[Rachel Juth]

I worked with my first practice client yesterday who was not a member of EBI. It felt like a challenge for me as a coach because it seemed as if all the client wanted to do was stay in the story. When we were able to hit on some of the deeper needs, it seemed as if he didn’t want to go there and continued to come back to story. The session seemed to stay in the severance phase as we circled around and around the deeper need. Something that I read in Amanda’s last post for foundations is, “My clients will need to be ready and will need to have the ability to be uncomfortable”. This feels crucial for me. I can see how coaching takes clients to deep places within themselves, connecting to the soul and other parts of themselves that they may have never explored before. I see how easy it is in life for people (and myself) to avoid these places within themselves because they are uncomfortable. I want to work with people who have a willingness to go to the uncomfortable places!

[Rachel Juth]

When I first think about who I may want to work with I think about someone who really wants it. I think about all the time and effort that I have put towards working with clients who don’t want it and how much energy that took. What I didn’t realize during that time is that I didn’t have to be putting that much energy towards them, yes to some degree that is my job, and I could have put more energy and focus towards the clients that wanted to be in the program and allowed the ones who didn’t some space. So this feels like the most important part for me.. working with clients who say the big YES!! When it comes to population I can see this being a wide range of ages and backgrounds. I am curious what might come to play when money is discussed. I hope to be able to work with clients who want it.. even if they can’t pay the full price and I am hoping that I am able to work with clients that I can charge the full price and some.. thoughts?

** Update ** After watching the last foundations call I was surprised that I have an ideal client! I think what helped me realize this was when I was answering the question, what do I not want in a client. There were things that I didn’t want and that helped me figure out what I do want! I feel called to work with women between 25-40 (I am flexible on age), passionate and eager to step into who they truly are, they believe change is possible and are seeking support and accountability, they are eager to change and motivated, and are willing to be human/raw/vulnerable.

I see myself getting excited about working with clients in person and especially taking them into nature. I love the idea of using the natural world as a container and providing them a space to feel a wide range of emotions. I would also love to set up sessions where I can send clients out on wanders.. possible with multiple clients and provide council and ceremony.. though this is something that I do in my personal time with my close friends and I would find it difficult to charge money for such a beautiful thing.. so maybe wanders one on one with clients. I would also be available for online sessions and would love to get clients that I could do regular one on one sessions with. I have also thought about the idea of mentoring young women.. I imagine it would also include wanders and nature connection, but I don’t know how coaching works with adolescents.. I am curious if anyone has tried coaching with young ones yet?

I imagine some common categories of goals would be wanting to gain specific feelings/ways of being from the session, wanting to make big life changes, wanting to have better relationships with people in their lives as well as themselves, wanting to follow dreams/visions, and seeking change internally and externally. I think about my own personal experience and how so much of my life was searching and seeking for answers, for ways to feel ‘better’, for mentorship (someone to talk to and understand/see me), for ways to come home to myself.

When I think about how I want to use nature to collaborate I think about this.. the clients have the answers inside of them.. to me this is such an important part to all of this. That the clients know. As a coach and even as a friend.. I see that there is such a power in trusting that the clients have the answers that they seek and it is our job to get them to see that! I feel passionate and excited about helping people connect to their internal nature. I also feel called to take people in wild nature, as far removed from society as possible, so they are able to slow down and feel the peace around them and to feel the peace within them. Slowing down and matching the baseline of the natural world feels important. I also enjoying reflecting the nature world as a mirror during the coaching session. What is the nature world doing during a coaching session and can that be tied in. Also, wanders are powerful ways for people to explore and adventure the nature world on their own. These are all ways I hope to tie nature into coaching.

Juniper Canyon Wilderness Therapy (JC) helped me realize the type of population that I want to work with. I had the opportunity to work at Legacy (the mens program) as well. There were several clients throughout my time working at JC who truly wanted to grow and change and was open to challenging conversations, ultimately it felt like they were saying yes to their lives!

Juniper Canyon implements wilderness into their program. They empower woman to learn skills to become self reliant such as bow-drill fire making, shelter building, backpacking, rock climbing and canyoneering, basic outdoor survival skills, and so much more! They also include wanders and well as Wilderness Rites of Passage into their program. I think something that they could implement into their program is slowing down. Because the program is an adventure based company, it isn’t often that there is much time for spaciousness or just being in the program. I believe this slowing down and allow spaciousness is one of the best ways we can learn what it’s like to be with ourselves and the nature world.

