Sarah Hope
Forum Replies Created
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The biggest take-away from this class was personal. learning about what happens to the brain when it is overwhelmed helped me make sense of so many difficult times in my life. There have been so many moments where I simply could not get focused, I would get down on myself for this and it would only make things worse. I understand now that this was essentially my brain dealing with overwhelm. Now that I get it, I’m doing things differently. I’ve stopped overriding my instincts and started paying attention to what I’m experiencing in the moment. This has brought me so much more clarity in each moment. Understanding what is happening within myself also gives me a better understanding of what is happening with my clients.
Change makes much more sense to me when I can think about it in terms of what is happening in the brain. It’s more like a puzzle for me now. -
I reflect back on my experiences as a child, I was allowed to be in nature alone for hours. In the summers, our cabin was on a wild island where there were eagles and moose. Wild berries grew amongst the ferns in the woods that surrounded the house. I had a tree frog friend and offered him shelter in an old coffee can. My grandmother bathed me with water from the lake heated on an old gas stove. Even at home I could roam in the garden or the garden of the neighbors. I cannot help but think of how few concerns I had. I was not depressed or anxious or stuck. I used to say that was because I was a child and children aren’t plagued with mental distress and illness.. but that is not true. They are. I was well adjusted because I was adjusted to my environment. To me ecopsychology is just that- becoming adjusted to our environment as living things.
Ecopsychology easily helps us balance the masculine and feminine providing models of receptivity and exertion that function easily and naturally to create and synthesize new growth. Whereas, he models of the masculine and feminine invented for us in the media cause us distress and confusion leading to a stuckness and a feeling we should be different somehow.
When coaching and ecopsycology meet the phrase that best applies is- let go and let nature. As an earth connected coach I can easily take the session outside and slow down movement letting the environment teach and simply encouraging the insights that appear.
Ecopsychology also provides a better framework for dealing with death and loss. When we consider nature as the overall context, we can easily see the way that death makes way for new life when brought into coaching the client can see how holding on to something that is ready to die or be let go of is hindering their progress. Accepting nature as context can help make sense of letting go of the old to make way for the new. There is a connection to a greater vision and the sense of being in rhythm with all living things that can help the client adjust and thrive better in their environment.
Ritual I think is where we can adopt the principles of nature and weave them meaningfully into our own lives. It is where the human psyche and nature can meet and desired change can be brought about in a way that feels whole and alive. -
I love the line “there is wisdom in the parts we are not so comfortable listening to.”
I find this often in my own parts- the hidden and uncomfortable parts can really create clarity in the places we feel stuck or blocked.
I love the courage you express in letting your clients be uncomfortable for a while. it is clear that you hold them well in the discomfort- but also don’t let the, off the hook. -
Maria,
I love the metaphor or the lighthouse. You must have really been in the moment to have brought this out in him.
I also love that one of the parts was called “voice”. It makes me wonder if all of the parts can speak or if there is a separate part called “voice” that can put into words what the parts are feeling.
Your description of your session really came alive in my mind- so colorful and vibrant. -
I was so inspired and Alice doing the partswork training that I decided doc
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I did a practice partswork session with the permission of an actual client. She was describing a relationship with her mother that felt oppressive. I brought in a little Gestalt by asking how she was experiencing that in the moment. She mentioned she felt like a yo-yo. I moved with her body language to express my awareness of this feeling. She was rather animated continuing with stories illustrating how she is feeling manipulated by her relationship with her mother.I would ask her which part of her felt this way- but she was answering the question with more stories. I has having a hard time redirecting her from the stories of incidents in the past when I got an idea. The office where I work is a play therapy office and has several toys. I grabbed the hula hoops an asked her to use the space to show me what she was experiencing. She initially had both of her parents (represented by hula hoops) nearly on top of her (hula hoop). The more she told the stories the more enmeshed they became in her diagram. She sounded frenetic and agitated. I asked her how she could get some space herself. She said “by getting them off of me.” I asked “where do you want them?”
She moved her mothers hoop to the periphery and her fathers about a foot away.
I asked her now that she had some room for herself if she would like to look inside. She said she felt curious and didn’t really know. I gave her access to some props and toys and a prompt to see if any of them represented awarenesses inside of her. She immediately began to fill the hoop with parts. Within minutes she had created a whole mandala. Her affect changed from frenetic to playful- she was really enjoying the process. We began to ask questions of the various figures within.
This brought us a little over the session end time- I asked if this was ok and she said. “Yes! I’m way into this.” -
Deanna,
I often wonder of parts can die as well. Sometimes i think they are integrated into soul- and that this is a movement in the direction of wholeness. I am currently in the process of doing partswork with my husband with the support of two coaches (not to be redundant but i mention this later in my posts)
Some of my more difficult parts seem to merge into other parts when they are understood or they get an promotion to a better title that reflects wholeness. For example my “Tomboy” recently became a child I call Sammy. Who is more concerned with play than gender. My nihilist became existentialist.
