[Heather]

Sorry, my initial response double posted!

[Heather]

I have envisioned nature-connected coaching in the way that ecopsychology is described in “Psyche and Nature in a Circle of Healing” and “Ecopsychology-The Principles.” The emphasis “Psyche and Nature in a Healing Circle” puts on nature as a co-guide resonates strongly with how I envisioned coaching working in the context of nature. It is through this connection and symbiotic relationship with the land and ecosystem that awareness is amplified.

I appreciate how ecopsychology creates space for change and transformation without “intrusive interventions or other authority-driven impositions on the client’s life and process” (Psyche & Nature, p. 20). In coaching, we’re relying on the client’s inner resources and ultimate knowing. The beauty of acknowledging and inviting nature into our client’s process is that as they reach their inner answers, they are in communication with the entire circle of being in the world, and this consciousness can lead the individual and the collective to greater good. Coach and client are more resourced in this exchange, and it can be an immediate sensory experience of flow when the authoritarian grip over life is loosened.

The theme that jumped out at me from “Ecopsychology-The Principles” is the idea of reciprocity. It’s kind of like the quote from Heraclitius, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.” This also connects with the way change is highlighted in the coaching process. “Ecopsychology-The Principles” mentions “universal identity” (p.319). We are inherently connected and inseparable from earth and sky, even when we are not consciously thinking about it. Likewise, we are undeniably connected to the fellow humans we share this planet with. As individuals we are impacting the land and the broader world, daily. If individual life is so connected to these larger organisms moving outside of us, how much more-so are we capable of being connected within ourselves, able to impact our experiences through the choices we make and the growth we apply ourselves toward. Of course, this circles back around into our relationship with others, human and non-human, alike.
Gestalt and partswork feels at home here!

[Heather]

@vanessatermini85 Vanessa/Sul,

Thank you so much for sharing your journey that lead you to EBI and this place of connection. It’s amazing how much experience one life can hold. It’s kind of like looking at a time-lapse of a process in nature, like a flower blooming. I love the message you received that “Belonging is in every moment.”

I can feel the juxtaposition of your time in NYC with the experiences of the concrete city life and the motherly soothing of the earth. The connection and contrast of the violence in your childhood. Alignment with the Sacred questions now feels like it could be juxtaposed with the time of substance abuse and disconnection. Searching like hell for a place like EBI, a healthy craving. You are here, now! I’m grateful our paths have met!

I’m so interested in your studies of indigenous cultures, the elements and Medicine Wheel. These are things I’ve wanted to learn more about, and experience in an embodied way. I’m curious how that might be intersecting with the Sacred Questions and what we are learning about the coaching process, or actual coaching sessions with clients, or how it might come into your processing as a coaching client!

[Heather]

@allysonduffindalton Ally,

I love this poem by Robert Frost! During our foundations intensive, I actually wore a shirt with a quote from this poem on it (but it wasn’t able to be seen on Zoom!). I can relate with the energy of wanting the rest of the people in the world to be nature-connected along with me/us. I know there are others out there who are nature-connected. and sharing this work, but the general direction of society hasn’t been facing that direction. I’m excited to be here with you on this path!

Another favorite quote or poem from Robert Frost I’ve always loved is this: “There is absolutely no reason for being rushed along with the rush. Everybody should be free to be very slow.” This quote from Robert Frost makes me think of the brief exercise we did during the Foundations intensive that was called “The Slows”. I think it originated from Tom Brown? I so much want change to have happened yesterday, but our slow, focused attention to being present with ourselves and mindful about this nature-connected journey is powerful, and something that I think will accelerate and advance progress in our world as we meet others, and share these hacks!

[Heather]

For me, being connected to nature is synonymous to being connected with myself. This is clearly the state I want to be in when I’m in my role as coach. My awareness and maintenance of this connection is important for my professional life and relationships with clients. But, it’s a deeper phenomenon than stepping outside for 5 minutes and getting myself connected and grounded enough to be present on a session-by-session basis. It’s also more than a means to an end. Connection with nature is something that I need to sustain my life. It’s no different than the importance food or water is to my life. I don’t think it’s a mistake that food and water is nature, itself. It’s just that in our modern world, it’s so often manufactured and presented as something apart from nature.

