Crossing the Threshold: A Powerful Nature Practice for Enneagram Work

If you’re looking to deepen your Enneagram practice through connection with the natural world, there’s one simple yet profound technique I return to again and again: thresholding.

As an Enneagram coach based in Maine, my work blends the inner landscapes of the psyche with the outer landscapes of the earth. This practice isn’t just about understanding your type—it’s about rooting your transformation in something real, wild, and alive.

What is Thresholding?

Thresholding is a practice of intentionally crossing from one space into another, marking a shift in how we relate to the world around us. It’s something I’ve encountered in multiple nature-centered traditions—from the Animas Valley Institute’s nature immersions, to the Maine Primitive Skills School’s primordial awareness, to the Center for Nature-Informed Therapy’s mental health approach.

In each of these settings, thresholding is used as a way to signal to the body, mind, and soul: “I’m stepping into a different kind of experience now.”

You might step over a stone, walk under an arching tree branch, or cross the edge of a forest (or, your front door, the edge of your backyard, or a city crosswalk). In Maine, with our abundance of ocean edges, pine woods, and winding trails, the invitations for thresholding are everywhere.

Why It Matters for Enneagram and Nature-Based Practice

Our Western minds are trained to analyze, predict, and problem-solve. While this has value, it can get in the way of intuitive, soulful knowing—the kind that Enneagram work often seeks to cultivate.
Thresholding gives us permission to pause that analytical part of the brain. It’s a way of saying to your inner critic: “You can rest. I’m entering a different kind of relationship with the world now.”

It opens us up to a nature-informed perspective, where the wind, birdsong, shifting shadows, and even our own breath can become mirrors and messengers.

In Enneagram coaching, especially when it's grounded in nature, this shift is vital. A Type 5 might feel more present in their body, a Type 6 might hear inner guidance rise through the rustle of leaves, a Type 9 might feel their grounded wholeness in the earth beneath them.

A Simple Thresholding Practice to Try

1. Find a threshold: This could be your front door, the edge of a trail, or a stone you place at the entrance of your yard.

2. Pause before crossing: Take a few breaths. Set an intention. You might say silently, “I’m entering a space where I listen to the earth and to myself more deeply.”

3. Cross with awareness: Notice how your body feels as you step into this new relationship.

4. Let the world speak: Allow yourself to wonder, to feel, to be guided—not just by thoughts, but by the experience unfolding around you.

Bringing It Back

When your walk or sit-spot or forest wander is complete, cross the same threshold again—this time with gratitude, perhaps naming something you received. Over time, this practice helps build a bridge between your inner journey and your daily life.

Ready to reconnect with the earth and your own inner wisdom through nature-informed Enneagram work?

Schedule a free discovery call.

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