6 min read

Coaching by Nature

Are you inspired by nature? Do you find you feel calmer and more peaceful outdoors? Do you wish you had more time to enjoy the weather, the changing sky and the trees?

The natural world can offer incredible insights when we take the time to be in it and appreciate it.

For a while now I have been coaching one-to-one in natural settings by taking clients on walking and talking sessions. It’s something I’ve done for many years with London based clients, often striking out along the Thames when they’re feeling stuck (I think it can be very inspiring to be alongside a large body of water on the move) or for a walk through a park to buy an ice cream when they want to be more creative and childlike.

Obviously, when Covid measures were in place Walking & Talking sessions came into their own and allowed me to continue working with my clients face-to-face.

So, I have always known that the external environment can offer useful insights, allowing clients to find meaning in what they see, hear and smell, which can inform some of the mental wrestling they might be doing over an issue. Suddenly new, more sensual information comes into play, which can aid problem solving and creative thinking.

Experience

A couple of years ago I went on a silent retreat where we were encouraged to find a sit-spot and stay there for one hour. I was amazed by the way nature ‘spoke to me’ and helped me to unravel my problems and get perspective.

Last year I joined an Art in Nature course where participants had clipboards and were encouraged to sketch the natural scene in front of them inside a small frame. Both events inspired me to combine what I had learned from these two processes with my Walking & Talking Sessions and David Grove’s Clean Space process.

Coaching in Nature

So, last month when I was invited to run a workshop at Elderflower Fields Festival, it seemed the perfect opportunity to try out a new way of working with groups.

Coaching by Nature is a silent, mediative/meditative group coaching experience where individuals are invited to find spaces in nature and reflect on a desired outcome or topic of interest. Adapted from David Grove's Clean Space process, participants are encouraged to find six spaces from which to reflect on a problem, challenge or idea.

We gather at our meeting point and each participant is given a clipboard in case they want to draw or make notes. We walk together in silence to our first pausing place, which we refer to as ‘the start’. At first, participants seem nervous or slightly uncomfortable about having to be silent. At the start, they are asked to write their desired outcome or topic of interest on a sheet of paper, fold it up and leave it somewhere secure – under a rock or tucked beneath a fallen tree. Then participants are asked to position themselves in relation to their desired outcome or topic. They smile, look at me, and then choose a position. Some stand close, others far away and with their backs to that piece of paper.

Questions

I then ask a series of simple questions: “What do you know here?” “What do you know here about that?” (‘that’ refers to the original topic on their piece of paper) and, “Anything else you know here?” I then ask them: “what could this space be called?” and suggest that they ‘mark’ this space.

We then move together through the environment. Every now and then I stop and ask the participants to “find a space” and repeat the series of questions. I can see them engaging more and more with the activity, spreading out to find interesting and alternative spots, looking around, closing their eyes and engaging with the smells and sounds of the space. A tranquil ease comes over the group.

Once six spaces have been experienced and participants have reflected, drawn or written down their thoughts. I invite them to take 10 minutes to return to one or more of the spaces. Immediately they move off. Often knowing exactly where they wish to return to. Some at pace and some more slowly.

I alert them to the end of the session. We gather back at the ‘start’ And I ask them “What do you know now that you didn’t know before?” “What difference does knowing that make?” And “what are you now going to do differently if anything?” They are then encouraged to pick up their original piece of paper with their desired outcome or topic and to rewrite, adapt or redraw.

I explain that we’re all now free to talk as we walk together back to our meeting point. What strikes me most on this return walk is that the participants mostly do this in silence. I assumed that they would be bursting to speak, perhaps to share their newfound insights or planned for actions, or simply to chat after keeping quiet for so long. But it seems, from feedback received later, that it is the silence that they enjoy most.

Power of Silence

In this complex modern world of noise and information overload, this 90 minutes of silence becomes incredibly special and precious and people want it to last.

The privacy is comforting and reassuring. We don’t have to ‘spill’ everything about our innermost hopes or worries to a coach or therapist to find meaning, ideas and insights. We can do it ourselves, with a bit of light touch guidance, and supported by nature.

It’s incredible the meaning we can make from our surroundings and the way each location offers a new angle to see things from. By making the time to be with our thoughts and ideas, uninterrupted, we free ourselves to see things in a different way and reconnect with our own resourcefulness.

One recent participant, Justine Ashbee, had this to say about her Coaching by Nature session:

“It was such a profound experience. The adage that nature has all the answers you need is one thing to hear and something completely different to experience. Rachel’s approach feels modern and minimalist. The information available to me in the present moment via her guidance of observation in nature was such a reassuring process, like an unfolding of my own truth. I came into a much more intimate sense of self awareness. It felt like the process offered a metaphorical way to understand and reframe my current desires and direction, in supportive ways that I could relate to. I have already referred to the notes from the coaching experience several times since, and I feel they will be an anchor as I navigate new goals and projects in the coming months.”

Here is some of Justine’s work: