portion of the ceremony, because it just might be the most impactful part, and it is definitely a unique part to NCC – weaving together the threshold with actionable changes. I would like to begin by revisiting the recordings from those days of the Foundations training. Anyone else want to join me? 😉
In the meantime, I’m going to use this forum to try to summarize and make sense of my notes for each of the stages of incorporation.
Integration
A successful threshold experience will generate a lot of energy in the client, which as the guide is important for us not only to be aware of, but also to elevate our own baseline with them. This space fuels expansive thinking: creativity, solutions, and visions that may not otherwise break through the client’s typical Thinking Mind. While thoughts influence emotions, emotions drive thoughts: and that is where a powerful Threshold experience can press
STOP
On a looping record of thoughts influencing emotions that don’t serve the client.
Threshold can create NEW emotions,which then drivie NEW thoughts, that all lead to their ability to be a new way, to begin showing up as that Ideal Self.
During this stage, as the guide, I need to feel into what will benefit that particular client:
Movement
Quiet reflection
Guiding them inwards, “notice what that feels like in your body”
Create a mantra, Soul Image (Ideal Self), or affirmation that harnesses the energy and imagery of Threshold, something that anchors
Developing a “powerful question” to train their mind to focus on, a question that will support them in holding onto their vision and staying in alignment (Side note, I’d like more examples of what this sounds like…I have a note to myself, ‘Powerful questions are like what I ask my tarot deck’ – things like, “What energy do I need to harness to ________ today/this week/this month”)
Planning
This is the stage at which energy starts to settle back into a more logical, verbal place – a little closer to the day to day reality, the thinking mind kicking into gear. This is the time to debrief, stitching what they learned and experienced in Threshold to their deeper need and desired outcomes for the session, and begin to turn them into tangible goals. This is also the time to support and encourage their belief in self, their belief in their ability to achieve their vision – and this is when their “WHY” comes into the picture. What are their goals, and why those goals? How are those things moving them closer to their vision? What would happen if they didn’t do it? A clearly defined “why” is what will keep clients motivated between sessions: anchoring into what they are moving towards (embodied in threshold), what would happen if no change occurred, and how these changes are moving them toward that vision.
While as the coach we may share ideas or suggestions, this part must come from the client – if they feel told to do it, it most likely wont happen. We can support chunking large goals into milestone to celebrate, bringing in SMART and backwards design (my teacher part) to determine realistic steps that close the gap between who they are and who they want to be. Their incorporation needs to exist in the stretch zone, and we can guide this with challenging questions, like, “How will you practice [this way of being] at home? “What are you up against?” And guiding them to tie an expansive emotion to their goal, the feeling they want – because whatever they end up doing, how they are being while doing it is what matters.
Accountability
One note that feels important to highlight is a note to self about destigmatizing “relapse.” We will snap back into old ways of being multiple times as we work to forge new pathways. I experience it almost daily. And that is OK. In each snap back are learnings, and as the coach, we can guide the client through navigating those messages and adjusting for the next step forward.
Returning to the original prompt for this module, this question has stuck with me: How would you like to collaborate with nature to support their awareness and success? Recently while wandering the neighborhood with my dog, something stood out to me: I do want a part of my coaching style to focus explicitly on supporting the client in developing a deeper, authentic relationship with the natural world. Not just with Nature as a co-guide, but also as a focus of sessions. Both because I believe that slowing down to the pace of Nature allows clients to drop in and listen to their inner knowing, and because my Activist part firmly believes that remembering our inherent connection with the natural world is a radical way of living on earth, and is the way we need to be to cultivate positive social change.
So a little piece of clarity around my ideal client: women who are seeking to deepen their connection with the natural world, both explicitly and implicitly through the ceremony.
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Foundations 3 Summary Post
I read back through what everyone wrote on here, as well as my notes from Foundations and the succession of webinars following our in-person Foundations, and wrote down all the nuggets that stood out to me. I’m going to try to incorporate them all here, so you may “hear” some of your own words and wisdom here – thank you!
First and foremost, the Threshold experience stands out to me as the thing that makes nature-connected coaching unique in two distinct ways: The opportunity to experience in advance the way you need to show up in life and the opportunity to slow down to the pace of nature as a doorway to your true inner knowing. A line from Daniel stands out to me here: “To create something new, you must do something you’ve never done before and be someone you’ve never been before.” The threshold experience provides us and our clients with an experience that anchors us into that way of being before ever going out into the “real world” with it.
