Foundation Three C23 Discussion

[John]

Reflect on your experience as a client in the “threshold”.
The feeling I experience in the threshold is like a point of no return. To get there I have taken a deep look into my self and my past. In doing so I have committed to an intention to change who I am and how I think about myself. I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know exactly what I want, but I know I want something—it’s a knowing kind of feeling—and I know there is no going back. There is apprehension about what comes next, and there is fear;
but there is also a feeling of exuberance; I know I must surrender to this yearning to change my self. I must trust in my self. No one else can give me the answers I seek, but in surrendering to Nature I am washed clean and I know the answers will come.

How does that experience inform your coaching and why?

This experience informs my coaching by imbuing within me the ability to understand and share the feelings of my clients. Having experienced the threshold myself, I can relate to the feelings my client is experiencing in his/her own threshold. There can be feelings of fear and apprehension of the unknown surrounding the surrender of the old self, as well as lively feelings of anticipation and excitement looking forward to the possibilities going forward. I, as coach, by being present in the moment and through deep listening to what my client is alluding to–often below the surface–and reflecting what I hear back to them, can generate an atmosphere of mutual trust. Doing so will help put the client at ease and will help foster meaningful dialogue in the coach/client relationship.

How did Nature participate in your process and what does that tell you about coaching others?
Nature is truly awesome! I can recall getting up from my meeting with the practice coach to do a “wander” in an effort to generate some answers to the “what’s” and “how’s” of my particular issue at the time. There was a bit of fear (of having no results), if not plain skepticism, about what Nature could possibly offer to me concerning my innermost dilemmas. As I wandered, I rounded a turn in the head-high vegetation to come upon a small opening in the forest, in the center of which was a most magnificent spruce tree. Its trunk was very large and it seemed to tower to an infinite height toward the sky. On the ground, radiating out a short distance from this enormous spruce, were dozens of spruce seedlings and saplings being sheltered by the their big parent. I felt deeply drawn to move in toward the large trunk; its lower branches hindered my movement, but in the end I was able to get close enough to embrace the tree and to put my cheek up against its bark. I stayed in the position for a time, sensing the energy coursing through the vascular system of this mighty giant. How staid and respectable it was. I could feel its strength, its perseverance over time, its ability to withstand most everything its environment has subjected it to. With this came a feeling of calmness, serenity and peace. These feelings led to the realization that I am, like the spruce, strong and steadfast in my commitment to inner growth. There was also a feeling of courage to keep on my course and to stay focused on my vision(s), along with a yearning to help younger generations in their growth toward the sky.

What this tells me about coaching others is that Nature does has an uncanny way of offering metaphors for our own existence. These are not just self-imagined whimsies. It is hard to put into words, but it seems there is a palpable connection, a tangible transfer of information, or knowledge—even wisdom—that takes place within us when we are so deeply immersed in Nature. Nature reawakens a primal component of our psyche, long since dormant in many of us. My goal as a Nature-Connected Coach is to give my clients the tools to dive deep into this type of experience in their quest to know their true self.

What ICF core competencies are essential for you to practice and build on to feel confident in that “place” as a coach?
While the range of ICF core competencies spans issues pertaining to everything from the initial engagement of the client to the end of the coaching/client relationship, including everything in between, the core competencies that I feel are most important to practice and build on to feel confident when working with the client in the threshold phase are these:

Foundation Competencies

Demonstrates Ethical Practice
In the early phase of the coach/client relationship it is important that I demonstrate personal integrity and honesty, and to create an atmosphere that allows the client see that I am sensitive to their life experiences, values and beliefs. It is also important that the client understands that any and all information they share with me will remain strictly confidential unless I am granted permission by them to share that information with other professionals. Establishing these guidelines early on in the relationship can help promote an ambiance of mutual respect, create a safe haven for the client, and can help put the client at ease, particularly during the threshold phase.
Embodies a Coaching Mindset
Working with a client in the threshold stage can be a delicate situation, and care in handling the coach/client discourse at that time is imperative. As a coach it is important to remember that the client has come to me seeking answers to life issues with which they are struggling. As such, I must recognize the courage and trust they place in baring their innermost feelings and beliefs to me. In order to be helpful to the client in the threshold stage I must reflect back to the client what I have heard while at the same time maintaining my own self-awareness, and drawing on my intuition to help guide the client to possible solutions to their issue(s). This means controlling my own emotions which might be triggered by the client’s story. As coach, being mentally and emotionally prepared for sessions is key in this regard.

Co-Creating the Relationship

Establishes and Maintains Agreements
In order to facilitate and ensure a successful threshold experience for the client, preparation from the outset of the relationship is crucial. I see the importance of partnering with the client early on to determine what it is they want to accomplish in our sessions. In particular, what does the client feel they need to achieve in the session in order to resolve the issues they struggle with? It makes sense that partnering with the client to identify these issues ahead of time will help ease the transition into the threshold.
Cultivates Trust and Safety
As in demonstrating ethical practice, I feel that creating a safe, supportive environment that allows the client to share freely can be accomplished by displaying a respect for the client as they are. I need to try to understand the client in the context of their life experience up to the present. Showing empathy and concern and supporting the client’s feelings, beliefs and perceptions, I believe, would help to facilitate the creation of mutual respect and trust in the
relationship. As coach, being open and transparent is a way to share my own vulnerability and leads to building trust. I feel that the more comfortable the client feels working with me, the smoother the experience in the threshold will be.
Maintain Presence
While working with the client during the threshold phase, I want to be fully present, sensitive to, and curious about the client’s behavior; what observable characteristics are they exhibiting? What do those characteristics tell me? Staying focused and responsive to the client at this point is crucial, and I will need to be prepared to work with strong client emotions.

