Foundation Two C23 Discussion

[Ivy Walker]

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[John]

Where do Ecopsychology and Coaching come together? How does this blend add foundation to your interests as a Nature-Connected Coach? How might it fall short? What skills are needed?

We as a culture have so thoroughly separated ourselves from any soulful and/or meaningful relationship with Nature that we have made ourselves sick–and crazy–and it shows. “The problem of our day is an inner deadening, an increasingly deployed defense against the stresses of living in an overbuilt industrialized civilization… .” (Buzzell and Chalquist, Psyche and Nature in a Circle of Healing). Up until recently, traditional psychotherapy has been hampered by the fact that it operates within the very boundaries of the ‘overbuilt industrialized civilization’ it aims to transcend. As Theodore Roszak writes, “As for psychologists and therapists, their understanding of human sanity has always stopped at the city limits. …psychotherapy has never seen fit to reach beyond family and society to address the nonhuman habitat that so massively engulfs the tiny psychic island Freud called ‘civilization and its discontents.'”

Then there is the environmental movement. Comprised for so many years now of “fearful and desperate people who seek to rescue the planet from disaster (Roszak, T., A Psyche as Big as the Earth), the movement of late finds itself trying to solve a problem that is just too gargantuan to grasp, and awareness has grown indicating the the issue is not so much an ecological problem as a psychological one. It has to do with the way we have chosen to devalue nature in our headlong quest for material “wealth.”

This is where the emerging field of Eco-psychology comes in; the term can be defined as “… the study of the psychological processes that tie us to the world or separate us from it.” (Buzzell and Chalquist, Psyche and Nature in a Circle of Healing). It is hopeful to note that modern-day psychotherapists are now exploring ways in which the psychology profession can offer therapies to help solve the current environmental crisis. As Australian rainforest activist John Sneed has written, “Psychologists in service to the Earth helping ecologists to gain deeper understanding of how to facilitate profound change in the human heart and mind seems to be the key [to saving the planet] at this point.” (Quoted in Roszak, T., Where Psyche Meets Gaia). Or as Theodore Roszak writes in A Psyche as Big as the Earth: “… ecology needs psychology, psychology needs ecology.”

Nature-Connected Coaching can play an integral part in this effort to heal ourselves and the planet. In effect, Nature-Connected Coaching (NCC) is Eco-therapy, Eco-therapy being an application of Eco-psychology. As Roszak states, “… ecopsychology proceeds from the assumption that at its deepest level the psyche remains sympathetically bonded to the Earth that mothered us into existence… its sources are old enough to be called aboriginal. Once upon a time all psychology was ‘ecopsychology.'” (Roszak, T., Where Psyche Meets Gaia). For me as a future Nature-Connected Coach, the blending of Eco-psychology and Coaching holds great promise as a resource for future environmental harmony. Techniques used in NCC like ‘Coyote Mentoring’ include “awakening sensory awareness, cultivating knowledge of place, and restoring the bond between people and nature” (Young, Haas & McGown, Coyote’s Guide to Connecting With Nature). Techniques such as these are rooted in our indigenous past, and re-connection to this deep inner part of our ancestral heritage can go a long way toward the realization that we are Nature.

Conventional professional coaching calls for skills centered around the “coaching relationship” where the power of the process stems from working in partnership with the client in a relationship of equals. Without mutual warmth, acceptance and trust, coaching is impossible. (Rogers, J., Coaching Skills). While Nature-Connected Coaching draws on those same skills to create a safe space in which the client can find their own answers and solutions to their issues, the “… fundamental goal is to awaken and hone [one’s] native wilderness awareness, our birthright of ‘natural intelligence.'” (Young, Haas & McGown, Coyote’s Guide to Connecting With Nature). This requires NCC coaches to be versed in skills conventional coaches may not have; skills like the “Indicators of Awareness” described in the Coyote’s Guide. “These Indicators of Awareness offer the final layer of intention for you [the NCC coach] to be conscious of guiding your people back into their most natural and powerful selves connected with their place.” (Young, Haas & McGown, Coyote’s Guide to Connecting With Nature).

[Toni Blanton]

I’ve really been struggling with this kickoff question. It took me a long time to write anything. At one point, I had a long post written with a similar perspective but couldn’t seem to make it fit the question in my mind. John, you’ve done a beautiful job connecting the question to the perspective for me. I’m going to ponder this awhile. Thank you.

