AskNature Learning

Like Nature itself; starting small with lichen eating rocks to create soil, building towards a living complex forest; this course is part of a growing movement to bring Nature’s voice into organisational governance.

We begin by learning from First Nations cultural understandings of Nature , which  have long integrated practices affirming that  Nature isn’t a resource to extract from but a living stakeholder in decision-making. From there, we explore how the rise of legal personhood has opened new possibilities for imagining Nature back at the table. These shifts create the psychological and cultural groundwork for what becomes possible.

With that foundation, we turn to Nature’s own organising principles. Ecological models like succession, nutrient cycles, systems thinking and the adaptive cycle offer profound lessons for how boards can make more resilient, holistic decisions. We’ll discover how Nature experience itself drives innovation, creativity and the kind of problem-solving that silos can’t achieve.

Then comes the practical heart of the course: how organisations are actually doing this. Drawing from case studies of over 30 organisations, we’ll examine four key approaches such as Shareholder/Stakeholder models, Executive Roles, Non-Executive/Advisory positions, and Guardian/Trustee and Zoöp voice of the living frameworks. The Regen Melbourne case study anchors this module, showing how Dr. Dominique Hes’s Voice of Nature role contributed to decision-making quality and organisational culture in practice.Finally, we focus on you. You’ll think about your organisation’s readiness, design which model fits your context, and create an action plan for introducing Nature’s voice. The intention is that by week four, you’ll have a concrete approach to bring Nature into your governance and join a growing community reshaping how organisations make decisions.

• Executive governance level of organizational leadership
• Non-executive level as well – organizational staff
• Academics and researchers interested in nature-based governance
• The course provides opportunities for participants to consider how to apply the presented concepts in their own contexts.
• This course does not provide legal advice. Dominique is not legally trained, and every country has different laws and conventions. The aim is to share and hold space to see what could work for you in your place.

• Start with acknowledging  First Nations cultural understandings of nature and the rise of legal personhood for nature. 
• Learn how ecological principles – succession, nutrient cycles, systems thinking, and adaptive cycles – translate directly into frameworks for more resilient and holistic board-level decision-making.
• Understand the four key models for representing nature on boards – Shareholder/Stakeholder, Executive Role, Non-Executive/Advisory, and Guardian/Trustee; and, The Zoöp speaker for the living model – and explore examples of these models in action, particularly through the work of Regen Melbourne. 
• Create a personalized action plan to integrate the perspective of the living world into their own work/organization.

Module 1: History and Foundations traces how First Nations people have long integrated nature into decision-making, and how the rise of legal personhood has opened new possibilities for imagining nature as a stakeholder. From the lived practice at Regen Melbourne and other case studies, you will discover the psychological and cultural shifts that occur when we recognise nature as a subject, not merely a resource.

Module 2: Nature’s Wisdom teaches ecological models that inform resilient governance. Exploring succession, nutrient cycles, systems thinking and the adaptive cycle, you’ll see how ecosystems offer profound lessons for boards. We’ll examine how nature experience drives innovation, creativity and holistic problem-solving.

Module 3: Models in Practice introduces four key approaches: Shareholder/Stakeholder, Executive Role, Non-Executive/Advisory, and Guardian/Trustee. Drawing from case studies from over 30 organisations. The Regen Melbourne case study anchors this module, showing how Dr. Dominique Hes’s Voice of Nature role was part of what contributed to decision-making quality and organisational culture in practice.

Module 4: Your Practice is interactive and personalised. You’ll think about your organisation’s readiness, design which model fits your context, and create an action plan for introducing nature’s voice. The course will touch on legal frameworks, and how they vary by jurisdiction but focuses on lived practice.

The intention is that by week four, you’ll have a concrete approach to bring nature into your governance and join a growing community reshaping how organisations make decisions.

The living world is in constant flow, moving through cycles of birth, tender emergence, growth, flowering, flourishing, maturity, productivity, slowing and release, and finally death and composting—each stage essential for the conditions of new life to arise again.

In many modern societies, however, we have come to prioritise only the peak of productivity, often losing connection to the wider cycles that sustain life.

This course, Designing with Nature’s Cycles: Ecological Awareness in Practice, invites you to reweave that connection.

Together we will explore the 8 Petals framework (formerly 8 Shields), a practical and archetypal map for recognising, embodying, and designing with nature’s patterns and seasonal flows.

Through this lens, we learn to work with cycles rather than against them, bringing greater balance, creativity, resilience, and meaning into personal life, community relationships, and professional practice.

The course supports participants to develop practical tools and embodied practices that can be applied across many contexts, from everyday living to organisational and bioregional design.

It draws on deep ecological understanding, nature connection practices, and regenerative design principles to support a shift from extraction and disconnection towards ecological citizenship and active participation in living systems.

By the end of the course you will have a set of insights and practices to support more aligned ways of living, working, and contributing within the cycles of the more-than-human world.

The emphasis is on integration, not information alone, encouraging real-world application in families, teams, and communities over time.

Facilitated by Dr Deborah Benham, the course is informed by decades of ecological research, community resilience work, and lived experience in regenerative living. It offers a supportive space to reflect, practice, and reorient towards life-affirming design rooted in place, relationship, and seasonal awareness.

It invites a gentle return to ecological rhythm, reciprocity, and belonging in everyday life.

• If you want to develop more effective, intuitive, and integrated ways of deeply learning from and being guided by nature, through simple yet profound practices, and without having to be a biology or ecology specialist, then this course is for you. No prior experience in biomimicry or nature connection is required, just your curiosity for nature’s inspiration.
• Designers, innovators, and changemakers seeking more intuitive and integrated ways to learn from and design as nature.
• Educators, facilitators, and practitioners who want simple yet profound practices to design, deliver and deepen their nature-based programmes.
• Professionals in sustainability, regeneration, and systems change looking to be guided by nature in more embodied, place-based ways
• Students and lifelong learners curious about biomimicry, ecological wisdom, and tuning into the living world
• Community leaders and organizers interested in grounding their work in deeper relationships with place, season, cycle and local ecosystems
• Anyone drawn to nature’s inspiration who wants to cultivate more balance, flow, creativity and aliveness —no prior experience in biomimicry or nature connection required.

• Develop an understanding of –
  • The Importance of Natural Cycles, Stages, Seasons and Flows 
    • How stages and cycles create the conditions for life to thrive.
    • The loss of cyclical embeddedness, awareness and practice in modern life, and the impacts of this.
    • 8 Petals design frameworks, how these have been developed and how they can be applied.
    • Regenerating natural cycles in our lives, communities and work places. 
• Develop a practice of – 
• Designing with Natural Cycles 
  • Establishing a cyclical nature connection practice which restores our relationships with the ebb and flow of life.
  • Becoming familiar with the archetypal and practical wisdom in each stage and expression of nature’s cycles.
  • Recognising and celebrating seasons, cycles and flows through the year. 
  • Applying the 8 petals design framework to your personal, community professional life.

Module 1: The How and Why of Reconnecting with Natural Cycles

Theory – How nature’s cycles create conditions for flourishing and why this matters now

Practice – Deepening our connection with cycles in nature

Module 2: The 8 Petals Design Framework

Theory – Origins and applications – 40 years of regenerating nature led design and culture

Practice – Embodying and applying cyclical awareness in our lives, families and communities

Modules 3 & 4: Becoming Ecological – Reweaving ourselves into the flow of life

Theory – The archetypal and practical wisdom in nature’s cycles 

Practice – Integrating the 8 Petals framework into our creative and design processes