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Initial Post-Foundation One-Cohort 19
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Nature is an invitation to play and experience a sense of freedom and play. Explore the familiar and the unknown. Nature pushes me forward or halts me in my tracks. ISt a practice of surrender and trust. I trust that nature will always meet me where I am at and provide me exactly what I require at that time. I may not always take notice at first, but the message from nature is there. I just have to be open to communicating with nature and let go of what I “think” and drop into my heart and take notice what I am drawn towards or what is drawn to me.
It’s also an opportunity to connect with the natural cycles of nature and be one with those cycles. Such as with the change of seasons, Fall gives way to winter. The trees drop their Autumn leaves, flowers go underground and return to the seed, the earth crusts hardens, and appears lifeless, but in reality Life under the surface preparing for spring and another generation of flowers appear, leaves return to the trees, birds migration returns to an area. I too feel and experience the cycle of the change in season. As Fall gives way to winter, I stay in “hibernate”, I want to be bundled up in my “cave” and wrapped in blankets. Winter can be a time for “incubation of new ideas. As winter gives way to the spring new Ideas can begin to take shape in the physical world. I feel the excitement of Spring and the return of life and all its colors. I realize that I am impacted by cycles, such as the change in season, whether I am conscious of the cycle or not. I can take the awareness of cycles in apply to my work or home life. For instance, there is change of shift every six months, and as that cycle returns, there is a buzz in the air about what shift someone might bide. The shift bide consumes conversation(s). Point being, I can feel that cycle’s energy in the air even if I am not part of the conversation. I can take notice of peoples behaviors within the cycle, as well as my own behavior. I have a choice how I respond to the cycle. If I am bidding for a new shift that involves new responsibilities, that I a may be nervous about, I can chose to tap into a new perspective and welcome the opportunity to learn and experience something new and challenging. “Coyote’s energy reminds us to be willing to have a true sense of play and abandon, knowing that this new uncharted way will truly be the only way out.” (Coyote’s Guide Pg. 10) I say why not apply that energy to other areas of my life, like work, my family, friends. I can experiment with a new perspective and see what happens. How do I feel? What changes do I notice in myself and others. Do I allow myself to be taken to my own edges and give myself the opportunity to stretch. “How far will I pull back my bow.” Can I walk on the edge, can I be brave enough to the step over? Or will I be caught in the fear and doubt.
As a coach, I would bring awareness to nature cycles in order to bring awareness to that a client is connected to those cycles. Or to support the client be aware of their cycle or patterns. I would be curious as to what brought the client to the session and ask questions. I might take notice of the weather and ask a question about it in order engage the client. See what the client notices. Taking the time to get to know a little bit about the client would support me in “meeting the client where they are at.” (Coyote Guide Pg. 11) It may provide an opportunity to notice where my client’s edge(s) are and where they are uncomfortable / comfortable in themself and with nature. I bring in nature as a collobarativde tool for the client to engage with and bring more awareness to themself and nature. Similar to sitting a in a “sit spot” or going on a wonder and have the client journal what they notice. Have the client be active and lead the way of their session and create a bond with nature, that they may not even realize they are creating at the time. Allow my coaching presence to fade into the background of the clients experience, so they can experience theme selves and what things may bubble to the service. I can pay attention to the clients baseline shifts to guide me when to guide, coach, or just be present. Most importantly for me, is to not be in a hurry to get to any destination. The client will discovery their direction, I just get to guide, and witness them discovery themself.
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I am nature. What it means to me, to be connected to nature, is a deep knowing of myself. I’m always connected to nature, by intention or by default. With intention, I can generate an experience of being connected to the environmental patterns wherever I may be on this planet. During the foundations intensive, at the Starhouse, during one of the meditations…the universe was reaching out to touch me, my skin, my clothes and my soul. At my sit spot it seemed like the wind blew through me, the birds and animals didn’t see me and my presence was nurturing to the plants (instead of being a disturbance). A mutual healing occurs for me when I acknowledge the natural world. By default, it is like nature is separate from me and a place I need to go to…to experience. How can I disconnect from something that is me? Where am I when I’m not connected to nature? When connection is present there is a responsibility I feel to be a caretaker for the wild places. There is generosity, compassion and love present. When connection is missing between “nature” and I…presence lacks and I become the storm (not the calm at the eye of the storm). When nature connection is alive…the spirit that moves in and through all things has a canvas to do the work of the greatest artist.
