Reclaiming Wholeness: Somatic Coaching with Nature
A Natural Systems Perspective
By Dr. Valentina Canessa-Pollard
In a world where we are asked to move faster, think smarter, and carry more complexity than ever before, we may find ourselves living almost entirely in the realm of the mind. Strategies, meetings, metrics, and decisions stack on top of one another, leaving little space for a deeper kind of knowing - the kind that lives in the body, in the nervous system, and in our relationship with the natural world.
Somatic coaching invites us back into this deeper knowing. And when we integrate nature into this process, something profound happens: we remember that we are nature, not separate from the ecosystems we lead, live, and work within. This is echoed in contemporary ecological psychology and biophilia research, which shows that humans possess an innate drive to connect with natural environments (Kellert & Wilson, 1993).
At Natural Systems, we work from a simple but powerful principle:
Change happens in systems: within the body, within relationships, within organisations, and within the wider ecological world.
What Is Somatic Coaching?
Somatic coaching is a transformational approach that works with the body as an intelligent system, not simply a vessel for stress or productivity, but a source of wisdom, resilience, and real-time feedback.
The practice draws on research from embodied cognition (Varela, Thompson & Rosch, 1991), polyvagal theory (Porges, 2011), and mindfulness-based approaches (Kabat-Zinn, 2003), all of which highlight the interdependence between bodily states, perception, and behaviour.
While traditional coaching focuses on cognition (thoughts, goals, mindsets), somatic coaching adds two essential layers:
1. The Body as a Source of Insight
Posture, breath, gestures, sensations, and tension patterns all tell a story about how we’re relating to our circumstances. This aligns with evidence that emotions are fundamentally embodied experiences (Damasio, 1999), and that somatic cues shape our decision-making even before the conscious mind catches up (Bechara et al., 1997).
2. The Body as a Site of Change
We don’t just talk our way into new behaviours; we practice them. Shifts happen through breath, grounding, embodied exercises, and new patterns of attention. Research in somatic and behavioural sciences shows that embodied practice can reorganise neural pathways and support sustainable behavioural change (Mehling et al., 2011).
When leaders reconnect with their bodies, they expand their capacity to navigate complexity, regulate emotions, and act with clarity.
Why Bring Nature Into Somatic Coaching?
Because nature is the original somatic teacher.
Environmental psychology has long shown that natural settings regulate the nervous system (Ulrich et al., 1991), reduce cognitive fatigue (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989), and activate restorative processes that support creativity and problem-solving (Berman, Jonides & Kaplan, 2008).
When we step outdoors, whether into a woodland, a park, a coastline, or simply a garden, we enter an environment that:
Regulates the nervous system
Restores attention and creativity
Softens the edges of stress and overwhelm
Invites metaphor, insight, and perspective
Reminds us of cycles, interdependence, and regeneration
In natural spaces, clients often discover that what felt stuck begins to move. Eco-therapeutic research suggests that this is because nature acts as both a regulating system and a reflective mirror for emotional and cognitive exploration (Jordan & Hinds, 2016).
Nature as Co-Coach
Instead of trying to solve a problem through analysis alone, we might explore:
Where in your body does this feel contracted?
What changes when your feet are on the earth?
What does this landscape mirror back to you about the transition you’re in?
If this tree/river/path were a metaphor for your leadership journey, what is it offering?
Nature breaks through the cognitive noise and invites clients to reconnect with wholeness.
A Glimpse Into a Session
A client arrives overwhelmed by competing responsibilities. We begin with breath and grounding, helping them notice where tension sits in the body.
Walking slowly through a woodland path, we explore the sensation of carrying weight. A fallen tree becomes a metaphor: What do you continue to carry that is no longer alive?
As we pause by a clearing, something shifts. The shoulders drop. The breath deepens. A new insight emerges, one they had not accessed in months of cognitive effort.
This is the power of combining somatic coaching with nature:
the body remembers what the mind forgets.
Who Is This Approach For?
Somatic nature-based coaching is ideal for:
Leaders and managers navigating complex transitions
Individuals seeking purpose-driven careers
Teams experiencing burnout, fragmentation, or change
Anyone feeling stuck in their head and disconnected from themselves
Changemakers wanting to lead with authenticity and resilience.
This aligns with growing evidence that embodied, nature-based coaching can support wellbeing, role clarity, resilience, and leadership effectiveness (Canessa-Pollard, in press).
A Different Way Forward
We don’t need more leadership models that demand harder thinking while ignoring the wisdom of the body and the environment.
We need approaches that restore balance, approaches that recognise leaders as human beings embedded in ecosystems.
At Natural Systems, somatic coaching with nature offers exactly that:
a pathway back to connection, clarity, and grounded purpose.
Explore our Brief Encounters to know more.
Author
Dr. Valentina Canessa-Pollard. Coaching Psychologist, Senior Lecturer at the University of Chichester and Director at Natural Systems Coaching and Development Ltd.
Get in Touch
Get in touch if you would like to discuss any of the issues explored in this article.
References
Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., & Damasio, A. R. (1997). Deciding advantageously before knowing the advantageous strategy. Science, 275(5304), 1293–1295. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.275.5304.1293
Berman, M. G., Jonides, J., & Kaplan, S. (2008). The cognitive benefits of interacting with nature. Psychological Science, 19(12), 1207–1212. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02225.x
Canessa-Pollard, V. (in press). Integrating Eco-Therapy into Coaching Psychology: A Dual Case Study of Grounding, Meaning-Making, and Emergent Agency. ICPR - Climate Special Issue.
Damasio, A. R. (1999). The feeling of what happens: Body and emotion in the making of consciousness. Harcourt Brace.
Jordan, M., & Hinds, J. (Eds.). (2016). Ecotherapy: Theory, research and practice. Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ecotherapy-9781137486875/
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), 144–156. https://doi.org/10.1093/clipsy.bpg016
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Kellert, S. R., & Wilson, E. O. (Eds.). (1993). The biophilia hypothesis. Island Press.
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Mehling, W. E., Wrubel, J., Daubenmier, J. J., Price, C. J., Kerr, C. E., Silow, T., Gopisetty, V., & Stewart, A. L. (2011). Body awareness: A phenomenological inquiry into the common ground of mind-body therapies. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 6, 6. https://doi.org/10.1186/1747-5341-6-6
Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W. W. Norton.
Ulrich, R. S., Simons, R. F., Losito, B. D., Fiorito, E., Miles, M. A., & Zelson, M. (1991). Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 11(3), 201–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(05)80184-7
Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience. MIT Press.