Before Threshold
Now that I have a little bit of experience coaching practice clients who came into the experience knowing nothing about coaching nor nature-connected coaching, I am reflecting on how to set them up for success in the threshold part of the ceremony. Although we haven’t talked about this to my recollection, I am finding it important to preface the coaching session with some information around what it might look like, and to plant a seed for the threshold/experiementaion part of the ceremony It reminds me of Coyote Mentoring: give them just enough that they are prepared to go off and explore what it really means on their own, then afterwards we will debrief it. It is powerful and necessary for the client to “guide” the session by supporting them in creatively designing the threshold they need, and to do this, I notice they need to know at least a bit about the idea of threshold. I’m exploring what that might look and sound like, and how to offer suggestions or nature-connected guidance through their journey while remaining client-led.
Another thing that strikes me is the importance of building a container for their experience so that they feel empowered and supported by my presence to drop into the magical realm of the threshold, to let go of their thinking mind and let themselves exist in the alpha stage where they can tap into the visceral knowing that nature brings up. I know our brain kicks into gear to protect us from the scary unknown attached to surrendering the old self, and that is why the container and “work-up” to the point of threshold is so critical. The rapport, relationship and trust we build will determine if they are comfortable letting themselves drop into threshold. <i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>And this is why it is so critical we are attuned to their baseline – we need to express energy that is a bit higher than the client’s to keep them focused, which means noticing where they’re at, elevating my baseline a bit and guiding them across the threshold from that place. Our role is to support the client in shifting from a thinking state to a feeling state, and name it when we notice their mind tries to back them out of the experience because of fear! I also wonder if sometimes it takes a few sessions with a new client to get to a truly transformative threshold, or a threshold at all!
Identifying the deeper need is critical to all this. It can come through as words, feelings, images …as the coach, I need to be tuned into the non-verbal signs, the body language, the shifts in energy, and the mindsets and beliefs presenting. Some important notes on this:
Remember that the want is an arrow pointing at the real issue, deeper issue
Get curious about core beliefs, who they believe themselves to be, and who they need to be
Severing from old, stepping into the new
Could have a threshold IN severance – be creative and flexible, ceremony structure doesn’t need to be rigid…different types of threshold and paces…
If the client is not yet sure or cannot yet describe or name the deeper need, we can turn toward nature: finding imagery, metaphor, symbolism, or a mirror and then move them through the sacred Qs. I’m still working on being comfortable with a fluid ceremony structure and remembering we may spend the whole session in Severence. I find this table from our book helpful:
TYPES OF THRESHOLD
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Not yet sure about true want/need? Get moving, get into nature, out of head and into sensory experience
The want and deeper need are forming, and not yet solid: experiment with that deeper need, that way of being, then use sacred Qs to process if it felt right, if something is missing, etc.
Solid deeper need? Threshold experience that activates that, that provides an anchoring experience that can carry forward with them as they create something new in their lives
During Threshold
“Threshold is conscious experimentation in becoming this new version of yourself.” Clients need to know this, and it is important to challenge them to embody that new way of being in the threshold once the deeper need has been named. And to remind them of what might come when they let themselves drop in: “a palpable connection, a tangible transfer of information, or knowledge—even wisdom—that takes place within us when we are so deeply immersed in Nature.” (I love that phrasing!)
My role now as a coach and guide through that experience needs to be grounded in my own nature-connection so that I can tune into the energy around us and in my client. I need to simultaneously be attuned to safety and their stretch zone, to their baseline and that of the environment’s, to how the energy and emotions shifts through the experience, to the feelings of fear and apprehension of the unknown that arise.
After Threshold
The sacred questions are a powerful tool following threshold to support the client in debriefing what arose. Asking, “How does this translate into the vision for your life that we’re creating here?” may guide them toward solid integration and slowly leaving the magical realm and processing how to incorporate this new way of being into their day to day life. And even if it is a flat outcome, we can use the sacred Qs, retrace their steps, and get curious about deeper need! Any outcome provides information, and it is important to remember it is in the client’s hands – we can guide them to meaning making, but only they know the true meaning. And it may take time – much of the power and shifting happens outside of the session.
