#32, Flow with Felicity, October 2026
This newsletter was first sent to subscribers on Friday 2nd October 2026. It goes out the first Friday of each Month, so next one will be sent 6th November. If you'd like to subscribe and get it first, you can sign up here:
Wow, September really came at me. How about you?
Did you find it easy to practice REST for resilience, or did it drop by the wayside? Last month's Flow with Felicity is here on my website if you would like a reminder.
So what is there for you in this month's issue?
Firstly, 4 Invitations to join me.
Secondly, in Be Better Together Relationship Groundwork, I've put together a reflection for you on the Degrees of Togetherness in a relationship. It's less about evaluating relationships, just notice and explore.
A conversation with someone prompted me to dig out some archive resources on Non Violent Communication, so I'm sharing them here for you too.
In Nature's Notes, I've been tempted by the Autumn colours to offer you a moment to be fern like...
Plus, finishing off with 3 things I've loved this month!
I hope you enjoy the read, the reflection and acknowledge the wonder that it is to be human.
I always love to hear from you. Whatever this stirs up, or if you feel drawn to come down to Poole, hit reply or drop me an email: felicity@bendtheriver.org
📅 4 Invitations to join me: Walking, Experimenting, UnFurling
Friday 9th October: Stage 2 of the Dorset River Stour Source 2 Sea will see us walk from Bourton to Gillingham. At the end of Stage 1, the group was smiling, noticing the shifts they’d had in perspectives, with a sense of calm and enjoyment of the experience together. A highlight moment for me, was sitting in a circle having our picnic lunches in quiet and joyful conversation.
BTW, anyone can join just one stage, a few or all that remain. There are 12 stages in total. Tickets for Stage 2 are available til Monday 5th October.
Sign up >>> here
For all the stages (next up is Fri 6th November and Wed 9th December) head to my website: https://www.bendtheriver.org/movetogetherwithnature/source2sea
Various Dates Now - 21 October: The Experiment 90min 1:1 Reset Walk
Booking links are live now, and a few spaces remain. They are local to Poole, and perfect for a deeper dive into where you are right now, and restoring your sense of connection to yourself, to your work and those around you. Your Invitation is >>> here
Monday 19th October… Dorset Coaches Walking
Open to all coaches. A 90min gathering at Hengistbury Head.
Check out this >>> LinkedIn Post with the details
Starting 26th November. The UnFurling (update 23 Oct - Now Cancelled)
For practitioners: the coaches, therapists, space holders amongst you. Bring a fern to mind and read Nature’s Notes to get a feel for this small peer supervisory style circle, 4 sessions over 8 months. Last chance to join this group is the 23rd October. Can’t join November? Come along for 3 sessions in 2027. Read more >>> here
Message Me felicity@bendtheriver.org
🧩 Be Better Together Relationship Groundwork
I got some pretty strident pushback from a couple of peers when I suggested this as a check in question:
What’s your relationship like with your body today?
What was their challenge?
That it sets up mind and body as separate, and they strongly felt that there is no separation.
And they aren’t physically, the mind is of course within the body.
AND yet, when I think about relationships, there are always degrees of separateness, togetherness and ‘As one’. It's not a static state.
Let's bring it to life. Think about your relationships:
With those you work with
With the place you live
With the activities you do
With Nature
Within the parts of you
Which Relationship do you want to explore now?
Think of the two parts of the relationship as separate circles: You + Other. And then consider the degrees of separation and togetherness.
Check out the image to prompt your thinking. It simplifies it into 5 states:
Separate
Overlapping
Together & Apart
As One
Within
For the relationship you're exploring, sketch out your circles of You & Other, with a different representation for each situation:
Most of the time, I experience this relationship as looking like/feeling like this
At its best, I experience this relationship as looking like this/ feeling like this
At its worst, I experience this relationship as looking like this/ feeling like this
(Note - all of these are from your own perspective. So whilst they are your reality, they are not the shared reality)
Explore Questions
What do you notice about these circles, the spacing you have given them?
