[Sul]

@Sophie
You are a wonderfully present guide and your ideal client is seeking you too!I like how you mentioned they are motivated to explore and play. This is great in establishing approach.I relate to wanting ideal client to be leadership oriented. I want to do outdoor sessions mainly myself and yes the birds tell us so much!! I’m excited for you bringing nature integration as you mentioned into the world. Thanks for sharing I relate to a lot of what you mentioned about ideal client.

[Sul]

Initial post:

When I think about coaching/guiding others what comes to mind is me being in a healthy place of mind body and spirit to be able to show up for them. What has held me back in the past has been either physical illness or mental issues like anxiety. I’m working on being good to myself and taking care of balancing these dimensions of self so I can coach/guide. With that said other things that come to mind are working with women which has been my main audience for years. I have recently opened my practice to men’s circles where we explore soul and nature connection and it has been so sweet and fun and rewarding. I also have a deep desire to mentor girls age 10-14 and work with children like preschool or kindergarten age. All of these groups of people excite me and I have so many ideas of working with them I’d like to explore. Right now I’d say most of my curriculum and education is focused on women age 20-40.
I imagine working with women in the same way I have before but expanded upon with my nature-connected coaching skills. I bring yoga, meditation, expressive movement and dance, Sacred Feminine teachings, ritual and ceremony, feminine spirituality, fertility and sexuality empowerment and education, birth and postpartum doula care, Womb healing energy work, archetype exploration through the menstrual cycle and mentoring and more. I keep coming back to a school of women’s mysteries like priestesshood but I’m not sure 😉
One major reason I joined EBI NCC was to make my work more grounded in the context of nature than ever before. My offerings already had some components of nature connection especially around Moon cycle teachings and attunements but I felt starved for more of an earth nature connection.
Nature has always communicated with me and more so in the last decade of my life. I sought out indigenous medicine systems of knowledge to grow and heal and learn and that amplified my earth nature connection so much that the spirits came pouring through my dreams and other metaphorical and symbolic synchronistic ways. I could then guide from a surer place.
I wanted more so EBI felt like the right place to help me become a better tracker and cultivate deeper nature connection with community who also sought that.
So how might I work with my ideal client based on this and all the module teachings?
I see the goal being a mentoring of how to have a spiritually connected relationship to nature a magical one that the wise, the wild or the witchy, priestess women will want to work on. Why do they want this? Because they have felt they were this all their life. Because they are returning to a sense of belonging after a long exile of their sacred feminine and they can heal themselves their community and family. Because they want to make change through a spiritual activist life. Because they are creative women who want to claim their spiritual sovereignty. They are artists who are blocked and need inspiration to do their art again. Because they tap into the otherworld realms and bring messages and need to know it is safe to share that with the world. Becuase they were not given sex education and don’t know about their bodies and choices. I see these as some common categories or goals.
I would bring in eco-psychology for the one’s who feel the earth deeply. I would bring in sensory awareness meditation into yoga and movement. I would walk with them on the beach by the river in the park near their home and remind them the four directions the elements and nature is inside their human made home and their creatormade bodyhome. I will video chat with them I will create online courses eventually but I want to do live outdoor gatherings to weave it all together. Maybe retreat week long style in sacred places in the world. Maybe near sacred sites of the Divine Feminine…Maybe it would inlude going to wolf sanctuaries or national parks for hiking and camping. I like imagining tailoring this to a 13 year old girl or a 35 year old woman. This is part of the vision to support their awareness and success.
I just discovered earth speak collective which states that they invite all love the earth and nature and teach some nature oriented subject healing or holistic things to connect others. They host teachers of these kinds of subjects too and I may join their network soon. Since I just found out about this collective I don’t know too much about them but what I have learned that I could compare to EBI NCC is that both empasize SOUL DIRECTED living and leadership.

[Sul]

My summary post for foundation three:

In reflecting on the entire learning experience of this module and the discussion with my cohort there are some connections I’m making.I really value the experiences of my cohort to learn from diverse range of others and how this work travels through their souls.It makes me think of creating questionaires that provide me with feedback from clients about their sessions with me.
I’m thankful for the discussion about ideal clients and gaining clarity on that for my practice. I also got some helpful tools to bring into my practice with learning how to care for my well being as a coach and tracking patterns of thinking in others like contemplation and how to approach that.It got me thinking of things I was contemplating for awhile and what can I do to make a change but also acknowleding that it’s hard. Just because I can be coached and have tools for awareness doesn’t mean it’s not hard to figure out your life.

