Outdoor Coaching Journal article publication in International Coaching Psychology Review, Autumn 2022

Nov 18, 2022 | Coaching, General

A few years ago I decided to start an MSc in Coaching and Behavioural Change at Henley Business School, as I wanted to further my coaching qualifications and wanted the opportunity to do some research. The last element of the MSc was a dissertation and from the very start of the course I knew I wanted to do my research into the benefits of coaching outdoors.

I didn’t realise at the time how little research there was in this area!

My love for the outdoors started when I was a small child and found myself spending all my spare time outside. Climbing trees, making mud pies and potions, watching nature, from the tiniest bugs amongst the leaves and flowers, to the large birds that often landed in our garden from the woodland opposite our house. On holidays I would always be found with my little fishing net rock pooling, searching for an ever illusive shrimp or crab skuttling amongst the little pools of water left by the tide. Nature has always been my solace and place to go when I’m feeling happy, sad, annoyed or in need of some time to reflect.

It became clear to me that I needed to find a way to meld my love for nature with my business, and I found outdoor coaching. Most people who have experienced outdoor coaching would probably tell you they didn’t know it was “a thing” until they tried it for the first time. I accidentally discovered it myself when I realised I often “walked and talked” with colleagues when they needed some coaching, mentoring or just someone to talk to.

So, doing research on the benefits of outdoor coaching was a no brainer for me.

I was fortunate enough to have Professor Jonathan Passmore as my dissertation supervisor at Henley Business School and he encouraged me to submit, with Jonathan as co-author, a somewhat shorter version of my dissertation research for submission to the BPS International Coaching Psychology Review. I was very excited when they accepted our submission and it has been published in the Autumn Edition 2022.

“Outdoor coaching: The role of Attention Restoration Theory as a framework for explaining the experience and benefits of eco-psychology coaching” (see link below).

Recently, David Clutterbuck shared a LinkedIn post about his shared belief that Attention Restoration Theory can help to explain the benefits of outdoor coaching, you can read it here

What is Attention Restoration Theory?

Attention Restoration Theory (ART) (Kaplan & Talbot, 1983; Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989; Kaplan, 1995; Kaplan & Berman, 2010) proposes that natural environments provide the brain with the opportunity to restore Directed Attention and increase cognitive capacity and capability.

It does so in 4 ways – through fascination, compatibility, extent and being away.

Directed Attention is very important when needing to think strategically, creatively and effectively. It is a very important brain function for coachees to be able to use to work through their challenges and develop solutions. It is, however, easily depleted. Introducing aspects of coaching that can help to restore this functionality during the coaching session itself can be highly beneficial – giving the coachee the opportunity to restore their cognitive capacity, and then use this boosted resource during the conversation.

Coaching outdoors, surrounded by nature and natural environments, is a great way to achieve this.

The research and what it found

I interviewed a number of coachees who had experienced outdoor coaching, asking them questions about what they experienced during their sessions, how it made them feel and what impact being outdoors had on their coaching outcomes.

Using thematic analysis (Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis) I discovered 6 key themes that describe the benefits of taking coaching conversations outdoors. They are summarised below, with more detail in the full journal article.

1) Side-by-side – walking or sitting alongside the coach is a unique aspect of outdoor coaching that differs to indoor coaching, where most conversations happen sat opposite each other. Being alongside one another gives the coachee the sense of being less scrutinised, less judged, more relaxed and builds a connection with the coach. Literally and metaphorically going on the journey together.

2) Movement and pace – being outdoors allows the coachee to play with movement and pace, to let it reflect their mood and express their emotions. Meandering, stomping, walking quickly, standing or sitting still, walking back over the same spot – all these ways of moving or being still give the coachee a mechanism to give their brain time to think.

3) Outdoor vs indoor – coachees drawn to outdoor coaching appear to feel constrained, trapped and confined when indoors. Being outdoors helps them to feel free, open, calm, relaxed or energised. They also experience awe, metaphor and analogy when outdoors in a way they are not able to indoors.

4) Different experiences and ways of thinking – being outdoors brings different experiences, different perspective and different ways of thinking. It is always changing, and with that change brings new analogies and new metaphors to experience and explore.

5) Openness, space and expanse – walking alongside a coach enables the coachee to experience the openness and expanse of the natural space in front of them. This leads to freedom of thought, a limitlessness, timelessness and removal of mental and physical boundaries.

