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Foundation One Discussion (June 2018 Intensive)
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19 Replies
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Foundation One Response
Nature is all around us. Whether it’s the mountains, river, beach, plains, desert, nature is the one soul product of connecting human beings with one another and to their environment. It’s the state in which we live and the people we mold ourselves to be. Being connected to the natural environment allows humans to go back to the beginning, the simpler times of being immersed inside this greater being and challenged us to survive in ways we could not imagine today. It was “normal” to hunt and gather, live off the land and be aware of the animals and temperatures that changed constantly, and adapt to it. Connection to nature reworks our brains from the day-to-day hustle and bustle and connects us to the reason as to why we’re here in the first place. It retrieves this belief, that’s always been a part of human nature, that this moment is what’s most important. The immersion inside nature continuously connects us to a higher, deeper awareness of how the natural environment ensures our well-being. All humans can seek this deep connection to nature, however it’s a choice to be conscience of it, to be open to the possibility of being healed by something that is not a human. It’s a state of consciousness to feel this connection even though all humans can access it. Nature connection can also mean different things to different people but it’s the feeling of serenity, calm, assurance that comes over us when we step foot into a non-manmade territory.
In the textbook Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature, John Young writes about how all cultures have this necessity to survive in nature and because of that it shifts our brains to develop senses we’ve always had, just may not use. He also takes a lesson from Stocking Wolf and tells us about how humans share this ability to connect and live amongst the wilderness and now we choose not to. Young writes, “ All subsistence cultures have in common the necessity to survive in a wilderness environment, where the slopes of land and forces of climate shape brain patterns, where according to Stocking Wolf, ‘the animal is the instrument played by the landscape.’ Indigenous cultures all share the raw the raw surging adrenaline, the ‘flight or feel’ response. They have in common a deeply felt sense of kinship with all the elements of their natural world, a recognition that humans play only one tune among many.”
I chose this quote because I think it shows a great representation of how humanity has the abilities to live amongst nature, to live within it and survive it in. I really appreciate the last sentence of this text because it recognizes that humans have this capability to perform as we once did, that our awareness goes deeper than just the typical grind. We can make our brains turn a switch which can connect us to the natural world but we choose to illuminate tunnel vision because of societal constructs. So the connection that humans have with the environment is available, but most people don’t realize it’s there because of the way in which we choose to live our lives and connect to other societal circumstances.
Nature connection will support my coaching because I believe that if you take someone out of their typical grind, the bells will start to go off and a sense of deeper awareness can flood over them. It may not be an instant realization, but the ability to connect to the natural world is there once they dispose of the blinders they’ve been using for months or even years. Being a coach who is connected to nature, I can help these individuals seek refuge from the man-made grind they’ve been consumed by. Like what I gathered from John Young, the ability to connect to nature is there within us and it always has been but we’ve developed norms of pushing that awareness to the back of our heads or down into a core of disbelief and solitude. It’s important for me to continue the relationship loving the environment and the love I have for helping people because I have a deep desire to awake people’s soul truth within themselves. I think being in an environment that takes away all the social demands helps people reevaluate what’s really important in their lives and can help heal them just by being present.
Coming back from Colorado has shown me that my vision aligns me to help people in a way where they can connect back to their roots of why it’s important they’re here on this Earth. Having people realize their bigger truth, their soul connection. My time in Boulder really shed a light on why it’s so important to be connected to the environment that I love and love to protect. It’s shown me a way of bettering myself as well as the ones I love around me. Being immersed in the presence of natural beauty continuously puts me in a place of wholesomeness, gratitude and focus on my vision to serve. If I can do that, anyone who’s aligned in my morals will find me as I do them. Nature is a safe space, it’s the mother of all being and it’s the collector of the human race. As a guide, I know I can help people find and follow their truth. Where better to start than the place where the Earth first began?-
Thank you for breaking the ice, Amanda!!
