In this interview for the Coaching Outdoors podcast, I share my journey into deep nature connection, art, and creativity, and explain how I weave these beautiful experiences into my coaching practices, creating a unique and powerful approach.

Anna Marie: Hello and a warm welcome to another episode of the Coaching Outdoors podcast. I'm Anna Marie, your host for today, and I’ll be flying solo. Unfortunately, Alex was due to dial in from the west coast of Scotland, but we’ve been ravaged by a storm, and her internet is down. Paul is tied up in a team coaching conversation with a client, so we thought we’d go with the flow. I’m delighted to welcome Paola Fabbri from Italy today. We’re going to be diving into her nature-connected coaching work, which also has an artistic flair.

Paola, welcome. Just a quick introduction—how would you describe yourself if you were meeting someone for the first time?

Paola: Thank you very much for having me on this podcast. It’s a wonderful space to be in.

A brief introduction about myself: I'm a professional coach, specialized in ecosomatic coaching and nature coaching. I’m also a trainer, facilitator, and artist. I have an international background—I’ve studied, lived, and worked across four continents. I worked for 25 years in the humanitarian development sector. Now, I coach, train, and deliver experiential trainings and facilitate immersions in nature.

Anna Marie: We’ll have time to dive into your specialty later, but let’s start with our classic question, which we ask all our guests. It’s a two-parter: What is your earliest memory of being outdoors? And why do you love nature so much?

Paola: I have two memories. My father was born and grew up in the mountains between Bologna and Florence, and we spent a lot of time there in the summers when I was a child.

The first memory is of me playing under a huge chestnut tree with a cat in the garden of my grandmother and uncle’s house. When the adults were talking inside, I would sneak out and go to that spot. It felt like a safe haven where I could just be undisturbed and play. The energy of that tree was amazing—it’s a huge, majestic tree, and it's still there.

The second memory is also from that place. Whenever we were leaving to go back to the city, my grandmother would take me aside to greet the mountains. We would sit together and she would say goodbye to each mountain individually. That made a big impression on me—this idea of relating to nature and natural elements as if they were relatives you wouldn’t see for a while. It’s a sense of having a relationship with individual elements, like a tree or a mountain, and that has really stayed with me. It’s also become part of the approach I use in my work.

To answer the second part—why I love being in nature—I’d say there are two things. One is the sense of freedom I feel. Being in contact with the wild outside reawakens something very alive inside of me. The other is a sense of connectedness. When I’m in nature, I feel like I lose my small human self and connect with something much bigger. Those two feelings are incredibly important to me.

Anna Marie: I’ve had the pleasure of asking this question for nearly four years, and over 75 guests have shared their stories. There’s a clear pattern around relationships with trees—these big, sentient beings that we approach with such wonder as children.

I’d love to point listeners to a conversation we had with a former guest, Jackie Holder, who works with trees in London. She spoke about her deep relationship with them.

Hearing you talk about the mountains—my hand is raised for that. The mountains are my environment too. I love being held by the solid, grounded presence of those peaks. I felt like I was there with your grandmother, greeting each mountain. It really is about being in relationship, as a small human being, like you said.

Paola: Yes, exactly. It’s about relationship—having a relationship with the land and its individual elements. That makes all the difference.

Anna Marie: I’d love to explore your creativity and artistic expression. This is why we really wanted you on the podcast—we haven’t had anyone who combines artistic creativity with coaching in quite the way you do. Where did your artistic journey start, and what does it mean to you?

Paola: For me, art is a space of freedom and expression. It’s a place where I go to listen to myself, to explore, and to be completely free.

It started in 2007 when I was in Uganda. At that time, I hadn’t painted since primary school. One morning I woke up with a huge urge to paint something blue, but I had nothing to paint with. On my next holiday, I passed by a large art supply shop and wandered in, not really knowing what I was looking for. I remembered using watercolors as a child, so I bought a box called Watercolors for Dummies and a large watercolor pad.

At first, all I could paint were blue strips, but I never stopped painting. Over the years, I learned from other artists and practiced a lot. Painting became a personal practice—a way to discover, listen, tune in, and express.

In 2020, I noticed that my body was physically responding to what was happening on the canvas. That intrigued me, so I started paying more attention. Then, when I was studying with the Nature Coaching Academy, everything started to come together. The approach there was very embodied and focused on connecting with the body and nature. I realized I could bring that into my painting practice, which led to the creation of ecosomatic painting.

It’s a way to create a dialogue between the body, nature, and the canvas. It’s based on deep listening—both to the body and to the natural world.

Anna Marie: That’s fascinating. There was such a long gap in your life, and then you rediscovered painting in 2007 after not doing it since primary school.

Whether you’re listening or watching, I encourage you to reflect on your own relationship with art. For me, I remember loving art in secondary school, but my teacher told me I didn’t have enough talent to pass my exams. My father, too, encouraged me to pursue a “proper” subject like German or Latin.

It’s powerful to trace back that connection with creativity. The word that keeps coming up for me in this conversation is freedom—the freedom in nature, and in your artistic practice. You’ve blended the two beautifully.