6) Senses, feelings and emotions – outdoor coaching engages all the senses (even taste), which are uniquely experienced due to the outdoor setting. Using all the senses in often new and different ways helps coachees with sense-making and can lead to them feeling more grounded and anchored.

Other areas that came out of the research include: Nature connectedness, the role of the coach; logistics and location; the weather and the aspect of confidentiality. These are also briefly discussed in the summary I created of the findings (available here).

The full journal article also links each of the 6 key themes to facets of Attention Restoration Theory, helping to explain why these themes may benefit outdoor coachees so much.

What does this mean for coaching?

It is somewhat surprising that the experiences of outdoor coaching have not been more widely researched and empirically analysed before now. The anecdotal evidence from both coach practitioners and coachees strongly suggests that people experience huge benefits from taking coaching conversations outside.

The research will hopefully enable outdoor coach practitioners to a) better understand why coachees enjoy outdoor coaching and b) better understand the benefits and outcomes of great outdoor coaching sessions.Trying outdoor coaching

I cannot encourage you enough to try outdoor coaching. Whether it is a walk around a park near your office, alongside a canal, around a loch, or a hike up a hill or mountain. Or simply sitting on a bench in a park, or near a lake, or on a blanket on a woodland or forest floor. There are many ways to experience outdoor coaching.

I also recommend reading the chapter on Eco-Coaching (Burn and Watson) in “The Coaches’ Handbook” (2020).

In addition, Anna-Marie Watson and I co-host The Coaching Outdoors Podcast, with guests who discuss all aspects of outdoor coaching and share their experiences. These interviews provide a great insight into the many and varied types of outdoor coaching and the benefits that can be experienced.

If you are looking for an outdoor coach please do get in touch.

I’d like to thank Jonathan Passmore for encouraging me to submit my research for publication and being willing to put his name to it as well!

The Journal Article

You can purchase and download the journal article from the BPS website here, unless you are a BPS member in which case it is free to access:
Outdoor coaching: The role of Attention Restoration Theory as a framework for explaining the experience and benefits of eco-psychology coaching

Jonathan and I believe in openly sharing science so we have provided a full version of the research for you to download here

A few resources

1) Burn, A. & Watson, A. M. (2021). Eco-Coaching. In J. Passmore (eds), The Coaches’ Handbook: The Complete practitioners guide for professional coaches (pp.291-300). Abingdon: Routledge.

2) Kaplan, R & Kaplan, S (1989) “The experience of nature: a psychological perspective”. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

3) Kaplan, S & Berman, M.g (2010). Directed Attention as a Common Resource for Executive Functioning and Self-Regulation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(1), 43-57

4) Kaplan, S & Talbot, J.F (1983) Psychological benefits of a wilderness experience. In Altman, I & Wohlwill, J.F Eds Human Behaviour and Environment. New York:Plenum Press, Vol 6, Behaviour and the Natrual Environment, 163-203

5) Kaplan, S (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: towards an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15, 169-182

The benefits of taking coaching conversations outdoors – what the research says

Sep 7, 2020 | Coaching

Coaching has been a predominantly indoor activity since it emerged as a method for personal development and growth in the 1970s. More recently, outdoor coaching (sometimes referred to as eco-coaching) has appeared as a branch of coaching that takes these coaching conversations outdoors.

Coaches who offer this as part of their practice, and coachees who have experienced it, report wide ranging benefits such as better coaching outcomes and improvements to both mental and physical wellbeing.

Whilst the benefits of contact with nature and natural environments are widely researched across many fields (such as mental health, workplace psychology, education), there is currently very little research into the benefits specifically of coaching in natural environments.

I conducted research, for a Master’s dissertation, with the aim of discovering more about the experiences of outdoor coaching, described by coachees. To discover more about what impact having a coaching session outdoors has on the coachee’s experience of the coaching conversation, and the resulting coaching outcomes.

There are numerous research studies that have looked at how much time people now spend indoors – The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS)¹ found that 86.9% of our total time was spent indoors. A more recent YouGov² report found that people think they spend about 66% of their time indoors, when in actual fact it is about 90%. They believe it can have far ranging effects on mental and physical wellbeing, from vitamin D deficiency, to lower productivity, lack of sleep to increased risk of asthma and obesity and a reduction in physical activity and mobility.

