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Initial Post – Foundation Two Discussion Cohort 20
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I am posting a reply for Sul (who is experiencing issues with this forum):
@ Ally
Hi Ally, it’s interesting to learn ecopsychology is why you applied to this program. I really feel that quote about “The needs of the planet are the needs of the person, the rights of the person are the rights of the planet.” It makes me think how if this field was taught in general education how different the world would be. Gratitude to people like you who love the earth and feel her so deeply. I know you’ll be a great guide for your clients with your enthusiasm and passion for mother nature. Ecostress is a term I hear recently and that there is therapy for it. Your post made me think of acknowledging that and investigating it in myself more. -
@sophie
Hi Sophie, I really appreciate your post and share of how nature has greatly affected and spoken into your recent path. Also, the naming of the doorway that listening provides, as an entry into a transpersonal space with nature. Yes! this is such an amazing space to invite clients into greater awareness of– that transpersonal, attuned space of relationship with nature-earth. It’s what we are each up to, in unique ways, as NCC’s.
Your post also had me thinking about the definition of the divine feminine. As you mentioned, the pandemic has so many re-experiencing and re-thinking a relationship with nature, for various reasons. I had a curiosity about how the notion of the feminine could be expanded into something more applicable or available to all genders. My thinking is that the patriarchy has done a huge disservice to fuel these dualisms– and allow only certain experiences for each gender (even saying there are only two)–masculine/feminine. And I also can’t deny that Ecofeminism raises incredibly important points about the somatic relationship of female bodies to earth, etc, to bring more balance into the whole picture. It’s all interesting to ponder.
You wrote, “the concept of ecofeminism stood out, the embracing and recognition of the interdependence and connection humans have with the earth. Perhaps this linked with my desire to embrace more of my own feminine in terms of heart-centered over cognitive, analytical interpretation,”….. My curiosity is circling around how ecopsychology, attunement, and nature-connected coaching could invite more opportunities for those who have a longing (maybe even an unknown need/longing) for that heart-centered balance to re-enter their lives. If you wish to reply,–what components do you see or think about to help western-euro people to reconnect with their hearts and nature?
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My reflective summary about the module foundations 2 and discussion with cohort and what I’m taking away are many things!!! I think this is when the concepts of ceremony started to sink in. I remember during this time I was still uncertain about what threshold was and how to recognize it but I got it now!
Learning with and from the cohort I can see how sensitive we are to the material but to our own experiences. Everyone has something different to add through their lens which is interesting! I think the ecopsychology reading added a whole deeper layer to ceremony and what we disscussed in this forum. I see “sacred work” “ecofeminism” “principles of ecopsych.””what happens to earth is happening to us” “guiding with love through the animistic world” these keywords bring me to a greater awareness of how spiritual this work is for me and for all. -
@sophieturner I completely glossed over the reference to ecofeminism in the readings. I’m glad you caught that and wrote about it in your post. I’ve been exploring more pagan and earth-connected rituals over the last year or so. I find it makes me feel more connected to the changes in the earth’s seasons. This year, I’m working on foods that go with each season, as in more roots in the fall, berries in the summer, etc. I find that my body craves these changes, which points out that nature within us and how we are connected to the earth and cycles of the earth.
All of this makes me think of the maiden, the witch, the crone, that @vanessatermini85 touched on, and the care and concern for the earth that @allysonduffindalton mentioned. I guess the lesson for me in all of this is that our continual seeking of that inner connection @Heather speaks of feels like the basis for everything. It’s the secret sauce to understanding and connecting to our divine inheritance as souls on a planet.
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I’ve been caught up in life recently, working full time again, adventuring around islands, exploring my relationship to the ocean and water (I’ve always been a bush and mountain girl), trying to balance the busyness and not to be harsh on myself for not having achieved everything I thought I could before the year is out.
I’ve been procrastinating revisiting the EBI space and closing out my summary posts for foundations. It seems so long ago I was in that space, so distant. I thought I might have been able to arrive here, this evening, and quickly pump out my summary post.
I have however been dropped straight back into the energy and learnings of foundations and smacked in the face with some learnings that have continued to unfold since. Wrapped up in all the time, work hours, adventures on island. The discussion that has unfolded since I have been here is invigorating, providing some clarification and finds me wanting to ask more questions of myself and that relationship. Go deeper.
The bookworm in me instantly grabbed hold of what Ally was reading – “must add that to my list”, and my mind swirls thinking about how I might respond to you Ivy.
My gut feeling to connect people to their heart and nature is to keep it simple, guide people in creating space for them to experience their whole selves within nature, themselves as nature and then be able to be with them in exploring how the learnings/insights may guide their own living, for good and bad. A dance of holding space in nature while simultaneously challenging the client in integrating these insights into their life.
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I reflect back on my experiences as a child, I was allowed to be in nature alone for hours. In the summers, our cabin was on a wild island where there were eagles and moose. Wild berries grew amongst the ferns in the woods that surrounded the house. I had a tree frog friend and offered him shelter in an old coffee can. My grandmother bathed me with water from the lake heated on an old gas stove. Even at home I could roam in the garden or the garden of the neighbors. I cannot help but think of how few concerns I had. I was not depressed or anxious or stuck. I used to say that was because I was a child and children aren’t plagued with mental distress and illness.. but that is not true. They are. I was well adjusted because I was adjusted to my environment. To me ecopsychology is just that- becoming adjusted to our environment as living things.
Ecopsychology easily helps us balance the masculine and feminine providing models of receptivity and exertion that function easily and naturally to create and synthesize new growth. Whereas, he models of the masculine and feminine invented for us in the media cause us distress and confusion leading to a stuckness and a feeling we should be different somehow.