[John]

Thanks, Toni. I frequently come away from my posts wondering if I was even on target, so this is a great affirmation for me! Earlier in my life I was involved in environmental education and worked at the local nature center and later for a summer camp that wanted to implement an environmental curriculum. The “psyche meets gaia” theme here reminded me of those days and how dissatisfied I was with the work. It seemed that all we were doing was teaching kids how to label plants and animals. There didn’t seem to be much soul to it, nothing beneath the surface, nothing so deep as psyche or spirit. So it comes as a great relief for me now to learn that the environmental folks are coming together with the psycho(!) crowd. It makes all the sense in the world and it transcends the educational model in favor of something so much more personal and soulful. Maybe there is hope!

[Sara Brells]

Hi John,

Thank you for your accountability in getting this discussion post started on time! Many of the quotes you highlighted are the lines that struck me as well. I’ve particularly been reflecting on the commentary in the article regarding environmentalists who “seek to rescue the planet…” Does she really need rescued? I often think that if humans were to disappear, Earth would slowly but surely rejuvenate herself and be just fine (if not better off) without us. It is humans that need rescuing from ourselves. I think this is what you’re highlighting here, so thank you. I’d be curious to hear others’ thoughts on that hero-mindset us humans tend to have around “rescuing” the Earth…

[John]

Hi Sara,

Thanks for your comment. Yes, I agree with you: If it weren’t for us, the Planet would be just fine. I think it’s safe to say the environmental movement is a manifestation of a deep-seated (although subconscious in most cases) guilt we have about what we’ve done and are doing to our Earth Mother. But it comes from a place of so much hubris and arrogance on our part. Like you say, who do we think we are, believing we can “save” the planet? The planet is demonstrating right now what it can do with the likes of us! It is we ourselves who need saving.

[Toni Blanton]

I agree. Mumma Earth would be just fine without us. I think the hero mindset is the other side of the coin that created the damage in the first place. The power to destroy and the power to save both come from a place of ego and superiority. Connection, relationship, and respect for ourselves and Mumma Earth would go much further and be much more effective at creating sustainability. The hero versus villain mentality keeps us stuck, keeps both sides fighting with each other.

[Joy Nalywaiko]

Wow. John, you really captured the essence of every part of this kickoff question. You wrote with such eloquence. I appreciate how you have tied in every part of our reading and linked together the readings – with your quote from the coaching skills to Coyote in bringing them all together. I felt such a connection with the readings but failed to spend the time pondering how to write out my thoughts. You have done a fantastic job with conveying your understanding the connections and writing with such grace. Thank you!

[Hannah]

John, I am in awe of your post.

While trying to write my own post (which I am not completely happy with) I found myself more caught in emotion, and having a troublesome time putting words to what I thought about this initial question.

With reading your post, I gained confidence in my own personal thoughts about this question. You have put words to my thoughts and emotions!

It seems like you put much contemplation and time into this post, so thank you.

[Lindsay]

Where do Ecopsychology and Coaching come together? How does this blend add foundation to your interests as a Nature-Connected Coach? How might it fall short? What skills are needed?

Nature connected coaching is collaborating with Nature. This is where eco psychology and coaching coming together. They are interweaved together to ensure and strive for the best result for the client. Because we are co-collaborating with Nature to provide our clients with a comprehensive transformational process, the earth, it’s creatures, its life and terrain are a direct part of the experience. I am confident that “the possibility that humans possess a capacity called ‘biophilia,’ as defined as ‘the innately emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms’,” (Where Psyche Meets Gaia) is an accurate and therefore hopeful component to the core purpose of our nature connected coaching.

The Indicators of awareness as described in the Coyote Guide, combined with such practices as becoming in tune to baseline, learning from metaphor in nature, and moving at the speed of nature, are all bringing nature into our bodies and our minds, to experience a comprehensive healing, both inside the depths of our psyche and outside ourselves, striving for action that’s healthy and creatively interactive with our natural world. By our interaction with the land, holding sessions outside and then engaging in practices with the land, we are bringing together ecopsychology and coaching. By looking for metaphors in nature to understand our own lives and the lives of our clients, we are taking direct listenings and learnings from Nature itself. Nature is partially the coach. The coach is the vehicle of interpretation, supporting with language, insight, and assistance in helping the client to find their why, understand their situation better, and help them discover the paths to success.

In combining coaching with ecopsychology, which is “the study of the psychological processes that tie us to the world or separate us from it” (Psyche and Nature in a Circle of Healing), we are coaching within the framework that “ecotherapy represents a new form of psychotherapy that acknowledges the vital role of nature and addresses the human-nature relationship” with the added hopeful component that ecotherapy involves “healing and growth nurtured by healthy interaction with the earth.” (Psyche and Nature in a Circle of Healing).

Where this blend falls short is that I imagine it will be challenging to find the right fit of clients who are open to this progressive melding of ideas. Since so many people in this industrialized capitalistic society are driven by the value of accumulating manmade things (materialism), there is an operating disconnect from and unawareness of Nature in general, and most certainly its potential to support and be integrated into growth and problem-solving structures.