So, it is important for us not only to increase the amount of time we spend outdoors, but also to maximise it. Thinking about and approaching coaching differently and encouraging coaching conversations to happen outdoors can be hugely beneficial – not just for the coaching outcomes, but also for taking another step (pardon the pun) towards improving our predominantly sedentary and indoor lifestyles.

What did the research find?

This research found 7 key themes that describe the benefits of taking coaching conversations outdoors (although many other themes came out of the discussions with the coachees, these 7 were the ones that were mentioned the most). They are summarised below, with more detail in the full report.

Side-by-side – walking or sitting alongside the coach is a unique aspect of outdoor coaching that differs to indoor coaching, where most conversations happen sat opposite each other. It gives the coachee the sense of being less scrutinised, less judged, more relaxed and builds a connection with the coach. Literally and metaphorically going on the journey together.
Movement and pace – being outdoors allows the coachee to play with movement and pace, to let it reflect their mood and express their emotions. Meandering, stomping, walking quickly, standing or sitting still, walking back over the same spot – all these ways of moving or being still give the coachee a mechanism to give their brain time to think.
Outdoor vs indoor – coachees drawn to outdoor coaching appear to feel constrained, trapped and confined when indoors. Being outdoors helps them to feel free, open, calm, relaxed or energised. They also experience awe, metaphor and analogy when outdoors in a way they are not able to indoors.
Different experiences and ways of thinking – being outdoors brings different experiences, different perspective and different ways of thinking. It is always changing, and with that change brings new analogies and new metaphors to experience and explore.
Openness, space and expanse – walking alongside a coach enables the coachee to experience the openness and expanse of the natural space in front of them. This leads to freedom of thought, a limitlessness, timelessness and removal of mental and physical boundaries.
Nature connectedness – the weather, animals and nature all impact outdoor coaching sessions, bringing benefits to mental and physical wellbeing. Some coachees feel a close connection to certain animals, some to certain trees or plants. Some experience the restorative qualities of green spaces, others of blue spaces. Engaging physically with nature during an outdoor coaching session, such as touching a tree bark or leaf, or using a stick to draw in the dirt, enables coachees to creatively engage with nature and use metaphor and analogy.
Senses, feelings and emotions – outdoor coaching engages all the senses (even taste), which are uniquely experienced due to the outdoor setting. Using all the senses in often new and different ways helps coachees with sense-making and can lead to them feeling more grounded and anchored.

Other areas that came out of the research include: the role of the coach; logistics and location; the weather and the aspect of confidentiality. These are also briefly discussed in the report.

What does this mean for coaching?

It is somewhat surprising that the experiences of outdoor coaching have not been more widely researched and empirically analysed before now. The anecdotal evidence from both coach practitioners and coachees strongly suggests that people experience huge benefits from taking coaching conversations outside.

Both indoor and outdoor based coaches can benefit from aspects of this research. It sought to highlight the benefits of outdoor coaching, but some of these benefits, or variations on them, may be possible to replicate indoors so the research could advance the field of indoor coaching as well as outdoor coaching. The findings of this research will hopefully enable outdoor coach practitioners to a) better understand why coachees enjoy outdoor coaching and b) better understand the benefits and outcomes of great outdoor coaching sessions.

Trying outdoor coaching

I cannot encourage you enough to try outdoor coaching. Whether it is a walk around a park near your office, alongside a canal, around a loch, or a hike up a hill or mountain. Or simply sitting on a bench in a park, or near a lake, or on a blanket on a woodland or forest floor. There are many ways to experience outdoor coaching.

There are some logistical and planning considerations to be made, both by the coach and coachee, and the report provides some suggestions on what these are. For more information I also recommend reading the chapter on Eco-Coaching (Burn and Watson) in “The Coaches’ Handbook”³ due to be published in October 2020.

In addition, Anna-Marie Watson and I will be releasing a podcast series in Autumn 2020, with guest coaches who will discuss all aspects of outdoor coaching and share their experiences. These interviews will provide a great insight into the many and varied types of outdoor coaching and the benefits that can be experienced.

If you are looking for an outdoor coach please do get in touch and I can help you to find one in your area.

I always try to practice what I preach, so I am writing this sat outside before going off for a walk up the hill behind our cottage with the dogs. I now encourage you to take yourself outside……if you are not already!