Communicating Effectively
Listens Actively
I feel it is essential to always stay focused on not only what the client is telling me, but also what they are not telling me. I will need to learn to ‘read between the lines’–or to look behind the lines—to determine the context of what the client is saying. I will need to be alert to recognize when there is something underlying, deeper down, in the client’s psyche than what is being literally conveyed on the surface. I will need to learn to pick up on body language, shifts in the client’s tone of voice; these are signs pointing the way to what is really being communicated. This, coupled with summarizing and reflecting what the client has communicated, is crucial to ensuring clarity and understanding. This can only serve to enhance the client’s threshold experience.
Evokes Awareness
I see my role as coach to be working with my clients in a way that gives them insight and which fosters learning and growth. To be successful in this, I must learn to use powerful questioning, challenging, moments of silent pauses, metaphor and other tools and techniques. I will need to learn how to help the client expand their current way of
looking at things, and to encourage them to go deeper into their current, in-the-moment, experience. I must be adept at recognizing what seems to enhance my client’s progress and to adjust accordingly. Questions like “What can you see that would help move you move forward”, or “What are you willing to commit to going forward?” are key to motivating the client toward new perspectives.

Cultivating Learning and Growth

Facilitates Client Growth
Learning something new about oneself doesn’t necessarily result in growth; one must commit to act on what one has learned. I consider it essential that I incorporate into my practice partnering with my clients to transmute new learning into positive, life-changing behaviors and world-view perspectives. I will need develop the ability to help clients conceive new goals and actions, along with strategies for accountability. Failing to help my client transform learning into growth defeats the whole point of the coaching process.

I must add that the process of picking through the ICF Core Competencies as I have to complete this assignment has been extremely helpful and worthwhile to me. It’s all coming together!!!

[Hannah]

John,

I always love reading your posts! Such depth and poetry!

I feel the same when I enter into threshold “Fear, apprehension and release”. The detail of your core competencies is pure beauty. I resonate with Demonstates Ethical Practice, how you mentioned especially in the early phases of the coach/client relationship how important it is to demonstrate personal integrity and honesty. Also how important it is to set the space of boundaries and safety by naming confidentiality and establishing the guidelines of what it means to be in a coach/client relationship.

[John]

Thanks for your kind words, Hannah. Reading back through what I wrote about core competencies I was reminded of the experience I had as coach in one of our practice sessions at StarHouse. (You were there as an observer). Boy, did I cross the line when it came to “maintaining my own self-awareness” and “controlling my own emotions.” I was totally enmeshed. The good news about that is now I know what “confluence” feels like and can hopefully head it off when I see it coming in the future.

[Cecile Bonnet]

Thank you John for your post. Absolutely love reading your posts, always so well said! I concur with what you said when describing the threshold “a point of no return” with a blend of fear, apprehension of the unknown, skepticism, what Nature could possibly offer… AND exuberance, anticipation, excitement… After few practices, it is incredible to experience it ourselves and see how much Nature can transform us and be an active participant in our journey. Unbelievable!

I really resonated with your threshold experience embracing the tree and putting your check up against its bark. I had a really similar threshold and it was amazing to feel the energy of the tree and to be able to build such a strong connection. I also felt its strength, all what its been through and realized how strong and incredible the tree was. It gave me a different perspective on life and allowed me to see my own scars as strengths just like the knots on the tree 🙂

[Liv]

John—Your writing is so evocative! I loved your example of learning from nature: “I am, like the spruce, strong and steadfast in my commitment to inner growth,” as well as your use of the word “whimsies” ;-).

I also appreciated how you tapped in to all the fears our clients may experience and the importance of creating a safe space and of staying present with them.

The “palpable connection” with the trees and their transfer of information reminds me of our symbiotic nature of breathing. When I was practicing regularly at my sit spot several months ago, I would often go say hello to my tree friend with gentle touch on my way home. Magical. Thanks for reminding me of that.

[Lindsay]

The threshold was the lesson and the gift at the end of my session. I went on a wander with an open mind, heart, and heightened sensory awareness. I surrendered to the present moment and patiently waited for something to be revealed to me. I let the threshold experience support my intention of knowing the answers and having the confidence in myself to confront the circumstances in my life head on. And, as always, nature revealed so much to me, like magic! The experience was reassuring and supportive, and boosted my belief and faith in the coach/client/nature relationship as collaborators, and nature-connected coaching in general.

My threshold experience informs me by showing me it works! Because I have had my own revelations in threshold experiences time and time again, I feel more confident as a coach, and that I will be able to guide my clients in the right direction. Because I firmly believe in the process, I can authentically inspire and motivate my clients to trust it and me as a guide.

Nature was a revealer and a giver of messages, through metaphor and peaceful presence, comfort, and support. Nature helped me embrace personal confidence and enthusiasm to transmute challenging issues into energizing optimistic ideas, emotions, and possible actions. Trees, breeze, direction, creatures, and plants all played various symbolic parts in the wisdom communicated. This tells me coaching others in a natural setting will enhance, enrich, and support the coaching process. I imagine it will inspire clients in profound ways, help them see their situations more clearly and support them in embracing positive mindsets and emotions such as confidence, peace, and clarity. Having a very deliberate experience interacting with nature and its immediate results/insights will hopefully inspire actions taken in other ways in my clients’ lives.

Some of the competencies I feel are essential to me feeling confident in that “place” as coach are embodying a coaching mindset, cultivating trust and safety, evoking awareness, and always under the umbrella of listening actively.

[Toni Blanton]

“I surrendered to the present moment…” when I read that I felt myself open up to this deep place. It was like end of a deep breath, where everything is calm and open. I didn’t think about this as I was responding to these questions for my post, and that feels like a pretty big oversight now. I think the surrendering is one of the keys to the threshold experience. Being open to what wants to show up in that moment. The things we most need to know don’t often show up in the way we expect. Surrendering to the moment provides the space for anything to show up. Thank you.