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I loved reading this Amanda! I became so immersed in the reading of the book that I’ve gone into chapter 7 and this was a good reminder of the dawn of man and the hunter gatherer mentality. I’m also fascinated to hear of other peoples’ relationships to nature as I feel mine so strongly that I wonder if others feel it too. When I arrive in Yosemite, I feel as though I shed a huge weight and when I leave, I always feel a heaviness in my heart.
I deliberately did not read yours before writing mine but to read the similarities now makes me chuckle. The curiosity, the lack of plan the safe abandon – it makes me smile to even read those words when I know that you are safer at the ocean because it’s what you know. I’m so excited for you to get to trust the forests the same way.
Talk soon. XO -
Amanda, I loved what you had to say in your response. It reminds me our chats to and from the Star House and how your love for the environment is a stand out trait of yours. By placing people in Nature and separating them from the social norms of their daily grind, you can really get some good work done! Keep up the good work!
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What does it mean to be connected to Nature, and how can that relationship support your coaching?
I don’t think that I have ever really questioned that I’m connected to nature because being away from it has always felt like something is missing. I grew up in the country and all our family vacations were in Wales or Scotland, aka, the country.
In my early 30s, I moved to an urban town because I thought it would be wonderful to be able to walk to nice bistros and stores and have the kind of life that was social and extrovert. However, within 3 months, I found that I was driving out to the country every weekend, craving the open space and the green fields; I was suffocating even in this relatively mild urban area.
That was the first realization I had that, not only am I ‘not a city person’ but that nature is an inseparable part of me. Being in nature and truly connected to it is, for me, to feel free, unburdened and calm. Birdsong is nature’s orchestra an the crackle of the leaves under foot remind me of a carefree childhood, conker competitions, baked potatoes and laughter, fields of grass remind me of hide and go seek for hours on end. Reading the chapter about child passions reminded me of my own childhood; full of laughter and games. Memory is selective but what I remember most is playing outside in the yard, climbing trees, building teepees around the apple trees or funning around the neighborhood and the fields from morning to night. We’d bounce from house to house, field to marsh and back again, usually with scrapes and cuts and hungry!
The clean air, green leaves, grass and all their associated smells, recharge my soul and I feel myself restoring back to balance. Nature flows through my veins, shaken not stirred, in my blood and without it I wither and dehydrate.
Never do I feel more alive than when I’m hiking alone in a forest. I hear everything, listen to ever bough creak, bird sing, squirrel scamper through undergrowth, jay squawk and the mournful wail of the hawk. My senses are alive and on hyper alert because I never know what might be around the corner – a snake, a mountain lion, a bear – it’s exhilarating and the body tingles with anticipation, every sense on alert. Yet, with that high alert comes a soul-deep peace and complete trust that she’s holding me, that there’s nothing that will happen that isn’t meant to. I love the quote in the section about ‘Letting curiosity lead the way’ – ‘wandering through a landscape being led solely by curiosity and open eyes the fertile ground of discovery’. How many times have I done this? When I go out into nature, I may or may not have a plan and, even if I have a plan, I may not follow it because curiosity may take me on another path. I can’t replicate the joy of completely surrendering to mother nature in any other setting; timeless, agenda less exploration of all that’s around me.
As a guide, my greatest honor would be to support someone else in discovering the calm that can be found in nature. The lack of judgment, the ‘enoughness’ that she creates, the freedom that can come from just being and observing the millions of things around us. As a naturally curious person myself, I will learn to ask questions to help someone feel safe. I will share my own experience of healing through my re-connection with nature and provide my own learnings to see how someone else may open themselves to the possibility of what she can provide.
When in nature, I trust completely: I don’t question my weight, my looks, my ‘enoughness’: I literally go into the lizard brain and start to re-wire myself. I will be vulnerable and share these thoughts with others to see how they might consider themselves in nature and her beauty to see how they can start to feel the power that is the universe working with and within them. We will enjoy the simplest places, we will engage our curiosity which can open up possibility and let nature do what she does best.
You can take this girl out of nature but you can never take nature out of this girl!-
Wendy, sista from another mister! 🙂 I feel like we have a lot in common with our childhoods, and how we connect to Nature in a way that grounds us and allows us to be vulnerable and not worry about how we express ourselves when we are there. How we want to work with our clients is coming from a very authentic place, and our past experiences will shine through. With some major moves in your near future, how do you feel like you will implement this in your coaching practices based on where you will be living? Sending love and good vibes with your decision making!