Thanks for the question. Just reading it providing clarity for me. -
I’m way late to the game in posting this. Now that I finally figured out where to post, I hope that my responses will be more timely.
I admittedly have a thought time connecting to technology even though it is a part of my every day life.
What it means to me to be connected to nature is a constant question in my life. When I was very young, there seemed to be no separation between nature and me. I remember gazing into tide pools watching them wriggle with life and feeling the same force inside of myself.
As I grew, I feel I became more and more disconnected from this feeling and most of my adult life has been an attempt to get it back. I am only now realizing through these readings that all of my seeking has really been an attempt to be as connected as I was.
To me being a nature connected coach means reconnecting with the innate truth and accessing the wisdom all around us. It soothes my restlessness when I surrender to nature and to the elements around me.
When I was raising my children there was some pressure to name a belief system or claim a spirituality. After visiting a few churches and feeling absolutely nothing, I found a book at the library on Paganism: A nature based religion.
I was completely won over. Here was something I could believe in, the divinity in nature. Celebrating the seasons and the changes gave us traditions that were grounding and fraught with meaning. I knew I wasn’t selling my children a myth but rather a lasting connection with the sacredness of nature. Through this context i think I was able to to teach my children to trust in their own innate being, and in the natural world.
This is my hope as nature connected coach, that I will be able to help people return to the their own expression as a living part of the natural world and to help those that feel lost (as I often have) to feel guided by the rhythm and pulse of nature.
I further hope that when people can reawaken to their own connection with nature, we will prioritize the healing of the planet. -
This shift to Veganism is so inspiring Ally! I love how you created something new in your relationship through your commitment to the earth.
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@lisa I especially appreciate the way you mention noticing a spider crawling across the floor. This can happen almost anywhere and bring us right back into remember the way we are sharing space and life force with so many living things.
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Ally, I especially appreciate the way that you mention flowing with the seasons. Seasons help me to remember that everything, even the most uncomfortable feelings are bound to change. It is interesting that the season that other people use for leisure is your busiest. I feel curious about how your deepening connection with nature will influence your life.
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Nature Connection to me, means being limitless. To drink in nature with every cell of my body through my senses ultimately means that I too and nature and so is everyone I meet. To view myself as nature quiets my inner narrative and helps me accept my impulses, hungers and desires.
It allows me then to see the way that others challenge me as a new way to relate and adapt with my surroundings. When am stuck in life, I can bring in the question “what would nature do?” And my answer can be directly outside my door.
Nature connection also means returning to my inner wild, shedding the constraints of civilization and domestication and behaving authentically and unapologetically.
It is in the context of the wilderness that we truly recognize ourselves and can bring others to the inner and outer revelations that ultimately can lead to life satisfaction and the desire to be here on this amazing planet. What better goal is there than to know who you are, how you fit and to feel in synch with life?
It is from this place that I feel most suited and in harmony with being on earth. It is a way I’d be honored to share with others.
Reading the above posts helped deepen my connection to this work even more. As I read the reflections of the community I feel that I have found my tribe and knowing that there are others out there who feel this connection brings me hope. -
Presence is the essence of coaching to me. I think so few people are used to feeling that someone is present with them. This is one of greatest values of coaching. So mush can unfold from the place of presence. I like the way it is described here as a dance. Humor and spontaneity can unfold from this place. Presence is fun, supportive and light. It’s definitely where the magic in coaching begins and where the relationship is created. When people feel you are present with them they tend to trust you and want to go deeper.
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Hi everyone,
I’m adjusting to the idea of our online intensive. I’ve had some feelings of grief over not traveling to be immersed in nature with other professionals but I am feeling ready to begin tomorrow. I’m taking the opportunity to practice flexibility and non-attachment.
Throughout this period of shelter in place, I’ve had many emotions, but the unexpected gift of this training has been learning how to relate with the land I live on. I am viewing this switch to online as another opportunity to deepen my understanding of my home and myself as a part of nature. I’ve become aware that my wanderlust has kept me from being present with the sacred nature of my own space.
I’ll be in my yard with the vegetables, flowers and my beehives I tend. I hope to learn to listen more deeply to the land that holds my home, where I have raised my children, worked, nourished myself and slept for the past 15 years.
I look forward to being with you all this week. -
Leslie, it’s interesting to read how you apply this in your work with body change. It makes so much sense that it begins in the brain. I can see how the way you use this would give your clients a way to feel empowered around the mindset the might use to change their bodies.