What would a fly on the wall see?
What does it feel like?
When it’s at its best/ worst, what’s different about the situations?
Perhaps, you notice that more WE is needed, or perhaps you notice more APART is needed as you’ve become too much US/Other.
From this starting point, you can consider how you choose to show up in this relationship. The energy you bring, the boundaries you set, the requests you make.
What would you like it to be more like, more of the time?
How can you bring your energetic attention to this relationship in a way that supports the creation of stability and solidity in the WE space
Experiment with this with a few different relationships to reveal your relationship patterns.
I'm here to listen if you want to share or have questions.
BTW, I’m experimenting with calling this Groundwork as it’s the ground for all the work I do. Does this resonate?
The Archive Recommendation - Non Violent Communication
For 10 years now, this has been my go to recommendation when I hear a story of someone who is at the receiving end of judgemental language, and feels regularly ‘put down’.
There is an easy read book: Non Violent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg
A free book by the same author & pioneer of this week - I found it a denser read.
A YouTube playlist with the author, Marshall Rosenberg, puppets & audience examples to bring Giraffe and Jackal language bought to life. We all need more puppets in our lives!
🌱 Nature's Notes: How the life cycle of a fern shows us the way to UnFurl
For ferns, this is a really important time of year for reproduction.
On the underside of a fern frond, you'll see little dots. These are protective pods known as Sori. And inside those are hundreds of microscopic single cells (spores).
The cool bit... as the ferns mature and dry out, a specialised ring of cells, called an annulus, bends backward under tension and then snaps forward explosively, catapulting the microscopic spores out into the air currents.
And when they land in the right conditions, the next stage of the life cycle of a fern begins. It's both different and similar.
Meanwhile the mature fern frond starts the die back, pulling the nutrients back into the rhizome.
So for reflection.
What are you dispersing into the wind as we Autumn?
Consider, acknowledge and appreciate the wisdom that your presence and practice is scattering into the spaces you hold and towards the people around you.
Then, what are the questions you are pondering that you want to send out into the forest? To trust they will find the warm, welcoming, fertile ground that will give them a place to find their shape and form. That the answers will reveal themselves when the time is right.
3 Random Things I’ve loved this month
The Podcast
In my quest to think about how our relationship with nature evolves, I started following Simon Coverdale and his work in Australia. He articulates it really well as a guest on this podcast The Good Girl Game Changers. Give it a listen >>> here
Contact is being in nature, connection is being with nature.
The Quote
“Everyday adventures help us nibble away at the edges of our comfort zone and gently expand them”
Nicki Bass speaking about Everyday Adventures at Tales from the Head, free community talks at Hengistbury Head Outdoors
The Movement: The Wall Push to activate Can Do Energy
I’ve been experimenting with this when I feel lethargic, can’t face doing something, and lacking in the energy for the task in front of me.
Get Set Up: I stand about an arms length away from a wall, and put my arms on the wall at shoulder height. We’re going to do 2 pushes.
For the first push, I move the right leg back a foot length (so my stance is staggered), and then I push the wall with the belief, desire and visualisation that I can move it. For a count of 5. Rest up and Reset
For the second push, I switch legs, left leg back and I go again for a count of 5. Again, with belief, desire and visualisation that I can move that wall.
I’ve been finding it effective. Within 10 minutes, I notice the lethargy had dissipated and I can crack on with the task that needed a boost of energy.
There is Physical Intelligence behind this move. Muscle firming activates a release of testosterone. Treat it like an experiment, and see if it works for you.
Sending you joy from the beach near my home, Poole, Dorset.
Thank you for joining me.
All the best, Felicity x
Move Together with Nature
This newsletter was first sent to subscribers on Friday 2nd October 2026. If you'd like to subscribe & get it direct to your inbox, you can sign up here:
Comments