One of the best custom developed, creative, interactive, thoughtful self- and team-building 2 days I have ever participated in. Great facilitators, honest, open, direct, and they were able to tap into the energy of the group, as well as move us through our sticky issues.
Russ Watts
Director of Outdoor Education, Georgetown University
I just wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed your workshops, and how much value I have gotten from them.
I am on the board of directors at Outside In, a local non-profit that provides services to homeless youth and low-income adults. As a former client, and someone who experienced homelessness as a youth, I often share this experience with people when talking to them about the work of OI. It has been a challenging growth process for me, to pull from this time that was filled with trauma and scarcity, in order to create a deeper connection and understanding of the work that OI does for people in the community. I do it because I believe passionately that the work is important.
Last night I gave a short acknowledgment and thank you to a party of almost 100 of our major donors. In this past this task has often send me into a heart-pounding state of anxiety before my talk, and often I have felt vulnerable and exhausted afterward. Last night before my talk I drew on the practices I learned from you, and I felt strong, and authentic, and I gave one of the most powerful talks of my life. Afterward I felt empowered, and felt I had shared what felt appropriate and inline with my boundaries and needs. The audience felt it too. The room was almost all in tears, and not because they were overwhelmed with the tragedy surrounding homelessness, or because they were being manipulated, but because they really were able to meet me in that most authentic, values driven place where I was, and really hear me say in a deep way- thank you. And we so rarely share those moments of deep authenticity in life, especially in a public or group setting.
So, I would also like to extend my authentic and values driven thanks to you.
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this powerful gift.
Nina Narelle
Board Member, Outside In
I’ve been in the business of assessing leaders for 20 years. And one of the first questions that I always ask is who do you look to for your own development; who do you depend on to help shape you as a future leader?
In my view, to really live in a place where your passion and your profession feel congruent, and that you really feel fulfilled and satisfied… a coach with your experience is just fundamentally required. Given all that you’ve committed to in your own life, it makes perfect sense for someone to choose you.
I don’t know about you, but if I’m in a conversation where I grant someone authority to give me assessments and to move me forward, I want to know that that person is somewhere further down the path than I am. So I think your willingness to have courageous conversations and to hold the space in a gentle but committed way builds trust. So much trust is built when somebody embodies what they teach, and that is definitely true about you.
You are able to hold the perspective from the corporate point of view, the team point of view, the one on one coaching point of view, and also that you’re on this path yourself. It’s a really lovely blend. And then the neuroscience and psychobiology of somatics is a place where you hold extraordinary knowledge. The combination of the intellectual piece and the way you embody this information is a place where I hold you in really high regard.
If someone is currently leading a team or about to, and they’re on that upward swing of their career trajectory, that’s a place where you hold enormous value. I would absolutely recommend they work with you.
Adam Forest
Managing Partner, The Forest Group and Board Chair, 1% for the Planet
This training has cemented some tools for me to use for centering myself in work situations, and for applying assessments in difficult scenarios. I appreciate the opportunity you provided for teambuilding. The hands-on approach is valuable. Also, the feedback you provided for our group was spot-on, useful, and applicable. Thank you!
Todd Kearns
Service Operations Manager, Skala
Business is about relationships and being connected to people. Ultimately what gets you hired to do more work is whether you’re doing good work with people. In pursuit of our mission for how to make the world a better place, a lot of leaders of environmental businesses – including myself – actually ignore ourselves and other people in some ways. To me, the somatic work you do is fundamental, because it’s all about how you connect with people and be more present with them.
There’s another younger person in my office who I declared a team leader for our firm. She’s particularly committed to people having fun working in teams, so she’s really been taking initiative in that area. As a result of the somatic work, I’m learning to be a better participant in that and a better support to her and to other people in the firm. Somatic work has also helped me become a better speaker and presenter, among other benefits.