[Rachel Juth]

At this last intensive I got a deeper understanding of why the threshold experience is so valuable. There is a power in being a client and having a space provided for you to feel into the change that wants to take place and having the support and guidance there if needed. I think I am understanding more and more the power of being guided into the unknown vs walking into the darkness alone. I think I have spent a lot of my life in the shadow, searching and diving into the darkness looking for answers. I think the time of introspection was helpful and I also feel like with some guidance I don’t know that I would have stayed there as long as I did. I value the sessions that I have had and the threshold moments that I got to share with the person coaching me. I think something that I have been wondering is, what will coaching and the threshold experience look like with someone outside of this coaching program. I have only been practice coaching with people in this program and I am curious to how it will go with people in the world outside EBI. The deeper we dive into this program, the more I want to practice coaching and begin to take the idea of creating my own business seriously. I also struggle to understand how people have enough time in the day to get all the things they need to get done, done but that’s a whole different tangent.

I am taking away from this the power of trusting oneself and the unknown as well as trusting the tools that we have been given in the program. I am seeing that there is a balance in believing in myself as a coach as well as trusting in the material and tools that we have been learning. I feel inspired by the threshold experiences that I have been apart of as well as the ones that I have been able to guide others through. I look forward to continue learning and growing!

[Rachel Juth]

I am beginning to see and understand more and more the power of the threshold! The second intensive we had provided more space and opportunity for me to play around in the threshold as a client. The first experience I can recall was a practice of embodiment. It seems like a big part of the threshold is creating a container for the client to practice stepping into the way they want to be through embodiment. As a client, my coach pointed out there was a lot of energy in my body that was not matching up with my tone of voice and words. I was given the invitation to move my body so I got down on my hands and knees and had a strong desire to roar like a lion. Though I struggled to break through an old pattern and allow myself to become fully vocal, It was powerful for me to have the experience of coming up to that threshold and to have a guide next to me guiding me to places I struggle to go to on my own. There was an exercise that we did at the second intensive where we were asked to sit with our parts and I really struggled with that. At that moment I felt like I needed a guide to help me through it and I see that there is such a power in being guided through soul work. I can think of another threshold where I was given the space and autonomy to go to a cliff edge and yell a positive affirmation at the top of my lungs. Nature has played a role in my threshold experiences because it has given me the spaciousness to expand and grow in a safe and non judgemental way.

Nature has provided me a container to hold any emotion or feelings that arises within me. Reflecting back to the first intensive, there was a threshold experience where I felt a strong urge to release anger and I went out on the land and began to smash down tree branches. There was a sense of safety and protection that allowed me to feel as though I could show up the way I was feeling. Nature does not criticize or expect us to be anything other than who we are. Thinking about my time in Colorado, nature played a role in allowing me to connect deeper to myself through my experience of talking to my different parts and using the earth as tools and resources to represent the different parts. Nature can do so much for us!!!! To me it feels like home. It feels resourceful, giving, safe, welcoming, non judgemental, inspiring, expansive, warm, curious, and a place of limitless possibilities.

Some core competencies that feel important to practice in the place of threshold with clients:

1. Acknowledges that clients are responsible for their own choices

5. Acknowledges and supports the client’s expression of feelings, perceptions, concerns, beliefs and suggestions

6. Demonstrates openness and transparency as a way to display vulnerability and build trust with the client

1. Remains focused, observant, empathetic and responsive to the client

2. Demonstrates curiosity during the coaching process

3. Manages one’s emotions to stay present with the client

4. Demonstrates confidence in working with strong client emotions during the coaching process

5. Is comfortable working in a space of not knowing – this feels like the most important when thinking about working towards a threshold and into the threshold experience with clients

6. Creates or allows space for silence, pause or reflection

1. Considers client experience when deciding what might be most useful

[Rachel Juth]

Something that has been coming up for me since starting EBI is the idea of staying small. I had this realization today as I asked myself, “why am I struggling to find and go to a sit spot?” When I think about it I feel fear and it seems as if there is apart of me that is trying to keep myself small. It is interesting to me that when there are things I want in life that I can so easily self sabotage and talk myself out of it. I think about this with creating my own business and wanting to be a coach. I hear that little voice in my head that tells me that it is not possible. It reminds me of this quote by Marianne Williamson, <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be..?” <font face=”inherit”>This feels relevant to me as I imagine working with clients who</font> will also have the thoughts that tell them that they are not able to achieve or be the person that they want to be. I think about how I want to show up as a guide, a coach, and a human in this world and I am realizing that it is not something to be intellectualized but rather a way of being, a feeling to experience in the body. I imagine that if we as humans are able to change our relationship with our internal world that it will reflect in our external world. Ecopsychology gives us tools and suggestions on how to connect deeper to those parts of ourselves and the natural world. I feel extreme gratitude for this community and the opportunity to reflect and learn.