When coaching and ecopsycology meet the phrase that best applies is- let go and let nature. As an earth connected coach I can easily take the session outside and slow down movement letting the environment teach and simply encouraging the insights that appear.
Ecopsychology also provides a better framework for dealing with death and loss. When we consider nature as the overall context, we can easily see the way that death makes way for new life when brought into coaching the client can see how holding on to something that is ready to die or be let go of is hindering their progress. Accepting nature as context can help make sense of letting go of the old to make way for the new. There is a connection to a greater vision and the sense of being in rhythm with all living things that can help the client adjust and thrive better in their environment.
Ritual I think is where we can adopt the principles of nature and weave them meaningfully into our own lives. It is where the human psyche and nature can meet and desired change can be brought about in a way that feels whole and alive. -
Reflecting back upon the questions from Foundations 1, my curiosity around the reciprocal relationship in our connection with nature remains. Almost dizzy from wrestling with this curiosity, I wrote “What are we giving back?” in the middle of a page in my journal, and I now think that I have been asking the wrong question. That wording implies a disconnectedness- that Nature has something we don’t have; Nature gives, and we take. Likewise, it implies that we have something Nature doesn’t have; we give, and Nature takes. No, that’s not it at all. The connection just IS, and we reciprocate seamlessly and continuously.
“The country knows” a Koyukon elder warns. “If you do wrong to it, the whole country knows. It feels what is happening to it. I guess everything is connected together somehow under the ground.” That quote from Where Psyche Meets Gaia struck me as offering a different way of considering one’s connection with Nature. If we reframe it in the positive, we do right by Nature, and then that is what the country knows and feels in those connections. Reframed in that way, I can hear the quote reverberating within an intention that one sets at the beginning of any wander, journey, or quest. Just as we talk about approaching our clients from a place of ceremony, I also marvel at the power of approaching nature from that same place. I have always referred to being outside as “being in my natural habitat,” but until this course, I don’t know that I ever approached the outside with such ceremony and/or intention. On occasion, sure. But regularly? No.
Being connected to Nature is listening and trusting that there is a story to be told and understanding that we are also a part of that story. When we trust, we can listen and also hear our own story within, hear what Nature is telling us, and gain more clarity as a result. The longer and more deeply we listen and trust, the deeper and wider our connection with Nature becomes. It’s a beautiful cycle. It is, I believe, one of the places in which Ecopsychology and Coaching connect.
A connection with Nature also inspires awe and wonder. That feels silly to state in this space… as a part of EBI… in this like-minded Cohort of NCCers. That statement, however, is a touchpoint for me in the question around what skills are needed in Nature-Connected Coaching. We are discussing the art of asking questions, the science of the brain, the act of deep listening, amongst others, in Foundations. Coyote’s Guide (sidenote: it is hard not to talk about EVERY page in this book!) illuminates the power of entering Nature with a beginner’s mind and childlike curiosity, and I feel that is how we need to enter into a coach/guide-client relationship. With our clients, we can then enter Nature from a place of “authentic curiosity” and “become partners in a joint venture of discovering the complex subtleties.”
Are childlike curiosity and a beginner’s mind skills? On their own, I do not think they are, but to execute anything well requires preparation, warming up, maybe even “getting in the zone”, and definitely practice. The acts of reconnecting with our childlike curiosity and of reminding ourselves of the criticality of entering most spaces, and certainly any client session, with a beginner’s mind can be part of that intention-setting, preparation, and practice. They are both muscles we can strengthen and part of the foundation from which we can exercise, hone, and develop our skills.
I love the idea of being a walking sit spot for a client, and I think this is another place where Ecopsychology and Coaching come together. If we are nature, we are a part of the natural world, and we hold that space for a client. As a consultant, I rarely get to hold that space with my clients. One of the metrics of success that is sometimes identified in consulting is being able to work ourselves out of a job. Where some consulting firms resort to off-the-shelf, cookie cutter recommendations and solutions, the work I do with clients is similar to that of a coach in that I partner with them to identify their wants and deeper needs, articulate goals, identify milestones, and move forward towards their desired outcomes. Eventually, we get to a point at which the client is poised to take what has been co-created and run with it, implement it, and execute it in-house, without the support of a consultant. That high-level description also touches what I’ve begun to learn about with regards to Nature-Connected Coaching. The consulting and client partnering I do, however, is often conducted in spaces that are siloed, cut off, and disconnected, which then often stunts the deeper and broader growth and evolution that could emerge as a part of our work together. Nature-Connected Coaching, honors, recognizes, and embraces connections, and it invites Nature in as an essential partner in co-creation with a client.
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Michael talked about how 80-90% of our energy is spent on the preparation and building of a fire, and only 10% is spent on lighting the fire. He used that as a metaphor for the time spent in severance and threshold. I love campfires, I love using them as metaphors, and this brought to mind my favorite fire to ponder and play with, the top-down or upside-down fire. My years of summer camp and outdoor education were filled with building fires. Everyone had their go-to methods, tricks, and hacks, and I encountered more than a few folks who believed their way was THE way to build the best fire.
For decades, my experience was that fires were built by starting with kindling and/or small combustibles at the bottom and then working up to the larger pieces of wood on top, leaving spaces for the fire to breathe. It was the way things were always done. My mind was blown the first time I learned about top-down fires. How could something practiced so often, still use the same basic elements and principles, and yet be so profoundly different and powerful in its own right? The top-down fire turns “conventional fire-building wisdom” on its head, invites new possibilities, and has tangible benefits.
Ceremony struck me in the same mind-blowing way. The basic elements and principles of ceremony are always the same, and yet the outcomes are profoundly different and powerful each time it is practiced. And speaking of fires as metaphor, I also really loved learning about metaphors and how they hold the connection of fact to creativity for the brain.