This relationship with nature/self contributes to and assists my coaching in many ways. First, I surrender to this relationship. Freedom and ease are expressed through my conversations when I’m connected to nature and relinquish control. My coaching plan resembles the 90/10 approach to coaching…happily. When I trust nature and the infinite possibilities available for those who choose to seek the miracles of powerful listening…the client seems to experience profound results that would not be available to them if the coaching session was about “me”. My connection to nature reminds me that I’m playing a game that is bigger than “me”. When coaching and being connected to nature…silence is powerful, flexibility in the process is available and both the coach and client benefit. From afar, one wouldn’t be able to tell who the coach is and who the client is. The coach and client become nature.
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Gina,
Thank you for your post. I enjoyed the yin and yang you offered with your perspective (i.e. push me forward or stop me in my tracks, familiar and unknown etc). Your connection to nature is clear and evident in your coaching. I enjoy your style of invitation and creating awareness using all of your experience and knowledge to contribute to others. I loved your description of bringing intention to your coaching while disappearing yourself into the background of the experience. All around good read. Did you learn anything new about yourself by participating in this post response?
Respectfully,
R
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Ha!
@Leslie…I liked your post and the responses it got as well. Your coaching experience shows up powerfully in your post. I appreciate your willingness to be coached and do the work before ever coaching someone else. That seems simple and I get how profound the power/vulnerability is. I took away from your post…your understanding of well being and how nature connection and nature connected coaching heals communities, countries and the world. Your references are solid in your post…I like how you tied the different readings together. What were you surprised by (if anything) by completing this assignment?
Cheers!
R
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Hi Gina!
Love the last line of your post, “Most importantly for me, is to not be in a hurry to get to any destination. The client will discover their direction, I just get to guide, and witness them discover themself.”
Your writing makes me think of the intentional “pause”/slowing down that we talked about during our time in Colorado. By slowing down in our coaching process and by being in the present moment with clients (AND by creating space for silence!), we as coaches are able to better listen to, show up and witness, and also reflect back to our clients what they are experiencing. We get to connect to nature and embody our clients’ deeper needs. Also, our practice of listening attentively and of creating space for awareness- helps clients to explore their thoughts, feelings, emotions, and ultimately their connection to nature (self as nature and nature all around). I also love how you wrote about the client discovering their own direction. This makes me think to the deep inner knowing that I find myself in-tune with when truly connected. Thanks for the reminder to “drop into heart”! When we are connected, and when we help our clients to be connected to self, it makes all of us connected on such deeper levels.
And… hi to the rest of the group!
I put this thought out to everyone to think about…
As a parent of young kiddos (ages 8 and 10), I find myself reflecting on how much of a need there is to help not only adults, but also children find their connection to nature and selves so they can realize that they have gifts to share- and that they are connected to/are nature as well. In the world of ipads, phones, messenger, etc, I often find myself struggling with finding the balance of accepting the way society is ‘connected’ via technology today and with the way I grew up as a child (riding bikes, playing outside, and having to turn the knob on the television by hand to change the channel when my scheduled tv show came on). With so many ways to be literally plugged in today, I think about our society’s deep need to help all ages of people feel connected to nature, selves, and each other. I think about how my relationship with nature supports not only my coaching, but also how my relationship with nature supports my parenting too.