The Report

For more detail on each of these themes, and how they link with research in other fields please download the full report.

https://alexburnconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/The-benefits-of-outdoor-coaching-what-the-research-says.pdf

Useful references

Klepeis, N.E, Nelson, W.C, Ott, W.R, Robinson, J.P, Tsang, A.M, Switzer, P, Behar, J.V, Hern, S.C & Engelmann, W.H (2001) The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS): a resource for assessing exposure to environmental pollutants. Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology, 11, 231-252
YouGov (2018) The Effects of Modern Indoor Living on Health, Wellbeing and Productivity, YouGov, viewed 31 January 2020, <Http://www.velux.nn/indoorgeneration.com>
Passmore, J (2020). “The Coaches Handbook: The Complete Practitioner Guide for Professional Coaches”. London: Routledge.

Leadership lessons from puppy school

Feb 17, 2020 | Coaching

Articles

Leadership lessons from puppy school

I’ve been thinking about Trust a lot lately, and in particular the current level of mistrust there is in the world and how it might be impacting leaders and organisations.

A few years ago we got a puppy: a very head strong, independent, intelligent breed (an Airedale) who keeps us on our toes on a daily basis.

When anyone gets a puppy the first thing you do is start to communicate with them, what is allowed and isn’t allowed, setting them boundaries but giving them the freedom to develop into the amazing animal they are. I’ve had dogs in my life since the day I was born, but they’ve always been family dogs, primarily managed by my parents. This one is the first that my husband and I are wholly responsible for.

I started to reflect on our journey with our crazy little pup and realised how much insight I was getting into the world of trust. And how much of it was transferable to the world of leadership.

Primarily, the relationship with a puppy is built on a very, very important foundation of trust. If you’ve ever had the sad misfortune to meet a dog that has been given a bad start in life you will see the major reaction they have to anyone and everything is one of mistrust. They often just don’t understand what is being asked of them, and many are even scared and defensive. It takes a long time, and a lot of hard work, to encourage the dog to trust again. In many cases they never truly do.

So, when starting to communicate with a new puppy the key element is to gain their trust, because with trust comes everything else – they are more likely to behave appropriately, they are more likely to be sociable towards others (humans and animals alike), they are more likely to be independent and have a rich experience of their environment and they are more likely to repay with their own trust with loyalty.

And consistency is the key, as anyone who has ever worked with a new puppy will know. They will naturally push boundaries and check to make sure you are absolutely certain that you don’t want them to chew your shoes. But with consistency of message “do not chew my shoes” and reinforcing the good behaviour (i.e. dropping the shoe and chewing on a toy instead), rather than punishing the bad behaviour, the puppy will learn quickly that the message isn’t going to change. The appropriate and inappropriate behaviours are always going to be the same and the reaction of their owner will always be the same too. Consistency really is key. Of course, some puppies push boundaries a lot more and for a lot longer than others, but the more consistent the message the more likely they are to change and adopt the appropriate behaviours.

The same is the case for equality and fairness. We have 2 dogs, the other is now 9 years old and we adopted him from a friend. He’s known us all his life and I believe he trusted us, which helped tremendously with the successful move to live with us. We then introduced a puppy (the older dog was 6 at the time), after long conversations about the plan to do this in a way that wouldn’t upset the older dog. The key here, again, was to create a world of trust for our older dog. When we introduced the new member of our team, he needed to know that he could trust that she would fit and be able to work with him. Whatever boundaries we gave one, we also gave the other. When one was praised for an appropriate behaviour the other was also praised, equally, when they demonstrated the same behaviour. Similarly, inappropriate behaviours, were consistently, fairly and constructively dealt with in both dogs. The puppy was not allowed to demand attention that the older dog didn’t get or side-line him. They both got attention from both of us throughout the day – which is hard when the puppy demanded attention non-stop when she was awake, and the older dog initially found it easier to remove himself and watch the fun rather than get involved. But we made a conscious and consistent effort to include the older dog, facilitating play between the two of them not just between them and us.

The more I observed what we were doing and the more I observed the reaction from the puppy (and older dog), the more I realised the parallels with trust in leadership and teams. The message remained consistent, the appropriate and inappropriate behaviours were dealt with in the same way for everyone, inclusion was critical to ensure that relationships were built, and trust was earned, learning happened easily, quickly and freely, independence and autonomy was encouraged and observed daily, kindness and generosity towards others was frequent and natural, and the team is strong and better for it.

