EARTH DAY, NATURE COACHING, AND MINDFULNESS

Every year on April 22 we celebrate Earth Day. Our dear planet is getting warmer and warmer, and which would require us to devote a little more time to protect it! Did you know that we have been celebrating it since April 22, 1970? A world day to invite everyone to take concrete actions to protect the planet and the nature that inhabits it.

And what is the link with coaching you ask…?

Have you heard of “Nature Coaching”? A leadership coaching approach that connects humans with nature. Italian coach Diana Tedoldi explains her technique in a really interesting article available on the ICF International website.

According to Tedoldi, for the natural world to have this impact on the person, it is not enough to do the coaching session outside. It would be superficial. The coach must facilitate in the coach the acquisition of a state of presence, expanded consciousness, observation, openness, and listening, in which he can feel connected with Nature, his life, his beauty. The author describes that “Nature is the co-coach”: “the job of the coach, in this case, is specifically to enable the dialogue of the leadership coach with his inner Nature, through the connection with the natural elements that ‘surround.”

Later in the article, it is possible to read there that “the natural environment can constitute the decoration, as well inside as outside. Inside, nature can be present by organizing his coach’s office with objects, plants, sounds, images, and natural materials (used during the session), as well as by choosing images, language, and metaphors inspired by nature. Outside, the career transition specialists will co-construct with the client the choice of location, based on preferences, needs, season, accessibility of the site and the evocative and thematic potential of the place itself)”.

“Nature transition coaches skills focus on facilitating self-listening, mindful presence, silent observation, awareness, and what I call our ‘organic knowing’, the innate system of which all living things must survive, adapt and develop in reaction to the environment around us.

Our little research on “Nature Coaching” also led us to this scientific article by Nisbet, Zelensky, and Grandpierre (2019). These researchers looked at the effects of guided nature walking and mindfulness on people’s sense of connection and mood. The author describes that “Nature is the co-coach”: “the job of the coach, in this case, is specifically to enable the dialogue of the lead coach with his inner Nature, through the connection with the natural elements that ‘surround.”

Since immersion in the wilderness is not accessible to everyone, the researchers wanted to test the possibility that the teaching of mindfulness improves mood during exposure to nature in urban settings. They randomly divided 100 participants into three groups to complete a 20-minute guided walk outdoors (group 1), outdoors with mindfulness (group 2), or indoors (group 3). Participants who walked outdoors reported significantly more connection to nature and improved mood than those who walked indoors. Additionally, participants who previously received mindfulness training reported greater awareness of their surroundings, stronger connection to nature, and fewer negative effects, even compared to uneducated outdoor walkers. mindfulness. Interesting, no?