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Wendy, I really enjoyed this post! I can definitely relate to what you said about driving into the country every weekend when you lived in the city. I too had a similar eagerness to get out of the city when I lived in Providence. For a while, I knew something was missing but couldn’t pin it down until I went for a hike one day! It sounds like your curiosity plays a huge part as to why you feel so connected to nature. I remember you saying hiking alone is something that you absolutely love doing which I find so inspiring. It’s beautiful to read how your soul feels this immense love and connection to nature and that you need it to survive! Love that!
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Wendy! “You can take this girl out of nature but you can never take nature out of this girl!” YES! I concur. I really connect to your sentiment/action of surrendering to nature, her pull, her guidance. I’m so used to making a plan to engage with nature (maps! gear! contingency plans! local operating procedures! medical forms! etc.!) and during our foundations intensive I was finally reconnected with the idea of surrendering (you know that’s hard for me).
Reading your response makes me feel excited for your future and seeing where you end up. It makes me wonder why we have to go off and try out cities and suburbs when we really feel most at home outside, in wild spaces, connecting to our lands and ecosystems and bodies of water. Why do we do that? Maybe we do have to “leave home” in order to truly find our way home 🙂
P.S. eagerly awaiting more news of your job/location transition.
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What does it mean to be connected to Nature, and how can that relationship support your coaching?
Being connected to Nature isn’t something that I put a lot of thought into for most of my life; it just was a part of me. I grew up in the woods of New Hampshire, in a town of 800 people, where the closest store was two miles away. I spent most of my childhood exploring my little town by bike and on foot. The fastest way across town was to cut through the woods, which often involved small river crossings, climbing up large hills, getting slightly lost, but always an adventure. Thinking back, my parents never worried about where I was, as long as I came home when the streetlights came on. Across the stream in my backyard is a bunch of trees with small openings of moss-covered ground. I built intricate forts there and called it my ‘house in the forest’. My parents were only allowed to visit if I invited them. I camped there often, never with a tent, just my sleeping bag on top of the moss. On occasion, I would invite my Dad to ‘come over to my house’, to build a fire with me (as that was the rule). He would bring hot chocolate and I would show him new additions to my house. This was my special spot.
All of my summers from the age of 8 to 16, for eight weeks, were spent at a camp in Maine. The camp is built on Lake Sebago, with cabins hanging over the water or nestled into the trees. There is no electricity in the cabins, so when it gets dark, you go to sleep, and as the sun rises we did, and ran down to the lake for our morning dips. This place is still the most magical important place to me. I made life-long friends, learned so many skills, was immersed in Nature, and never wanted to go home at the end of the summer.
Reflecting back on my childhood, I feel very privileged that I grew up where I did and had the opportunities to live my life so freely.
Something that really hits home with me from the Coyote’s Guide and other readings is the notion of Nature Deficit Disorder and it’s effect on children. ‘Playful, meaningful connection with the wild world outdoors needs to be a fundamental ingredient of every childhood. We cannot let it invisibly slip away. We must consciously choose if for our children, our communities and ourselves.’ ‘…our bodies and brains have millions of build in neurological connections with the environment, waiting to be activated.’ I’m not sure if my parents intentionally created these situations so that I would have these experiences, but I’m happy that we moved from San Francisco to New Hampshire when I was three. I feel that the ability to grow up as I did is so important, and as an aunt (and maybe someday as a parent), I want to give my niece opportunities to explore this wild world. I know that this world isn’t as safe as it was when I grew up, but this business of ‘screen time’ disgusts me.