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Its been a struggle for me so far to really drop into a dreamy imagining of ideal client. I pop back up into my practical, analytical mind often, where that part of me (parts are truly everywhere now!) is quick to analyze what is “feasible,” which potential clients actually have money for coaching, and what is the most impactful.
This is me exploring how nature-connected coaching might fit into the fabric of social justice efforts, a lifelong passion and important part of my identity. It is what led me to education, and I still believe education is my niche in social change. How might that merge with coaching?
So at first, the ideal client popping up are young parents who are committed to raising their children outside the status quo paradigm, and who are figuring out what that looks like for them. As someone drawn to the potential power of positive social change through work with youth, my analytical mind determined that working with adults who influence youth holds great potential for positive social impact. The Coyote Guide book discusses the importance of modeling, and parents/guardians & teachers tend to be adults youth spend the most time around and are shaped by. By parents transforming the way they show up in the world in relationship with nature, there may be more hope for young generations to grow up with deeper connection to the natural world. I personally believe a nature-connected youth is critical for the health of both Mother Earth and any hope for sustaining human life on this incredible planet.
But who am I to coach parents when I myself am not a parent? Why not coach youth directly? Is that a thing? Could I make it a thing? Would I make any money coaching kids?
And so then I begin to think about teachers – the other group of adults who greatly shape the identity and mindsets of youth. As a former teacher, that probably makes more sense. But as a former teacher, I recognize how broke most teachers are and how little time we typically have for eating and sleeping, let alone coaching. Hmmmm…maybe I should go back to the idea of working with families; urban families who recognize something is missing in their life, and who have jobs that afford them access to coaching…
That is the vicious cycle in my head when ideal client comes up.
I have been able to drop in more dreamily occasionally, and when I have, here is what comes up:
HORSES ~ Horses played an incredibly healing role in my life as a child. They are intuits, mirrors for how we are showing up in the world, and bring me SO much joy. I want to share that with clients. So whoever that ideal client is, horses are another collaborator…
Young women ~ around the 18 – 22 age group, young women who see themselves as changemakers and are trying to figure out what that means in their life as they challenge the introjects of society.
Womxn identifying in general ~ I do not see myself working with men
Racial justice ~ working with folx who are oriented to racial justice, who have been and want to continue doing the hard work of unpacking and healing their own biases, privileges, and/or both lived and generational oppression. I don’t necessarily see myself facilitating this as a core part of coaching, but in working with the WHOLE client, it is important to me that it is present
Co-housing ~ I’ve been fascinated by this movement and idea for a couple of years now and have had some visions of working with newly forming co-housing communities, and/or starting my own
Writing ~ Writing both creatively and through journaling has been an incredibly healing part of my life. I see myself leading workshops that incorporate nature-connection and writing. Still not sure who with…but putting it out there
To try to merge some of the ideas that have grown out of the more dreamy state with my more practical mind, here are some of the people/organizations I found online:
Women’s Empowerment Workshop (http://www.womenempower.us/) – This is actually run by a woman who was in a very early NCC cohort. When I first came across her organization earlier this year, I was blown away – she is doing so much of what I would love to do…running workshops, one-on-one coaching, working with youth and women.
Horse Guided Empowerment (https://christinamarz.com/)- A dear friend of mine recently completed the facilitator certification course with this program, which feels like a beautiful fabric woven of three passions of mine : horses, coaching, and Ecuador (the program is based out of Ecuador). In a description of the work they do, the founder says: “Horses communicate through emotions and they are constantly scanning their environment for an energetic change. As social animals, they need authentic, congruent and predictable behavior in order to maintain harmony and safety in their herd..the horses will reflect your emotions and serve as a canvas for hidden thoughts, patterns or early affirmations. They do not judge or manipulate us, and they can not be fooled by our masks as they react to the feelings behind our actions.” In this sense, horses are a collaborator in the coaching session in the way that nature is – they are the nature, and the experience with them is the threshold experience.