As a coach hoping to inspire clients to look at coaching through this progressive lens, I will need to be skilled in presenting the knowledge and experience I have intelligently and confidently. I will need to be on the land with clients, providing keen insight, asking pertinent introspective questions and providing guidance that promotes trust in Nature’s lessons alongside my coaching and support.

[Sara Brells]

Hi Lindsay,

While I was reading the last article tonight (the Ecopsychology Principles one), I found myself trying to imagine in my mind’s eye that I was a “traditional” therapist sneakily trying to weave in nature connected practices that would awake the “eco conscious” in a client otherwise disconnected and unaware of their disconnect. And then I logged in here and read your similar pondering around finding clients in this materialistic world who are open to these concepts!

So while I imagine that most clients who find us/seek us out will be folks who are drawn to earth-based practices, it also leaves me wondering about how I might attract other types of clients too, and slowly guide them toward remembering that eco conscious. Because clients who are independently attracted to working with a nature-connected coach are not necessarily the people in the world who most need it. 😉 I guess it leaves me thinking about my “ideal client”…

Thanks for bringing this into your post! Would love to hear more of your thoughts on the topic, or from others too…

[Lindsay]

Hi Sara,

Yes, I suppose I’m pondering this part of NCC because I’m finding myself in a group that I would like to “pitch” my services and interests to. They are a wonderful group of people, but I am wary they would be interested in what I would offer. I imagine that relating compelling personal experiences to capture their interest is important, and also leading by example. I too am not so interested in working with folks who might be drawn to the work, but instead to others who could potentially discover our work and benefit greatly, and be ones who “spread the word”, so to speak. I feel I am constantly balancing how much of my “woo” that I share with others, because some do not take me seriously, and NCC feels to be in this category sometimes. The way we present what we do and conduct our sessions with clients, with utmost professionalism and intelligence is extremely important to me, and I imagine will be an ongoing personal challenge.

[Joy Nalywaiko]

Hi Lindsay and Sara,

Yes, yes, yes! I have also been pondering this as it has taken me up to now to even see just how the connection to nature has really benefitted even myself (through all of the modalities of healing and connecting every bit of the earth and living creature to aid in that healing, rather than looking at it from simply a ‘me’ standpoint). If that makes sense… But also, I’ve discovered in the past few weeks of meeting many new people on a daily basis (out in nature) but as they are driving by on a beautiful pass ‘leafing’ (looking at the aspens) that there are many who are awakened by this concept of nature coaching that might not have sought us out beforehand. Just by simply mentioning it to a few of them during their brief stops in my tiny mountain ‘village’, they’ve seemed perplexed and then enlightened by the possibilities of connecting with nature in order to gain clarity on life decisions. So, I guess what I’m saying here is that these types of clients that we wish to reach that wouldn’t be our typical ‘roll in the dirt’ nature-coaching clients may still end up finding us.

[Hannah]

Lindsay,

Thank you for writing this post.

Upon reading, what stuck out most for me is the part on Indicators of awareness… Using baseline, deep listening skills, metaphor and speed of nature to be able to guide a client. This is so potent! I personally feel like this is what is at the heart of NCC.

As for the section about how it may fall short, you mentioned finding clients whom are open to a progressive way of looking at psychology/coaching. Reflecting on this, I personally feel like those clients are out there and it is the magic of nature connection that leads clients to the right coach and what they personally are needing.

[Toni Blanton]

Ecopsychology and nature connected coaching come together in the belief that humans have an intrinsic connection to nature. Both view nature as a partner in the healing process. Both modalities bring awareness to our nature connection and provide opportunities to work with nature, in nature as a tool for healing. They complement each other rather than being competitive.

Ecopsychology benefits nature connected coaching in its longevity and ties to a licensed medical profession. 30 years of history, writing, and research into the connection between humans and nature provides a solid, scientific foundation for our work as nature connected coaches. For those people that need that kind of validation, ecopsychology provides that foundation to coaching. That’s an invaluable contribution to our work as coaches. It provides a robust garden we can use to educate and increase awareness.

[Liv]

Thanks for your post, Toni–I, too, was pleased to hear about the research foundation of ecopsychology. We know we’ve experienced the healing nature of nature (teehee) and the power of connecting with nature to tap into ourselves and to learn, but/and it was nice to actually know there is “proof.” I think that will resonate with some clients too. Love your use of the phrase “robust garden”–got a beautiful image from that full of hearty (and hardy) plants and flowers :-).