[Rachel Juth]

Ecopsychology is the study of the relationship between humans and nature. In the article Psyche and Nature in a Circle of Healing, Buzzell and Chalquist share there are ways and methods in which we as humans can address pain from an ecotherapy standpoint, some which include, “reconnection with nature and one’s own nature, working with our plant and animal friends, voluntary simplicity, detaching from rigidly artificial time schedules, changing home or work environments, dream therapy, wilderness retreats, environmental activism, healing spiritual practices, and recovery from compulsive consumerism.” After our first assignment with EBI, I have been thinking about what my relationship with myself looks like. I have been observing my relationship with pain and noticing the moments when it arises, trying to identify any patterns or threads. I believe that our emotions are trying to tell us something, almost like little indicators telling us that there is something to bring attention to. During these last two week of being off of work, I have noticed that my home environment plays a role in the way I feel as well as connection with nature and my own nature. I live in a small town and in order to get to wild nature it requires me to drive outside of town. I have noticed that when I stay with friends in Boulder, UT I feel inspired to walk out the front door and in any direction I go I am in wild nature. There is also a sense of peace that I feel in Boulder that allows me to connect deeper to myself and my surroundings.
Ecopsychology and Coaching can come together in several different ways. I think about the awareness practices that we learned during the intensive, wandering on the land, having sessions in nature, and the indicators of awareness in Coyotes guide.
During the intensive I remember Michael talking about going on walks with his clients out on the land. He mentioned providing space and support for a client to experience whatever needed to arise and how it would. When I heard this I thought, “I would love to have that kind of experience with someone”. There is such a power in bringing ecopsychology into coaching. It is a way to provide a container for people as well as a way to bring people home to themselves. Ecopsychology- The Principles states, “what our ancestors took to be common knowledge: there is more to know about the self, or rather more self to know, than our personal history reveals”. There have been moments throughout the last few months where I have been feeling profoundly grateful for EBI and the Nature-Connected Coaching program. It feels as though I have a found a portal into the soul! I truly believe there is more self to know and I experience that every time I have a coaching session or I am coaching another. I wonder what the world would like if more people connected to their souls?

Bringing the idea of ecopsychology into coaching provides an opportunity to expand our toolbox. As a Nature-Connected Coach, we get to use nature as our ally. There is such a power in being able to teach and incorporate nature awareness practices into our sessions with clients and into my own life. Ecopsychology- The Principles states, “Ecopsychology holds that there is a synergistic interplay between planetary and personal well-being.. The human and the divine are cooperatively linked in the quest for salvation”. About a year ago while I was working my first shift as a Rite of Passage guide for my job, I walked up to a grandmother Juniper and I asked her if she had any advice for me, she responded, “you treat nature the way that you treat yourself.” I love this idea that we are not separate from nature and that there is a feeling relationship between us and the natural world.

In the essay, Ecopsychology – The Principles, Roszak states “Ecopsychology seeks to heal the more fundamental alienation between the person and the natural environment”. When thinking about how it might fall short, I think about being a Nature-Connected coach and I wonder how many people may be turned off to the idea of connecting with nature. I think about clients who come into the wilderness therapy program I work at and some have had very little exposure to nature. These clients often do not want to be at the program and would leave if they were able to. It’s incredible to see how over time they open up to the experience and there relationship to nature changes. With our clients it takes patience, curiosity, and compassion to help them as they build a relationship with the natural world. Psyche and Nature in a circle of Healing states “The critical fact that people are intimately connected with, embedded in, and inseparable from the rest of nature.” I really enjoyed the essay Nature in a circle of Healing and I end with this quote. As much as humans want to try to deny it, we are inseparable from nature.

[Rachel Juth]

Cynthia,

When I read the first paragraph of your post I got chills! I truly feel like you are meant to work with women in male dominated industries because you have experienced that! I love that you have this experience working in the oil and gas fields as well as welding! The women of this world need more empowerment and I see you as being one of those women who are going to help others find their voice. I love how the experiences in our life have brought us to where we are now and in someways it feels like we come back to them full circle.

[Rachel Juth]

Sue,

I have to say that I feel like you are going to do such powerful work with people because of exactly what you said.. you have been through it and you have done (and continue to do) the work! It felt clear to me while reading your post the populations you want to work with and what you want to do with them!! I loved the clarity and deep knowing that I felt from your post. Thank you for getting clear and thank you for doing the work.

[Rachel Juth]

Thank you for this reminder that we are doing SOUL work. Something that not everyone is ready for but naming that there are people who are and they can be found in a variety of populations!