I’d love to hear more about your coach training. I understand you studied with Diana Tedoldi, who was one of our early guests. I met Diana in 2019 in Prague at the ICF conference. She’s been a real trailblazer and kindly supported our in-person event at Henley Business School. She’s set to come back in 2025.

Tell us more about your experience with the course and how it’s influenced your coaching practice—especially how creativity and embodiment play into it.

Paola: Yes, Diana is a force of nature. The course I took with the Nature Coaching Academy was foundational for me. I was at a point in my life where I really wanted to be more embodied and more connected with nature. I was actively seeking ways to do that, and the course was the perfect fit.

I was also looking for coaching training that aligned with my values and passions, so again, it was a great match. Diana brings together embodiment and nature beautifully. The entire approach is based on collaboration with nature—not just using nature as a setting, but seeing it as a co-facilitator in the coaching conversation.

We also explore the idea that your body itself is part of nature. That changes everything.

When I took the training, I began bringing this experience into the groups I was leading. The results were powerful—nature opens up spaces that are incredibly transformative. That experience really laid the foundation for all my coaching work.

Now, everything I do is based on nature connection and embodiment. It has also deeply influenced the evolution of my painting practice. Truly foundational.

Anna Marie: So pulling on the painting piece and the clients you work with—whether individuals or groups—when they come to you, where are they at with the idea of being creative through painting?

Paola: I’d say they’re in very different places. The experience you described earlier—having an unsupportive art teacher—is incredibly common. Many people carry what I call “art scars.” We're all naturally creative. Creativity and art have always been part of our human experience. As kids, we paint, dance, and sing, but over time we’re educated out of it.

In my coaching, how I introduce art depends on where the client is and what they need. In individual coaching, it’s always available if it supports their journey. Most of the time, the connection with body and nature is the starting point. The art or painting—sometimes other forms of creativity—is included only if it feels right. Sometimes it fits, sometimes it doesn’t, and that’s okay.

In group coaching, it’s different. I usually structure the process around a theme or question. We begin with nature-based, embodied ecosomatic practices, and often end the session with painting. There’s a sense of freedom that arises, and people often say that connecting with nature first helps them let go of self-judgment. They feel more free to express themselves on the canvas.

I also lead group coaching programs focused more directly on painting. One is a four-week process centered on connecting with trees. Over the four weeks, participants create a painting that evolves as they build a relationship with a specific tree. The painting becomes a reflection of that journey.

Anna Marie: Thank you for sharing the different ways you work—individual, group, and over time. What really stands out is that it’s about the process, not the final product. I’m curious: how do people relate to the painting afterward? Do they feel pride, attachment?

Paola: Yes, it’s often very liberating for people to paint this way because it removes the pressure to create something “beautiful.” It’s not about the product; it’s about the process—using painting as a tool to explore and express what’s emerging in the coaching.

Often, the painting becomes something precious, not because it’s a masterpiece, but because it reflects the client’s journey. It can serve as a visual reminder of the insights they’ve had or the decisions they’ve made. People often keep their paintings in their space because they’re meaningful.

Anna Marie: I can really sense that—the grounding presence of nature, the embodied, kinesthetic processing, and the questions you're asking. Especially in a program that spans a few weeks, the shifts between sessions must be powerful. Coming back to the canvas becomes an anchor. In nature-based coaching, sometimes people take a photo or a stone—this painting is a tangible connection to the experience.

Paola: Yes, absolutely.

Anna Marie: Let’s dive deeper. It’s always a privilege to get insight into someone’s practice. Of course, we respect confidentiality, but we’d love to hear a case study or two about clients you’ve worked with.

Paola: Sure, a couple of stories come to mind. One was an individual outdoor coaching session. The client wanted more space and calm in their life and was struggling with a busy to-do list. I asked if any natural element around us caught his attention. After a moment, he said a cow nearby had drawn him in.

We explored what the cow represented—calm, presence, spaciousness, being grounded—and these became the qualities he wanted more of. We developed an embodied movement for him to feel these qualities in his body and later created a visual image of the cow as a reminder. It became a symbol of the presence he wanted to cultivate.

Another story is from the four-week tree connection program. Participants are guided through ecosomatic practices with trees and use those experiences to create evolving paintings. One participant intuitively painted a scar on her canvas. Over the weeks, the scar transformed into a life-giving line in a large tree she was painting. It was a deeply healing transformation for her—turning something painful into something generative.

She also connected with a group of birch trees during the process, which led to an insight about the power of community and asking for help. That message became just as meaningful as the painting itself.

Anna Marie: That’s so powerful. The scar becoming a life-giving line—and the message about community. Please, if you have another story, I’d love to hear it.

Paola: Thank you. In another group session, we were working near cedar trees during a time of year when the cicadas were shedding their skins. One tree was covered in these skins. A participant felt very unsettled and disturbed by this—there was a sense of pain.

In our coaching conversation, she connected it to a painful situation in her life that she needed to step back from. We finished with a painting session, which helped her process and integrate what had come up.

Anna Marie: That last example really stands out—when someone is unexpectedly triggered, and you're in a group. How did you navigate the emotional dynamics and ensure psychological safety for the group, while managing your own state?