As a guide and living in downtown San Diego, I have many potential clients that never really get out of the city. When in reality, even going to the beach and sitting there watching the waves, can offer a sense of solace and connection to the Earth. I like the idea of ‘Stretching Peoples’ Edges’ from the Coyote’s Guide. Jon Young says, ‘By circling around the periphery of those you mentor, you can guide them out from their indoor comfort zones, to the edge and farther edge of their experience and knowledge. Meet people where they are, and then intrigue them and entice them into ever-widening connection with the wilderness beyond the edge of town. When you find that edge, you can stretch and pull them to a new edge, and then another, deeper and deeper into a sense of comfort and kinship with the wilderness of the natural world.’ I believe this will be an important piece of my work as a coach and guide, especially as long as I live in San Diego. To show the ability to connect with something bigger than them, which is easily accessible, will be important. Explaining my own connection with Nature and the Earth, and how it grounds me and allows me to be vulnerable without judgment, is an excellent stepping stone in getting started on the work that my clients will be coming to me for.-
Lauren, great post! Your childhood, as well as Wendy’s, seems so inspiring to the reasons as to why you want to do this work. I loved reading how you spent summers in Maine for eight years out of your life and that your parents took you out of the city. Who knows if that was intentional, but a blessing 🙂 I really enjoyed reading about how you can take clients from San Diego and connect them to the beach that’s so close to home! I think that’s so important to find ways we can involve nature in our day-to-day lives that’s easily accessible. Great post!
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Lauren,
It’s so neat to read about your childhood growing up in NH. What a special time, and an experience that so many people don’t get to have as kids.Something that caught my eye in your post was your connection to the idea of stretching people’s edges. What a neat idea- and one that I bet you connect to as an outdoor educator! I instantly thought of the comfort zone, stretch zone, panic zone idea. This is one of the core principles of experiential education- I picture an ever-expanding comfort zone as you entice your clients into their stretch zone again and again. I’m excited and interested to hear your ideas about how to engage folks in that way in the big city. Thanks for sharing a piece of your childhood with us!
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What does it mean to be connected to Nature, and how can that relationship support your coaching?
To be connected to nature is to be connected to myself and to the energy that surrounds and is inside me everyday. It means to be aware of my surroundings and my inner feelings, thoughts, and knowledge. To be connected to nature is to know that the outside world is not separate from me. I am not living in my own, private silo away from my environment and away from others. It is sometimes easy to forget that I’m not sailing along and alone in my own little world, but when I intentionally connect to nature I am reminded of how connected to everything I am, and how when I am attuned to the energy around me, and aware of my own responses, reactions, and feelings, that I am powerful. Nature, in all of its simplicity and complexity, reminds me of my power, value, and worth. In turn, when I consciously engage and observe my environment, I begin (again!) to appreciate the world’s power, value, and worth as well. Noticing everything there is to notice is being connected to nature.
My relationship to nature supports my coaching in many ways, but a stand-out way is related to the naturalness of nature! In Coyote’s Guide, the authors write that “just as in nature, where everything fill its niche and contributes to the whole, so does each human.” This sentence brings to mind visuals of the “circle of life,” of symbiotic relationships between flora and fauna, and of the way each ecosystem is designed so perfectly to support life. Beyond these textbook examples, this concept reminds me of making camp with a new group of students on a backpacking trip.The instructor teaches skills and strategies to get camp set-up rolling, and eventually, as the days go by, each person in the group finds a unique and necessary way to contribute to the task. In the same paragraph in Coyote’s Guide the authors share that “connection to nature naturally invites people to appreciate the dynamics of community. They realize that every person has a place and a contribution to make…” This truth is so easy to see and feel and know deep down inside in a group of people when you are travelling from Point A to Point B on foot. This kinship between self, nature, and community is something that drove me to get involved with EBI. I love and need to feel connected in that backcountry-dirty-suffer-backpacking-blisters-camp dinner-rain soaked tent-kind of way. And I am interested in connecting others to that feeling when that kind of experience is not an option.
My relationship to nature, and my appreciation for nature, support me in my coaching. Specifically, the idea that the client sets the agenda. Nature often forces me to slow down. To relax. Or to speed up or react or change my plans. Nature aids me in releasing whatever preconceived notions I have about the experience I’m “supposed,” to have, and I know that this lesson is something that will support me as a coach. From Coaching Skills, a Handbook by Jenny Rogers, I take note of Principle 4: the Client Sets the Agenda. I must remember, in nature, that there is room to go-with-the-flow and realize that whatever shows up is what is there. This is like coaching, where I will not have an agenda, but rather, my client will provide that agenda.
