We are pleased to share an article entitled “Inside Out Learning ~ Activating and anchoring training in coaches’ own personal experience” written by Kathleen Jones.
Health and wellness coaching is a rapidly expanding specialty that has emerged in recent years, with more than 10,000 coaches now holding national board certification. The National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) sets training, educational and assessment standards for the profession.
As faculty within several different NBHWC-approved health and wellness coach training programs, I’ve been able to observe the similarities and distinctions: each adheres to a set of core principles, viewing clients as capable, creative and whole. Each views coaching as a process of exploration and self-discovery, with clients choosing their goals, defining what success means to them, and deciding how they will gauge their progress. Some have more or less emphasis on lifestyle medicine, motivational interviewing, positive psychology, humanistic psychology, the mind-body connection, etc.
The focus of health and wellness coaching is just as it sounds; centered around health and well-being. Clients might be working toward a particular health goal or working on stress management or another area that relates to and impacts health.
Because health and wellness connect with just about every other realm of life, coaching conversations sometimes flow into work/ life balance, life transitions, relationships
or other areas. Conversely, coaches whose primary niche is not explicitly health and
wellness may find themselves engaged in conversations around health and wellness: perhaps exploring how lack of sleep affects the client’s decision-making or how stress impacts their energy level. Perhaps the client is experiencing illness, injury or loss and the focus has shifted to self-care, in which the central question becomes “How can you take exceptionally good care of yourself right now?”
By shifting focus toward self-care, we’re supporting clients’ mental clarity, emotional wellbeing, energy level and overall performance – thus helping them move toward their chosen goal(s).
Within the realm of wellness, we each have our own lived experience and can bring this understanding into our work as coaches (while recognizing that each person’s path is uniquely their own). Likewise, as educators, we can incorporate and build upon students’ own personal experience. We can invite them to walk the path.
To illustrate, here’s an approach I use in training health and wellness coaches: Students are invited to define wellness for themselves and to consider their own subjective, felt experience of wellbeing. They’re asked what they need in order to feel and be at their best. They’re given the assignment to map out and forge their own wellness journey.
This is where students often have aha moments. Motivation, for example, can be approached from an academic perspective – i.e., the science of motivation. It can also be explored as a “felt experience”; a force within one’s self that drives choices and fuels forward movement.
As another example, students are invited to tune into the felt sense of resistance that might arise in practice coaching when certain suggestions or advice are offered. When students become aware of what resistance feels like within themselves, they’re better able to sense resistance within the client as they practice the skills of coaching.
In these ways, students’ cognitive understanding is anchored in a deeper level of knowing, enriching and offering validity to behavior change concepts like motivation and resistance.
For a bit more context, these are a few of the core principles within health and wellness coaching that I share with students:
- Lifestyle profoundly impacts every aspect of life. Our choices create the conditions that support wellbeing.
Clients don’t always recognize the immense power of lifestyle. They often don’t recognize how seemingly small choices impact not only their physical health, but also their emotional well-being, cognitive functioning, and energy level.
Coaching helps clients become more aware of the profound impact of their choices. This new awareness equips them to choose more wisely, in alignment with who they want to be/how they want to feel.
2. Coaching helps clients access their own inner knowing, including the wisdom of the body.
We all find ourselves living in our heads at times, in front of screens and disconnected from the body. Rather than listening to internal signals – for instance, signaling that we’ve had enough to eat or that we need more sleep – we find ourselves reaching for a snack or a caramel latte.
Renowned yoga teacher BKS Iyengar wrote that intelligence resides in every cell of the body. As clients become more attuned to this embodied intelligence, they’re better able to care for themselves, and more able to create the conditions that support wellbeing. Coaching helps clients access their own inner wisdom.
3. The practice of mindfulness supports self-discovery and intentional change.
Mindfulness can be extended to any aspect of one’s life, such as noticing self-critical thoughts, noticing emotions as they first arise, or paying attention to the body’s signals.
Coaching brings attention to things that otherwise go unnoticed. Clients begin to make connections like how good it feels to get a full night’s sleep or how a brisk walk supports mental clarity. By recognizing these kinds of connections, they become more aware in their day-to-day lives, creating an upward spiral of self-discovery, self-care and positive change.
4. Vision-based (as opposed to problem-based) coaching leads to greater effort toward goals – and a more joyful journey.
Clients often come to coaching with a problem to be solved. This is especially true in health and wellness coaching, where the focus is often a particular health concern, like overeating or using alcohol as a way to manage stress.
As coaches, we’re helping clients see beyond the problem to who they want to be and how they want to feel – which then becomes a compelling motivational core; an energizing force that activates positive change.
5. Lasting change is supported by daily practices and the development of habits.
Neuroscience has revealed the importance of habit formation in changing behaviors. This often means micro-practices – for example the habit of noticing stress as it first arises and taking a moment to re-center oneself.
Commitment to these kinds of practices is what creates traction and supports lasting change. This might mean ten minutes of movement or journaling or being fully present to one’s partner… the possibilities are endless. Coaching supports clients in experimenting, choosing, and committing to practices that best work for them.
Students are invited to relate these principles to their own personal journey – and to connect with innate strengths like curiosity, self-awareness, perseverance and self-compassion.
Here are a few questions we can ask of students, clients, and ourselves:
❏ When do you feel most energized and most alive?
❏ What do you need in order to be at your best?
❏ Where and how do you experience stress in your body?
❏ How well do you listen to the wisdom of your body? (For example, the signals
that you’ve had enough to eat or that you’ve been sitting too long.) In what ways do you override these signals?
❏ What are some of your positive self-care habits?
❏ How do you recharge?
❏ What one daily practice would, over time, lead to positive change?
❏ What do you need to do less of – or say no to?
It may be that you already explore similar principles and questions with students and/or clients. If not, I hope these offer you a new perspective.
Élan vitale refers the creative force within that brings about growth and positive change. May you connect with this force in your teaching, your coaching, and within your own life. Be well, my friend!
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