Paola: In my experience, the group setting can actually support that kind of processing with these dynamics—because the group really is a container, a safe container—it depends on how you set up the group and how you hold the space, of course. But in general, in my experience, the group is very supportive in this kind of situation. I think people feel they can share their experience because they feel safe in that particular group. Otherwise, it wouldn't come up.

So, it's a combination of you as a container, how you hold the space for people, and how the group embraces these kinds of emotions that can naturally arise during the process.

Anna Marie: As you lead the process in that container, how do you look after and resource yourself?

Paola: I’ve learned to trust—trust myself, trust the process—and not feel overwhelmed. I now feel strong enough to hold this kind of space and the emotions that come with it. I'm not worried or scared about emotions coming up. I think I’m present.

It’s really about being there. It's about presence. That ability to stay grounded—that comes with time, with evolution as a coach. Especially when you're working outdoors, with nature connection, and bringing in artistic elements too.

When you're co-facilitating and extending an invitation, sometimes your client might say, "No, that's not for me," and that’s absolutely okay. That’s part of it. As I said before, it’s something that’s available to the client—they don’t have to accept the invitation.

As coaches, it’s always an invitation. We facilitate a conversation, but the client is in the driving seat. We're not giving tools they have to use. These are options they can try if they want to. I make that very clear, both in individual coaching and in group settings.

In one-on-one coaching, I might offer embodied practices, artistic practices, or nature-based exercises, but it’s always up to the client. That’s the beauty of individual journeys.

In group settings, things are a bit more structured. At the beginning, I explain that there will be a process, and we’ll offer suggestions—but everyone needs to take care of themselves. If something doesn’t work for them, they can always regulate or step out of the practice.

Anna Marie: Those two words—“it depends”—came up recently when Paul and I were speaking with George Warren. Coaching is so context-rich. That’s what I love about it. I don’t always know where we’re going—it’s a journey we’re taking together. It depends on so many factors.

The complexity, depth, and richness make it both exciting and scary. Where’s the edge? Where’s the stretch zone? Where’s the challenge.

Speaking of challenge, let’s talk about your own journey—your artistic path, your coaching, your humanitarian work. What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced?

Paola: It really ties into what we’ve just discussed—trust. Learning to trust the process, yourself, and the client. That’s probably the most challenging part of coaching.

As much as we want progress for the client, it’s not our journey. It’s theirs. We need to get out of the way, hold the space, and allow them to take their own path.

Nature helps with that. It constantly reminds us that things unfold in their own time. You can’t force nature—you can’t rush through the seasons to get to spring.

There’s a metaphor I love: the butterfly emerging from the cocoon. The struggle it goes through is what strengthens its wings. If you try to help it out, it dies. It’s the perfect metaphor for coaching.

We’re there to hold the space, not to provide answers. The best answers come from the client. We’re just helping them find those answers. Lessons from nature are so rich. When we pause, stay curious, and ask questions, we can learn so much.

As a species, we’ve lost so much of our inherent wisdom and nature-connectedness. We're often disconnected. So much of the coaching journey is about remembering and relearning.

Anna Marie: So, what does the future hold for your coaching practice?

Paola: Community is becoming more and more important to me. I think it’s essential to be in community, to support and nurture each other.

That’s why I continue to create containers for groups. I really believe in the power of community. I’ll continue my one-on-one work, but I also have a couple of group coaching programs starting in early 2025.

One will focus on the seasons—how we can harness the qualities of each season, what they can teach us, and how we can integrate that insight into our lives. The other will center around tree connection, weaving together eco-somatic painting and coaching.

Anna Marie: Let’s take a practical turn—how do you manage the logistics, especially the outdoor work?

Paola: For one-on-one coaching, I keep it simple—just a pen or pencil and small exercises outdoors. It doesn’t have to be a full canvas setup, although sometimes it is.

For groups, it’s usually a multi-hour session with somatic practices, nature connection, discussion, and painting—done in a circle, in nature, maybe in a field or forest.

There’s also an online version of the tree-connection course. It sounds counterintuitive, but participants are encouraged to develop their own nature-based practices and then go outdoors between sessions.

Anna Marie: This adaptability is beautiful. And to our listeners—what’s resonating with you? Is something sparking a new interest?

You’re actually the first coach I’ve spoken with who’s working in this particular space. If others are doing similar work, please reach out. Collaboration and support are so strong in this community.

Paola: If I could offer one piece of advice to coaches—it would be to try coaching in nature. The benefits are immense: the flow of the session, the impact.

If you haven’t done it before, give it a go. Experiment. And if you’re passionate about something—like I am about painting—see if you can incorporate it into your coaching.

As for resources, I recommend anything by Jon Young—his books, TED talk, podcast, and online community.

Diana and the Nature Coaching Academy are also fantastic. There's a free resource on their website for those interested in nature coaching.

Books I recommend:

• Body and Earth by Andrea Olsen—a mix of biology, meditation, and artistic expression, with practices included.
• Mirrors in the Earth by Asia Suler—it's not coaching-specific, but it explores what nature mirrors back to us, which is rich ground for coaching reflection.