The Philosophy of Earth Coaching
How did I come to build my ethos of my Earth Coaching practice and what is my philosophy around coaching?
Global warming, human mental illness and loss of animal habitat seem to be topics that appear frequently in the news and in day-to-day conversation. I began to wonder how we can take lessons from these urgent and serious issues into our personal and spiritual lives. How can we live in the modern world in a more authentic, peaceful and sustainable way, in line with nature? Why do so many of us seem to be suffering from burn out, fatigue, chronic health issues or mental illness? These are questions that come up a lot in my conversations with people in both my personal and professional life.
I realised the need to connect back to some of the ‘old ways’, in line with Mother Nature, is a big and necessary part of self-development, career satisfaction, interpersonal relationships and our health and wellbeing. I started to explore ways to combine the approaches and principles from permaculture, mindfulness, and existentialism with my coaching practice and after fine-tuning it, Earth Coaching was born. Here is a little about each of these three areas:
Permaculture in Coaching
Permaculture is one of my biggest passions and the main ethos of my work. Permaculture comes from the words “permanent” and “culture” and basically means that the way you live your life is sustainable and can keep going. This means that side effects like burnout or ‘boom-bust’ cycles in energy, health and activity are avoided because you know what your baseline activity level is and you can adjust your life accordingly. Essentially, you may look at permaculture as fundamental to pacing. People tend to perceive permaculture as specific to gardening and food cycles but it is much wider than that. Permaculture of the self is an approach to self-care that has a more scientific and ecology base and may be beneficial for those who struggle with feeling self-care is selfish.
Nature and society are important to permaculture, however. I believe, as a society, we should all be working towards meeting human needs whilst developing ecologically harmonious, efficient and productive systems to keep ourselves and our planet healthy. As we live on this planet and its food, water and oxygen sustains us, taking time to care for it, respect it and show our gratitude for it only makes sense to me. Some of the simplest ways to do this is to take time out in nature to exercise / socialise, to grow food (even on a windowsill) and to integrate nature into our daily lives and our mindfulness practices, especially if we live in an urban environment.
Coaching and permaculture are linked through personal development and people, For example, by knowing ourselves and who we are as part of a wider group (family, workplace, community, friendship group, etc), we can understand what we want from various areas of our lives. It can help us to strengthen relationships by (re)forming boundaries, learning limits and understanding our wants and needs, as well as the wants and needs of others.
In terms of my own approach, Earth Coaching is very much focused around promoting health and ensuring wellbeing. Living in a cluttered home can wreak havoc on your mental and physical health. Running a home that is three times the size of what you really need just to store your belongings (that you may not need or value) doesn’t make financial sense or ensure wellbeing. Working hours beyond your capability or stretching yourself so thinly that you ignore your baseline (the minimum activity you can do every day) will not be sustainable and so permaculture can teach us more about pacing. Pacing is not just fundamental to managing chronic illnesses like ME / CFS, but also conditions like ADHD and autism. If you are interested to know more about how pacing can help you, you can download my free daily planner to see what your activity is currently, before you pursue coaching.
Growing your own organic food is just one of the many ways permaculture can intersect with your coaching experience!
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is often misunderstood as just being another word for meditation. It is not - it is being aware of where you are at in life and if you are judging yourself about your current life situation. Mindfulness is being able to observe your mind and the thoughts that pop into your head and decide if this is your own thought, something you have been told to think, a learned pattern or habit you have developed (and maybe don’t want anymore). This awareness is fundamental to being able to take a step back from defining yourself by your illness, limitations or struggles. It enables you to move forwards.
Existentialism and Existential Coaching
Existentialism is a theory and philosophical approach focused on what it means to exist in this current world. It places the focus on ‘being’ instead of ‘doing’. Historically, coaching has been focused primarily on productivity - goal setting to get things done - instead of looking at who we are, our purpose and how we create meaning in this strange and wonderful world. However, people with chronic illnesses and neurodiverse brains work differently and either have limited capacity to be productive or have productivity cycles that often go unrecognised by the rest of society and workplace systems. So, just like how many things aren’t catered towards individuals with chronic illness or neurodiversity, traditional coaching methods may not fit or work for them. Another perspective is needed!
Many of us feel a strong sense of dislocation in the modern world - i.e. not feeling quite at home or in the right place mentally and emotionally. By starting to think about what formed us, we can work out where we are now. An existential approach to coaching helps you to make changes and work on your formation process of who you are and how you got to where you are today through small and big changes. Change happens in every area of your life over the years and coaching helps you to focus on noticing these aspects and how you can make changes.
After my Animas CPD training in Existential Coaching, I was able to think deeply about my own purpose, separate from being a productive human and this actually allowed me to put my energies into getting support networks, systems and strategies in place to aid my recovery from CFS as much as possible. Part of the process of getting support networks, systems and strategies in place is to cultivate practices of permaculture and mindfulness, too!
Starting to live your life in a different way from other people and different from your current life can be a lonely and scary experience – but it needn’t be! I am able to support you to work out who you are (despite or because of your health struggles, as well as separate from them) and what you need to get to where you would like to be!
Unlike some coaching methods, which are goal oriented, Earth Coaching is very much based in permaculture, existentialism, mindfulness, as well as the arts, and how to connect to the natural world. This means that clients can explore more freely, creatively and sustainably the areas that are important to them. If you would like more information on Earth Coaching, please feel free to take a look at my packages or book a discovery session.
Coaching can help you find what makes you happy and build your dream life!