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At Rollin,
I found it difficult to respond to this question. I connect with nature with different purposes and intention. I wrote about cycles. But found that I am challenged with the process of thinking about how I would apply it to coaching. I find my mind gets in the way. Even during the required reading, which was great, I found myself feeling forced to weave the text into my response because similar thoughts and understandings are already in my head.The one the lights me up the most is using nature as a “school” to bring forth healing, shed old patterns, and connect with my inner light. To be in a constant state of co-creation with nature. I am nature and nature is in me. I am the universe and the Universe is in me… I enjoy using nature as a “training ground” for spiritual growth and connecting with all living things. Everything has it’s own vibration and frequency and our human body is designed to give and receive information through vibration, frequency, and energy. As I continue to connect with spirit and spirit that surrounds me through nature, a “decoding” happens, then Nature reveals more to me as I reveal more of myself. It’s a constant spiral of change and growth, journey towards self mastery and a return to my God self (that we all have within us). Self mastery is also a series of cycles and transformation.
Gina 🙂
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At Rollin,
I found it difficult to respond to this question. I connect with nature with different purposes and intention. I wrote about cycles. But found that I am challenged with the process of thinking about how I would apply it to coaching. I find my mind gets in the way. I am used to just doing, not always taking the time to ask myself and break down the steps of what I am naturally doing. Even during the required reading, which was great, I found myself feeling forced to weave the text into my response because similar thoughts and understandings are already in my head. I found this process can be helpful to assist me in breaking my experience down to support others in their transformation and growth.The one the lights me up the most is using nature as a “school” to bring forth healing, shed old patterns, and connect with my inner light. To be in a constant state of co-creation with nature. I am nature and nature is in me. I am the universe and the Universe is in me… I enjoy using nature as a “training ground” for spiritual growth and connecting with all living things. Everything has it’s own vibration and frequency and our human body is designed to give and receive information through vibration, frequency, and energy. As I continue to connect with spirit and spirit that surrounds me through nature, a “decoding” happens, then Nature reveals more to me as I reveal more of myself. A purification happens within the body, chakra system, and energy bodies allowing the body to hold more light/energy within the system. Ultimately, the physical body becomes less dense, and begins to shift to a crystalline body. It’s a constant spiral of change and growth, journey towards self mastery and a return to my God self (that we all have within us). Self mastery is also a series of cycles and transformation.
Gina 🙂
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For me, being connected to nature means living in true accordance with who we are. In Coyote’s Guide, Jon Young writes, “‘The natural world powerfully fosters self-expression, because nature itself is so completely self-expressed.’…when we spend an abundance of time around this uninhibited self-expression, we resonate life tuning forks to express who we are: we sing our own gifted songs.” (31) Being connected with nature means being connected with our truest, most authentic, fully expressed selves. Even though we ARE nature, and there is no such thing as being fully disconnected from nature, I agree that there are infinite levels of nature connection, and we can choose to deepen or weaken our connection over time. In our current times, we have somehow created ways of interacting “unnaturally”, like too much time spent on computers, which pulls us out of our connection with our truest selves (with nature). What a strange and complex issue for us humans to be facing! Perhaps if we didn’t feel a disconnect with nature, we would never fully appreciate nature in the way that we can now.
To be our truest, most authentic selves, we must live in a sustainable relationship with all of life, which requires a person to occupy and live out their purpose/niche. How do we know our true place in the world? How do we know our path? Even if we do have a clear vision of our path, how do we live our path in a disconnected world? I think the answer is that we must listen deeply. To live in one’s purpose, a person must listen deeply to the relationships between themselves and other beings. Through our course, we have learned techniques for deeper listening, including sensory awareness activities and trusting our intuition. From what I have read and experienced, it seems that opening all of our senses leads to a deeper awareness and more holistic view of ourselves, which in turn can support our journey of aligning with our life purpose. Jon Young says, “Ultimately, Core routines cultivate whole human beings who appreciate and contribute to family and community by fully expressing and sharing their innate gifts and talents.” (32) It seems that Jon Young would agree that sensory awareness and other practices for deepening our connection with nature (called “core routines” in Coyote’s Guide) guide us into deeper connection with our life purpose and service.
For my coaching work, I am realizing the serious importance of cultivating and deepening my personal connection with nature and my life path. If I wish to coach and guide others on the nature and soul connection journey, I must actively be on the journey myself. I realize this will require hard work and perseverance through the challenging times. I am also reminded of a quote by Bill Plotkin, “The world cannot be fully itself until you become fully yourself.” If we dream to guide others in becoming fully themselves, we must continue to offer that same guidance to ourselves. What a beautiful gift and journey to be on!
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David I love the quote that you shared from the Tao, “Live in accordance with the nature of things. In dwelling, be close to the land. In meditation, go deep in the heart. In dealing with others, be gentle and kind. Stand by your word. Govern with equity. Be timely in choosing the right moment. One who lives in accordance with nature does not go against the way of things. He moves in harmony with the present moment, always knowing the truth of just what to do.”
This quote beautifully illustrates many of the core values that accompany nature connection; equity, integrity, using intuition, trust, mindfulness. And not just values, but also skills that can be cultivated and strengthened with practice. This feels like an important foundation for conveying what nature connection is to people who are not as experienced with or don’t really understand it.
______Maria, I appreciate what you suggested in response to my post, that we too are “indigenous”. How interesting is it that we all come from indigenous peoples from some point on the timeline, but seem to have lost our way, our connection, moreso or much earlier than others. You made me realize that this “modern” movement to adopt (with cross cultural sensitivity) indigenous practices is truly a return to something we all once were. Somehow different cultures just seemed to have done a better job of holding onto what that is better than others. I see this modern movement as a cultural paradigm shift in which there is a collective return to a “oneness” and connection that we all shared at some point. Nature connection is truly universal, and if we as coaches can somehow convey that, I think it would be huge in helping to further that paradigm shift.
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James, I really appreciate you referring back to the layers of nature connection Jon discusses in his article. On Sunday when I worked on this assignment I wasn’t feeling well and slept most of the day, bumbling through reading and writing in a bit of a haze. While I read the article, I missed the depth of what he was discussing in terms of the layers. You summarized it beautifully, and in so doing triggered something helpful in my brain!
“Structure” or “organization” is something I relate to, for myself and when I’m teaching and coaching others- probably because it’s one of my greatest strengths. You mention how each layer can be one of practice and experience and this brings to mind something that I rely on heavily as an educator, the idea of scaffolding – the idea that with contuined problem solving and learning, a student can gradually build upon each level of knowledge, and do so with increasingly less assistance over time. I can see Jon’s model being used in much the same way with indviduals depending on their level of experience with nature connection. It can allow us to tailor the way in which we work as coaches with our clients depending on what level they may be at.
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Rollin, thank you for your generous words! In answer you your question, “What were you surprised by (if anything) by completing this assignment?”-
I was surprised by how much sense it all made when reading the articles. Critically, theoretically, etc. I’ll expand on what I mean.
I often feel that within coaching, and further specific niches of coaching, vernacular can often bog down understanding. For example, the word “grounded” is pretty common nowadays beause it’s very prevalent in the world of health and wellness. But ten years ago, and even now someone new to the term might have no idea what is means to be grounded, or understand that it’s often used as metaphor. Similarly, what does it mean to operate from “soul” when the concept of soul is something that has been debated for milennia and counting? This is probably the second language teacher in me. I’ve seen EFL/ESL students puzzled at the simplest of phrases that every native speaker understands implicitly, and with this experience I’ve realized that even with native speakers, we cannot assume that others know what we mean just by the words we use. The use of vernacular is a great barrier to the easy spread of knowledge and the assimilation of that knowledge. It makes sense to us because we have experience with what these concepts mean. But to someone who is new to the less tangible, more spiritual side of themselves that tends to come with a holistic view of well-being, terms like these can be confusing and even discouraging.
I’ve found that niches related to nature connection, or the more spiritual side of being, can be very bogged down with vernacular. So with THAT said- I didn’t really feel that was the case here. I enjoyed reading about these concepts in the “academic” language I understand easily, but more than that, I enjoyed reading about them in a way such that I can very easily translate them to words and concepts that can be understood by a huge range of diverse peoples.