Sage Family (https://sagefamily.com/shop)- I stumbled across this page by googling “kids nature coaching.” It is actually a woman in the PNW who is a mother and offers various coaching packages, including a parenting package and a homeschooling package. I hadn’t considered homeschooling coaching before – I noticed excitement in my body when I saw that. I was homeschooled through middle school in a very “unschooling” fashion, and I LOVED it. I could see that as a potential ideal client for myself ~ working with a family who wants to unschool. This site offers a helpful model for business and marketing, for when I get to that point. I also notice that her coaching packages are very formulaic. She has set steps to work through, which sounds to me more like mentoring than client-led coaching. Some of the main points of the parenting package stand out to me though: the importance of environment, routine, and making space for big feelings were pillars of focus in my work in early childhood. Hmmm…
The Nature in You (https://www.thenatureinyou.com/bookings-checkout/soulful-mentorship?referral=service_list_widget) – This woman’s business popped up in my Googling as well. This particular package (linked) is an inspiring example of her bringing together her experiences and strengths into a supportive package for the client. I appreciate that she calls it mentoring, because again, it sounds less client-led than coaching. What called to me were a couple of lines in her description of this package: “This package is specifically meant for those who are not just ready to feel better but to BE better.” and “…a deep journey to experience and actively use successful tools to find centeredness, wholeness, and connection. If you are experiencing overwhelm, anxiety, depression or a general sense of disconnectedness, this experience is for you. Throughout this experience, you will be lovingly guided to connect with the most powerful, wise and soulful version of yourself.” This resonates.
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</div>I will come back to this forum when I have more clarity around ideal client to respond to the rest of the prompt. For now, a common thread I notice is a desire to work with people who want to experience deeper connection: connection with themselves, with the natural world, and with their families. “Empowerment” was literally a word that kept coming up even though I wasn’t entering it into the search bar. I notice I have some sense of how I want to work with clients and some characteristics of clients, but I need to continue digging deeper into that question of, “What is the population that most excites you, and why?”
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This prompt is encouraging me to think of Threshold in an expansive way: not just the threshold experience we create for clients within the container of the coaching ceremony, but rather the layers of experiences that gift us the opportunity to taste how we want to be in the world. In this way, Foundations and the recent Toolbox Intensive are both thresholds in and of themselves. The nature-connected awareness activities on the land in Gunnison, outside of structured practice coaching sessions, offered threshold-like experiences. And what strikes me about each of these layers of threshold is their ability to anchor me into a feeling. This has been incredibly transformative for me already, as someone who has learned to exist mostly just in my head.
For example, during one of the awareness attunement exercises in Gunnison, I was overcome with a feeling of humbless and being held by Mother Earth. And that threshold experience anchored that feeling in me so deeply that I can go back to it anytime I feel myself acting from a place of scarcity or control. The experience taught me something important about how I want to show up in the world (from a place of humbleness and trust that I’m safe in the folds of mother earth), and with practice, I can sink back into that feeling. On my altar at home is a pinecone from my sit spot in Gunnison, and when I sit still, in 360 awareness, pinecone held to my heart, it comes back to me. And the more I practice cultivating that feeling and envisioning myself living life from that place, the more natural it becomes.
And this is experiential learning at its finest: experiencing, reflecting, concluding, and acting. Experiencing on a personal level the transformative power of threshold experiences is supporting me in reflecting and thinking about how to facilitate such transformative experiences with clients as well. That is the acting phase of the cycle. Grounding the whole cycle in nature is what makes it even more powerful.
Nature has guided me in a myriad of ways through this experience, and past: as a metaphor, as a mirror, as a teacher, as a mother. The most powerful way she has shown up, though, is as a mentor modeling. the. importance. of. slowing. down. Slowing down in the experience of the coaching session, slowing down my awareness to the present moment, slowing down my thinking, my movements, my everything. Living with nature’s pace is my #1 supporter in tuning into Soul and listening to Vision. This means it is my role to facilitate a space for my clients in which nature can participate by guiding them to slow down and tune inward as well.
In terms of Core Competencies I want to build on to feel confident in that “place” as a coach, one that stands out to me is within 2. Embodies a Coaching Mindset: (4) Remains aware of and open to the influence of context and culture on self and others. In guiding a client through a threshold experience, it feels critical I am aware of their worldview and the “context and culture” of their relationship with nature. My interpretation of this is that a client’s religious views, cultural views, and societal influences will influence their creativity, stretch zone, and experience. It is my role as a coach to be attuned to this and supportive of this aspect of their journey. For example, I am thinking of a couple of female-identifying friends of color who do not feel comfortable alone in the wild due to generational trauma. This may result in their stretch zone being much closer to their comfort zone than others like myself who grew up frolicking in the woods and have not experienced trauma.