[Sara Brells]

The Ecopsychology articles touched upon they very key reasons I am drawn to nature-connected coaching: A deep respect for the animist worldviews of traditional cultures that know how to live in right relationship with the earth, and a desire to learn from those cultures; A belief in the interconnected nature of human and earth wellbeing; A craving to shift mindsets and lifestyles away from the extractive culture of Capitalism and towards a more conscious way of being. The fact that these principles and practices exist in both ecopsychology and nature-connected coaching demonstrates the complementary relationship between these fields. In the Buzzell and Chalquist article, they even define ecotherapy as “healing and growth nurtured by healthy interaction with the earth.” I could apply this same description to what we are learning to do as NCC coaches. Our approach might be a bit different, but the premise is shared. Which means, there is a wealth of research and knowledge and wisdom we can learn from in our journey towards becoming a Nature-Connected coach.

All of these articles referenced that alienation from the natural world that we also talked about during our time in Gunnison: we see the chasm between the spirit of the earth and of our communities, our loved ones, and even strangers we pass on the street. We’ve been talking about how nature reflects back to us, and that belief is touched upon when both Roszak said “the earth is sick and speaking through us” and in the Buzzell & Chalquist spoke of the rampant fear and grief in society as a “byproduct of unconscious relation to the distress of the earth.” It’s real, and knowing that there is a branch of psychology that sees that feels promising to me.

We do live in an extractive, competitive, desensitized society shaped by religious, economic and political structures that disdain the animist worldviews of First People who know how to live in right relationship with the land. And so here we are. However, Mother Earth is incredibly resilient and while our distress may be hers, she is also willing to be a partner in re-discovering a “healing sense of belonging and homecoming in a world ridden by displacement” (Buzzell & Chalquist). This is the strength of the blending of ecopyschology and nature-connected coaching. Learning more about Ecopsychology will enhance my abilities as a coach to guide people across that chasm and heal their relationship with them self and with the earth.

I appreciated that Roszak’s article acknowledged the cultural appropriation that can and is happening in the broader healing world (which he referred to as ‘uninvited New Age enthusiasts’). This is something that I’ve been thinking about a lot the last several years of my life, first within my healing circles of community in Ecuador and now dipping my toes into the waters of the healing world in the US. And I don’t have answers. In fact, the more I learn and think and read about it, the more I realize I do not know or yet understand. So instead I hold an evolving understanding and a lot of questions. A mentor once told me, “live out the questions.” My question right now is so big that I could not figure out how to phrase it into one question. I’ve rewritten it a number of times in this google doc. So instead, I share a series of statements and beliefs that I am exploring how to reconcile.

A deeply rooted knowing that the cultures of the First People model how to live in harmony with Mother Earth, in a way that shows her respect and lives in alignment rather than in control.

A deep desire to learn from the wisdom of First Peoples’ cultures in my own journey of growth, unlearning, and reweaving a life in harmony with the earth.

A belief that all humans need to learn from First People and work to bring back to life their innate relationship with the earth.

A desire to support individuals in rekindling their relationship with the earth, which might mean sharing practices I’ve learned along my own journey – none of which derive from my own culture.

An understanding that packaging up and selling offerings that composed of practices from other cultures for my own profit is cultural appropriation, even when it also benefits clients.

A knowing that there must be a way to live in reverence for the First People while also supporting my community in their own healing journeys influenced and shaped by indigenous wisdom.

Essentially, I am exploring how to learn from indigenous wisdom and worldviews, share what I learn, and not be culturally appropriative.

All this to say, I see this important topic as both a potential short-coming and a potential strength. If we go about ecotherapy/coaching practices in a way that does not honor the foundational cultures to these understandings, I do not feel Earth will actually heal. So even more than developing skills to go about this work in a way that respects the Earth and cultures I am learning from, I want to learn how to be in right relationship with them.

I could say a lot more on the topic but I do not think I’ve really answered the original question, so I’ll stop here for now. 🙂

[Hannah]

Wow Sara,

This post has really blown me away.

I feel the heart and passion behind your words, even through the internet.

I can personally relate to wanting to learn from the “First People”, and to cultivate a deeper understanding of cultural appropriation. How to use this wisdom in a thoughtful authentic way. It feels like a big topic.

There is so much to say from your post, that I also will stop here.

[Liv]

Sara–I so love how you touched upon learning from and honoring indigenous people and their relationship with Mother Earth; that stuck out to me in the reading. I remember visiting Peru over 10 years ago and being struck by the awe and reverence with which they treated Pachamama. It felt so different to me, and quite honestly I don’t think I truly understood it (naively wondering, “why would you waste all that good candy and flowers?”). Needless to say I have a really different view right now.

I’m also curious how best to honor other cultures and practices without appropriating them. Thank you for your thoughtful post!