[Hannah]

Reflecting on what it feels like to be in the “threshold” experience, it feels like a vortex, or amplified space for the opportunity to re-create who you see yourself in the world. A opportunity to shed the layers and begin anew. There is anticipation, unknowingness and yet excitement for what is on the other side, where it will lead you. The first time I felt the threshold experience I was very nervous and a little rigid, because I felt and saw differently, my reality shifted. However also a sense of “Ohhh I know what this is”, and a sense of unlimited support.

It feels like nature has you in the spot light, time begins to slow down and nothing is of more importance than where you are in your journey. This tells me that nature has my back when I am coaching, that nature is truly the container where anything is welcome, presence and pure being ness.

The core competencies that are essential for me to practice and build on are in order for me to feel more confident as a coach are…

– Demonstrates openness and transparency as a way to display vulnerability and build trust with the client. (the piece of allowing myself to be human and myself while in session, while at the same time holding the space alongside with nature, and holding into integrity.)

– Partners with client and relevant stakeholders to establish an overall coaching plan and goals. ( maintaining a focus throughout session, and through sessions to be able to stick to a course). This is a struggle at times in my own life aswell, so it reflects externally.

-Uses awareness of self and one’s intuition to benefit clients. ( I am re-learning how to be in relationship with my own intuition as I pushed it away for a long while, now re-learning how to use it in my own life and in session.

Reframing in my own words the agreements and parameters before the kick off of the coaching session. This really helps me feel centered, sets the space and makes me as coach and the client feel safe.

[John]

Hi Hannah,

Your description of the threshold feeling like being in Nature’s spotlight, of time slowing down and there being nothing more important than where one is on their path at that moment is wonderful. Being in that space of “presence and pure being-ness” is what it’s all about, isn’t it? Once there, anything is possible; I like where you say “anything is welcome.” I like that you mention the core competency of demonstrating openness and transparency as a means of displaying vulnerability and building trust with the client. I think that is one of the most crucial things that needs to happen in the coach/client relationship, and the earlier in the process, the better.

[Sara Brells]

Hi Hannah ~

Thank you for sharing. 🙂 Something that stood out to me about your post, and then kept coming up for me as I was writing and reflecting on this prompt, is the importance of each of our own continued development. Striving to re-attune to our intuition so as to be able to guide a client closer to their own. Deepening comfort with the unknown personally so as to be able to guide a client through it. And so on. For this reason, our cohort is so important to me on this journey! For inspiration, for accountability, and for increasing my comfort with letting my journey and all my parts be seen. <3

[Joy Nalywaiko]

Hi Hannah! I loved how you described the threshold experience as a vortex or amplified space for opportunity to re-create yourself. That was a beautiful way to describe the experiences within threshold. I also appreciate when you said ‘a sense of unlimited support.’ Thinking of nature as a spotlight and giving you that sense of time-altering exploration and importance of finding the solution or inquiry into your question was also a beautiful response.

[John]

<div>Hi Lindsay, great post! I love your description of surrendering to the present moment and waiting patiently for something to be revealed. It really is amazing how the answers do come, yes!, like magic, as you say. I think the challenge to us as coaches is to get our clients to that state of consciousness that comes after silencing all the mental chatter, letting go and simply being in the moment. Once the client is there, nature can take over. And I think that comes down to learning how to create and implement that collaborative coach/client/nature relationship you mention. How is it that we help the client let go of old habits, behaviors and beliefs? Well, you said it: By “Having [the client have] a very deliberate experience
interacting with nature and its immediate results/insights… .” Also, your post is inspiring! Your story about your threshold experience and how it has boosted not only your confidence in the NCC process, but also your own self-confidence, is so encouraging! So good to hear!

</div>

[Sara Brells]

I totally agree, John – it feels as if the most important part of our role in this collaborative journey is building a relationship with the client and facilitating a space in which they can drop out of their head, into their heart, and move through nature with a mindset open to her wisdom. And while I’m getting more comfortable doing this with y’all at intensives, I am realizing how different and more challenging that will be with “real” clients who maybe do not have this foundational understanding that we’re all bringing into the sessions! I look forward to all of us sharing about those experiences more as we get to working with practice clients soon…

[Sara Brells]

This prompt is encouraging me to think of Threshold in an expansive way: not just the threshold experience we create for clients within the container of the coaching ceremony, but rather the layers of experiences that gift us the opportunity to taste how we want to be in the world. In this way, Foundations and the recent Toolbox Intensive are both thresholds in and of themselves. The nature-connected awareness activities on the land in Gunnison, outside of structured practice coaching sessions, offered threshold-like experiences. And what strikes me about each of these layers of threshold is their ability to anchor me into a feeling. This has been incredibly transformative for me already, as someone who has learned to exist mostly just in my head.

For example, during one of the awareness attunement exercises in Gunnison, I was overcome with a feeling of humbless and being held by Mother Earth. And that threshold experience anchored that feeling in me so deeply that I can go back to it anytime I feel myself acting from a place of scarcity or control. The experience taught me something important about how I want to show up in the world (from a place of humbleness and trust that I’m safe in the folds of mother earth), and with practice, I can sink back into that feeling. On my altar at home is a pinecone from my sit spot in Gunnison, and when I sit still, in 360 awareness, pinecone held to my heart, it comes back to me. And the more I practice cultivating that feeling and envisioning myself living life from that place, the more natural it becomes.

And this is experiential learning at its finest: experiencing, reflecting, concluding, and acting. Experiencing on a personal level the transformative power of threshold experiences is supporting me in reflecting and thinking about how to facilitate such transformative experiences with clients as well. That is the acting phase of the cycle. Grounding the whole cycle in nature is what makes it even more powerful.

Nature has guided me in a myriad of ways through this experience, and past: as a metaphor, as a mirror, as a teacher, as a mother. The most powerful way she has shown up, though, is as a mentor modeling. the. importance. of. slowing. down. Slowing down in the experience of the coaching session, slowing down my awareness to the present moment, slowing down my thinking, my movements, my everything. Living with nature’s pace is my #1 supporter in tuning into Soul and listening to Vision. This means it is my role to facilitate a space for my clients in which nature can participate by guiding them to slow down and tune inward as well.