All of the above also seems related to 4. Cultivates Trust and Safety. Each component of this Core Competency seems important when it comes to facilitating a transformational threshold experience. Without trust and and safety, the client will not be able to drop in fully to the present moment experience because their fight or flight response may be triggered. This results in a more brain-based experience as opposed to the emotional, heart-centered experience that is so transformational (Rogers, 69).
Additionally, 5. Maintains Presence: (5) Is comfortable working in a space of not knowing is important, and a definite growth area for me both personally and therefore also in my coaching. To be able to guide a client through the unknown, I must also be comfortable and trusting of the unknown as well.
Yet another that stands out to me in the threshold experience is Communicating Effectively (4) Notices, acknowledges and explores the client’s emotions, energy shifts, non-verbal cues or other behaviors. In witnesses a client’s threshold experience, my own attunement and “contact” with them through it adds power into the debrief and integration following the experience.
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The Ecopsychology articles touched upon they very key reasons I am drawn to nature-connected coaching: A deep respect for the animist worldviews of traditional cultures that know how to live in right relationship with the earth, and a desire to learn from those cultures; A belief in the interconnected nature of human and earth wellbeing; A craving to shift mindsets and lifestyles away from the extractive culture of Capitalism and towards a more conscious way of being. The fact that these principles and practices exist in both ecopsychology and nature-connected coaching demonstrates the complementary relationship between these fields. In the Buzzell and Chalquist article, they even define ecotherapy as “healing and growth nurtured by healthy interaction with the earth.” I could apply this same description to what we are learning to do as NCC coaches. Our approach might be a bit different, but the premise is shared. Which means, there is a wealth of research and knowledge and wisdom we can learn from in our journey towards becoming a Nature-Connected coach.
All of these articles referenced that alienation from the natural world that we also talked about during our time in Gunnison: we see the chasm between the spirit of the earth and of our communities, our loved ones, and even strangers we pass on the street. We’ve been talking about how nature reflects back to us, and that belief is touched upon when both Roszak said “the earth is sick and speaking through us” and in the Buzzell & Chalquist spoke of the rampant fear and grief in society as a “byproduct of unconscious relation to the distress of the earth.” It’s real, and knowing that there is a branch of psychology that sees that feels promising to me.
We do live in an extractive, competitive, desensitized society shaped by religious, economic and political structures that disdain the animist worldviews of First People who know how to live in right relationship with the land. And so here we are. However, Mother Earth is incredibly resilient and while our distress may be hers, she is also willing to be a partner in re-discovering a “healing sense of belonging and homecoming in a world ridden by displacement” (Buzzell & Chalquist). This is the strength of the blending of ecopyschology and nature-connected coaching. Learning more about Ecopsychology will enhance my abilities as a coach to guide people across that chasm and heal their relationship with them self and with the earth.
I appreciated that Roszak’s article acknowledged the cultural appropriation that can and is happening in the broader healing world (which he referred to as ‘uninvited New Age enthusiasts’). This is something that I’ve been thinking about a lot the last several years of my life, first within my healing circles of community in Ecuador and now dipping my toes into the waters of the healing world in the US. And I don’t have answers. In fact, the more I learn and think and read about it, the more I realize I do not know or yet understand. So instead I hold an evolving understanding and a lot of questions. A mentor once told me, “live out the questions.” My question right now is so big that I could not figure out how to phrase it into one question. I’ve rewritten it a number of times in this google doc. So instead, I share a series of statements and beliefs that I am exploring how to reconcile.
A deeply rooted knowing that the cultures of the First People model how to live in harmony with Mother Earth, in a way that shows her respect and lives in alignment rather than in control.
A deep desire to learn from the wisdom of First Peoples’ cultures in my own journey of growth, unlearning, and reweaving a life in harmony with the earth.
A belief that all humans need to learn from First People and work to bring back to life their innate relationship with the earth.
A desire to support individuals in rekindling their relationship with the earth, which might mean sharing practices I’ve learned along my own journey – none of which derive from my own culture.
An understanding that packaging up and selling offerings that composed of practices from other cultures for my own profit is cultural appropriation, even when it also benefits clients.