As a child I didn’t have a lot of closeness with friends or family, but I was often able to go to the areas outside in my suburban front or back yard. Or, even on the playground at school. I STILL remember the trees and the big grass hill. Nature is a touchpoint in life. Always present, but also different and special so as to be remembered. I would be drawn into the world of otherworldly insects and ant trails. I was that kid out there with the magnifying glass laying on the ground, getting as close as I possibly could. Fascinated. I didn’t feel alone when I was connected at that level. Nature always had a space for me no matter where I was, though. Some years later when I got married and had a baby and was living a different section of life, I was more distanced from nature, but it was inside me. I remember being so closely connected to the weather and energy in the air when I was pregnant with my first daughter who was born Sept. 3rd. It was a hot and humid sauna summer, and it was precisely two weeks after her birth that the weather had a seasonal shift into having a cold chill. Twenty-two years later, and I still hold the memory of that wind, marked in my mind. That aspect of nature became a strong sensory memory. Nature has always done that for me. It’s always been a place that met me exactly where I was, expecting no more and no less of me, leaving me with more and taking away my loneliness. I hope this is what I can bring to the souls I have the privilege of meeting through coaching. I hope to never lose this sense of fascination, exploration and acceptance nature has been for me, and for the human relationships in my life to reflect nurturing and nourishment I’ve experienced from nature for those I share space with.

The article, Wilderness as a Healing Place (p. 43), talks about the relationship John Muir had with nature as being a place he could learn and grow, and also be restored. In recent years, nature has been energy that’s challenged me, rest that’s restored me, and hope that’s held me. I am so grateful for nature, and to have this experience of learning to coach in a nature-connected way, and apply it toward continuing the restoring and building a ‘healthy foundation and structure’ (p.44) of my whole self, and guide the way for others to join in.

[Heather]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Heather, and I’m so happy to be here meeting everyone. The NCC program and community/coaches has been, by far, one of the most dynamic and progressive experiences in my life, already. I don’t know what is ahead, but I feel it in my being that this is where I’m meant to be, called from afar. This is my second attempt at a start date since coming upon unforeseen circumstances before the last cohort started. I really feel this has all happened just as it was meant to be. I’m learning to take this one breath at a time, not just from a head space, but in my heart and footsteps. I live in a suburb of the Greater Kansas City Metro area…(the squiggly city space along the KS/MO border.) There is a surprising amount of nature and green space here, and while removed from the more vast expanses of wildness, I am able to discover the magic of it even here. It announces itself to me in the sometimes simplest moments (like the way the sun dances with a tree), and I treasure those here. I’ve always felt touched, nurtured and challenged (in a good way) by nature, and hope to find a way to bring others in my community closer to that connection outside and within themselves. I’m so open now about how this all works and fits together. I only have trust that all of this does. I’m really looking forward to exploring this path with you all.

[Heather]

Hi! I’m Heather from the Kansas City area. I love the physical and mystical interplay of nature,art,embodiment,and all things process oriented. I have a background as a massage therapist, Integrative Restoration Yoga Nidra Teacher and training in SoulCollage. I also have interest in breathwork. Discovering EBI and my way though to training here has been (and still is) a journey, and I’m grateful to meet you all along the way!

[Heather]

Hi all,

I hope I haven’t missed the orientation call today! It is showing that another meeting is in progress right now. I am Central Time and think I’m an hour ahead so it’s 1pm my time. Would that be 12 Mountain Time? I really hope to be on the call with you all!

Heather

[Heather]

Hi Everyone!

I wasn’t able to be on the live orientation call, so I wanted to introduce myself and let you all know how excited I am to meet you. I plan at the next call so we can meet closer to face-to-face!

My background coming to EBI has been through many hills and valleys. I was actively searching out coaching programs online when I came upon EBI and immediately recognized my dream program with the opportunity to focus on nature and more depth work. I’m excited about the creative opportunities on a personal and professional level here. I am staying really open at this point about where I would like to focus my work with others. I really don’t know! I just know I want to connect and be with those I can serve best, whoever they are. I’m drawn to a wide variety of people with various backgrounds, but I prefer to hang out in the deeper end of processing life, yet also enjoy the immediately practical stuff, so…I guess all is to say I’m taking this adventure on by just showing up and putting myself into the work in front of me! Over the past year I’ve envisioned and sat with different “programs” and offerings I’d like to provide, but again, in recent months I’m really connecting more with the flux and flow so am just really open to where this goes. Some populations I might like are those experiencing chronic pain, life transitions, grief, and those familiar with life-changing traumas. But my ultimate interest is really just on connecting with people willing to explore life, and are looking for how to fully live and love it.

In the past I worked as a massage therapist (briefly) and more recently became a Yoga Teacher (although not currently teaching). I am trained in a specific type of yoga called Yoga Nidra through the Integrative Restoration Institute (iRest) which really is what led me to actualize the path of becoming a coach. My focus is on embodiment and connection, rather than physical fitness, per say.

Last, but definitely not least, I am a mom to two daughters ages 20 and 7 (she’ll be 8 by the time our training starts!)

Looking forward to this leg of the journey, nervous but ready.

See you soon! Heather

[Heather]

Ps. I live in the great plains of Kansas, although I live in a suburb about 10 minutes away from Kansas City, Mo! 🙂

[Heather]

Hi Melody!

It would be cool if we were on the same incoming flight! What airline are you flying? I haven’t booked my flight yet. I think I will be flying Delta? I didn’t know the route would take us to Denver first, and then onto Gunnison.