[Sul]

@ALLY
Thanks for your reflection about not really liking being in the threshold. This is helpful for me an insightful. I didn’t really track that threshold was uncomfortable for others as my experience with discomfort that may have arisen in my threshold I had welcomed and remained curious about any emotions I felt. But as coach your honesty is a great point and will keep me more in coaching presence about what uncomfortable emotions my client’s may had during.
I see how tending to your plants is a way to nurture yourself and that it is very important to you. I will consider how nature plays with my client in sessions and wonder about the reciprocity they may be experiencing like you did with your philodendren.
Evoking awareness is an interesting CC. It makes me think of trusting intuition and offering something to client and if I’m wrong then back track and rephrase my questions which is okay to do. Thanks for sharing all of that, Ally!

[Sul]

@Sophie
I resonate with your reflection about some days it’s easy to lean into discomfort other days its hard to sit with it. If I understand correctly you are saying this arose during threshold? That is interesting and is a good point to make. As coach I will consider how this may be a day of willingness to be present with uncomfortable things that arise in threshold or if it is day that my client is really not okay with the shift and what has arisen.
I relate to your reflection about ICF CC. I too have strength in coaching presence but could use more practice and awareness with it. I like how you mention doing rituals to prepare yourself to move your energy levels to arrive fully for others is key. As someone who is energetically extremely sensitive I need to do my rituals of boundary building and releases before and after working with others or I get sick. Very important points you made Sophie and they help to remind me about my process. Thank you!

[Sul]

Learning about deep levels of listening and the listening practices we explored reinforced what I do practice and know but added to that as well. I enjoyed and felt challenged when learning about threshold. Being a guide through threshold was uncertain for me. I understand it is experiential it is almost spiritual like a journey or trance kind of experience. It is also a way to tap deeper into gathering momentum for action toward goals. I notice myself and most others close their eyes when in threshold and the energy shifts baseline changes. I wonder a whole lot more about what is arising in that sacred space being held. These experiences bring me into the present moment and coaching presence is amplified. How nature participated in my process in one way was through a wander. I remember going on one in a threshold practice and it was as if my senses were heightened naturally. I was open and relaxed and curious. I think this experience can remind me as coach to be aware of coaching presence, baseline, sense of safety in being held in sacred transformational space and to remain open relaxed and curious about clients experience.

The ICF core competencies I think I can build on to feel more confident are under Co-creating The
Relationship: Maintains Presence #5 is comfortable working in space of unknown & #6 creates or allows space for silence pause or reflection. I do already do these but I am not 100% comfortable working in the unknown and I sometimes jump to say things too quickly and second guess my timing out of impulse that I may forget so I need to say something. I could instead make notes about what I want to ask client and that could give enough time to allow more space.

[Sul]

My reflective summary about the module foundations 2 and discussion with cohort and what I’m taking away are many things!!! I think this is when the concepts of ceremony started to sink in. I remember during this time I was still uncertain about what threshold was and how to recognize it but I got it now!
Learning with and from the cohort I can see how sensitive we are to the material but to our own experiences. Everyone has something different to add through their lens which is interesting! I think the ecopsychology reading added a whole deeper layer to ceremony and what we disscussed in this forum. I see “sacred work” “ecofeminism” “principles of ecopsych.””what happens to earth is happening to us” “guiding with love through the animistic world” these keywords bring me to a greater awareness of how spiritual this work is for me and for all.

[Sul]

Hi Heather,

I like how you make the connection between the principles of eco-psychology and nature-connected coaching. I understand what you wrote points to the sense of self autonomy both fields empower the individual through. Having authority over one’s time spent in a session. That we can hold the container for the people we work with to claim what is true for them. I really like this about both fields and they blend nicely. I appreciate you mentioning “reciprocity” and relationship with the “non-human.” It always makes me feel good to acknowledge that connection for myself and I wonder if it feels good for the larger beings the earth and sky for instance, too.

[Sul]

On one starry night hike bordering Jordan pond in Acadia National Park, Maine my sensory awareness heightened and was my guide for the several mile walk. I’m reminded of the article “Where Psyche Meets Gaia” by Theodore Roszack on page one it states “awareness of the nonhuman; companion creatures” The sound of the water playfully splashing the slick polished rocks and the smell of the sweet balsam fir brushing by me were teaching me to trust nature, to trust myself where my eyes could not see due to the lack of light. They were my “non-human companions”.In this decrease of familiar reliance on the sun there was an increase of trust in the mysterious unknown time of the new moon. What I could see as I imagined the landscape through the dark and as the star’s appearance bejeweled Acadia’s sky was that I could navigate through the dark.