In terms of Core Competencies I want to build on to feel confident in that “place” as a coach, one that stands out to me is within 2. Embodies a Coaching Mindset: (4) Remains aware of and open to the influence of context and culture on self and others. In guiding a client through a threshold experience, it feels critical I am aware of their worldview and the “context and culture” of their relationship with nature. My interpretation of this is that a client’s religious views, cultural views, and societal influences will influence their creativity, stretch zone, and experience. It is my role as a coach to be attuned to this and supportive of this aspect of their journey. For example, I am thinking of a couple of female-identifying friends of color who do not feel comfortable alone in the wild due to generational trauma. This may result in their stretch zone being much closer to their comfort zone than others like myself who grew up frolicking in the woods and have not experienced trauma.

All of the above also seems related to 4. Cultivates Trust and Safety. Each component of this Core Competency seems important when it comes to facilitating a transformational threshold experience. Without trust and and safety, the client will not be able to drop in fully to the present moment experience because their fight or flight response may be triggered. This results in a more brain-based experience as opposed to the emotional, heart-centered experience that is so transformational (Rogers, 69).

Additionally, 5. Maintains Presence: (5) Is comfortable working in a space of not knowing is important, and a definite growth area for me both personally and therefore also in my coaching. To be able to guide a client through the unknown, I must also be comfortable and trusting of the unknown as well.

Yet another that stands out to me in the threshold experience is Communicating Effectively (4) Notices, acknowledges and explores the client’s emotions, energy shifts, non-verbal cues or other behaviors. In witnesses a client’s threshold experience, my own attunement and “contact” with them through it adds power into the debrief and integration following the experience.

[Joy Nalywaiko]

Hi Sara! I love your expansive approach to this question and exploring the layers of threshold in everyday life and how the nature-based experiences ripple out into the city of your mind. Thank you for sharing your experience with bringing the pinecone into your home and always holding it in your mind, thus bringing you back to that beautiful feeling that you felt at one point in nature. Bringing nature into the mind resonates with me in the same way as building an inner sanctuary in the mind.

[Joy Nalywaiko]

Reflect on your experience as a client in the “threshold”. How does that experience inform your coaching and why? How did Nature participate in your process and what does that tell you about coaching others?

As a client going into the experience of threshold multiple times during our Foundations Intensive, I received the awareness of how each different modality of a threshold experience can offer what is needed, through the client’s choice and perspective. Having the power as a client to ‘guide’ the session and to choose the threshold allows the empowering aspect of coaching to really take hold of the session. By recognizing what I needed as the client in that given moment of that issue allowed me to choose where and what I needed to do for myself, with the support of the coach.

As a coach, this gives me the insight of the importance of empowering the client to know and figure out what they need to do for themselves, while offering suggestions or guidance of nature-based options along the way. Choosing to go on an aimless wander during one session in threshold was quite a bit different than choosing to let others support me and to hug them as another threshold experience in a different session. But each was what I needed at the time to help me achieve the results and understanding of that particular issue that I came in with.

This helps to give me clarity as a coach to remember that I don’t know my client’s answers (thank god ;)) and that my role is to simply support them and ask them questions that help them to figure out their next steps through empowerment and guiding them through a collaborative and experimental experience. It enhanced my understanding of coaching a client through the threshold while also ensuring their safety but to offer a complete understanding of their needs and achieving their intention.

Nature was a key factor in the process as it is what the threshold is all about in my eyes. It connects the client with finding their intention and answering their questions or clarifying their deeper need. For me, the wander during a threshold experience in Foundations allowed the stillness and clarity that I needed to resolve a question from that session. Taking that into coaching helps remind me all of the different ways that a client can work together with nature to figure out the ideal outcome or to answer a question – holding hands with nature is the inner peace.

What ICF core competencies are essential for you to practice and build on to feel confident in that “place” as a coach?

Um, all of them. But really, they are all important. One of the reasons that I am finding that I signed up for this program was to hone in on my listening skills, especially as I am going into more work with hypnotherapy and possibly coaching. So for me, which I noticed heavily in Foundations, the section of communicating effectively and ‘listens actively’ is what I am practicing on the most. In my practice sessions since Foundations, I have been working on writing down exact wording of the client to repeat it back in their words, for both their needs and to ensure that I am not summarizing my own thoughts of their issues in my reflections. It is also very important for me to ‘notice, acknowledge and explore the client’s emotions, energy shifts, non-verbal cues and other behaviors’ as a coach, such as we went further into in our Gestalt intensive. I am also practicing and building on ‘recognizes and inquires when there is more to what the client is communicating’.

[Toni Blanton]

I’m really resonating with your experience of the threshold as being empowering for the client. I hadn’t really considered that but I think you’re absolutely right. When you describe being “…allowed [] to choose where and what I needed to do for myself…” it makes me think of the many, many conversations I had with people that feel like they’re never allowed to choose themselves, what they want. Creating a space in which clients get to make a choice that is purely for them holds the potential to be a truly profound experience.

[Joy Nalywaiko]

Summary Post

This module represented not only the impact of actually being in nature during threshold but also how that incorporates nature into the constant threshold of the mind. While being in my sit spot on the ridge and rolling around in the dirt giggling with glee was a spectacular moment that I’ll never forget, it isn’t just a distant memory to me. That experience was a threshold for me back then but also remains a threshold in my mind. Finding that spot whenever I close my eyes and need that inner sanctuary back brings me right back to that feeling of ‘pure joy’ that I felt in that same spot on the ridge. Understanding how to bring nature into the mind no matter where I am at is of utter importance to me and seeing how that meshes together with my understanding and takeaways with this module was the most important for me as a client, coach and hypnotherapist.