Thinking about situations where this kind of communication with a puppy doesn’t happen also has parallels with the world of leadership. Inconsistency of communication with a puppy can lead to them simply not understanding what is appropriate and what is inappropriate – yesterday you shouted at me for doing this but today you didn’t, does that mean I’m allowed to do it or not? Yesterday you praised me for this, but today you ignore it, what does this mean? The lack of trust caused by inconsistency, inequality and unfairness can lead to feelings of suspicion and even feeling psychological pain or being scared. I’ve sadly met people who have told me they are scared of their manager because they just don’t know how they’ll react to any given situation. There is zero consistency in praise, punishment or message. How can that engender trust? How can someone understand what is expected of them if it changes so often, or is different depending on whether they like you or not?
Seeing how our little team operates based on the principles of consistency, fairness, equality and inclusion gives me conviction that these are critical to trust and that trust is critical to the productivity and success of any team.

In summary, Leaders can learn a lot from puppy school when it comes to building trust:

be consistent with how you communicate what behaviours are appropriate and inappropriate and how you praise the former and discourage the latter
be fair and equal with your treatment of all team members
be inclusive
enable others to be independent, confident and support each other
encourage learning and trying new things
fear only leads to distrust, lack of understanding, suspicion and loneliness
trust leads to confidence, learning, independence and inclusion

What you could do:
Ask yourself how consistent you are in the way you communicate with, interact with and react to your team.
Do you consider yourself a trustworthy leader? If so why? If not, why not?

What can you do to increase the levels of trust in your team?

Where can you observe trustful relationships in your life and what can you learn from these?

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What Neuroscience tells us about increasing our team’s engagement

Jan 29, 2020 | HR project management

Articles

What Neuroscience tells us about increasing our team’s engagement

I have been fascinated about Neuroscience and its application in the world of business for some time now, and it is surprising to me how underutilised this field is by organisations. In the area of Engagement especially.

Neuroscience itself is a very complex scientific specialism, that takes many years of study to understand. However, some of the basic knowledge of how the brain and nervous system works can help Managers, Leaders and HR understand how people respond to their environment and those around them, and therefore how they become engaged… or not. This knowledge can be applied in an organisational context and can help to improve engagement in individuals, teams and ultimately, the entire Business – increasing motivation, productivity and impacting the bottom line.

The 5 W’s?

It seems that engagement all too often boils down to a yearly “engagement survey” and then an action plan is produced concentrating on addressing areas which show the lowest level of engagement or where employees aren’t as engaged as they were in previous years.

But asking how engaged employees are strikes me as the wrong question (or at least only the first of many questions. We should also be asking the 5 W’s – why are employees engaged and who or what is engaging them? Where and when are they engaged the most? Why were they engaged before and they aren’t as engaged now? What employee groups are engaged to a greater or lesser degree than others? There are many, many other questions.

The definition of Neuroscience has expanded as the understanding of the complexity of the brain has expanded – but in essence it is the study of the nervous system and the brain. The two communicate constantly and the messages are carried by neurotransmitters and hormones. Understanding what triggers the different neurotransmitters and hormones, and the impact they have on the brain, is a relatively simple way for Managers to adapt their behaviour so that they have a positive impact on their employees – knowingly triggering the neurotransmitters and hormones that increase positive feelings and, therefore, engagement.

The 5 Factors to increase Engagement

In terms of engagement, there appear to be 5 factors that come up again and again in discussions which Managers should focus on to increase the engagement of their employees. An understanding of Neuroscience would help the Manager to appreciate why these factors are important and what is actually happening inside their own brain and the brain of each of their employees to make these factors so important. Put simply:

Fairness and Trust – the neurotransmitter Dopamine controls the reward system in our brain and it is also essential for physical motivation. If people feel they are being
- Interacting – people who feel their manager knows and understands them – their likes and dislikes, motivations and turn offs – will also feel rewarded because they feel that their manager is interacting with them on a more personal level. This also causes Dopamine to be released. Feeling misunderstood or ignored, however, is more likely to lead to confusion and a stress reaction – which is when the hormone Noradrenaline comes into play. Certain levels of this hormone can be useful and help with vigilance and learning. However, higher levels result in feelings of stress. So, Managers who actively interact with, get to know, learn about and listen to their employees will have a higher chance of triggering Dopamine production and activating the reward system in the employee’s brain. And a reduced risk of causing stress reactions.
- Autonomy – enabling people to work the way that suits them best and giving them the opportunity to make decisions will result in them being able to deliver their best. This is because people like to feel in control of themselves and what happens to them – different people have different working styles, different times of the day or different situations when they’re at their best. Giving them the ability to feel in control of their environment results in feelings of calm and optimism – triggered by hormones such as Endorphins and the feel-good neurotransmitter Serotonin. Employees who are calm and in control are more likely to be engaged and deliver.
- Feelings and social connectivity – as many people will tell you, human beings are social creatures first and foremost. People like to feel part of the group, not ostracised or left out as this can result in what has been described as ‘social pain’ which triggers the same response in the brain as physical pain. When people say their feelings are hurt, they are actually describing a similar neural response as they would experience if they were physically hurt… people remember both physical and psychological pain and are not quick to forget. A Manager who regularly considers how people would feel about what they say or do and the decisions they make, can avoid these painful neural responses. They can avoid the risk of causing psychological pain and instead activate the feel-good neurotransmitter Serotonin – which regulates anxiety, reduces depression and moderates mood.
- Threat – people feel uncertain when they are not sure about their position within a team or an organisation, feel that things are happening ‘behind their back’ or being ‘done to them’ without their knowledge or consent. Lack of communication can make people feel uncertain. This triggers a threat response in the brain – the classic ‘fight or flight’. When people are in fear or feel threatened the main neurotransmitters released are Dopamine, Norepinephrine, and Epinephrine (adrenaline), glutamate, and serotonin which activate the part of the brain called the Amygdala. The amygdala controls emotional response. The brain basically gets ready to fight or run away. In addition, the part of the brain that stores memories (the hippocampus) is activated – so that the experience is stored in the long-term, experiential memory. This is how humans and other organisms with brains learn how to survive and what is friend or foe. Managers who are non-threatening and communicate transparently and regularly with employees can remove the chance of this threat reaction, the negative emotional outcome and the resulting long-term memory storage of the stressful event.

Balancing the above 5 factors is no easy task, the human brain processes so many different things on a daily basis, triggering different neural responses.

So, employee engagement will be ever-changing. This demonstrates why the measurement of engagement should be a continuous activity, rather than just a yearly activity.

3 things Managers can do:

Do some reading about Neuroscience and the basics of how the brain works. I have put a couple of ideas of easy reading below to get you started
Think about the above 5 factors and how you can do things differently with a knowledge of how the brain of each of your employees is reacting to you and the environment around them. Write down one thing you can do to enhance and minimise your impact in this area.
Think about how your engagement strategy, and the measurement of employee engagement in your organisation, can be adapted based on an understanding of why people are engaged… or not. What can you do as a manager to improve engagement in your team now?

A couple of useful starting points:

The SCARF model (D.Rock) – Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness – is often used to describe the 5 factors above.
https://neuroleadership.com/solutions/licensing/

http://www.gethppy.com/employee-engagement/employee-engagement-using-neuroscience

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Whales and wellbeing

Jan 10, 2020 | General

Articles

Whales and wellbeing

During the summer of 2019 something happened that had a profound effect on me and I still reflect on it regularly. I’d had a horrific migraine during the night before so I was feeling very groggy and had a ‘migraine hangover’. Any of you who suffer from migraines know that this is similar to an alcohol induced hangover without any of the fun of the night before! My day was basically clouded by a mental fog that wasn’t helping at all with my ability to work or be very productive at all. Until something amazing happened and my whole physical and mental outlook changed, almost in an instant.

I looked out of our front window to the sight of a whale not just swimming but jumping in the Loch in front of our cottage. I’m a huge animal lover and get great neural rewards when I see animals in their natural habitat. I have never seen a whale in the wild and it’s something I’d been hoping and desperate to see since we moved to Scotland in January. And, out of the blue, it happened.

I felt 4 main emotions in very quick succession. First of all, surprise, I mean utter surprise. I wasn’t purposely whale watching and it was total chance that I looked out when I did. I wasn’t even sure at first that I’d seen what I thought I’d seen. I grabbed my binoculars and rushed outside whilst yelling frantically for my husband to “come and see this, I think it’s a dolphin or maybe a whale”. Bearing in mind I’d thought I’d seen them a couple of times because we get a lot of porpoise. But as it turns out, they look very different and when you see one it’s not really something you can mistake!