I noticed my mind searching for answers as it was my curiosity to explore the external and internal landscape in the dark like why was I there? What drew me here at this point in my life? I held a very deep communion of silence within as I was also withdrawn in the dark moon phase – my menstrual cycle. Overthinking steeped into the heat I felt from my layers of clothing and I swirled into the trusting surrender of nature/myself through Sacred Questions. Darker and darker I walked till the milky way revealed itself, till Mars in its red tinge reflected on the pond I utilized my headlamp as I noticed discomfort in the darkness a shift in my baseline. I was walking with some fears. As I held the mystery in my womb and heart my breathing became longer and as I inhaled the clean air, the infusion of the elements I kept the inquiry: what am I noticing and what is this telling me.

I needed something clear to communicate to me that I was okay.

There were many bridges/ thresholds different paths made from dirt, wood planks and puddles but that confused me. It was when I saw a maple leaf with a perfectly cut out of a heart within it on the path that I knew nature was answering my request for clear communication. Something I could read in the land that resonated deeply with me. A few days prior to this deep nature connected experience I received the message while meditating on the representation of dark moon energies of the sky, land and the archetype of the old wise woman the crone in women’s menstrual cycles I heard: “Love comes from the darkness it is from the dark we have the impulse and learn to love it is in essence trust to love from this place”. One could say I’ve been guided lovingly by love to love more and that is my answer and that is my new inquiry. What does it mean to guide lovingly as a coach?

I believe what this means to me is reflected by the beliefs in ecopsychology that we live in an animistic world. In “Ecopsychology the Principles” by Roszack the first page 319 has a sentence that states “the person is anchored within a greater, universal identity.” I feel this kind of connection is reminiscent of old sayings like being “guided by the stars or by “destiny”. It makes me wonder how people of this belief have sought counsel from the universe, from nature. I have no other explanation other than this story I’ve written here was a message from the universe and that I am made of stars by going out on the land and seeing that and remembering.
In principle 4 “The crucial stage of development is the life of the child; the ecological unconscious is regenerated, as if it were a gift, in the newborn’s enchanted sense of the world. Eco-psychology seeks to recover the child’s innately animisitc quality of experience. To do this is turns to many sources, among them the traditional healing techniques of primary people, nature mysticism, experience of wilderness, insights of Deep Ecology.” p. 320-21. This passage clarifies how I view the world of nature-connected coaching. This adds a certain validation of a deep internal sense I’ve carried about nature since childhood. It gives permission to adopt some of eco-psychology’s philosophy into my personal philosophy of coaching. The way into deeper conscious connection is through the child spirit in each of us.
As a coach it is vital for me to practice what I am guiding others to do. Through consistent self study out in nature and deep connection I will have brave adventure stories to tell that become a foundation of real lived experience I can share with clients. Being out in the wilderness seeking nature’s council becomes a framework I can develop myself as a coach through. It is just as important as reading books and being in seminars.
I’m not sure how the blend of eco-psychology and coaching might fall short but maybe it could fall short if a client I am working with has very strong religious beliefs. Or if a client I am working with has big fears about nature. It isn’t the answer for everything but can provide insight and a potential approach to working as a nature-connected coach. If I were to work with clients like this then I will keep an open mind about the lenses they look through and remember when I was walking with fears around Jordan pond nature gave me a clear message: one of loving and being guided through the dark.

[Sul]

Response Part Two: I’ve read the Chapters now and here is a deeper reflection to ‘What does it mean to be connected to nature and how can that relationship support my coaching.’
I want to begin by writing that these books are incredible resources. Especially Coyote’s guide. It is rich and I am thankful for this opportunity to read it.

Framing the Coyote mentoring in the context of life coaching as an approach to personal development is undeniably in collaboration with Nature. As I adopt the foundation principles of coaching as Jenny Rogers wrote (p 7-9). about I have a structure made of ethics that will guide and inform my application of Core Routines (p 35).
As someone who has been in a mentoring/coaching role before, the combination of principles/philosophy from both books will “stretch my edges” as I become a skilled EBI coach. The Coaching SKills book reinforced many things I have already practiced in my private side hussle. (which I am determined to make my main hussle). 🙂
One breakthrough for me was reading about cultivating unconditional acceptance of client which is not the same as liking client and how this brings coach in a state of being congruent. (p34-35).
This was enlightening and clarifying to read and a strength I can draw on in terms of secure boundaries in my coaching practice. I have often felt if I dont like something about a person I can’t help them but I am willing to shift persepctive as I believe this has potential to season me into a mature and professional life coach and challenge my assumptions or expectations which I admit can be a form of control rooted in fear. I am willing to surrender this old way in me and see things differntly.I’m willing to be a little uncomfortable so I can grow.

I found a connection between Principle 2 of Rogers Foundations “Coaches role to develop clients resourcefulness through skillful questioning, challenge and support” is enhanced by the Coyote Mentoring. One way it is taken further with nature connection is by implementing a few Core Routines such as the Sit Spot (p 36). and Story of the Day (p.41-42). By focusing on clients experience of getting to know one place and their experience with nature I can listen deeply to them and ask questions to guide them further into what they notice. This can be applied to life and their unique place in the world. I think that as they learn to trust me and are open to sense things with more awareness of connecting to nature, it can also be applied to their goals and a way into listening deeper for guidance themselves.

I had a sit spot in childhood. It was a pine tree I would crawl under and into and sit with the needles radiating out in all directions. It was a peaceful safe retreat for me and sometimes I played with other kids in it and we called it “Old man oak”

[Sul]

Hi Cohort,

I arrive Friday July 31 at 2:30 pm in Denver.

Can you all please be in touch via my text here is my #(860) 818-1980.

I feel more confident if we communicate via phone messaging and calling because having to log in and message in the forum and its less convenient to communicate in the forum if we are trying to meet up in Boulder or wherever.

Thanks everyone and excited to meet hopefully…

[Sul]

Thanks for your message, Allyson. 🙂

Great story about your wander with your husband. I like that you point out that even near a highway we can find a nature. I enjoyed imagining you resting on the log and asking him to breathe like a bear. I wonder what that looks and sounds like? Great question with using a closer direct contact point to taste the moisture on the log.
Makes me wonder if bears or other wild life can taste this as well. 🙂

Isn’t 360 listening a wonderful tool? It immediately shifts things in the environ and I wonder what it felt like for you as coach to witness his reactions to how much he could hear. I find something very gratifying about this deep listening.

I hear your in pain in your soul from observing mother earth in her state of turmoil. I also hear some despair when you wrote no one seems to care. I wonder if identifying individuals or groups of people who defend the earth and protect her would be comforting to you. Perhaps an organization that is actively doing preservation regernerative work in the world could offer you something beneficial. I’m curious if volunteering in something that is focused on protecting mother earth would be a possibility for you? You are not alone and to anchor that solidarity joining in the chorus of a healing song through activism sounds like it would envelop you just as much as the wood near the highway did when you went for a wander with your husband!

I’ve been to Muir Woods in California. It is very special. Sadly, as I wandered through what I consider my church, some people were talking loudly and were distracted not really taking in as they discussed their social media or plans that weekend. I realized in that moment that I was getting distracted by those who were not focused. That I needed to hone my focus for my vision for my life because the rest was just noise. Conditioned noise to not listen deeper to mother earth.

It is a delight to read you have begun learning a lot about yourself! What an adventure to be at the threshold for transformation through the EBI gateway.

A remedio for your soul: I have a poem I wrote about the forgiving earth I’d share with you since you requested to read my poetry.

every best wish Allyson,

V

[Sul]

My response here will be based on the articles I’ve read and my past experience as I just got the books delivered by Amazon today and have not read the chapters yet.

My recent past experience I studied intensely in an indigenous ceremonial context deep nature connection with the four elements earth air fire and water and Medicine Wheel teachings. Through these ceremonial studies I communicated with the Spirits of each element and each direction north south east west. I practiced rituals for each and prayed long and intently for guidance. Deep listening and nature connection was inherently the foundation of these intensives. I’m able to listen to the elements and four directions as a way of life and am cultivating a relationship with them for guidance and can incorporate into my coaching practice.