It also reminded me of how I can, as a coach and hypnotherapist, take my clients on a journey through nature over Zoom. Of course, being in nature itself is the best form of therapy as it provides comfort on so many levels but finding that nature in the mind is just as important. I’ve been practicing this with my online sessions and with integrating nature imagery into guided meditations or threshold sessions that cannot take place outdoors.

But also, this module reflected the importance of the threshold experience, not only through our experiences of it as a client and those takeaways to use as a coach but also in how to guide through the threshold. The importance of things such as safety, asking the sacred questions and really tuning into the client’s needs during the threshold stays with me in each session since Foundations. Also, leaning into the connection of threshold from a coaching perspective and tuning into the client’s baseline and how everything shifts or is shifting through their threshold experience is important. I have been able to experience this through feeling the energetic baseline and changes fluctuating throughout my online sessions with clients.

During this module, in the Foundations Intensive (or Nature Camp as I like to call it), we also tuned into the deeper levels of listening and discussed full surrender. Tuning into the energy around us in nature and the energy of our clients, both in person and over Zoom is so important. I had forgotten how strong it is in person until the next Intensive when I realized that I accidentally stepped into someone’s outer edge during a threshold experience. Other takeaways include utilizing our vision council to guide and support us and walking in with a ‘posse’ as well as the missionless surrender.

There are some important reflections from the readings as well and utilizing the indicators of awareness and how I integrated them into my personal reflections from Foundations and nature camp. Reading afterwards gave a new perspective to some of the things that I was experiencing out in nature camp. For example, when on an aimless wander, I found myself on the ridge, which then became my new sit spot. I was instructed by nature to spin around and to stop with my eyes closed and that was the direction to where I was going to live next. Of course, I was facing the town that my dreams had been guiding me to go to as well. But after reading Coyote’s Guide and the chapters on the natural cycle and the indicators of awareness, I looked at this directional wander from nature in a new light. Maybe, I don’t have to take all of my signs so literally. Or, maybe it is my next home. Only time will tell. Much thanks to this module! Also, I hope this is where I’m supposed to be posting this summary :).

[Sara Brells]

Foundations 3 Summary Post

I read back through what everyone wrote on here, as well as my notes from Foundations and the succession of webinars following our in-person Foundations, and wrote down all the nuggets that stood out to me. I’m going to try to incorporate them all here, so you may “hear” some of your own words and wisdom here – thank you!

First and foremost, the Threshold experience stands out to me as the thing that makes nature-connected coaching unique in two distinct ways: The opportunity to experience in advance the way you need to show up in life and the opportunity to slow down to the pace of nature as a doorway to your true inner knowing. A line from Daniel stands out to me here: “To create something new, you must do something you’ve never done before and be someone you’ve never been before.” The threshold experience provides us and our clients with an experience that anchors us into that way of being before ever going out into the “real world” with it.

Before Threshold

Now that I have a little bit of experience coaching practice clients who came into the experience knowing nothing about coaching nor nature-connected coaching, I am reflecting on how to set them up for success in the threshold part of the ceremony. Although we haven’t talked about this to my recollection, I am finding it important to preface the coaching session with some information around what it might look like, and to plant a seed for the threshold/experiementaion part of the ceremony It reminds me of Coyote Mentoring: give them just enough that they are prepared to go off and explore what it really means on their own, then afterwards we will debrief it. It is powerful and necessary for the client to “guide” the session by supporting them in creatively designing the threshold they need, and to do this, I notice they need to know at least a bit about the idea of threshold. I’m exploring what that might look and sound like, and how to offer suggestions or nature-connected guidance through their journey while remaining client-led.

Another thing that strikes me is the importance of building a container for their experience so that they feel empowered and supported by my presence to drop into the magical realm of the threshold, to let go of their thinking mind and let themselves exist in the alpha stage where they can tap into the visceral knowing that nature brings up. I know our brain kicks into gear to protect us from the scary unknown attached to surrendering the old self, and that is why the container and “work-up” to the point of threshold is so critical. The rapport, relationship and trust we build will determine if they are comfortable letting themselves drop into threshold. <i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>And this is why it is so critical we are attuned to their baseline – we need to express energy that is a bit higher than the client’s to keep them focused, which means noticing where they’re at, elevating my baseline a bit and guiding them across the threshold from that place. Our role is to support the client in shifting from a thinking state to a feeling state, and name it when we notice their mind tries to back them out of the experience because of fear! I also wonder if sometimes it takes a few sessions with a new client to get to a truly transformative threshold, or a threshold at all!

Identifying the deeper need is critical to all this. It can come through as words, feelings, images …as the coach, I need to be tuned into the non-verbal signs, the body language, the shifts in energy, and the mindsets and beliefs presenting. Some important notes on this:

Remember that the want is an arrow pointing at the real issue, deeper issue

Get curious about core beliefs, who they believe themselves to be, and who they need to be

Severing from old, stepping into the new

Could have a threshold IN severance – be creative and flexible, ceremony structure doesn’t need to be rigid…different types of threshold and paces…

If the client is not yet sure or cannot yet describe or name the deeper need, we can turn toward nature: finding imagery, metaphor, symbolism, or a mirror and then move them through the sacred Qs. I’m still working on being comfortable with a fluid ceremony structure and remembering we may spend the whole session in Severence. I find this table from our book helpful:

TYPES OF THRESHOLD

<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Not yet sure about true want/need? Get moving, get into nature, out of head and into sensory experience

The want and deeper need are forming, and not yet solid: experiment with that deeper need, that way of being, then use sacred Qs to process if it felt right, if something is missing, etc.