[Joy Nalywaiko]

Where does Ecopsychology and Coaching come together? How does this blend add foundation to your interests as a Nature-Connected Coach. How might it fall short? What skills are needed?

When reading the articles surrounding the concepts of Ecopsychology or ecotherapy, simply defining it as ‘healing and growth nurtured by healthy interaction with the earth’, I immediately felt the link between being a nature-based coach and this new-ish ‘form’ of psychology. By simply acknowledging, as one of the articles states, that we are ‘intimately connected with, embedded in and inseparable from the rest of nature’, shows just how important nature is to our overall wellbeing as well as how far away we have strayed from this sense of wellbeing in our modern world of working too much, social media, iphones, texting, screens, digital everything, etc.

Actually, upon reading these articles (months after our actual Foundations Intensive), I can’t see how ecopsychology and coaching come apart. They are (or need to be) (or I have a longing for them to be) so integrated together that the possibilities of separating them seems impossible. This section really showed me just how important nature is to my coaching, to my wellbeing and to my soul. For some reason, these articles on ecopsych finally reached the inner-psyche of my own resistance to this entire program. I’ve known in my heart that I need to be here and have felt it in both my resistance and in my impatience/rush throughout the first few intensives. Yet, the link between our own internal structure and makeup to all of nature, not just all of mankind, was finally revealed to me through these readings, just like the mycorrhizal links and networks connecting all plant life in the forests.

It seems quite natural that coaching and nature go hand in hand while trying to ‘reconnect the psyche and the body with the terrestrial sources of all healing.’ Bringing all healing back to nature brings on a different meaning when I finally am connecting the togetherness that we find ourselves in with all living beings. Rolling in the dirt (I will continuously revert back to that glorious moment on the ridge in all of my reflections from here on out) means far more than a simple joy that I felt. Rather the connecting with the earth, the connecting with the plants, insects, fungi, strange chicken bird that was watching me, were all included in the connectedness that I suddenly felt in that moment. I wasn’t just reconnecting with myself. Rather, I was reconnecting with my tribe…all of my tribe. Down to every little bit of grass or the tiniest of little red bugs crawling on my blanket.

That all said, this concept didn’t just blend to my concept of being a nature-based coach. It redefined it.

[Joy Nalywaiko]

Summary Post

Foundation 2 had many lessons hidden away that were uncovered through layers over the months following the intensive at nature camp. During this module, we learned the phases of ceremony – severance phase, threshold phase, and incorporation phase. I learned the various components within the severance phase as well as how to get to the threshold. This was the most important aspect of our learning within the shaping of a coaching session within the nature realm. Finding the issue, want, deeper need and outcome here were vital components for the intensive of foundation two.

This entire module was of utter importance for laying the foundation for coaching and for the ceremony. Practicing these phases over and over in person and then over the course of the past few months was helpful in honing in on my listening skills and practicing the steps of the ceremony with my classmates. Also, diving deeper into active listening and really asking ‘what are we listening for’ helped me when tracking the internal world of my clients during my practice sessions while also becoming more self-aware of my own body language and questions.

Also, chapter five in Coaching Skills was very helpful for distinguishing what the client is saying and working with effective questioning at the same time. The awareness that this reading brought me in a practice session helped me to know my limits and when/how to redirect the client to refocus on the issues pertaining to them. Webinar two also discussed asking open-ended questions and really dived into the types of questions to be asking, such as ‘what’ and ‘how’ questions, and using ‘why’ carefully. It also reminded me to PAUSE and let the questions sink in.

During the career development section of foundation two, we really honed in our business plans. This helped me to regain focus on the business plan that I developed months ago that has fallen wayside during all of my courses while feeling overwhelmed. I really appreciated the question ‘what do you need to start believing about yourself now?’

With the readings assigned for this module, I appreciated the three levels of questioning brought up in Coyote’s Guide and pondered how I can use these in my coaching sessions. I enjoyed chapter five and learning more about the art of questioning, creating curiosity and letting the client figure out the solutions and answers. This chapter definitely presented it in a more playful and less serious manner, allowing the client to have the freedom to find the answers within themselves and their memory (and storytelling from the Mind’s Eye from chapter three).

And of course, as explained in my first discussion post, the articles about ecopsychology were enlightening for me in many different ways –perhaps highlighting ideas and concepts that I already knew but also bringing awareness to new aspects of my own time in nature and all of the various ways it has healed me.