One more way (there are endless ways) that my relationship with nature supports my coaching is being aware of “who we are versus what we do” (from Coaching Skills). On a thru-hike, for example, one can do everything “right.” You can take care of your feet, eat enough calories, stay hydrated, have the lightest equipment and get enough sleep. There are all tasks, or examples of the “doing self.” The Doing Self does not guarantee success. The mental and emotional aspects of a thru-hike are a part of the “being self.” These values and core beliefs that make up the “being self” are a huge part of something like a thru-hike. But, nurturing the “being self” doesn’t guarantee success either. Nothing does! But becoming aware of these selves and beginning to understand them is an important part of a thru-hike (for example) or any feat in life.
My relationship to nature is one that I need to, and will, continue to develop and nurture and nourish and put energy towards. It’s difficult a lot of the time to intentionally do this, but I know that will patterns, practice, perseverance, etc. that I can and will make it a priority.
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SUMMARY POST:
Throughout our face-to-face intensive, and the last few weeks of readings, the webinar and responses from my cohort, my understanding and belief in Nature-connection has become clearer. I have been able to explore my connection with nature and begin to define it. Practicing Nature-Awareness, both in Colorado and at home, has taught me to trust in nature, perhaps more than I did before. Working on my sensory awareness, wide-angle vision, and attuning to the environment around me and staying in the present moment, was a challenge, but has really helped. Spending time in my Sit Spot and going through my Sacred Questions brought a higher level of awareness of what was really going on in my head. I feel safe knowing that everything we need to know is out there and the answers are already there, we just need to trust the process.
Core Routines, which the authors of Coyote’s Guide write about, have really helped me connect with nature on a different level. The standout routines for me have been establishing a Sit Spot, the Wander, and using my Vision Council to help guide me. It was interesting for me to reflect on my connection to nature as a child, and realize that I did in fact have a sit spot for several years; my ‘house’ in the woods. How exciting and privileged I feel! I believe with consistent practice of these routines, it will help me in my coaching presence as well as help my client to start tuning into a deeper connection with themself.
For those of us involved with EBI, the feelings that we have in Nature and our connection to it, seems obvious. This is how we got here right? I feel like the challenge of finding clients to work with, will be in finding open and like-minded individuals. So many people are wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of their life, social media and screens, and following a path that isn’t necessarily what they may choose in order to live a happy healthy life because of outside pressure and expectations. As stated in Chapter 2 of the Coyote’s Guide, ‘we need to turn back and reconnect with our natural roots, in order to recover and restore. And that means shifting our routines.’ For me, the important piece is establishing my own new routines, practicing them and then noting the changes that happen. So much has changed for me in the last month, it’s hard to wrap my mind around it. But it’s also incredibly exciting! Again, trusting in nature and that the answers are out there, opens the door to so much growth and understanding. Establishing this connection and being able to speak about it in a way that creates excitement and the belief in the possibility of change (if you are willing to put in the work) will be my hook to start pulling in clients. I’m super excited to continue this journey! -
Mmmmm, I loved reading all of your thoughts here! I definitely feel the commonalities of feeling good, right, relaxed and safe in one’s own body when in nature. I hear excitement to think that a certain mode of learning/living comes from being in touch with one’s own vulnerability that nature easily makes space for and how being a nature-connected coach allows the possibility to guide others into this experience– which ultimately allows their truth to come forward.
In Coyote Guide, there’s a quote by Jon Young: …every person has a Natural Gift, but they don’t know how to see it themselves. From this perspective…every person has a unique gift that they are bringing forward into the world, and it is exactly what the world needs right now (31). As guides, do you see the possibility of your gift(s) guiding others into their gift(s)- through and by the plan of nature? 🙂 <3
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To me, being connected to nature is being open to nature. Allowing the energy of the natural world into you and giving something in response. It is communication; there is an exchange of energy. There is a language being spoken between you, which may occur through words, feelings, symbols, sounds, sights, smells… For example, I was just looking for a place to sit and write. I found one that felt good, I wondered is this really it? Then I saw yellow flowers growing. I work with yellow flowers and to me they symbolize growth, forward movement out into the light, into the world of being seen, and of expression. EBI is a way for me to connect with that energy. And then I noticed a snake… transformation… it is time to express, to change, and to engage… This is the right spot for me ☺.
I love the listening practices we learned in the intensive. I love them because they foster this connection. They remind me of the life above, below, and all around me. While listening I feel like a puzzle piece that has been put back into its puzzle. I feel I am a part of something, the something I evolved with, my homeland, and that I am exactly where I am meant to be. I am in conscious connection with the seen and unseen beings and forces that make up our world. I believe the conscious piece of this is important. Because there is a big difference between being absorbed in my “monkey mind” while in nature and actually listening, sensing, feeling, and opening to nature.
While every being can connect with nature, because essentially we are nature, I believe there are different levels of connection, some shallower and some deeper. If you do not live in nature, these deeper levels must be cultivated. And cultivating these deeper levels is incredibly supportive in coaching because they widen your awareness and deepen your presence. They reconnect you with your guides, your supporters, your wildness, and your vision.
The more time you spend in nature, and open to nature, the more you notice tiny details. The shift in a bird’s song, the change in the winds direction, a cloud passing across the sun and the affect it carries all around you. You may notice a plant that has flowers that have died, flowers in bloom, and flowers just beginning to open; the entire life cycle expressed all at once in one being and how extraordinary that is.
This supports you as a coach because your client is just another kind of ecosystem. They have a history and stories but also thoughts, feelings, and sensations passing through all the time. Like connecting with nature, when coaching you are completely aware of and open to your clients experience, (and what’s going on in they’re surroundings as that is natures contribution to the session, both signaling to you and supporting your client). For example your client may be telling a story without noticing how they’re muscles constrict as they speak. We tend to exist looping around in familiar thoughts and habits. Like the Coyote, the coaches job is to bring them out of these comfort zones, to guide they’re attention to the wisdom of they’re body, and to help connect the dots. Connecting with nature opens you up to subtleties and the ability to notice these subtleties in and around your client makes you a better coach.
Connecting with nature also supports freedom to engage and be with all parts of you. I believe what many of us are missing is a deep connection with the natural world, the feeling of finally fitting back into our puzzle. And being in that puzzle involves not only sensing and openness but also wildness, play, fight or flight, love, serenity, curiosity, reverence, intimacy, passion, anger, sadness, laughter, fierceness… It requires freedom to feel and express every part of the rainbow that makes up the human experience. And to do that while in relationship with the world around you. Every part of that rainbow is mirrored in and can be exercised and inspired by every part of the natural world.
Being in connection with nature is being open to nature. You are speaking the language of the Earth and you are listening in response. You are open to the subtleties and your awareness and presence deepens and widens. You feel and respond to the freedom to hunt, nourish, pray, and play. You become more flexible, more open, and more awake. This supports your work as a coach because you are more able to notice tiny details in your client, shifts in they’re energy, and patterns in their life. Your more able to meet them where they are, to feel them where they are, and to guide and inspire them towards they’re edges… and ultimately they’re growth and evolution. -
Amanda I really loved how you spoke to how nature based coaching helps you/your client connect to they’re deeper souls calling! Its so true! Like how town and busy lives are like the mud or ripples and when you get into nature, and especially work with someone in nature you can see clearly to the bottom. I loved feeling your passion and can totally see you supporting people to find there’s!
Wendy I loved hearing about your childhood! I spent a good amount of time in nature as a child, mostly in the suburbs and occasionally in the country. I found my own magic there and it was special… And wow… the relationship you had with nature throughout your childhood sounds like a fairy tale!