An inspiration that sparked for me while reading your post is the idea of going into wilderness therapy programs with an offering.. “I will train your guides to work with your clients on more of a soul level… and you will pay me to do it”. And talking to the guides about the importance of slowing down with clients and teaching them nature connection skills. Because the reality is that the clients in these programs spend most of their time with the guides who are often not the most experienced and sometime (depending on the program) have the reigns to do what they want with the clients. I love this idea!! Thank you for the reminder of SOUL connection and what we are doing here!

[Rachel Juth]

Cynthia, how beautifully put! I love the piece of the threshold and the unknown.. The quote you shared from the Coaching skills book sticks out to me. “Ultimately, we are held back from change by fear. The fear is about loss of control of being unable to cope with the unknown.” I think about this often, why is it so hard for people to change?! Yes the unknown is scary and it is hard when we are not able to have that sense of control. I can see why it is so valuable to be a coach, to walk with someone, and be by their side as they enter into that place. Cynthia, I also love that you added, “<font face=”inherit”>The ‘threshold’ is the unknown, and the more I am comfortable in this space the better I can help guide clients through it.” There is so much truth to that. We can only takes clients as far as we have gone ourselves. </font>This<font face=”inherit”> is something that I am appreciating about EBI thus far.. we are getting the opportunity to dive deep within ourselves and thus take clients to these </font>places.

[Rachel Juth]

Sue, thank you for sharing! I love hearing about the threshold experiences that you have had throughout your time in the program thus far. I love hearing your experience of what it means to be a client and how it greatly informs who you are.. I feel called to name that it wouldn’t have impacted you so greatly if you weren’t open to it, so thank you for saying yes to yourself and therefore saying yes to the clients that you will work with. I love this idea that we can only take clients as far into the unknown as we have gone ourselves. I am grateful to be walking this path with the co heart.

[Rachel Juth]

Amanda, I deeply love your posts and the amount of passion and introspection that you put into them. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I have been sitting with your question and I have been thinking about what threshold means.. I have always thought of it as a transition and I feel like they are happening all the time and we aren’t even aware of their power sometimes. I think about my life right now, leaving my job and moving out of my house and what a big transition, threshold that is. I want to do some ceremony around this to honor my time at these places as well as think about who I want to be moving forward into the unknown. I feel like I want to practice moving through the world with more intention, marking transitions such as these.

[Rachel Juth]

Cynthia,

I appreciate your inspiration and drive to bring your NCC skills into working with people who are connected to the oil and gas industry, policy makers, as well as field leaders. I can see how there is great potential for healing of the earth through working with these people. I honor and respect your vision and I see how the work that you did before starting EBI has brought you to this moment and added to your vision!

Thank you for the reminder of trusting your intuition. It is amazing to think that we have so much wisdom and knowledge inside of ourselves. If we are able to trust that and tune into our deeper knowing, it allows so much to flow through us.

[Rachel Juth]

Sue, I love the quote that you pulled out from The Voice of the Earth: an Exploration of Ecopsychology, “How deep the listening must go to Hear the Self, Speak Through the Self.” It reminds me of a quote that I always share with those around me, “Who you really are is the silence between thoughts.” You named how we can connect clients deeper to themselves through Head, Heart, and Soul. I appreciate the reminder that clients will be coming in at different levels and it is up to us to accept where they are and what they are ready for. There is no point in pulling clients ahead, even if we ourselves can see where they are headed. Patience is something that I need to remind myself of as a coach!

[Rachel Juth]

Amanda, I feel inspired by this post as well as the last one. Your last post really got me to chewing on the idea of, “what does it look like for me to connect to my internal nature?” These last two weeks I have spent my time aware, curious, and in relationship and conversation with different parts of my internal world. I relate to you when you say that nature connection feels like the practice of your spirituality. I was raised in a Christian household and once I went off to college I deciding the church wasn’t for me any longer. Several years later I felt myself longing for a way to connect to something greater than myself. It does seem as though people who were raised in a religion (and are no longer in one) are more open to spirituality (whatever that looks like for them) vs people who did not have that upbringing. It reminds me of my travels to India and the conversations I would have asking, “what makes India a country that feels so spiritual?” The answer to that was a friend who explained that when children are small their parents put their hangs together to pray, are shown how to give offerings daily, and are part of yearly celebrations and festivals to honor their Gods. This way of being is ingrained in their culture. It makes me wonder how we as Nature-Connected coaches can teach a new way of being to people who may not have any past experiences in connecting to themselves or to something greater than themselves. I appreciate the dedication that you bring to your life and how you are determined to practice what you want to teach those you will be working with.