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Summary Post – Foundation Two Discussion (Due by 8/9)
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11 Replies
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What I am taking away from this module is that we are, and everyone is connected to nature in their own unique way. Everyone understands it, or tries to understand it, in their own way, wether that be scientifically, spiritually, etc, We will all express it differently in our coaching practices, and also with each client. I think that’s what makes this so exciting, no 2 session will ever be the same and we’ll never get bored! Ecopsychology tries to explain the why/how and coaching is the doing. Ecopsychology/psychology and NCC can compliment each other.
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Hello Melody, I really like how you say it: “Ecopsychology tries to explain the why/how and coaching is the doing”. For me it is interesting and it is nice to know it is backed by research but I doubt this is what I will use to persuade others to come to Nature Connected Coaching. I related to that most of that information and with my head, whereas Nature Connected Coaching is to be felt viscerally.
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Ecopsychology, the scientific study of our psyche (the human soul, mind or spirit) in nature, is a tool for us, as Nature Connected Coaches, that brings to light the importance and urgency behind our work. It can also help guide us in proven or tested techniques. Having scientific facts to stand upon brings credibility to what we are attempting to achieve through connecting clients, and self, with nature. I really stepped outside and not only dug in, but printed and am really chewing my way through the supplemental reading, The Transpersonal Dimensions of Ecopsychology: Nature, Nonduality and Spiritual Practice by John Davis. I think it was the “nonduality and spiritual practice” that sucked me in. It is taking some time as it is deep and long, and did I say deep? But I am really loving it at the same time, in little bites. I LOVE the last sentence: “Time now to walk among some trees and maybe lay on the ground for awhile.” I actually defaulted to eating icecream while reading for a bit today. Felt the need for something comforting, chocolate with peanut butter, yum! I will try the feet in the grass next time as this one is going to need re-reading over time to get all the good stuff out!
The chapters in both Coaching Skills (Rogers) and Coyote’s Guide (Young, Haas & McGown) expanded my knowledge of appropriate language usage as a coach, for instance the reasoning behind asking what and how questions vs. why questions; and the importance of storytelling and curiosity like that of a child. Storytelling is a practice I will need to work on but I have started journaling much more than in the past, finding it a way to put my thoughts to poetry or a story, so I feel this is progress along these lines. Also finding my journaling is increasing my curiosity as often I am writing in questions – upon questions. Wondering as I wander, without really needing the answers but letting them lead me to a new level of questioning. Touching into that nonduality.
Along with the above readings guiding my practices and building skills, the webinar brought clarity to my vision and insight to some areas I had concerns with. I was wondering how to know when to refer a client to someone who is better suited to meet specific needs beyond my scope of training. The conversation on the call was great. Amazing how open, clear and honest communication can solve many issues. The chart showing interest vs need and the coach-ability of a client really brought understanding to how to better identify where a client is along that coach-able cone, or outside of it, and again how open, clear and honest conversation can help in confirm needs. The What and Who am I committed to slides added to my vision. I am committed to walking with others so they know they are not alone. Those who are open to getting comfortable with the uncomfortable, working on and in the struggle while seeking their truth in being.
I have also stepped outside my comfort zone taking action on and exploring some ideas I have had, to support, or include in my coaching business. This exploration in an open minded vision focused state is bringing new options, expanding my horizons, which I would not have come to, at least not at this early point of my business development had I not still been open to the vastness of vision. I have conversed with a Naturopath in Frisco about visiting monthly or weekly for appointments with clients, the details were not discussed yet but seeds planted and supported! I reconnected with an organization I had been introduced to over a year ago, Walk2Connect, I had thoughts then that it was a fit for me but that was before I got in touch with my vision. After attending a walk today, connecting with the walk leader, Maria Rosas (who will be looking more into EBI and NCC herself!) I am certain there is a fit here and have applied to go through their training program. How could Walk2Connect not be a fit for a Nature Connected Coach whose role in our Earth community is walking with others to bring awareness, balance and connection?
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Hello Sheri, thanks for your post. You are bringing up Story Telling. I like the idea too! When reading this passage in the Coyote’s Guide, I understood how useful it could be when in the role of a mentor, but if brevity is of the essence in coaching, is that a tool we can really use?
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Gotta be honest here, I’m in a place right now where I’m not feeling really connected. And have hit a bit of a stall on my coaching vision. And, I didn’t connect as much with the ecopsychology readings that most of you did. I struggled with it and may be just where my head is at!
But I do agree with Melody’s statement that we all connect with nature in our own way. And our client will too. We have to respect that and work with it from an impartial standpoint.