I also really loved how you spoke of her “lack of judgment [and] the ‘enoughness’ that she creates”. Reading those words feels nourishing to my soul and I can completely relate! … also curious to hear more about the lizard brain and how you instantly start to re-wire yourself.Wow Lauren your time with nature throughout your childhood also sounds like a fairy tale!! Truly I want that for my children some day and it just sounds so pure and magical! I also love how you brought up nature deficit disorder. I’m feeling sadness around that right now.
I also love how you spoke to guiding your clients to they’re edges. That quote may have been the most impactful and inspiring in the reading for me. Just through reading it, and allowing it to settle inside of me, coyote has brought me to one of my edges ☺.Kelsey I love how you talk about how connecting to nature connects you to your power! Something lit up inside me when I read that and I experience that too- probably more in nature then anywhere. I think its because it connects you to your truth that is easy to forget when your not so present… or consciously supported.
I also really love the quote you chose about how nature invites you to notice and appreciate the dynamics of community. I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on how each part of nature plays its role, and how I am a part of that web, but I often forget about how it reflects the larger symbiosis of a community! That is so beautiful! -
Foundations One: Summary post.
My life has transformed so radically in the last month that it makes my head spin. For the last few years I have known the type of coach I wanted to be and that it was clearly connected to nature. I knew it but couldn’t find the right certification which fulfilled my career goals but also had a level of credibility in the broader (less enlightened) marketplace. Then, thank you Universe, you gave me EBI; everything I could possibly have articulated and more about my goals; nature connection and a professional certification which would bridge the gap for those perhaps not yet connected to nature as I am but needing guidance.I arrived in CO believing I was open and ready. I KNEW I was connected to nature and she had helped me to heal – right?! Well, not so much! Foundations One broke me open in the most powerful, transformational and beautiful way – it gave me the gift of being vulnerable in ways I had forgotten how to be and was too scared be. The sacred questions are SO simple yet SO powerful – how can such simple words create such depth of emotion, questioning and awareness? I use them in all my coaching sessions in my corporate world and they feel natural to me and my clients don’t even realize what we are doing; they just jump in, trusting and opening like flowers. The joy of guiding them to an awareness or realization is like no other gift you can bear witness to.
I remember my panic on day 2 at the thought of having to sit in my sit spot – visceral and overwhelming to the point of tears. How I have come to love, cherish and crave my quiet time – my core routines. It’s powerful when you can put words to things that maybe you’ve been doing without even realizing them because it makes them repeatable; they can become routines because you create the space for them in your day.
Friday and yesterday were really tough days for me – the changes I’m intentionally creating in my life are amazing and exciting and they move me daily towards my vision but they are also stressful and at times pretty overwhelming. I was having very strong physical reactions with shallow and fluttering breathing (my heart was fine, this was just my emotions manifesting physically). I was talking to my dear friend and life coach, Toi Lyn, and she asked me to engage in a somatic exercise with her. I closed my eyes and visualized my feeling, high up in my chest/throat and it was the shallows of a river where the water couldn’t flow easily because of all the rocks in the way. The noise was not the beautiful, relaxing bubbling of a stream but a jangling cacophony of disconnected sounds. I realized that the noise was all in my head and the rocks were all the perceived obstacles to my move. I say perceived because when I analyze them, they are not even obstacles, they’re stories I’m telling myself. So, I plan to find a creek and build myself a small representation of this so that I can physically remove these barriers and let the water flow freely.
So, Foundations One, for me, has been learning, personal development, affirmation that I’m doing what I’m meant to do, empowering and, last but not least, meeting incredible people who I am speechlessly blessed to be sharing this journey with. ❤️
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SUMMARY
As I’ve thought about nature connection these last few weeks I really wanted to pick words and phrases that connect to my truth when talking about it. At first it was somewhat hard to define, but after the video conference last Wednesday, I feel as though I have a better grip on what nature connected coaching is and why that’s important to me.