[Liv]

Joy—Thank you for this amazingly comprehensive summary post for F2! I also felt gratitude for Chapter 5 with the example questions and love your reminder that it’s OK to pause and allow space for response in sessions. Also, that is such a powerful question (for both us and our clients): “What do you need to start believing about yourself now?” It is our beliefs that limit us more than anything else, and by changing our beliefs we change our lives. . .<3

[Josh]

Ecopsychology provides the foundational principles that undergird our work as nature connected coaches and guides. Ecopsychology roots the coaching experiences we offer in a rigorous and deeper exploration of the benefits of nature connection in a psychological and applied therapeutic sense.

In “Psyche and Nature In a Circle of Healing,” Buzzell and Chalquist lay out the cornerstone concept that unites ecopsychology, ecotherapy, and nature connected coaching: “people are intimately connected with, embedded in, and inseparable from the rest of nature. More simply, they define ecopsychology as “the study of the psychological processes that tie us to the world or separate us from it.”

Roszak, in “Where Psyche Meets Gaia,” shares that ecopsychology “proceeds from the assumption that, at its deepest level, the psyche remains sympathetically bonded to the Earth that mothered us into existence.”

Much as ecotherapy is defined and viewed as applied ecopsychology, nature connected coaching is the application of these same principles but in the coaching modality.

Beyond the terminology and definitions, the principles of ecopsychology present a broader cultural, and even planetary level diagnosis for the challenges we face today as individuals (and, ultimately, the challenges we’ll help our clients confront and overcome as coaches and guides).

Buzzell and Chalquist articulate this diagnosis as the core “problem of our day” describing it as “an inner deadening, an increasingly deployed defense against the stresses of living in an overbuilt industrialized society saturated by intrusive advertising and media, unregulated toxic chemicals, unhealthy food, parasitic business practices, time stressed living, a heart-warping culture of perpetual war and relentlessly mindless political propaganda.” Roszak outlines a similar phenomenon: our collective and individual repression of the “ecological unconscious.”

As coaches and guides, we are ultimately client led. While clients may not come to us for explicit help addressing or overcoming the specific challenges Buzzell, Chalquist, and Roszak identify, it is critical we have the skills and awareness to recognize this as the broader backdrop for our planet overall, society at large, for ourselves, and for our clients. We need not offer an ecopsychology-based diagnosis (or, any diagnosis). Rather, we can tap the tenets of ecopsychology in guiding our clients forward. And, we can tap these same tenets for direction on what to avoid.

As we’ve discussed in many of our NCC program sessions, nature connected coaching is not merely facilitating coaching sessions in nature. Buzzell and Chalquist address this powerfully and directly:

“Animals are not mere tools, nor is Earth a gigantic breast to be heedlessly sucked to exhaustion. Using nature as a mere tool for human healing perpetuates the very-self world split responsible… for our maladies and deteriorating biosphere.”

As we seek to guide our clients through challenges and lasting transformations, we must keep nature as a co-participant, recognizing as Buzzell and Chalquist do, that our co-participants in nature are “subjects in their own right with their own precious needs and freedoms to preserve.”

Seeing nature as a co-participant reveals a broader concept that points to the transformative power of authentic nature connection: nature is a co-participant because of the interconnectedness present across the entire natural world.

At a macro level, ecology itself is the study of these connections. At a planetary level, Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis points to the potential for global self regulation through interdependence and interconnection. On a person to person level (or, a coach to client level), improving one’s own connection to nature can lead to change and benefits across any number of dimensions in one’s life and the world at large.

As Buzzell and Chalquist note, “our mind-body-world web contains its own freely available healing potentials.” It is this web and this interconnectedness found at the core of ecopsychology that provides a pathway to progress we can reveal and share with our clients as coaches and guides.

[Hannah]

Where does Ecopsychology and Coaching come together? How does this blend add foundation to your interests as a Nature-Connected Coach. How might it fall short? And what skills are needed?

– As noted in “The Humanistic Psychologist” Ecotherapy coaching is applied Ecopsychology. What a rich question. What I gathered from Ecopsychology is how Nature affects and effects ones state of mind and inner world. The two go together. How environmental crisis may create an inner crisis for people. How the collective we of society treat nature is a reflection of how we treat ourselves. By becoming connected to nature we become connected with our souls, becoming open hearted and have a natural pull to care for the world around us.

“To forget this, is damaging to our personal mental health”..

Quote from Where Psyche Meets Gaia

Ecopsychology still concerns itself with the foundations of nature and behavior, but does not limit itself to family. It expands to connection to our bond with nature.

How coaching and Ecopsychology come together is by using this understanding of the relationship with nature, and making steps/changes/goals through this understanding.

It may fall short, because as coaches we do not dive into depth with the psyche, we are not trained in group/family dynamics and do not have the tools/training as a psychologist may have.

The skills needed are an understanding of the dynamics/flow between a person and nature is. In-tunement with the senses, observance.

