[Hannah]

Hey all! Wonderful to see the plans coming together! At EBI we’re in the current moving us towards Quest too. Our apprentices arrive to Boulder tomorrow to work with Michael on organizing and packing up the food and gear for our basecamp. David and I will also be convening tomorrow to synchronize and prepare for our time with you all. These last few days before Quest can be full of details, tying up loose ends and saying goodbyes. I appreciate everything you all are doing to make it happen! Throughout the hustle and bustle, I invite you to take moments to listen. Pay attention to what nature is telling you. Follow that inner voice.

And – a logistical reminder: You are responsible for your lunches at base camp. On the non-fasting days, the apprentices will be gifting us with breakfasts and dinners, and we’re on our own for lunches. If you need to pick up any last minute items, there will be time for that when we meet at City Market in Gunnison.

[Hannah]

Heather,

Thanks for these thoughts! Wow, I love the idea you bring up that if inter-connection between all beings is a truth, then why not ease in connection within ourselves too?! I feel how this realization supports the knowing that we can connect deeply within ourselves, just as we can connect deeply to our universal identity and to “other”. Now that you’ve highlighted that, I’m reminded of how much easier I find it to connect deeply with myself when I start from a place of “universal identity” and connection to that larger sense of self. Cool!

[Hannah]

Sul,

Thank you for sharing this story of your wander in the dark and the message you received! I appreciate your awareness of the importance of doing our own work and self study as coaches, in order to continue guiding others. And what a powerful question to be holding, “what does it mean to guide lovingly as a coach?” Keep us with you on that journey as your answer to that continues to evolve and grow!

[Hannah]

Thanks for these posts, Ally!
You posted in the right place! Each module just has one long thread of conversation. The specific links to “initial post” and “summary post” are there more as reminders of each of the required posts, but they bring you back to the same forum.

I appreciate how tuned in you are to the shifts in culture and attitude in your area, and the connections you make to larger global trends around the environment, Covid etc., and how these energies in the “field” can impact us and our clients in a very intense and personal way. What also stood out to me in your post was your expression of feeling prepared for this work because of your deep connection and commitment to the Earth. This rings so true to me. Because all the rest of those technical skills, tools and models can be trained. The passion and commitment you already bring with you is the powerful stuff! I wonder about leaning into this feeling of preparedness as part of your practice client search? And how powerful that you’re discovering your different way of listening after the TBI can be an asset in your coaching. Keep exploring this!

PS – Robin Wall Kimmerer and Braiding Sweetgrass quickly became favorites in my house! Don’t you love listening to her narration? I can hear the smile in her voice as she speaks! <3

[Hannah]

Heather, Thank you for this sharing! You have a beautiful way of weaving your memories into the story of your connection with nature. What stands out to me is the knowing that you always have a place in nature. And the idea to use your relationship with nature as a model to emulate with your human relationships! I’d be curious to hear more about how you envision this! Another piece of what you said resonates strongly with me, about food and water being nature. In that point I hear that we as humans are connected to nature in that most basic way of eating and drinking, no matter how much we realize it or how distant from the food system we become.

[Hannah]

Summary Post:

Oh man. This is my last EBI post! And it looks like probably the end of this thread! I’ll start out by saying how grateful I am to have had the EBI experience. I feel like I know myself, (especially my parts and my brain) in a much deeper way than when I started the program.

The client I worked with last summer got back in touch this week after recognizing some serious snapback. She’s asked for more sessions and I feel so much more prepared to guide her, knowing what I now do about the brain. This was a client who was able to clarify her want and her deeper need over four sessions but got stalled out due to lack of belief that it was actually possible to be the future version of herself she had identified. Looking back at my notes from our sessions, I’m so excited to get back into it with her! I have lots of ideas about how to flesh out what I now know is the mythic image! And how to build up the opposing parts she’s already identified in order to do this. And how to work on engaging both her “right” and “left” brain to support more integration. And how to find ways for her quiescent and arousal systems to be activated simultaneously.