When I did the work with you it was not totally unfamiliar territory, but it was new and much deeper than what I had done before. It was really something! The beauty of nature, the sounds of birds… not that they haven’t been present in the past, but it all became more vivid, more engaging, and more beautiful. For me it created a deeper sense of caring for others that wasn’t there before. A lot of that came from the mood that you brought to the work. Thank you!
Bill Maclay
Founder and Principal, Maclay Architects
I've worked with lots of coaches, therapists, and teachers. You have an incredible gift for posing valuable, articulate, insightful, worthy questions, and then holding a safe and non-judgmental container that allows me to show up either ready to address it, or not. The questions you asked and your sensitivity to my natural timing in coming to an answer have been enormously valuable for me.
D.K.
Executive Director of a national healthcare organization
This work gels very nicely with work I’ve done in other areas. I thought there would probably be a good connection with my yoga practice and the bodywork that I do, but there was a lot more to it than I expected. There were definitely ideas and techniques that were completely new to me.
One of my concerns with any program is how accessible it is for people – are they going to just switch off and think “oh, this is yet another process.” But in the work we did at Nike, I could see people really opening up to it. Your facilitation makes it really accessible. You’re a very good teacher. You explain things very clearly, you made it easy to understand, and I just think it makes a lot of deep sense.
When you go through a workshop like that, you come out with a deeper appreciation for people’s challenges. That changes how you work together, because you have a different relationship with them. You connect more on a heart level. We so often operate in our heads. We’re in our heads all day long every day, and there is this disconnect that happens. One of the things I’ve found with Embodied Leadership is that it’s giving you the tools and the permission to get back in connection with that heart-based feeling. Most leadership courses are all very theoretical. Yours is not. It really makes it possible to practice good leadership skills in real time.
You bring a deep, deep level of calm to your work, which in turn brings a level of calm to the people you’re around. You bring great professionalism, great sensitivity to where a team might be, and you’re super flexible about developing a customized training depending on where you are as a group or an individual. For anyone who’s considering working with you, I would say absolutely do it! But be prepared to be challenged. You really do have to examine your own responses.
Sarah Severn
Director of Stakeholder Mobilization, Nike Sustainable Business and Innovation Team
It was important for me to work with someone who has similar background and passions to me so that they can better understand me. Your background with outdoor education and learning and your commitment to people and to the world was a huge draw. You also have a level of rigor and discipline that is admirable to me, like a role model for me. As my coach you created a quiet and grounded space that really allowed me to get to the deeper questions, and you always offered clear observations and thoughtful assessments and insights.
Sometimes when I have a lot of tasks going on in my life or things come on really quick, I get this internal feeling of agitation like I just want to jump out of my skin. Working with you I’ve been able to integrate a pause, so that now I can consider my next move with less agitation. It’s just a teeny little pause but even that feels big for me. I’ve become better about managing my mood when a project can’t be completed right away. There’s a different quality inside of me.
Some people may wonder about the robustness or the power of somatics. Because I am such an action and body oriented person it is important for me to feel connected and use myself to the fullest. Somatics has given me access to so much more of the full Nettie accessing all areas of my leadership capacity. I would absolutely recommend working with you!Nettie Pardue
Director of Programs, Outward Bound Center for Peacebuilding
I heard only positive comments from participants over the 3 days. My sense was that people saw true value in the Natural Step framework and the Embodied Leadership techniques, and that sentiment became stronger as the training progressed. The somatic intelligence work enhanced the experience tremendously. The openness of the group improved after our first experience with Embodied Leadership, allowing more candid conversation, better absorption of the learning, and more focus on the work at hand. I would highly recommend continuing this partnership to create the kind of empowered leaders necessary for the change ahead.
Tracy Meisterheim
Early Adopter Project Coordinator, Sustainable Twin Ports
Please accept my heartfelt thank you for the energy, commitment, and caring that you have invested into your work. It has affected me in some profound and unexpected ways. I am doing my best to contain my excitement and settle in calmly for a long-term commitment to this work.
Jan Holan
Founder and CEO, Ropeworks