A knowing that there must be a way to live in reverence for the First People while also supporting my community in their own healing journeys influenced and shaped by indigenous wisdom.
Essentially, I am exploring how to learn from indigenous wisdom and worldviews, share what I learn, and not be culturally appropriative.
All this to say, I see this important topic as both a potential short-coming and a potential strength. If we go about ecotherapy/coaching practices in a way that does not honor the foundational cultures to these understandings, I do not feel Earth will actually heal. So even more than developing skills to go about this work in a way that respects the Earth and cultures I am learning from, I want to learn how to be in right relationship with them.
I could say a lot more on the topic but I do not think I’ve really answered the original question, so I’ll stop here for now. 🙂
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Ah, Lindsay! This sounds so you. I see how you are weaving your unique passions, experiences and skillsets into the ceremony of nature-connected coaching. It is so exciting and inspiring to hear how this is unfolding for each individual, as I get to know each of you better, and see the ways it aligns with who you are at your core. What a difference already from how we all showed up at Foundations, unsure of how to make this “our own!” I look forward to hearing more about your experiences and vision next week when we are back in-person. 🙂
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Hi Hannah,
I appreciate how you’re imagining the ways you could weave together the various skillsets you have to offer. I foresee some powerful offerings in the way of packages that support youth holistically in their transition to adulthood! In reading your post, it also made me think of this organization you might be curious about…
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Thanks for sharing your journey and thought process here, Joy! I love that you’re leaning into this pull toward the freedom & travel coaching niche – particularly because I could see clients coming to you because you’ve experienced and created this for yourself. You have a unique set of offerings and experiences to guide your work, and this will resonate with clients inspired by you. And this doesn’t mean the trifecta wont happen someday – I even wonder how it might fit into your travel coaching niche? For some clients craving freedom, there may be a deeply subconscious block around something like scarcity (*coughmecough*) holding them back that could benefit from moving through the subconscious, to energy work, to forward motion coaching…
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Thank you, Hannah! I definitely feel some parallels in our interests with coaching 🙂 And I’d love to hear more about your experience and noticings with co-housing sometime!
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Thank you, Lindsay! It is affirming to hear that you notice the throughlines, as I still feel a bit all over the place with this…I’m trying to just trust the feeling of vision and that how it all fits together will reveal itself along the way. I’m excited to learn more about your journey with this too!
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Joy – thanks for pointing that out! Challenging my competing commitments/mindset, how coach-y of you. 😉 I’ll reflect on this more, thank you…
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I totally agree, John – it feels as if the most important part of our role in this collaborative journey is building a relationship with the client and facilitating a space in which they can drop out of their head, into their heart, and move through nature with a mindset open to her wisdom. And while I’m getting more comfortable doing this with y’all at intensives, I am realizing how different and more challenging that will be with “real” clients who maybe do not have this foundational understanding that we’re all bringing into the sessions! I look forward to all of us sharing about those experiences more as we get to working with practice clients soon…
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Hi Hannah ~
Thank you for sharing. 🙂 Something that stood out to me about your post, and then kept coming up for me as I was writing and reflecting on this prompt, is the importance of each of our own continued development. Striving to re-attune to our intuition so as to be able to guide a client closer to their own. Deepening comfort with the unknown personally so as to be able to guide a client through it. And so on. For this reason, our cohort is so important to me on this journey! For inspiration, for accountability, and for increasing my comfort with letting my journey and all my parts be seen. <3
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Hi Lindsay,
While I was reading the last article tonight (the Ecopsychology Principles one), I found myself trying to imagine in my mind’s eye that I was a “traditional” therapist sneakily trying to weave in nature connected practices that would awake the “eco conscious” in a client otherwise disconnected and unaware of their disconnect. And then I logged in here and read your similar pondering around finding clients in this materialistic world who are open to these concepts!
So while I imagine that most clients who find us/seek us out will be folks who are drawn to earth-based practices, it also leaves me wondering about how I might attract other types of clients too, and slowly guide them toward remembering that eco conscious. Because clients who are independently attracted to working with a nature-connected coach are not necessarily the people in the world who most need it. 😉 I guess it leaves me thinking about my “ideal client”…
Thanks for bringing this into your post! Would love to hear more of your thoughts on the topic, or from others too…