The second emotion was the excitement of standing and waiting in anticipation for it to re-appear in the hopes that it wasn’t just a mistake on my part, or a one-off breach. Scanning the water with the binoculars, pointing out to my husband where I’d seen it and trying to work out where it might appear next – the excitement built and my heart was actually thumping at this point.

Then it appeared once more and in spectacular fashion – it jumped clean out of the water, right in front of us! A rush of sheer joy and then awe hit me as I realised that it wasn’t just a whale swimming, but doing what whales do best – jumping, tail slapping the water and blowing air out of its blowhole. I think my voice went up two octaves as I literally squealed with delight and my hubby uttered a few expletives as he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing either (also being an animal lover himself).

My hubby and I stood on our deck at the front of our cottage for ages watching it swim, jump and tail slap the water. And then I suddenly noticed that my migraine hangover had actually disappeared, not just lessened, but had entirely gone and almost instantly too. My feeling of grogginess had lifted, the mental fog was no more and I was thinking and experiencing things very acutely. The excitement had turned me into a big kid, plus, I got to share the experience with my hubby who is equally obsessed with all thing’s nature, and to see him so happy and excited only added to my own experience.

The whale carried on swimming and jumping in the stretch of water in front of our cottage for a good half an hour and it was amazing to watch.

So, what was this experience doing from a neuroscientific perspective? The adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin rush changed me physically and mentally almost in an instant – I was physically shaking in fact.

The release of dopamine was stimulating the pleasure/reward area of my brain and I felt this acutely as I just wanted to keep seeing the whale, hoping it would breach or jump one more time, over and over again. I stayed outside for quite some time after the last sighting, as I really didn’t want to miss it happening again.

My accelerated heart rate and physical shaking were most likely a sign of increased adrenaline (epinephrine), as I felt the thrill and excitement of seeing this animal for the first time, one that I’d been waiting to see for nearly 40 years.

The migraine had most likely caused my serotonin levels to be low, bringing my mood right down, reducing my appetite significantly and lessening my ability to remember things (my memory is always affected by a migraine). But the sight of the whale appears to have boosted my serotonin levels significantly – my mood lifted and I even felt hungry for the first time all day. Serotonin and dopamine have been found to act together to control appetite, and I certainly experienced an increase in appetite after the event.

I also found I was able to work for the rest of the afternoon and was actually quite productive. My brain had “un-fogged” (not very scientific, but the best way I can describe it), my memory had returned and I was motivated in a way I certainly hadn’t been earlier in the day. All thanks to the release of these hormones and neurotransmitters as a direct result of this experience.

This is also further evidence for me of the power of nature and the environment to impact mood, the brain, the body and mental health. I still get a buzz from it when I remember back to that day.

There’s something so natural and instinctive about the emotions you feel in these kinds of moments. Granted, seeing a whale might not create the same level of surprise, excitement, joy and awe in everyone as it does in me (and my hubby). But everyone has something that generates this kind of reaction, and causes the release of these hormones and neurotransmitters in the body and brain. Everyone can benefit from these if they find and tap into the right experiences.
The next day I thought about it a lot, and found that it gave rise to the same feelings again, although not quite as intense, and the same neural responses. When I originally wrote about the experience, and again now, 4 months later, reflecting on it reignited those feelings once more. I’ve found myself smiling (actually grinning inanely) whilst I type, my heart is beating faster and my mood is elevated. Both at the time and now I’m feeling physically warmer and hungry. Re-experiencing it is having the same impact on my body and brain.

It really got me reflecting and thinking – how can I tap into these emotions and the neural benefits they had for me by using this as an episodic memory? Consciously reminding my self of the experience, re-living it and re-releasing these hormones and neurotransmitters when I need a boost.

How can I, as a Coach, help my coachees to identify these experiences and episodic memories of their own, and reap the benefits of the positive mental and physical impacts they have?

How can we (leaders, coaches, HR professionals) improve the mental health and wellbeing of our employees by helping them to relive and recall highly beneficially experiences, rather than focusing on negative ones. Both have a use in learning, however the power of positive psychology and focusing on positive events to stimulate positive emotions and neural responses cannot be over stated. And a resulting impact on employee motivation and increased productivity seems inevitable.

I know I will be ‘dining out’ on this experience for many years to come, especially when I need a hit of positivity and to elevate my mood.

Things to think about:

What positive experience(s) do you have that would give you a similar mood boost long after the event itself?

How can you help your employees continue to benefit from their positive experiences?

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