Ecological enquiry guide

Ecological enquiry is a practise that ‘investigates’ our worldviews and cosmologies, blindspots and challenges, hopes and lived experiences so that we can discover just how much these are informed by each other, place, social constructs, interbeing, social systems, ecosystems, the more-than-human, current events, histories, ancestral lines, and possible futures.

Through this discovery, we realise how deeply relational and complex we are as individuals, groups, and organisationsThis knowing can help us understand ourselves and each other, while also igniting a desire to move through this multispecies, multigenerational world with greater attunement, care, and response-ability.

With ecological enquiry, we reject simplification of existence and celebrate just how much is alive in being human. 

 

1:1 ECOLOGICAL ENQUIRY OR ECOLOGICAL ENQUIRY CIRCLES

In 1:1 ECOLOGICAL ENQUIRY SESSIONS, we investigate your worldviews and cosmologies, blindspots and challenges, hopes and lived experiences. Different to therapy or coaching, ecological enquiry is fascinated in discovering the depth of ourselves as ecological creatures, meaning that your challenges, experiences, perspectives, and hopes are continually informed by, and informing, the many and varied webs of complex relationship you exist within. The more we can shine a light on some of what's alive in small and big moments, the more information you have access to to guide and choose your perspectives, choices, and actions.

In 1:1 enquiry, you have my sole attention and you can bring our attention to wherever you need it.

In ECOLOGICAL ENQUIRY CIRCLES, we collectively investigate shared and personal worldviews and cosmologies, blindspots and challenges, hopes and lived experiences by bringing these into the social field. Each circle has a theme that funnels our attention in a way that enables a deep, rich, and cohesive enquiry while giving space to what might emerge. Ecological enquiry circles are a powerful way for individuals and organisations to gain personal and collective insight into questions, hopes, and challenges.

Ecological enquiry circles are also a powerful way of practising being a thoughtful, generous, and attentive group member.

Ecological enquiry, whether practised 1:1 or within a circle, works because I bring myself into the room as fully as the participants, meaning that I bring in and investigate my own challenges, experiences, perspectives and respond to what's in the room, so that my participation can enrich the work we're doing together.

 

CIRCLE-SPECIFIC FLOW

While each circle unfolds in its own way, first-time ecological enquiry circles mostly unfurl like this:

1. I hold space for us to arrive by sharing what's alive within each of us.
2. I ask someone in the group to bring a lived experience related to our theme into the group, with the lived experience being something that they are at the centre of, that matters to them, and that they’re lacking insight into. For example, this could look like: ‘I have a worldview that troubles me and I don’t understand where it comes from’. Or, ‘I was in a meeting the other day and I was really confused about what happened and why I behaved the way I did’. Or, ‘I don’t have a clear ancestral heritage and I wonder how this affects my sense of who I am and my place in the world’.
3. I ask the group to hold space while I facilitate the start of the process, as though I and the other person were in a 1 - 1 session. I start by opening up the situation through questions, such as: ‘That sentence you just said there, let’s dive into that more. What did you mean by?’, or ‘It sounds like there’s an underlying story there about how the world works. Are you happy to explore that more with me?’ I might also start to share what’s alive in me as I listen, such as: ‘As I was listening to you, I noticed that a memory came up for me …’ , or ‘I’m feeling so much empathy for what you’re sharing. I notice…’
4. I invite the rest of the circle members to actively participate, inviting them to ask questions if they need more information or to start voicing what they notice is alive in them.
5. I encourage us to follow our attention where it's most activated. Enquiry is like a river: it meanders where it needs to, going left, then right, then widening, then narrowing. Perhaps the way another circle member phrases something really intrigues us, so we shift our attention to investigating that. Or perhaps someone else's lived experience feels important to dive deep into.
6. Near the end of our circle, I invite members to share anything that needs voicing.
7. I hold space for us to complete by sharing what's alive in us as we finish. 

 

1:1 SESSIONS AND CIRCLE FACILITATION INTENTIONS

1. When useful, share information about the ecological enquiry process to help us deepen our enquiry. This could be sharing about what ecological enquiry cares about or inviting us to be with each other in a certain way.
2. Keep our attention on our experience as we experienced it, dropping (or investigating) guesses and stories, especially when speaking of others. I.e. ‘I found their behaviour confusing because I didn’t understand what they needed in the moment.' instead of ‘They were being really confusing and shut me down.’
3. Create space for our enquiries to meander where they will while bringing us back to our shared theme when needed.
4. If relevant, invite us to be in the intelligence of stillness and silence.
5. Take ownership of keeping an eye on time, so that participants can be as fully in the room as possible.

 

1:1 SESSIONS AND CIRCLE FACILITATION COMMITMENTS

1. Hold each participant as unique, whole, complex, and of equal worth.
2. For circles, balance holding guest circle members, the social field, and the agreed group's theme in my awareness, as much as possible.
 3. Keep us focused on ecological enquiry if we become too analytical, wander off from personal and collective enquiry into practical tools or other people’s teachings, stay in the details as opposed to diving deep into what’s most alive, or stay at a surface level.
4. Be reasonably available before the circle, to support circle members in feeling equipped to join a circle, and after, to support completion.

 

WHY WE GATHER IN CIRCLES

The act of being in circle together, whether actually sitting in a circle (in person) or in intention (i.e. online), embodies the perspective that we are all of equal worth, with no one person's worth being greater than another's. It also reminds us that while we are individual and unique, we exist within many wholes: from our shared humanity to our membership of different communities, as well as being kin within a multispecies, multigenerational world.