I did relate to some of the practical advice given in the Coaching Skills Handbook about not rescuing our clients, knowing there are times (rarely) to give advice and the levels of listening. All good tools! And, like Sheri mentioned I too want to incorporate the idea of Storytelling more (and how to do this) that Coyote’s Guide talked about.
I know I will go back and read through these again!
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Hello Kim, I miss you!!
Looks like these articles have triggered quite a storm within some of us!! I was personally mentally blocked to the point that I could not respond to any of you, and spent a lot of time in inaction. So this weekend finally, I have allowed myself to not comment and to move on to a different assignment. It took some time to get there. I am not against pushing my limits (I did learn a lot), but I find it important to honor what feeds me from what depletes and stresses me. I am not a scholar, and I am OK with that.
On the different note, I find the Coaching Skills very useful, palatable and easier to digest. That is where I focused today and that has re-ignited my fire a bit.
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I have so many take-aways from foundation 2. Just to recap a few:
Creating and sustaining a high level of trust and candor during a coaching conversation is what gives coaching its power. It requires skills to communicate acceptance and respect.
Coaching is about drawing out intrinsic human resourcefulness.
Coaching is based on the concept of choice and self-responsibility, a.k.a.the belief the client is resourceful and can make choices and is responsible for him or herself.
Coaching is about raising self-awareness as a precursor to exposing the nature of the choices we are making. Realizing that we have choices is in itself powerfully motivating.
Refrain from advice-giving has a coaching tactics. The energy will likely go into repelling the advice (all the ways to defend existing position, amygdala is alerted and ready to resist, conversation precludes any real honesty…). But mostly it doesn’t get to the reason why (e.g. you smoke) and why you might want to stop.
If you step in as a rescuer with clients, you deny them their ownership of the issue And when you lose faith in the clients’ ability to solve their own problems, you are losing faith in the coaching process, thus ensuring that it fails. Even when it is OK to give advice, always better to offer what you said as information, making it clear that the client has to make up their mind about using the decision and positively inviting the client to comment.
Authentic listening is genuine listening, it is about acceptance. When you are in rapport, you will be matching the other person: body, voice volume, breathing, gesture, space, language, pace and energy
Success of a coach always involves high levels of self-awareness and ruthlessly exposing yourself to your own prejudices and assumptions.
The most powerful level of listening for a coach is level 3. Listen for the silences and the hesitations, for the metaphor and for the emotion behind the words. Leave space in the conversation to be filled by the client if s/he wishes. Identify the underlying need that the behavior serves. By noticing the negative energy that the stress is creating, it is also harnessing a willingness to begin to change process.
The coach’s role is to ask questions to uncover the client’s agenda and make it explicit, turning this agenda into the goals which the client can work on.
Traps to avoid in languages are: advice-in-disguise questions, The Why questions, researching the data, asking about people who are not present.
Tactics that work: As a coach you can remain detached from the outcome the client achieves. You do not need to know the whole story. The past is less important than the present and the future. You do not need to be right. You do not need to understand the context in order to coach effectively
Effective questions in coaching raise the client’s self-awareness by provoking thinking and challenge. They encourage the client to take responsibility for themselves. They stick closely to the client’s agenda. They lead to learning for the client. They are more likely to begin with the words “what” and “how”
There are a set of Magic Questions in Coaching Skills on p84
Coaching questions are more likely to begin with the words what and how and coaching conversation reduces itself to three ultra-short questions:
What? – Identifying the issue
So what? – Implication
What’s next – ActionSummarizing shows that you are listening. It also reassures client you are keeping track of things.
The reason clients find it difficult to follow the apparently obvious path is that feelings are getting in the way. Evidence from Neuroscience shows that feelings precede logic in our responses to an event. The Logical solution may be obvious, but remains unimplemented. As coaches, our role is often to help clients articulates feelings that are there but go under recognized.
When you ask a client about feelings, you will often get a thought (you will hear the word that) You are getting a feeling when a client says for example “I feel excited / interested”. There are two natural places to ask for feelings. At the beginning of exploring an issue and at the end when the decision has been made by the client about what to do.
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NADINE!!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 Thank you for your words! I found your summary of takeaways powerfully reflective of my own. “Coaching is about drawing out intrinsic human resourcefulness”. Boom! (Not exactly a thoughtful reply/response/interaction, I know…I just had to give a shoutout!)
Navigating the chart of awareness between need and motivation and landing on a degree of commitment is the low-hanging fruit of active listening. I find this foundation has created a fascinating Venn Diagram of my own hats in working with clients. Prior to stepping away to VA for my first 2.5 sequential days of downtime in 2+ years, I was ready to sign up for Ecopsychology courses wherever I could find them. In fact, the readings for this foundation have inspired me to contact 4 nonprofit, conservation and environmental protection organizations in my area to discuss collaboration with my program’s participants. I am excited to explore leveraging my participants’ restorative experience in nature into some solid stewardship work–a direct result of the symbiotic presentation presented in our readings!
