Coaching with the Seasons
“I like to think that to one in sympathy with nature, each season, in turn, seems the loveliest.”
Mark Twain
This article is packed with information and ideas on how we can engage with the seasons, connecting with them in our life and work.
The rhythm of life on earth is shaped by seasonal changes in the environment. Plants and animals show profound annual cycles in response to environmental cues. We are all familiar with the seasons although we may experience them differently and at different times of the year based on our location. Each of these seasons provides opportunities for and has impact on life and each is required to maintain the balance of life as we know it. In our modern, fast-paced and technology led world, we have become separated from nature, lost touch with the variations and seasonality of our natural environment. An example of this is our access to heating, electricity and imported foods, especially seasonal fruits and vegetables in winter which enables us to maintain the longer days and eating habits that we would normally only experience in summer. Living in this way we can become disconnected from the lessons, opportunities, and impact of the seasons.
A Sense of Time
In our modern western world time is of immense importance to us. We set time for things, allocate specific amounts of time to jobs, measure time with clocks and calendars and think of time as linear. ‘Kairos’ means ‘time’, but a different sort of time to ‘Chronos’, (the kind of time that’s measured by the clock). Kairos is mystical time, moment-to-moment time, time where the action suits the context. This kind of relationship with time is needed for a person to inquire, to explore, to learn. This kind of relationship with time is nurturing for both coach and client. Let’s explore further…
Kairos is an Ancient Greek term meaning a fleeting opportunity that needs to be grasped before it passes: not an abstract measure of time passing (Chronos), but of time ready to be seized, an expression of timeliness. Just think of a child at play, they are in Kairos time, fully present and engaged in what they are doing with no sense of Chronos time. Young children have yet to be ‘conditioned’ to Chronos time, they don’t understand why they have to hurry up and get ready for school to leave the house ‘on time’. Whereas, a frustrated parent is worried about their child being late for the 9am start. The child is far more connected to the natural world where things change when they are ready. Consider the gradual seasonal shift, it occurs when all the elements are just right, only then do trees leaves begin to turn in autumn or blossom appear in spring. Re-connecting with the seasons brings us back to a long-lost appreciation of doing things at the opportune time. Chronos is about quantity, Kairos about quality and the now. Being seasonally aware and in tune with nature invites us to be more ‘in the now’, following the rhythm of the natural world and benefitting from the opportunities nature presents.
We are nature. We have seasons in our lives too and by connecting more to natures rhythms we can support ourselves better. The simple need to conserve energy and hibernate in winter. The desire to lean into the feelings of growth and newness in spring. To use the energy of the summer to make progress. And the shift of being grateful and then letting go in the autumn ready to embrace the next change. We can work with the “seasons as a framework for how we live our lives, to create balance, rhythm, and awareness, and to live our lives with connection, joy, and intentionality.” (Cluett, 2020)
Each season has a different flavour, a different energy and is part of a holistic cycle. Let’s look at each in turn, along with an idea of how you and your coaching clients can connect with the seasons.
Spring
“Spring is nature’s way of saying ‘Let’s Party’”
Robin Williams
Spring is a time of emergence, perennial plants and deciduous trees grow new leaves, annual plants germinate and grow, some plants blossom, hibernating animals re-emerge and for others, this is the birthing season. We are surrounded by signs of new life.
We can use this new beginning to plan, explore, learn, and begin to take action.
Connecting with Spring: Spring is a great time to hear the dawn chorus. In spring, before the sun rises, male birds declare their presence in a bid to attract passing females. Their music concert grows as the sun comes up. Perhaps just once in the year you could get up early, before the sun, and bathe in the sound of the day coming alive as the sun comes up and a new day dawns. “The psychological effect of being in the dark before dawn and then hearing the chorus swell as the sun comes up is just incomparable.” (McGeeney, 2016). Early May is a good time, any later and you’ll be up in the middle of the night and some birds sing less once they have a mate!
Summer
“Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink in the wild air.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Summer is the season of growth and vibrancy. Plants and animals are highly productive. Plants invest in growth and create fruit. Animals also focus on growth and on helping their young to become more self-sufficient. The natural world is full of colour and warmth.
We can use this energy for action. Create, build, develop, network, etc. during this period of high energy and outward focus.
Connecting with Summer: Summer is a great time to take your clothes off! As the temperature rises, we begin to shed our layers. With longer, warmer days comes a sense of freedom and lightness. Nature invites us to walk barefoot on the grass, sit on a log for a picnic and paddle in the sea. So come on, take those shoes and socks off and feel the cool grass under your feet or the soft sand between your toes. If you’re feeling adventurous then perhaps the freedom and exhilaration of wild swimming, allowing the water to re-invigorate you as you glide along.
Autumn
“Notice that autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.”
Friedrich Neitzche
Autumn is the season to prepare for winter. As the nights become longer, plants’ fruits ripen and drop and animals may hoard food or further increase their consumption in preparation for winter. Trees begin to rest and draw down sap. They release their leaves to the ground to become shelter for animals and eventually nutrients for the soil.
We can use this time to refine what we have produced in our summer and enjoy our harvest. It’s also a chance to let go of things that no longer serve us.