A line from a poem I wrote “See, when you felt the heartbeat of the earth mother pulse through you in that moment you knew you were inseperable from her, we met there, too”, describes what nature connection is to me. I also believe that is requires at times solo exploration and communal sharing. In Young’s article, he wrote that mentoring is a key element in supporting a deeper connection. I also really love the line “Wilderness is a leaderless teacher” in Harpers article. There is this sense of belonging that I think people desire in a more meaningful way in general and in a mediation one night I received this message. “Belonging is in every moment” and I think when I see wilderness as a formless being and more as myself or ourselves collectively I open to the thought feeling idea that I/ we belong to nature.

Moving to NYC became the catalyst for seeking a deeper connection to nature. The urban landscape set me on a quest to repair my severance to nature which did not begin by living in a big city but was revealed more clearly to me by the concrete envrionment. My severence to nature connection if I were to provide a timeline began sometime in my teen years. I grew up in a home of violence and my abuser was my primary caregiver. When I removed myself from the unhealthy envrionment, I began a healing journey that was initiated by deep nature connection. The transformation and healing that occured soothed me as my first mother, the earth held me through it.

Although the instant and continuous support brought me back to harmony and profound peace, I struggled to maintain a conscious connection later on. I believe I resorted to substance abuse as a means to escape the tremors of my trauma which I did not anticipate and had no tools to navigate. I abandoned nature connection as my resource and it was easy to do so considering the community I participated in.

Years later, I arrive confused and riddled with unhealthy behavioral patterns in NYC and I observe a starvation of my soul I never knew existed. The decreasing connection to nature had seemingly vanished and I had become phantom like in my inhabitance. My body electric with the overstimulation, a cacophony of sound penetrates me. The city’s sound waves shock my being and my soul began questing for an immersion of nature connection. I searched like hell for a place like the Earth-Based Institute. Nature connection is important to me because it is the mother tongue of my instinctual self. I am its essence embodied and it is mine. It is the pharmacy of green medicine for healing and is how I take better care of myself.

In the supplemental online meetings I took note of some things which were “the environment is touching you or listening with senses nature is touching you/skin”. I think as a coach this can help me feel safe and I can bring safety into my client’s awareness and establish trust.

When I’m in a natural landscape and I surrender everything. I catch the flow, a current of energy that delivers me lovingly with aching remembrance…I’m home. Every part of me relaxes in to this knowing. To me this is deep nature connection. Knowing I’m safe at/in home/nature/myself.
When I orient back to this home feeling/knowing, sacred questions make me present to what is not in alignment with the healthiest best truest for me it like a wise old hand on my shoulder councils meso tenderly.
I can see the benefit of beginning with the Sacred Questions has the potential to touch a very deep part of me and a client. Being touched by the most suave caress from nature gets me to my core truths and I think it will for my clients. As I practice one element of coaching presence curiosity, I wonder if nature is curious about me? Maybe that can be a fun and creative way to add some playfulness into a session. I can ask a client what would nature be curious about you and what are you curious about me as coach and about nature and how can this help us be open to possibilities and transformation?

I think these connections I reflect on can support my coaching because I think its natural a client would be approaching me with something important to what their mind is telling them. In John Miles’ article Wilderness as a healing place, he wrote about research two psychologists did that revealed three benefits of connecting to nature an increased awareness of relationship with environment, increase of self confidence and contemplation p 45-46. I think this is a good starting place to enter a state of nature connection by helping a client to shift into a different awareness which can feel harmonizing if I asked them to try 360 listening if they had a specific question we could listen deeper Value of nature listening to Wilderness as an elder inform all of our senses with wild storytelling and then go back to Sacred Questions.

[Sul]

Hi Cohort,

I will arrive in Denver intl airport on Friday the 31st around 2:30 pm. Has anyone made plans yet and can share with me? Maybe carpool? Maybe share an airbnb?

Looking forward!!! 🙂

[Sul]

I love the sensing directions. A lot of what I’m learning at EBI reminds me of how I was as a child. I just knew things and played with the ideas naturally like sensing directions. But I wasn’t fully aware of what I was doing.
As an adult I’ve played with sensing directions and feeling the tug or pull and letting it take me on an adventure through town. It has always been fun but I didn’t consciously think of it as play.
I now see this in a new way and will consciously play with sensing the directions and remember this naturally brings fun adventures into my life.
On a more spiritual note, I have learned indigenous medicine wheel teachings and cultivating relationship to the directions for guidance. I am curious to seek the council of the spirits of the directions with a greater sensing ability and 360 listening after this video teaching.

Every time I learn more about the EBI curriculum, I hear a big Giant YES! I found you!!!