Coaching with Nature Course for Coaches
Reconnect. Reimagine. Regenerate.
Experience the transformational impact nature can bring to your coaching
Join us for a two-day immersive in-person retreat for seasoned coaches who feel the call to deepen their practice. Held in the heart of the Irish countryside, this course invites you to slow down, reconnect with yourself, the land, and invite nature to become your co-coach.
– What if nature could be the biggest differentiator in your coaching? – What would it be to step outside with your clients in nature? – How might it transform their way of being? – How might it transform the way you coach?
‘“When I slow down, I see twice as much.” – Tara Brach
Weaving together neuroscience, mindfulness attitudes, nature practices, Theory U and systems perspectives, and insights from indigenous wisdom, together we’ll explore what we can learn with nature, and how to cultivate conditions for deep transformational coaching.
This learning retreat is an invitation to give yourself the gift of time, step back from
the busyness of daily life, with the intention of creating space to ‘see with new eyes’.
Our intention is to be with nature experimenting with a variety of practices
throughout the two days outdoors.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes” – Marcel Proust
During the course you’ll be invited to explore:
– Nature as co-coach and co-regulator
– Peer coaching sessions held by nature
– How nature naturally supports presence
– The power of movement, metaphor and mindfulness
– Neuroscience and working with the body and nervous system
– The practicalities of coaching with nature side-by-side and virtually
– Listening to the land and what nature teaches us about living systems
– Solo walks to restore inner stillness, deepen reflection, and access deep wisdom
This is coaching that taps into the rhythm of the seasons, the wisdom of the wild, and the quiet companionship of the world outside your door
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished” – Lao Tzu
Who is this course for?
Experienced coaches curious to deepen their coaching practice, grow their presence, while exploring
and experiencing the profound benefits of coaching with nature.
When and where?
June 26 & 27 for a two-day in-person retreat in the beautiful surroundings of Fuchsia Lane
Farm (arrive by 12:30 June 26, closing June 27 16:30)
½ day integration follow on session online (6+ weeks after, date TBC)
Pricing
Including lunch, teas/coffees on both days, dinner on first evening, plus free email and phone support €750.
40% discount available subject to eligibility.
Accommodation in local B&B’s & in Fuchsia Lane Farm cottages. subject to availability. Camping and campervan facilities also available
To register or make further enquiries please contact
Grattan Donnelly | T: +353(0)86 225 2737 | E: grattan@grattandonnelly.com
Niall Heenan | T: +353 87 2445547 | E: info@niallheenan.ie
or use the booking form below
Course Structure and Schedule
Day 1 – Thursday June 26th
12:30 arrive and settle in
13:00 Lunch in Haybarn Hub
14:00 Afternoon Session:
Reconnect
Rooting with Presence
Theme: “I just stepped outside…” – thresholds, slowing down, beginning to listen
Crossing the Threshold
Gentle arrival, welcome, group agreements
Grounding practice with nature – breath, body, belonging
Nature as co-coach
Beginner’s Mind Walk
Listening to the land
Nature, neuroscience & the nervous system – why place matters
Eco-somatic awareness: noticing inner shifts through outer contact
Listening with the whole body
Co-Coaching and Other Practices with nature
Throughout the retreat, you’ll experience the impact of mindfulness and nature
practices, walk & talk coaching with nature, embodied practices, supported by
neuroscience.
What new seeds are being sown?
What new seeds will I tend?
18:00 Checking in to local accommodation. Optional swim in Lough Derg.
19:30 Dinner & campfire session with storytelling, poetry, & conversations
21:30 Optional twilight walk or sit-spot in stillness
Day 2 – Friday June 27th
08:00 Optional Lake Swim or Guided Mindfulness in nature practice
13:00 Lunch
(Teas and coffees available throughout the day)
“The rational mind is an honourable servant, the intuitive mind is a sacred gift. We have created a society that worships the servant but has forgotten the gift.” – Albert Einstein
09:00 Day 2 session:
Reimagine
Seeing with new eyes and coaching in the field
What is taking root?
The shift: from control to co-creation
Eco-systemic coaching
Theory U – Systems thinking (open mind) systemic awareness (open heart), & ecosystemic
awareness (open will) in the wild
Learning with nature
Cultivating conditions where mindset shifts can happen
“Space is a way of living. Space is not something we have. Space is something we
practice. Space is a very important aspect to embrace complexity” – Thomas Hubl
Regenerate
What’s below the surface?
Making visible the invisible
Letting Go of stories that no longer serve us well
Listening to the land
Tending the soil & tending ourselves
As we’re leaving this space what’s emerging and growing for us?
The impact of cultivating gratitude
Acting from our core
“There is no difference between healing ourselves and healing the Earth.” – Zen Buddhist Master, Thich Nhat Hanh
16:00 Closing Ritual – planting for our futures
16:30 Finish
Fuchsia Lane Farm’s mission is to create a sustainable, destination space on a family farm, sharing a landscape that protects, maintains and encourages biodiversity, strives towards being carbon neutral and adopting regenerative practices. Fuchsia Lane Farm is a ‘container’ for conversations, growth, connections and encouragement, responding to the need for individual and collective action in order to care for the earth.
Course Facilitators
Grattan has been doing Walk & Talks Coaching for over 15 years now. His appreciation of the impact of coaching with nature has significantly changed and deepened. Now, it the biggest differentiator to his coaching, whether coaching side-by-side in-person or virtually. Grattan is a Regenerative Leadership coach, facilitator and trainer, passionately interested in how we can create a better world for all life. With a background in leadership and management development, he has been coaching since 2006 and bringing mindfulness into coaching since 2014. He integrates neuroscience, mindfulness, embodied and nature practices into coaching,
facilitating the people he works with to do deep transformational work and be at their best to contribute to a more peaceful world and healthier planet. He is associate faculty with the Irish Management Institute on the Diploma in Executive Coaching. He lectured the Diploma in Coaching for Performance in Dublin Business School for over 10 years. He is a keen sailor and dog walker. He is an Honorary Life Fellow and a Founding Council Member and former Chair of the Association for Coaching, Ireland. He is a member of the Climate Coaching Alliance.
Niall is a trainer, facilitator and coach and works with individuals and organisations in the areas of personal and career development, management development and resilience. Together with his wife Inez, they have developed Fuchsia Lane Farm which comprises self catering cottages, a group space for workshops and team gatherings, woodland walks, spaces for nature and opportunities for individuals and teams to take time to reconnect and re-energise. Their work in Regenerative Tourism focuses on how people can connect with, and benefit from nature and the outdoors. In recent years they have hosted events for coaches, leadership teams and individual coaching clients who wish to deepen their impact. As current custodians of a place that has been in the family for generations, Niall and Inez place nature at the heart of the experience and witness the knowledge and learnings that can be found when we ‘listen to the land.’
“As coaches, we need to do our own inner work before we invite our clients to do theirs.”