Solid deeper need? Threshold experience that activates that, that provides an anchoring experience that can carry forward with them as they create something new in their lives

During Threshold

“Threshold is conscious experimentation in becoming this new version of yourself.” Clients need to know this, and it is important to challenge them to embody that new way of being in the threshold once the deeper need has been named. And to remind them of what might come when they let themselves drop in: “a palpable connection, a tangible transfer of information, or knowledge—even wisdom—that takes place within us when we are so deeply immersed in Nature.” (I love that phrasing!)

My role now as a coach and guide through that experience needs to be grounded in my own nature-connection so that I can tune into the energy around us and in my client. I need to simultaneously be attuned to safety and their stretch zone, to their baseline and that of the environment’s, to how the energy and emotions shifts through the experience, to the feelings of fear and apprehension of the unknown that arise.

After Threshold

The sacred questions are a powerful tool following threshold to support the client in debriefing what arose. Asking, “How does this translate into the vision for your life that we’re creating here?” may guide them toward solid integration and slowly leaving the magical realm and processing how to incorporate this new way of being into their day to day life. And even if it is a flat outcome, we can use the sacred Qs, retrace their steps, and get curious about deeper need! Any outcome provides information, and it is important to remember it is in the client’s hands – we can guide them to meaning making, but only they know the true meaning. And it may take time – much of the power and shifting happens outside of the session.

[Hannah]

Summary Post:

The takeaway from this module is how potent the threshold experience is. This is a space where the client and coach enter and experience almost becomes more contained, a sense of pressure, transformation, emerging to become a butterfly, crossing a bridge.

The threshold is truly a beautiful experience. And for myself as coach, an experience that I live for. “Threshold is conscious experimentation in becoming this new version of yourself.” A client has a glimpse a feeling about what they are becoming.

The threshold makes NCC special and memorable for a client.

[Lindsay]

My takeaway is the thrill that the concept of a threshold experience in/with Nature is integral in our training. I have been having my own personal threshold experiences in Nature for years and didn’t know how to label them, thinking they might be a bit strange, silly, or just a part of my active imagination. I am giddy that it is named, described, revered, and seen as a vital practice for our clients’ soul journeys. I am excited to develop my skills as a coach so I can guide my clients into these powerful experiences that can lead to mind shift, deeper trust in the natural world and the expansive universe that is always accessible. Threshold experiences can comfort, envelop and expand a person’s perception and trust in themselves and their inner wilderness. I am deeply determined to help clients access these deeply healing and revelatory experiences.

[John]

F3 Summary Post

As I read back over the kick-off questions and everyone’s initial and feedback posts for this foundation, I am taken by what I see now as ‘the whole package’ of what it is we as coaches do. There’s really quite a lot to it when you consider the process from beginning to end. And this is just talking about a typical 60- to 90-minute session!

Starting off first with taking on (maybe ‘accepting’ would be better here) the client and focusing on creating the ‘container’ (what I like to call the ‘holding space’–that space where the client is able to feel a warm ambiance of safety and trustworthiness, impartiality and non-judgment). I think this is a most crucial requirement of us. If we don’t establish that kind of atmosphere at the outset, we are hobbled from the very start in our relationship with our client.

Then, moving on to learning what the client has come to me for, I’ve realized that I must really hone my deep listening skills in order to be an effective coach. (That word, ‘coach’–we’ve talked about it. I know that is what we do, offer strategies for optimizing the quality of one’s life; but the word ‘guide’ resonates with me more. I like thinking about myself more as a guide than a coach. That’s because in order to be successful and effective at what we do we have to have traveled our own inner path and to have braved our own inner Life storms; in other words, we have to have done our own work. When that is the case, we have some comprehension of what the journey ahead will look like for the client)…

Back to deep listening: To take notes or not to. I’ve found that even just jotting down single key words is helpful in identifying what the issues are and in reflecting back to the client what I heard. When I do that, though, I know it is distracting to the client; I’ve terminated eye contact and the client may feel I’m not really listening. Ideally in my mind, it would be better to develop my listening skills to the point where I don’t need to take notes. That way, I can maintain eye-contact with the client. I feel that is so important. I guess it’s a learning process; my listening skills will improve over time.

Then there are the Severance, Threshold and Incorporation phases. (What a beautiful modality! I think it is so telling that this basic methodology originates with indigenous cultures who had no concept of being separate from the natural world around them. Those people knew (and still know) that they were one with everything in Nature and as such they recognized when they were out of balance with the surrounding equilibrium. They knew when circumstances called for collaborating with the power and wisdom of Nature in order to bring their lives back into balance with the Whole. They knew they were lost if that connection was ever broken. Back to the process: As a result of the deep listening process, and reflecting back what we hear from the client, the client eventually arrives at a point where they discover the deeper need lying beneath the more superficial emotions that they are feeling.

As I understand it, identifying this deeper need is severance: the point at which the client accepts the realization that some aspect of Self needs to change. The client has a vision, however foggy, of a new way of being, a transformed sense of Self. But this deeper need is something not yet attained; there is a gap between where the client is now and where the client wants to be. How do we help the client to close that gap? How is the transformation to a new self-awareness, a new way of being achieved? At this point in the process, the client is invited to imagine what it would feel like to have attained their deeper need. What would it feel like to close the gap between the present view of self and the vision of self they want to be?

The client now stands in the present moment at the threshold and must decide whether or not to step across. But one cannot step across the threshold on a journey toward a sense of self never known previously. Steps along the way must be identified. A period of goal-setting is needed.

How does one set goals to reach a place they’ve never been before? In the context of Nature-Connected Coaching, this is where the concept of collaborating with Nature comes in. It is time for the client to go solo in Nature. As stated in the EBI Student Handbook:

We are connected to all things through a collective, or spiritual consciousness. Nature is a direct link to that collective, its ever changing patterns mirror the collective need.

The ability to hear and feel that deep collective voice is our birthright. It is always speaking to us through inspirations, needs, curiosities, etc.