On a more personal note, I want to share that I recently was able to use a new neural pathway that I’ve been working on forging and deepening for some time now. I’m talking life-long patterns here. I think this is largely due to some excellent coaching I received from my peers and mentor throughout EBI and most recently from a very helpful session with this great coach I know at “A Breath of Fierce Air Coaching.” Thanks, Erica 😉
I was finally able to hold compassion for myself and compassion for the “other” at the same time and with equal value. This allowed me to quit a job that hasn’t been serving me while giving compassionate feedback and feeling empowered all at the same time! Woah!

I’m sending you all big hugs and lots of love. Signing off for now – but I know this isn’t the end and we’ll all be in touch one way or another as our journeys continue.

[Hannah]

Hi Everyone,

I have not yet had the opportunity to work with any clients since our brain and change 2 face to face. I was waiting until I had a coaching experience to write about but that hasn’t happened yet!

The concepts we learned during the face to face have continued to come up in many facets of life. I find my new understanding of ritual has been very impactful for my own life. I’ve always been big on creating ritual as a way to infuse my life with sacredness and intention, but now I’m seeing it as a way to work with snapback in a proactive, non judgmental way. I’m loving the two times that ritual can come into play; when I have time (a regularly scheduled part of my morning or evening or driving or whatever) and when it is needed as a reinforcement (when I notice I’m in a snapback moment). I’ve been playing with the three types of ritual and have noticed that I most often create presencing rituals like mantras so I see an opportunity for myself to work on releasing and action type rituals as well. I think that because I’m most drawn to presencing rituals, these are the ones I’ve often guided my client towards, without even realizing there were other options! So this is something to be aware of when I’m guiding clients in incorporation! My biggest takeaway about ritual is the importance of it bringing us back into that euphoric threshold state where both our quiescent and arousal systems are activated.

Another piece that I think will be a game changer when working with clients is the understanding of layers of integration and how they continually happen throughout the session (and beyond). Knowing that the brain wants to do this naturally as part of its drive to move toward balance will help me track the energy of my client and of the session. I love what Michael (I think?) said about this; “Through coaching we can do this natural process in awareness and sooner.”

The stone throwing exercise and the understanding I gained from that about programming the RAS has also come up frequently for me. Even during a rock climbing class! I heard the instructor talking about a process he calls VISA (visualize, initiate, step, actualize) and to me this sounded so similar to the sequence we learned for programming, especially beginning with visualizing! The importance of visualization, whether for stone throwing, rock climbing or making a change in our lives cannot be overlooked! I told my instructor about this similarity and started using the technique we did in the stone throwing exercise – getting myself into a mindset where the thing has already happened. After that, all I had to do was surrender and let my body carry out the thing which had already occurred in my brain. When I remember to do this, my climbing is significantly improved! Having this physical experience was really helpful in understanding the programming process. Something I’ve been wondering about is an example of how this plays out in other life situations that are less based in physical action but more in psychological change. What does it look like to visualize, build up the need, surrender and act in a behavior change situation? I imagine that these stages are drawn out over time and done repeatedly before the change actually occurs. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!

[Hannah]

Summary Post:

In the last F2F weekend I was given the chance to work with a client who was unfamiliar with EBI and the coaching ceremony we use. At the start of the session it became apparent to me that I was hearing two conflicting parts speaking. I could hear the different voices and see the different energies emerging when the two (or maybe even more) parts came out. Additionally, my client was experiencing some very strong emotion and was on the edge of shutting down at various points in the session. I started out by working on establishing some resourcing tools with her so that there was a safe place to come back to throughout the session. When it seemed my client was grounded enough to continue, I suggested we do an experiment with the two voices I was hearing. I ended up interviewing each of them but it became clear that the client was not ready for this depth of work. Her responses became shorter and a few times all she could muster was “I don’t know.” I had jumped into doing parts before my client was ready and it was very clear that we weren’t going to learn anything from continuing so we decided to take a step back, resource and then re-evaluate what to do with the rest of the session. This was a good lesson for me. Partswork is powerful stuff! And it sometimes needs to be worked up to. Especially when working with a client who is unfamiliar with nature connected coaching in the first place. This was all new and throwing Partswork into the mix was too much. Despite my client being willing to try it out, in hindsight there were signs that this may not have been the most useful path to take.

Partswork is something that calls to me wherever I go and I’m often eager to jump into it, feeling like it naturally comes up frequently. However, I will now pay closer attention to these signs (mostly just the client’s energy) and tread more lightly when working with new clients, especially in emotionally charged situations.

