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

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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