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Deanna, I love your closing statement, “For my coaching work, I am realizing the serious importance of cultivating and deepening my personal connection with nature and my life path. If I wish to coach and guide others on the nature and soul connection journey, I must actively be on the journey myself. I realize this will require hard work and perseverance through the challenging times. I am also reminded of a quote by Bill Plotkin, “The world cannot be fully itself until you become fully yourself.” If we dream to guide others in becoming fully themselves, we must continue to offer that same guidance to ourselves. What a beautiful gift and journey to be on!”. What a call to action and pillar to lean on!
Gina, I cant help but think of the implications of your quote, “Most importantly for me, is to not be in a hurry to get to any destination. The client will discover their direction, I just get to guide, and witness them discover themself.” if I hold it in the context of Deanna’s above quote. Together, these statements ask me to move forward in a patient practice, with understanding that my practice is also a “wander”, a journey to be experienced, not to “have experienced” from some destination.
I am so blessed to be on this journey with all of you Nature Baked Earth Muffins!
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Wow, what rich and beautiful discussions happening in these posts! It truly reinvigorates and inspires me to read what nature connection is meaning for all of you. I hear such sincerity, passion, care and dedication in the words of this cohort. Here are some words that stand out to me. I’m enjoying just leaving these as raw quotes from you all and seeing the threads that run throughout.
“I feel compelled to add that being nature connected is a state of surrender. It is a trust that all is as it should be and that I have everything I need to navigate my life.” – Brian
“When we create a practice of entering into Nature with this open intention and awareness, we approach our connection with Wilderness as a “life-time of engagement and discovery” (Harper, pg 185) in which Nature is the teacher and healer. Harper continues, “Our relationship with Nature is is more one of being than having. We are nature, we do not have nature.”
Nature connection supports my work as a coach by creating within me a disposition to see my client as Nature–a whole, integrated being whose inner wisdom knows what they need for their own wellbeing and healing.” -Maria“Our work is really about us showing up fully and doing our 10% and then surrendering to the process and letting nature do its work. I love knowing that the process of “discovering” is ongoing… and there will never be an arrival, but many opportunities to continue to grow. Life is a journey, not a destination.” -Susan
“When in that other world, I’ve always felt more connected and at peace with myself, more authentically who I am and want to be. In nature I have felt wholly me, attuned to my truest desires and deepest needs. I feel imbued with a sense of well-being that is difficult to achieve in any other way.” -Leslie
“The more I can embody and express the 8 attributes of connection, I believe the more impact my presence will have on my clients and the world.” -James
“Nature is an invitation to play and experience a sense of freedom and play. Explore the familiar and the unknown. Nature pushes me forward or halts me in my tracks. Its a practice of surrender and trust. I trust that nature will always meet me where I am at and provide me exactly what I require at that time.” -Gina
“By default, it is like nature is separate from me and a place I need to go to…to experience. How can I disconnect from something that is me? Where am I when I’m not connected to nature? When connection is missing between “nature” and I…presence lacks and I become the storm (not the calm at the eye of the storm). When nature connection is alive…the spirit that moves in and through all things has a canvas to do the work of the greatest artist.” -Rollin
“For my coaching work, I am realizing the serious importance of cultivating and deepening my personal connection with nature and my life path. If I wish to coach and guide others on the nature and soul connection journey, I must actively be on the journey myself.” -Deanna
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David:
I low your quote from the Tao. The sentence, “Live in Accordance with the nature of things” really hits home for me. This reminds me of being in alignment, in FLOW. Like you said, this requires a surrender and a TRUST that we have everything we need and everything is in it’s right place. Wow, what a beautiful reflection on what it means to be connected with nature!
