diff --git a/ibis/common/graph.py b/ibis/common/graph.py
index c2aaf5d7e046..f2f810077716 100644
--- a/ibis/common/graph.py
+++ b/ibis/common/graph.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 from ibis.common.collections import frozendict
 from ibis.common.patterns import NoMatch, Pattern
 from ibis.common.typing import _ClassInfo
-from ibis.util import experimental
+from ibis.util import experimental, promote_list
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from typing_extensions import Self
@@ -340,9 +340,39 @@ def find(
         determined by a breadth-first search.
 
         """
-        nodes = Graph.from_bfs(self, filter=filter, context=context).nodes()
+        graph = Graph.from_bfs(self, filter=filter, context=context)
         finder = _coerce_finder(finder, context)
-        return [node for node in nodes if finder(node)]
+        return [node for node in graph.nodes() if finder(node)]
+
+    @experimental
+    def find_below(
+        self,
+        finder: FinderLike,
+        filter: Optional[FinderLike] = None,
+        context: Optional[dict] = None,
+    ) -> list[Node]:
+        """Find all nodes below the current node matching a given pattern in the graph.
+
+        A variant of find() that only returns nodes below the current node in the graph.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        finder
+            A type, tuple of types, a pattern or a callable to match upon.
+        filter
+            A type, tuple of types, a pattern or a callable to filter out nodes
+            from the traversal. The traversal will only visit nodes that match
+            the given filter and stop otherwise.
+        context
+            Optional context to use if `finder` or `filter` is a pattern.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        The list of nodes matching the given pattern.
+        """
+        graph = Graph.from_bfs(self.__children__, filter=filter, context=context)
+        finder = _coerce_finder(finder, context)
+        return [node for node in graph.nodes() if finder(node)]
 
     @experimental
     def find_topmost(
@@ -620,10 +650,8 @@ def bfs(root: Node) -> Graph:
     """
     # fast path for the default no filter case, according to benchmarks
     # this is gives a 10% speedup compared to the filtered version
-    if not isinstance(root, Node):
-        raise TypeError("node must be an instance of ibis.common.graph.Node")
-
-    queue = deque([root])
+    nodes = _flatten_collections(promote_list(root))
+    queue = deque(nodes)
     graph = Graph()
 
     while queue:
@@ -651,15 +679,10 @@ def bfs_while(root: Node, filter: Finder) -> Graph:
     A graph constructed from the root node.
 
     """
-    if not isinstance(root, Node):
-        raise TypeError("node must be an instance of ibis.common.graph.Node")
-
-    queue = deque()
+    nodes = _flatten_collections(promote_list(root))
+    queue = deque(node for node in nodes if filter(node))
     graph = Graph()
 
-    if filter(root):
-        queue.append(root)
-
     while queue:
         if (node := queue.popleft()) not in graph:
             children = tuple(child for child in node.__children__ if filter(child))
@@ -684,10 +707,8 @@ def dfs(root: Node) -> Graph:
     """
     # fast path for the default no filter case, according to benchmarks
     # this is gives a 10% speedup compared to the filtered version
-    if not isinstance(root, Node):
-        raise TypeError("node must be an instance of ibis.common.graph.Node")
-
-    stack = deque([root])
+    nodes = _flatten_collections(promote_list(root))
+    stack = deque(nodes)
     graph = {}
 
     while stack:
@@ -715,15 +736,10 @@ def dfs_while(root: Node, filter: Finder) -> Graph:
     A graph constructed from the root node.
 
     """
-    if not isinstance(root, Node):
-        raise TypeError("node must be an instance of ibis.common.graph.Node")
-
-    stack = deque()
+    nodes = _flatten_collections(promote_list(root))
+    stack = deque(node for node in nodes if filter(node))
     graph = {}
 
-    if filter(root):
-        stack.append(root)
-
     while stack:
         if (node := stack.pop()) not in graph:
             children = tuple(child for child in node.__children__ if filter(child))
diff --git a/ibis/common/tests/test_graph.py b/ibis/common/tests/test_graph.py
index 677f9f0f204d..b0da3bdf2a0f 100644
--- a/ibis/common/tests/test_graph.py
+++ b/ibis/common/tests/test_graph.py
@@ -59,11 +59,8 @@ def copy(self, name=None, children=None):
 
 def test_bfs():
     assert list(bfs(A).keys()) == [A, B, C, D, E]
-
-    with pytest.raises(
-        TypeError, match="must be an instance of ibis.common.graph.Node"
-    ):
-        bfs(1)
+    assert list(bfs([D, E, B])) == [D, E, B]
+    assert bfs(1) == {}
 
 
 def test_construction():
@@ -82,11 +79,8 @@ def test_graph_repr():
 
 def test_dfs():
     assert list(dfs(A).keys()) == [D, E, B, C, A]
-
-    with pytest.raises(
-        TypeError, match="must be an instance of ibis.common.graph.Node"
-    ):
-        dfs(1)
+    assert list(dfs([D, E, B])) == [D, E, B]
+    assert dfs(1) == {}
 
 
 def test_invert():
@@ -393,6 +387,16 @@ def test_node_find_using_pattern():
     assert result == [A, B]
 
 
+def test_node_find_below():
+    lowercase = MyNode(name="lowercase", children=[])
+    root = MyNode(name="root", children=[A, B, lowercase])
+    result = root.find_below(MyNode)
+    assert result == [A, B, lowercase, C, D, E]
+
+    result = root.find_below(lambda x: x.name.islower(), filter=lambda x: x != root)
+    assert result == [lowercase]
+
+
 def test_node_find_topmost_using_type():
     class FooNode(MyNode):
         pass