[Hannah]

Summary Post:

After reading through this thread and looking back at my notes from the Brain and Change 1 weekend and reflecting on my sessions since that weekend, the biggest take away is a deeper understanding of what we’re actually doing as we guide clients through the ceremony. Not only do I have experience of the ceremony working, but now I fully understand why it works! Like Elizabeth said, this knowing allows me to guide in a much more intentional way – trusting the process and tracking carefully the energy flow of the session. For example, recognizing the energy shift in severance when the client lands on the want or the need and ONLY moving forward when that POP (as Anna called it) happens. With an understanding of the neurological functions that are taking place, I feel like I can almost sit back and allow the session to emerge. I feel like this module has allowed me to surrender to the process even more, and has helped me to relax into my role. I come away from Brain and Change feeling even more committed to my role as coach/guide being about creating awareness. The “irreconcilable opposites” being one of the most powerful things to bring into awareness with a client.

[Hannah]

Thanks for your initial post, Ally! I’m curious to hear more about how you felt when guiding Frank in the nature connection exercises you’re learning. Especially now that you’ve got more experience than you did in your initial post! It might be interesting to reflect back on that experience from where you are now and see what you notice! I also really appreciate your emphasis on varying perceptions of time, and when we use the “not enough time” story as a way to put off our goals. Thanks for sharing!

[Hannah]

Hi Vanessa!
Thank you for sharing all that you did in your initial post. I picked up on the themes of safety and belonging woven throughout your post and how you’ve experienced nature as an answer to those universal needs. I appreciate your inquiry into how you can facilitate this for your clients as well. And I love love love the playfulness of your idea around nature’s curiosity about us! Keep us updated on what happens with that if you end up using it in a session!

[Hannah]

Hi Anna,
This is really interesting stuff! I haven’t dived into Mindsight yet but you continue to inspire me to do so! I love your simple explanation of ways that folks might not be integrated and how that shows up. Just from your brief description, I can think of many people in my life who could benefit from horizontal integration! Including myself sometimes!

I’ve always felt called to invite folks to “try something different!” This has been my go-to in group work, working with kids, coaching and many other facets of my life. I’m sure I picked this up from watching other people – it seems like a common invitation. I’m now realizing that what we’re doing when we say this is inviting folks to integrate. For example with someone who is very left brain, inviting them to try a right brain approach etc.

I also really appreciate the normalization that we’re all un-integrated in one way or another and that we’re all just on a journey of healing and integrating our whole lives through.

I’d love to stay in this conversation with you two as we learn more and gather more experiences with clients! I think integration can be a powerful way of expanding ourselves and the people we work with!

Thanks, Anna!

[Hannah]

Hi Erica,

Thanks for your post! It’s interesting to hear your new thoughts about Brain Change overlayed on a past session. Everything makes much more sense now, right!?

I really appreciated how you dove into her “stuck point” You said she “caught herself in a moment of disbelief of being able to ‘obtain the impossible.'” I’ve had this come up with clients in the past. They are able to come up with a mythic image but have difficulty believing it is possible to become that. I like how you worked with it and your thoughts on what is happening in the brain as folks move closer to believing their myth is possible! Thanks for sharing!

[Hannah]

Hi Anna,

I apologize for replying to your post so many months later! I also just read your brain change posts and am wondering what connections you’ve made between partswork and brain change, particularly if this has been helpful for you in working with the challenges in your relationship! No need to answer this here if you’re not feeling it, but I’m curious what parts of yourself you notice being activated as you explore this. This also makes me wonder about which side of the brain various parts live in. Your post has me curious about intentionally calling on parts of our clients (or selves) that we know live in the right or left brain in order to activate them both or balance out whichever side is usually activated. Lastly, I love the idea of where a part “is born.” I’m going to do some exploration around this idea with my own parts!

Miss you, cohort sister!

[Hannah]

Hey Erica! How cool to see the conflicting beliefs come into awareness so clearly for your client! It must have felt so good to receive that email! It shows how well you guided her that she was able to continue the work after the session and get clearer on her want statement. Go you! I love hearing these powerful examples of how the conflicting beliefs, when brought into awareness, can begin to resolve themselves and so much of the “stuckness” our clients (and ourselves) experience!