Six domains · one interconnected life
The six domains offer language for noticing a whole life. They are not boxes, diagnoses or independent scores. Each is a living part of one relational landscape.
How to use the map
In each domain, ask: What is alive? What has broken down? What is asking for care? Where has voice been restricted? What relationship with another domain needs attention?
Soil
Home, food, ecology, rootedness, displacement, environmental grief and the relationship with the more-than-human world.
When nourished: groundedness, reciprocity, connection to place, physical nourishment and belonging within life.
When disrupted: homelessness, dislocation, ecological alienation, food insecurity, loss of place or disconnection from natural rhythms.
Body
Breath, movement, rest, illness, pain, energy, nervous-system experience, sensory life and bodily identity.
When nourished: enough rest, responsiveness, embodied awareness, agency and respect for physical limits.
When disrupted: illness, exhaustion, numbness, hyperarousal, medical trauma, shame or estrangement from the body.
Psyche
Belief, grief, fear, desire, imagination, values, memory, identity, self-concept and the stories through which life is understood.
When nourished: meaning, flexibility, self-compassion, honest reflection and enough coherence to make choices.
When disrupted: identity collapse, shame, confusion, loss of meaning, rigid stories or overwhelming internal conflict.
Self-expression
Writing, speech, poetry, song, sound, image, movement, boundary, refusal, disclosure and the capacity to make inner reality communicable.
When nourished: truthful language, creative agency, boundaries, authorship and the experience of being heard.
When disrupted: silencing, performance, concealment, creative inhibition, people-pleasing or fear of expression.
Community
Family, friendship, intimacy, groups, mutual care, witnessing, contribution, ritual and the relational spaces in which a life is held.
When nourished: reciprocity, belonging, support, honest contact, contribution and shared meaning.
When disrupted: loneliness, exile, betrayal, relational rupture, community loss or unsafe belonging.
Culture
Religion, gender, economics, productivity, success, media, power, language, myth and the stories that define what is normal or possible.
When nourished: enlivening traditions, shared imagination, cultural expression, permission and meaningful participation.
When disrupted: oppressive scripts, cultural dislocation, inherited shame, exclusion or narratives that deny lived reality.
Cross-domain movement
The most important insight may not be which domain is “lowest,” but how domains are affecting one another.
Culture → Community → Psyche → Body → Self-expression → Place
Body → Psyche → Community → Culture → Self-expression → Soil/Home
Self-expression → Psyche → Community → Body → Culture → Place
Gardens or domains?
“Domains” offers precision. “Gardens” offers felt imagination. The framework can name six domains while the website invites visitors to experience six living gardens within one landscape.
The metaphor should illuminate the system, not flatten it. Soil is both a literal domain and a source of ecological language. The body is not merely symbolic. Culture is not scenery. Each deserves its own reality and expertise.
“Six domains. Six living gardens. One interconnected landscape.”
Your first map
The Landscape Check-In will help you recognise impacted domains, resourced domains, cross-domain patterns and the next doorway that may fit your current capacity.