[Toni Blanton]

Summary

I’ve spent a lot of time considering this question, reflecting on the perspectives presented.

I’ve considered the collaborative opportunities possible between the coaching and therapeutic professions.

As a practitioner, I see great value in the inclusion of nature connection as part of the body of research and knowledge associated with a licensed medical profession.

I’ve considered that the two professions don’t necessarily have any connection or influence on each other.

It all comes down to just one thing for me. The recognition and inclusion of nature as essential to human healing.

As humans, we know this inherently, though we’re often unconscious to it. We rationalize our desire to go for a walk after a stressful day as “getting some fresh air” or exercise. But it’s really a healing process that does things like reducing stress hormones, calming our nervous system and easing muscle tension.

Ecopsychology, Ecotherapy, and Nature Connected Coaching are all ways in which, as a culture, we’re starting to explicitly name & recognize nature as an essential healing force. As the community of nature oriented practitioners grows, the roots grow deeper, the branches reach higher and nature starts to reclaim her space in our culture as a core part of human health.

[John]

F2 Summary Post

My biggest takeaway from our Foundation
2 assignment is the questionable philosophy going around that cries
out that we need to save the planet, or else. It is true that we are
doing irreparable damage to our Earth Mother if you think of it in
humanity’s typical sense of time. But consider that Science tells us
that Earth is 4.6 billion years old; the Bible says she’s about 6,000
years old. Do we really think it’s Earth who needs saving?

Regardless of which age hypothesis one
aligns with, it can be argued that most all of the destructiveness
and desecration we’ve bestowed upon the planet has taken place in the
last several hundred years, mainly being a by-product of the the
Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution. If we assume the problem
started 500 years ago and you’re aligned with the Bible’s hypothesis
on the age of Earth, then the time it’s taken to get to this critical
point for her has only taken us a little over 8% of the time Earth
has been around. In other words, Earth has survived for over 5,500
without us! Looking at the scientific Earth age hypothesis, the time
it has taken us to ravage the planet has only taken up 0.0000001% of
the time Earth has been around. In other words, Earth has done just
fine without us for over 4.5999995 billion years! Who are we to think
we need to save the Earth??? She will do just fine without us.

The point is that the movement we read
about in this foundation which strives to merge environmentalism with
psychology not only to create a nature-based model for psychotherapy,
but also to foster an ethic of reverence for the only home we know,
is a refreshing twist to solving our environmental dilemma because it
focuses on healing ourselves. We being irrevocably part and parcel of
Earth, healing ourselves through collaboration with Nature can only
transform the way we treat her for the better, transforming ourselves
in the process.

[Hannah]

Summary Post:

Reflecting on the entire experience of this module has brought me to the recognition that it is through nature that one and we heal. There is not one without the other.

The more we can sink in with the rhythms, the ways of our surrounding the more we become not only in our highest health mentally, physically and emotionally but our highest self.

Bringing in nature into coaching offers a holistic approach to working with someone and their goals.

[Lindsay]

In Conclusion/Summary:

My biggest takeaway at this moment upon reading the other summary posts, and particularly John’s which made a strong impression, is that human beings need Nature. They need connection to realize they are part of it, not separate and controlling of it. What humans do IS “natural” since they are creatures of the Earth. There is no separation in science. But humans MINDS are in the way of realizing this special cosmic relationship and inclusiveness. Our spirits are damaged and insecure sometimes. We as coaches and guides can inspire, connect, and teach a deeper connection to our world, we can reveal to our clients a deeper connection to our souls, and become more in sync with the earth than separate from it or against it (and each other!). Through our skills as intuitive, nature-connected guides, using thoughtful, insightful questions and support to our clients, and then through the Ceremony/Ritual of Severance, Threshold, and Incorporation we can hopefully start to spread a greater awareness in general that supports the health of our earthlings and Earth itself.

[Sara Brells]

F2 Summary Post

In reflecting on the rich discussion in this module and how it connects with the ceremony and severance focus of the in-person portion of Fondation 2, I notice something that is very important to me: I believe deeply in the criticality of regenerating human’s relationship with the natural world. And I see nature-connected coaching as a means to this important work – whether that is what clients initially come to me seeking or not, I want to weave in and promote this re-membering (in the truest meaning of the word) with the psyche’s bond “to the Earth that mothered us into existence.” I do really agree that there is “an inner deadening, an increasingly deployed defense against the stresses of living in an overbuilt industrialized society saturated by intrusive advertising and media, unregulated toxic chemicals, unhealthy food, parasitic business practices, time stressed living, a heart-warping culture of perpetual war and relentlessly mindless political propaganda.” And I also know deeply that there is a more soulful, joyful, connected way to live, and I want to guide people toward that way of walking on Mother Earth. Not because She needs “saved” by us (as John pointed out, Earth has done just fine without us for over 4.5999995 billion years!), but because life is beautiful, and I want so deeply for future generations to experience right relationship with one another and Mother Earth.