Taking the feeling one gets when envisioning their dream of a new self out into a natural setting, and by tuning into that collective or spiritual consciousness, it is possible for the client to “hear and feel” the “deep collective voice” of Nature. (I love all the many activities and techniques for connecting to this collective consciousness–powerful medicine!). By “speaking to them through inspirations, needs, curiosities, etc.,” Nature presents the client with the answers they seek. The client’s vision may still not be crystal clear, but the one or more steps along the way to get there may be revealed.

When the client returns from their chosen collaborative activity, it is time to recount what was ‘heard’ or ‘felt’ from the collective. How will the client translate what was heard into action? This is the incorporation phase where there needs to be some accountability for implementing the goals the client will set, or the steps they will take, to bring their vision to fruition. How will the client incorporate what was shown into their life going forward? The coach’s role at this point is to be present for the client and to offer support for the action plan they have created, and possibly to maintain contact between sessions to continue that support.

Laced throughout this entire process are core competencies to which the coach must adhere. The most important of those for me are centered around creating a warm, safe ‘container’ for the client suffused with energies of empathy and compassion, impartiality and non-judgment, patience, validation and awareness, and love, to name a few.

Whew!

[Josh]

As a client, my personal “threshold” experiences have been among the most profound and transformative of the NCC program. As we were first learning about the phases of the Nature Connected Coaching process and ceremony, the threshold hold framing as “conscious experimentation with the deeper need” helped unlock greater understanding about what is truly unique about this approach to coaching.

A few things from the “threshold” definition stand out.

First, the deeper need. In order to have a threshold experience that can inform effective incorporation, a true connection and clarity with the deeper need is essential.

While there are certainly benefits to experimenting in a less directed way in nature, to have a threshold that can lead to change and transformation outside of the coaching container requires the clarity and confidence that you have arrived at the deeper need: a clear understanding of how you need to be in order to achieve your goals and wants. This clarity then ensures the threshold experiences that are created and crafted by the client are aligned with how the client needs to in the days and weeks ahead as they move through incorporation (and, hopefully, future coaching sessions).

Second, the concept of “conscious experimentation.” For me as a practice client, experimentation was a useful framing. I did not need to create or identify the perfect nature based experience on the spot that could lead to change or transformation; rather, I had permission to experiment with and around my deeper need. Experimentation helped introduce a curiosity and playfulness to the threshold experiences for me.

In my professional research work with clients, we often talk about moving through an iterative cycle of “testing and learning.” You do not need to have all the answers after the first experiment, but you should learn something that you can apply to the next round of work. In the case of our coaching work, the next round can be the incorporation phase, it can be the next session. But, through awareness and alignment with the deeper need, we ensure threshold provides direct, tangible, and often, tactile, experience with the need through nature.

Reflecting back on earliest experiences in Gunnison reveal that often the most simple exploration and experimentation with nature was the most profound for me. Nature as metaphor is a constant for me.

Even through the severance process of a coaching session, I would often (and, continue to) connect with nature’s metaphors in ways that helped bring the words to the fore as I explored my deeper need. I found this would then carry through to the threshold experiences, making them more illuminating and boosting the potential for meaningful change.

While my coaching sessions as a practice client were more structured with a clear demarcation between severance and threshold, the connection and collaboration with nature from the start of the session through to the close was constant. Nature wasn’t simply a device to be used to give me the experience of how I needed to be to achieve my goals and wants, but a partner that helped me understand myself more deeply while providing the space for learning and exploration in threshold.

My experiences in threshold reveal the importance of having a clear understanding of the deeper need. If understanding or articulation of the deeper need remains too surface level, the client risks a less rewarding threshold experience (which can lead to less effective incorporation practices). Before moving to threshold, it is important the client feels they have identified the deeper need. And, as a coach, it is key to have the client articulate that need so I can be best positioned to support the client through their threshold experiences and incorporation efforts.

Beyond the deeper need, my experience approaching threshold with curiosity and exploration is something I want to continue to bring to my sessions with clients. While our clients will more often than not have the answers within them, they might not be immediately evident or revealed. Coaching is a process of curiosity and questioning to gain clarity. As a coach, I want to cultivate a nature connected space that allows clients to feel comfort and ease to experiment with themselves, their needs, beliefs, attitudes, and more.

Much of this feels aligned with several key ICF competencies. At a foundational level, co-creating the relationship is core to creating an environment between a coach and client that allows for the conscious experimentation in threshold. It is important that my clients have a clear understanding of the NCC approach that involves more active experimentation with these needs.

More broadly, the competencies within “cultivating trust and safety” are important for me to continue to develop. It is that feeling of trust and safety that allows a client to identify and explore the deeper need and feel safe experimenting and collaborating with the need in nature.

And, lastly, threshold experiences are all about “facilitating client growth” through direct experience. As I progress towards being an NCC coach, it will be important for me to keep the threshold experiences as client-led (especially with respect to competency “acknowledges and supports client autonomy in the design of goals, actions and methods of accountability”). I have often felt a desire to present clients with a “menu” of potential threshold experiences rather than truly allowing the client to design the experiences for themselves. Moving forward, I plan to explore how, when, and where to bring awareness to the “toolkit” of an NCC coach in a way that allows the sessions (and, threshold experiences in particular) to feel client-led (even, while being NCC inspired).

[Liv]

Josh—Your post really resonated with me. I appreciate how you identified that the threshold experience supports effective incorporation and client growth. I also really loved the description of conscious experimentation and that we as coaches don’t have to have all the answers but can be curious and exploratory with our clients. It reminds me to remain open and to enjoy the ride.

Figuring out the balance of bringing tools to the table with keeping a session client-led is something I’ve been working on too!

[Toni Blanton]

As I reflect on my threshold experiences, what stands out as a key is it’s ability to increase the capacity for change. Change requires us to engage in the process of dancing with the edges of what is known, moving into the unknown and transforming it into the known. As humans in this culture, our ingrained behavior is to try to “think” our way through the changes. Our brain wants to find a safe place to put our feet rather than step blindly into an unknown darkness. Our internal warning systems ring with fear as we approach that edge. Until we have some experience of the dance, some understanding that we can be safe, we will shy away from the unknown edge.