I feel connected to nature in a way that I can’t necessarily define because it just happens. When I’m connected the nature, I feel this holistic and pure sense of being. For example, on my way to the beach I’m not preparing myself for the connection that my body, mind and soul will feel when I step foot on the sand. When I get there I just feel this wave of relaxation, calm, love, joy, and gratitude. The same goes for when I immerse myself in woods or mountains, this feeling of gratitude and appreciation for the beauty, for it allows me to live on her soil and have the experiences I’ve had through her roots. I would say I connect to the natural world just by immersing myself in it. There’s no other way to describe the shifts in feelings I have when I step foot into nature, wherever that may be. Different landscapes allow me to appreciate different aspects of that space, but ultimately no matter where I am there is this unspoken connection between nature and I. We both feel this love for each other, this sense of respect and graciousness. We both know that I am not going to hurt her and she will not hurt me. If anything nature has allowed me to protect her with openness, perseverance and passion. I feel as though my connection to nature just comes from my existence, my desire of love with something that is not human.
For me, nature connection is a way of being, of communicating. Jon Young talks about how birds and animals have their own language and most people aren’t aware of what is happening or what is being said. Most people don’t think about that the birds and animals are communicating essentially right under our noses (paraphrased from Youtube video) Even though I cannot understand what the birds are saying (yet!) I still have this awareness of the communication that is happening around me. I think nature connection means being aware of the surrounding world, having that sensory vision of what’s going on, what’s being said, finding that baseline and understanding when the centric rings are forming as well. Nature connection is attunement to the natural world around you and as for us humans, being aware and engaged with what is happening. To take a step further, why it’s happening. As for me, nature connection is an unspoken communication between Mother Nature and myself. It is this solace and understanding we both have for each other. It allows me to feel vulnerability and not have all of the logistical answers to life. It’s a safe space for me to form into my best, most righteous self. Nature connection revives me of any stresses I have or any anxieties that may occur in my life. Being immersed in her natural beauty, listening to that unspoken word, surrounding myself with trees and birds and waves and sand only helps me activate the bigger picture, what’s most important in my life. Nature connection is something I think all humans have the ability to feel when those lenses of the manmade world come off. It’s an openness for love and exchange of gratitude. It helps me confront my biggest issues or soak in my most earnest passions. It’s the simplicity of all that is righteous and giving. My connection to nature only allows me to thrive with joy and conviction that will serve myself, other people and her in my greatest capacity. This connection I feel to nature embarks me on incredible journeys where my soul feels at peace yet there is a sense of adventure as well. A curiosity of what else is out there, how much can I explore and the kind of love and connection from nature and others who thrive in their connection to nature will come about. -
I have really loved foundation one. I just read through some of the highlights, which are essentially bringing awareness to your connection with nature and consciously deepening it with regular practices. This foundation also covered basics about coaching and what it really is. To me it has been grounded magic – connecting with nature and the subtle realms, and then grounding it into a structure that can bring this magic into todays world, ie coaching and what that really is.
Practicing opening up into the subtle realms all around us is so nourishing to my soul. I have loved learning these practices in the intensive, sharing these deep moments with each other (especially meeting each others councils!), and continuing to practice on my own. I have also really loved doing the listening practices. I do them most days and I find I am able to shift into that state of interconnection with the natural world much more quickly and easily now.
The vision has been so helpful too. I see it as a giant obsidian arrow (or maybe I’m just really tiny on a normal arrow). And its edge is wavy and I just keep working on making my way towards the tip. When I see and feel this I feel clear, grounded, present, and alive, knowing I am exactly where I’m meant to be.
Foundation one in general has been incredibly supportive in these feelings. I am really loving learning about general coaching too. There are simple structural things such as brain patterning, that I have known about, but reading the words describing them in a book is bringing new insights for me and has been incredibly supportive in my own healing process. It has helped me to take a step beck out of my own life to see the bigger picture of how we exist and function, how I can relate to this understanding in my own life and how I can someday support others knowing this. Sometimes I think the most simple ideas are the most awe inspiring.
I guess overall foundation one has taught me again that I am exactly where I need and am meant to be. I feel like I have been looking for this my whole life! By this I mean the way to bring magic into real life and spread it… and to do that as my profession! And by magic I mean the magic of the earth. And our connection with her. And how healing and encapsulating of everything that is. I am feeling grateful and looking forward to continuing onto the next foundation.