And I see more and more clearly how the Severance phase of the Coaching Ceremony relates directly with this. It encourages a literal severing from the old, disconnected way of being. We can guide clients simultaneously into deeper connection with nature and with their inner knowing, because they are intrinsically linked. Severance is essentially guiding the client toward their empowered creation of the new story they want to step into; a new way of being. The question I am carrying with me from this module is an exploration of my own directiveness in bringing nature connection into the client’s story and process.

[Liv]

Sara—Thanks for this; I really liked how you defined the severance process as the “literal severing from the old, disconnected way of being.” This stressed to me the importance of the threshold experience as bringing our clients to the new way of being—allowing someone to experience this new way of being (even for just a moment) connected with and supported by both us (as guides) and nature “at-large”.

[Cecile Bonnet]

Thank you Sara for sharing your reflection. Your post provoked an aha moment for me… Originally I didn’t really know what the word severance meant.. and you expressing “a literal severing from the old, disconnected way of being” made it crystal clear to me… I see it as the beginning of the transition; getting more awareness, getting more clear and letting go of the old in order to step into the unknown, this threshold that the client gets to experience with Nature 🙂

[Liv]

Q: Where does Ecopsychology and Coaching come together? How does this blend add foundation to your interests as a Nature-Connected Coach. How might it fall short? What skills are needed?

Discussion Question

Ecopsychology is the synthesis of ecology and psychology with an emphasis on a sustainable lifestyle that supports and nurtures our nature connection. It looks to strengthen the emotional bond between humans and the earth to make it easier for humans to feel connected to something larger than themselves and to understand themselves better as individuals. Nature-Connected Coaching is one of several modalities that support Ecopsychology (or some might say Ecotherapy—as the applied version of Ecopsychology). Ecopsychology includes a growing body of research that shows the benefit of spending time in nature and of nurturing our connections with nature. It uses this as a springboard for a larger shift in consciousness that will ultimately yield different lifestyles with people caring more about the planet.

I was very inspired to learn more about the Ecopsychology field, as it was new to me. Knowing that Nature-Connected Coaching falls into this discipline lends more credence to it and provides more foundation to explore beyond my own individual experience which I sometimes struggle to articulate to others. I like how it includes both “scientific understandings of our universe, and the deepest indigenous wisdom” (Buzzell and Chalquist, p. 18)—which feels like the blending of traditionally “western” (which I associate with left-brain) approaches with “eastern” (or right-brain). I also love the description of “[t]rees and soils, streams and skies, animals and insects. . .[as] coparticipants. . .partners in reestablishing a healing sense of belonging and homecoming” in the world (Buzzell and Chalquist, p. 20), which is resonant to NCC.

The readings linking ecopsychology with a desire to make humans care about climate change were interesting. It gave me the impression that early ecopsychology practitioners originally thought people would just magically change their thinking and lifestyle to be more environmentally-friendly, but Roszak’s article A Psyche as Big as the Earth (p. 32) highlighted his realization that it was much more effective to have a light touch and express natural curiosity about people’s lives than to scold them into changing. To me that highlights the challenge of how our brains work and the nature of change (yes, I’m skipping ahead to that topic, because it’s friggin January!); how do you get someone to care about something that feels abstract or that doesn’t feel important? Where are they in the “desire to change” spectrum? In my current job (transportation planning) we talk about information v. inclination. We can provide information (in this case, traffic signs about what to do), but a person’s behavior depends upon their inclination to act a certain way. The approach Roszak highlighted about being curious and having conversations with people really resonated with me, as I think we are learning to do that more as NCC coaches. It’s not up to us to change others (or tell them what to do!) but rather to ask questions and provide a safe environment for our clients to reflect and to recognize their desire to change and the steps they want to take themselves.

I will share that some days I feel like I understand Ecopsychology and some days, not so much (lol). I look forward to reading and learning from everyone else’s posts and to reflecting further in my summary post.

[Cecile Bonnet]

Hi Liv, I really resonated with what you said when you shared that NCC falling into the discipline of Ecopsychology brought more credence to it and provided more foundation. Everything interweaves somehow and it is really interesting to understand all the different pieces. As we learn more and more, I feel it is going to be easier to explain it to others.

And yes to the “nature of change” and how our brains works. As the Coaching skills book states p 28, “when you feel you are being told what to do, your first response is virtually always to defend your existing position. It becomes impossible to listen carefully to what the other person is saying, however sensible it is”