I love what you said about connecting with nature “opens up the possibility for nature to reflect back to us and our client.” It reminds me of a really good story that we, as coaches, just get to listen deeply to.. So true that we “need to be able to really HEAR what our clients are saying beneath the story.” Sometimes I find myself not even really listening to the details of a client’s story, but rather analyzing the connections and ties between the major points of their story. I’m finding myself feeling guilty on not catching all the details, but maybe that’s what needs to happen for me to listen to the deeper meaning right now…as someone who has listened deeply to others and my surroundings my whole life, I’m finally being challenged on listening even deeper. It’s great.David & Gina:
David brought up, “stand by your word”, and Gina brought up “accountability”. This stood out to me, because coaches help clients stay accountable. I agree that staying true with our word is an indicator of nature connection. We talked a lot about that in my native american history & literature class. It’s beautiful how coaches can help keep clients accountable, and how this is one way of guiding them into deeper connection & relationship with nature.Maria:
I really appreciate your way of referring to nature as “Sacred Space”, and to your clients as “Sacred Space”. I think that if we feel this same sense of reverence for nature towards our clients in a session, it opens the door for our clients to connect deeper to who they truly are, and what their true answers are.
P.s. Per your comment on David’s post- I love your self-expression, and I admire how you always seem so fully self-expressed!!!Leslie:
I really appreciate how you pointed out that we have a much different relationship with nature in our modern society than we did when “nature connection occurred as a matter of subsistence.” You said, “Now we must explicitly and strategically cultivate deeper nature connection.” It’s very interesting for me to think about how our connection with nature (or rather, nature itself) is being called to evolve in this way right now. I feel that we are faced with a task that is much bigger and much more important than the majority of our society realizes. Your comment really makes me feel the power and importance of our work as nature-connection guides. I am also thinking about how difficult it may be for some people to TRUST their connection & relationship with nature right now, because this connection & relationship is so drastically different than what we are used to from an evolutionary standpoint. We must trust in something that may feel completely unfamiliar right now, and I think that our awe and reverence for nature can help build and strengthen that trust.I would love to respond to every single one of your comments, but this is what I’ll write for now…
Love you all, thank you all for your wisdom!!! -
@Mandy – I really enjoyed your reflection and the quotes you selected from peoples writings. I got inspired newly by cohort 19’s responses.
@David – I went back and read your post. Very well written and connected. All of your quotes and references to great coaching/guiding, I feel, show up in your guiding style already!
@Gina…Thank you for responding to my question. I admire your vulnerability.
@Leslie…Thank you for your response. I appreciate your willingness to share your coaching experience (and brilliant mind) with the cohort. I appreciate you addressing the power of language. I’m happy that you are enjoying this work so far…and I enjoy watching you put together and polish a healing style of coaching that ALL people’s can understand and benefit from. Cheers!
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Hi Nature Baked Goodness:
I wanted to read everyone’s comments once again before our deadline tomorrow and address those posts I have not yet tended.
What a beautiful work we are delving into. I am so glad to be on this journey with all of you. Thank you to all of you for inspiring me!
Deanna, I so agree with your comment “From what I have read and experienced, it seems that opening all of our senses leads to a deeper awareness and more holistic view of ourselves, which in turn can support our journey of aligning with our life purpose.” What you write reminds me that our very humanness, our most basic “wiring” is of connection to Nature and by re-membering our connection with Nature, we become more whole (holistic!), as we become more whole, we more fully embody our purpose. Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gina, I love your sense of life as play and how Nature invites us into play. “Nature is an invitation to play and experience a sense of freedom and play. Explore the familiar and the unknown. Nature pushes me forward or halts me in my tracks. ISt a practice of surrender and trust. I trust that nature will always meet me where I am at and provide me exactly what I require at that time.” There is so much freedom in trusting that we will receive exactly what we require! We truly can let go and surrender and PLAY!
This is also AWESOME! Thanks for writing this: “I am nature and nature is in me. I am the universe and the Universe is in me… I enjoy using nature as a “training ground” for spiritual growth and connecting with all living things. Everything has it’s own vibration and frequency and our human body is designed to give and receive information through vibration, frequency, and energy.”