The threshold experience initiates the dance, initiates the process of making the unknown known. It’s this dance with the edge of our comfort zone that increases our capacity to tolerate the transition. Moving from the identification of the deeper need in severance directly into the threshold experience creates a somatic experience that grounds the deeper need into the body while also giving the brain a safe experience to tether itself to as the client builds their capacity to dance with their edges.

In one of our readings, the idea of a touch tree was introduced. I don’t recall the context of how the author described it, but I internalized it as a metaphor for creating safety while navigating the wildness, the darkness, and the edges of our experiences. By creating a touch tree, we always have a safe place to retreat to, to regroup, to process and integrate our experiences before we set out again to continue the dance. The threshold experience creates that touch tree for the client.

Reflecting back on my threshold experiences, I can’t recall the specifics of what I was thinking or pondering as I started the experience. There’s a vagueness, fuzziness to those details. But I remember with absolute clarity the entities I connected with and every message I received during the experience. The beauty of the scars on a fallen tree, Aspen trees waving in the wind, the sun and the wind on my face and the temperature of the air are as clear as they were in that moment. I hear the message each had to share with clarity. The experience is grounded in my body and soul and I can return there instantly. As the client, the experiences are my touch trees. When I need to remember that message, I do. I can drop back into that experience in the time between breaths. Each time I drop back into the safe space, I increase my capacity to tolerate the edge and move through the changes I’m inviting into my life. As a coach, this tells me that how the client enters the threshold isn’t as important as how they move through it, the messages they receive and the integration of the experience into their body and soul. I can invite them to step back into those experiences when they need to ground or build capacity. I can remind them of their touch trees.

Threshold creates experiences that nurture our growth. They create a reservoir of nourishment that feeds the process of becoming someone we’ve never been, to do something we’ve never done.

[Cecile Bonnet]

Hi Tony, thanks for your post. I love how you described the threshold experience as initiating the dance… I used to dance a lot and for some reason this metaphor clicked with me… when dancing you surrender, you let go, you are open… and without knowing the what/how, you can feel that by practicing and experimenting, you’ll step into something beautiful, something known that you can share with others. And I also really resonated with “creating safety while navigating the wildness, the darkness, and the edges of our experiences”. Safety is key. If we can bring safety to our clients and help them feel at ease so they can open up and experience these thresholds, it’ll just be magic!

[Toni Blanton]

Summary

After reading what others had to say on this topic, I want to add a bit to my original thoughts.

One of the keys to the client having a transformative threshold experience requires them to be able to surrender to the experience. Allowing themselves to be open and receptive to whatever shows up allows for a deep, transformative experience. As a coach, it’s my job to create trust with the client so they feel safe surrendering to the experience. The depth of their experience will be directly related to the safety they feel within the coaching space at that moment.

The Touch Tree experience in the threshold not only connects the client to the experience, but also to the feeling of empowerment that comes from identifying what you need and taking action on it, in the moment. Surrendering not only to the experience, but their own power to choose. Again, my ability as a coach to create trust and safety will have a direct impact on the client’s experience and actions in that moment.

[Liv]

I appreciate your reflections, Toni—particularly the notion of creating a safe space for the client to surrender to the experience, which will make it that much more transformational. Also, there is empowerment that comes with the creative process and also potentially fear and overwhelm, so creating a safe space and being a gentle guide in the process becomes all the more important. A phrase that helps me (and that I may use with clients) is “There is no wrong way to do this.”

I love the metaphor of the Touch Tree, creating safety while navigating the wilderness. It feels like the comfort of home.

[Cecile Bonnet]

– Reflect on your experience as a client in the “threshold”.

Going through a threshold is unbelievably powerful. It enlightened me during the process and gave me so much more food for thoughts afterwards. There is no going back. It will never be the same. It gave me a new pair of eyes, a new approach, a real awakening. One special threshold for me as a client was during a session close to the maze in Boulder when I realized that I was scared to be “too much” for others, literally a boulder for others… I was able to acknowledge and say out loud that taking care of my mom emotionally when I was 6 years old was a lot to carry on my shoulders and a lot of responsibilities at such a young age… my coach and I were laying on the grass, grounded to mother earth, next to each other and I’ll forever remember this guided meditation in the middle of nature where I felt so held… It was absolutely divine!

– How does that experience inform your coaching and why?

This threshold experience helps me understand what happens when we’re letting go of the old patterns and stepping into the unknown during a coaching session. It is a scary place AND an exhilarating one at the same time. The fact I’ve experienced it myself will allow me to support my clients to the best of my ability knowing what they are going through. I want to be there every step of the way.

– How did Nature participate in your process and what does that tell you about coaching others?

It helped me realized the true power of Nature in surrendering and letting go… my coach and nature being both the containers and holding space for me. It is exactly the same kind of threshold/experience that I want to offer my clients.

– What ICF core competencies are essential for you to practice and build on to feel confident in that “place” as a coach?

— Embodies a coaching mindset – I’ll stay open, curious, flexible and client-centered. I’ll hold space for them, be fully present, listen carefully and reflect back to what is said and what is not said.

— Establishes and maintains agreements – Partners with the client to identify or reconfirm what they want to accomplish in the session. I feel it is essential to not assume that the client would like to continue discussing the topic of the previous session. Although the client might have left the previous session with some homework to do, the topic might be different for the next session. It is important to remember that the session is client-led and to redefine their plan and goals with them.

— Maintains presence – is comfortable working in a space of not knowing. I am highly empathetic and have sometimes the tendency to want to find the solution for the client. I’ll make sure to not let my agenda takes over and instead, to ask powerful questions to guide the clients in their journey.