Now, having checked in with the video chat from this foundation, I am more acutely aware of my own need vs motivation in pursuing this work. I have one hat that is a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor. I have one hat that is an intern/student as a Nature-Centered Coach. I wear another, slightly more anonymous hat, in the recovery community in my home area. There are instances when I am approached specifically because I offer up work in the woods on the trails AND have other letters after my name. Perhaps potential clients are not quite ready to pursue therapy in an office setting and that my CSAC credential is as far as they are willing to go to seek out what was covered in the video chat as their current state of awareness. That, as Kim mentioned in the chat, there is a solid awareness of a lacking of some sort, and some considerable resistance or aversion to formal therapy. In that sense, I am thrilled to provide a safe landing space for individuals who may otherwise resist exploring that deeper need altogether. That said, I find it a genuine challenge to navigate, at times, a session where we both (client and coach) begin to drift out of nature-centered coaching lane and into CSAC lane. It is a situation that has presented itself with some consistency thus far and my current approach in addressing it is that of genuine, upfront, honest communication with the client. “We are veering out of our nature-centered coaching intentions here and I want to invite us back into that realm…”
The reflective listening, summarization, motivational interviewing…it all feeds and supports each modality I am now in the process of cultivating. I anticipate that, with time and experience, this navigation will become more comfortable and smooth. I keep hearing about the mentioning of clunkiness when we all began our dive into severance work in Gunnison. I am getting so jazzed with the content of this work, with the implications of how expansive the access points become when working with my clients as a result of engaging this material that I sometimes get overwhelmed with it all.
I know that it will all land where it is meant to and have set some intentions to apply some of the discussion questions that arose during this foundation’s video call to myself to truly assess where my need and motivation levels are at. That I might lean into this work with you all with increased dedication and drive.
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Nadine – First off, miss you too! All of you! And, what a great summary of the learnings!
I know I’ve been quiet lately. I was pushing myself too hard to get back on it. And a very wise person helped me see what was in front of me that I needed to not push how I was feeling but let it be (thanks, Mandy). I’m starting to get my perspective together so I can stay true to my path/trail/journey.
Matt – thank you for your interesting perspective as always. I really like you saying that ‘it will all land where it is meant to…’ I keep reminding myself of that too. I get so focused on the finish line sometimes that I have to remind myself that the finish line isn’t really there! And, this is/will be a learning and changing process as we develop and even as we become coaches and beyond!
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For me, the ecopsychology readings were confirmation of something that’s been within me all along, something I’ve seen and felt but was unable to articulate. It expanded my view of how much everything really is connected. The readings in Coyote and Coaching Skills helped me internalize the words I want to use and how I want to use them in my coaching. Coyote inspired me with some activities to partake in with my little guy, as well as validated many of the things I already do as a parent (sometimes I feel lacking in this area), like building a teepee out of downed debris.
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Wow, it has been amazing to listen to the audios 1.5 years later and realize how much I missed the first time. And how much more knowledge and understanding has come into play listening again after having read Little and Foster and currently reading Bill Plotkin’s The Journey of Soul Initiation.
And still, staying out of the way to simply facilitate the client’s process is not easy for me. My excuse is that they need tools to move from severance to incorporation. And while there is truth to this I am also keenly aware that much of my own path was created, through observation, information, curiosity, and an intuitive connection and fascination with nature, etc…. This is what I would most like to guide others to do for themselves. The answers are within and connecting with nature provides a receptivity that awakens and informs the deeper knowing.
Bill Plotkin has expanded on the Severance, Threshold, Incorporation model to create the 5 phases of the Descent to the Soul, Preparation, Dissolution, Soul Encounter, Metamorphosis and Enactment. He compares it to the stages a caterpillar undergoes in its journey to become a butterfly.
My coaching holds space and vision not only for the individual to create the changes they seek for their life but as Bill says, to move from ego-centric to eco-centric while discovering their purpose as part of the greater whole that is this planet and all that is part of its aliveness.
Coaching skills, was oriented towards executive coaching but offered many basic skills for connecting and drawing out the client’s inner wisdom. Coyote’s guide for me was a bridge between Coaching skills and Plotkin’s book as it provides practical lessons using inquiry and storytelling, the arts and all aspects of nature to learn about both the inner and outer worlds, simultaneously. Nature seems to hold fascination for most and I find the more I know about nature the easier it is to grab someone’s attention which helps them to realize just how wondrous they are themselves and realize the answers that lie within. I’m still putting it altogether and working to put it into practice.