“It’s a constant spiral of change and growth”—This is what I saw in your Vision Council. =)
James, Your thoughts on the internal and external microcosm as reflections of each other really hit home to me. There is so much wisdom in Nature, both within and without, and so many layers of protection we have encased ourSelves in that we have lost touch with what our internal microcosm looks and feels like. “As we understand more about our internal world, we can potentially grow in experience, relationship and ultimately “be” in our connection with our internal microcosm, which is a reflection of the external macrocosm. Ultimately, this program uses the external as a guide and reflection of the internal, and the deeper the relationship I can have with both, the more capable I will be as a coach, not to mention being a more bad-ass human.” Woo hoo to that!!!!!
Rollin, I appreciated your thoughtful response to the prompt and the reminder to be compassionate
and generous caretakers of the wild places. Not only are we caretakers of the wildplaces without, but in reference to James’ post, we are also compassionate and genenrous caretakers of the wildplaces within both ourselves and others. How true that we can be a storm, to the outer wilderness and also to our own inner wilderness as well as the wilderness of others when we are lacking in connection. “When connection is present there is a responsibility I feel to be a caretaker for the wild places. There is generosity, compassion and love present. When connection is missing between “nature” and I…presence lacks and I become the storm (not the calm at the eye of the storm). When nature connection is alive…the spirit that moves in and through all things has a canvas to do the work of the greatest artist.” YESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Again, thanks to everyone for their thoughtful and inspiring posts. Mandy, thanks for taking the time to read and be present to all of us.
Hugs to the Nature Baked.
Maria
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Being connected to Nature is our innate and pure state of existence, whether we are aware of it or not. In a way, we are always and inextricably connected to the earth and other beings, yet our minds – so often trained to see the world as separate in the WEIRD (western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) parts of the world – frequently fail to connect the dots between what we are experiencing internally and the goings on of the outside world. Being connected to nature, then, is a state of mind cultivated over the journey of a lifetime; it is a process of waking up to the myriad ways in which we are not separate from but rather a part of and connect to the natural world.
The journey to nature connection is a perennial adventure, though there are perhaps two moments of awakening that many people tend to point to consistently: the primary moment has been called ‘the first kiss of awakening,’ and involves a sudden and ‘psychedelic’ state of awareness in which all boundaries between self and other temporarily disappear. This state, enjoyed for a time in all its bliss, is a peak experience from which we are left to make meaning and integrate the non-dualistic world we have been given a glimpse into.
The Coyote’s Guide provides one tried and true pathway along which coaches, mentors, mentees and clients can be guided into a deeper state of nature connection that will, if followed in a devout and disiplined way, yield the second phase of awakening which is far more permanent and sticky than the former. Through developing alongside Coyote and the Eight Directions, these states of being can be consistently cultivated. Furthermore, a framework for understanding our journey through life which establishes coherence among mind, body, and wild soul can be discovered and subsequently leveraged by all parties through learning and acting in accordance with Coyote wisdom and nature connection practices.
Thus nature connection is a developmental pathway along which awareness is cultivated and the boundaries perceived between things dissolve, one by one, revealing the true threads which like mycelium networks bond all things together. Once cultivated, the state of awareness to which I am referring allows for a sharing of information between beings such that the true nature of reality can be mutually understood by a collective consciousness; this information can only be shared between beings whose consciousnesses vibrate at the same frequency, which is why “being connected to nature” is not only a state of mind and a developmental pathway but also a lifelong practice of diving in and out of the deeper states of being; hence we are like dolphins diving beneath the surface of the ocean to find nourishment and wisdom. We then ‘return to the surface’ levels of consciousness for air and to share our treasures with beings who do not yet know how to hold their breath. Thus, being connected to nature is also to see, appreciate, and source things which others who do not yet have the eyes to see themselves as one in the same as other beings will benefit and learn from; such is the beautiful burden of those whose lives and brought them into deep connection with nature: we must bring others with us and hold their hands as we dive together again and again down into the seas of awareness.
