What is the basic philosophy of coaching?

There are many models to describe the coaching philosophy, however the Who-What-How model proves to be the most common and fundamental way of outlining this partnership.

A coach helps you explore who you are, what you really
want and how to attain it. This is achieved as the coach
holds you in a field of curious exploration through skillful questioning, listening, reflecting, clarification and
suggestions.

Depending on your learning style and needs, a coach will
partner with you to customize a framework in areas such
as 'homework', accountability, feedback methods and
structure. A coach helps you stay on track until your
goals are achieved.

Although the why question may come up in the beginning
of a coaching partnership, this question falls more into the
field of therapy if it becomes the ongoing focus of
discussions. A coach, rather than focusing on why things
came to be the way they are, will reframe the discussions
to help you look more closely at your current tendencies,
skills, needs, values, what has not been working and how
this can be changed.

Consulting on the other hand will focus more on just the
what and how of a more impersonal problem (technical,
financial etc.) without requiring much information about
who the individual or entity is beyond the problem being addressed. For example a small business needing to
address the way employees set up data input strategies
will not require information about the employees' personal interests, talents, relationships, health or emotional
needs beyond the scope of the problem at hand.

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What to Expect

Life coaching is entirely customized to your needs and
wishes. However, here is an example of what you can
expect:

~ Discover what you want in your life while also
acknowledging that what you really want is happiness

~ Brainstorm, create, attain your goals, build, explore, adventure, play and then...

~ Let go and relax

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As Your Coach My Job Is To:

• Model mindfulness, learning and growth
  
  
• Listen with focus and presence
  
  
• Maintain self-awareness
  
  
• Nurture the partnership with respect and compassion
  
  
• Establish and honor an explicit structure for the
  coaching relationship
  
  
• Makes clear choices with you about the coaching
  process
  
  
• Ask questions that deepen your understanding
  of your situation
  
  
• Help you articulate desired outcomes
  
  
• Ask you to generate a course of action
  
  
• Provide direct and honest feedback
  
  
• Direct your attention toward your capabilities and
  potential
  
  
• Provide important information, tools, and language
  
  
• Challenge and stimulate your thinking process
  
  
• Encourage you to take action
  
  
• Offer opinions and/or recommend a course of action
  
  

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Mindfulness Based Coaching

Mindfulness Based Coaching encourages the development
and ability to become more finely attuned to our body, environments and inner dynamics as a way of discovering
and harnessing a wealth of new insight. For example:

~ by recognizing that your arms are tightly crossed in
front of your chest and you have some discomfort with maintaining eye contact with your direct report who
you're attempting to give directions to you may suddenly
gain some insight into why you're having difficulty in
acquiring connection and cohesion in your work team.

~ by realizing that you have a habit of clenching your
teeth while working at the computer you may see that
this is why you have head and neck aches and also
indicates that you may be under more stress than you
had previously acknowledged. Maybe your spouse was
right!

~ by watching the way your breath shortens and your
chest tightness when you see a vacation scheduled on
your calendar you may suddenly acknowledge your anxiety
about letting go of your to-do list. Are you addicted to
work, stress, control, your own adrenaline?

~ by suddenly seeing that your daughter's baby blue
eyes have turned hazel and she's developed a worry-
wrinkle between her eyebrows you may see how much of
her life, and yours, you've been missing.

These are just a few small examples of how increasing
our mindful awareness of our body and surroundings can
give rise to insights regarding our life, relationships and associated feelings. Through somatic awareness and
mindfulness we deepen our connection to life as it is
actuallyunfolding in and around us.

We step outside the box of assuming that life is already
known to us; that we already have the answers and just
need to keep reapplying the appropriate answers in the
right situations. We've been hypnotized into a deep
sleep and lost the connection to newness. No two moments
are ever the same. Letting go of the well-worn mental
patterns we invite the vast potential to see things
differently.

Any situation whether it's related to work, relationships,
health, finances, leisure time or environments, can be
freshly looked at with new insights through mindfulness.