Connecting with Autumn: Autumn is a great time to taste natures bounty. Taking an autumn stroll to pick blackberries from a hedgerow, enjoying a few as a snack (have at least one in a mindful way if you can!) before ‘squirreling’ the rest away for an apple and blackberry pie. Even if you don’t have a garden, it’s hard to go far in the UK without coming across a blackberry bush with its tempting juicy dark fruit. And of course, whose ‘free child’ (Berne, 1964) can resist kicking a pile of leaves and watching their golden colours drift down through the air. Or listening to their crunch as you crush them on your walk. Autumn is a rich season in all senses. Just taking a walk outside away from central heating and screens is rewarding and invigorating in itself.
Winter
“To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake, it is necessary to stand out in the cold.”
Aristotle
As the nights grow longer and the cold seeps in, winter is an opportunity for rest. The deciduous trees become completely skeletal, seeds often overwinter in the soil, and certain animals hibernate. Much of nature ‘sleeps’.
We can use this opportunity to rest and reflect. To restore ourselves from the year that’s gone and fuel ourselves for the year to come. View the clarity of the empty landscape and consider what clarity we need or have for the year to come.
Connecting with Winter: The empty landscape of winter means there is less food around for the animals who haven’t hibernated. If you’d like to spread a little festive kindness take some wholemeal bread or oats to the ducks and watch their feeding time behaviours. How they fight and bully each other for the food and yet when its all over hold no apparent resentment nor do they try to get revenge! Explore how different species react to the food and to each other. It’s a natural soap opera getting to know individuals through firstly their appearance then their personality.
Application
In each example above of how we can connect with the season, there is an opportunity to offer those moments in coaching. Invite someone to walk barefoot, smell a plant, listen to an animal, mindfully eat a blackberry. You are inviting them to engage with the world around them and relate to it, stimulating their senses and encouraging them to think and experience differently. By engaging somatically you are also opening the possibility of easier access to emotions, memories, feelings and creativity - to quote of our programme participants “A short-cut to the heart of the matter” (Claire Sheldon, April 2021). In these moments there is the possibility of helping someone become unstuck, inspired or enlightened by inviting them to consider: ‘What do you notice?’, ‘In what way does this experience relate to X?’, ‘What is this experience offering you?’.
Of course, you could also suggest your client takes time before your session for the seasons connection exercise then jointly inquire into their experience and how it relates to your work together.
Case Study
We’d had a lot of snowfall but the sun was shining. I wondered if my client would still want to walk and if he had appropriate footwear, it transpired the answer to both was yes so off we set. The snow was deep, it was more plod than walk! We were in a rural location with not another human soul and virgin snow all round us. There was a magical sense to the day and a feeling of freshness.
In 2 previous sessions my client and I had been ‘tip-toeing’ round the topic of his relationship with his father and how that impacted the man he was today. “My Dad used to work really long hours and was never around much but one winter when we were kids I remember him taking us sledging, I think it was a Sunday but it was still unusual for him not to be working.” I inquired what the experience had been like for my client to have that time with his Dad. “It was great, I loved it, it was one of the few times I remember him spending time with us and not telling me off.” Telling you off? “Yeah, he was always telling me to try harder.”
In the first 15 minutes of our walk I knew more about my client’s relationship with his father than I had discovered in any previous session. That magical winters walk was an unlocker for my client being able to share and explore his relationship with his father and what that might mean for him now. The conversation arose naturally, as coach I was not putting in the work, nature had offered an opportunity/catalyst and my client had accepted the invite. It’s one of the simplest examples I can think of where nature not only co-facilitated the session but led it, all I had to do was make sure I didn’t get in the way!
Bringing the Seasons Inside
An opportunity to continue the connection to the seasons when we are in our homes and offices is to bring something of the season indoors. Many of us do this unconsciously in winter when we have a fir tree in the house which we decorate for Christmas. Often we have holly, mistletoe and ivy too! Think of Halloween, those pumpkins and spiders webs (yes autumn is the time of giant spiders in the bath, that’s because the males increase their movement in a bid to find a mate!). It could also be an opportunity to place some shiny conkers on your desk, some dried grasses in a vase. What about some crocuses or hyacinths on the windowsill in spring? Or some collected shells and driftwood placed in a bowl from a summer beach walk? Not only are these nice to look at and resource us in a way a computer screen never could, they can also be anchors for our seasonal experiences.
A Final Thought
The seasons are rich with stimulus and the opportunity to connect at a somatic level. To listen to nature and our bodies. Bringing coaching, wellbeing and environmental connection. All this is missed if we stay indoors with our phones, central heating and laptops. Whilst it may seem simple to step outside, my experience is that people often don’t. By inviting our clients to do so, we seem to be giving them the permission they need, to take the time away from the office and the constant pull of technology.
References:
Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: A psychology of human relationships. London: Penguin Books
Cluett, C. Coaching Model: A Seasonal Approach To Coaching. ICA Blog, (24/5/20)
McGeeney, A. (2016). With Nature In Mind: The Ecotherapy Manual for Mental Health Professionals. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
If you’d like to experience more insights to support you in your coaching outdoors work take a look at Getting Started Coaching Outdoors and Nature as Co-facilitator. We’d love to see you on our programmes.
Lesley
Lesley holds an MSc in Executive Coaching from Ashridge Business school, is an EMCC Senior coach and she has 16 years commercial experience with Mars Inc. Read More >
She is the author of ‘Coaching Outdoors; the essential guide to partnering with nature in your coaching conversations’.
Contact by calling +44 (0) 7799 581792 or email info@coachingoutdoors.com.