What is life coaching?
Full moon 25. March 2024
What exactly is life coaching actually?
I hear this question so much at the moment that I thought it really is time I wrote a Blog about it.
Before I get into it, I would like to say that many life coaches do work differently, but if you wonder how I work with my clients, then this Blog will hopefully give you an idea.
Please feel free to share the Blog with anyone you think could benefit from it.
Life coaching is a relatively unknown and “young” profession, but contrary to what you might think it actually has been around for a long, long time.
We consider coaching in sport to be completely normal and accept and expect all successful athletes and teams to compete and succeed with a coach by their side; The coach is there to walk alongside the athlete and to bring out the best in the person, but not the one doing the actual work.
The principal between a sports coach and a life coach is much the same.
As your life coach I am not an expert in your life and cannot tell you the answers to your problems, rather I am helping you connect to yourself, through questioning and guidance (most times this is not translated into advice). This process is highly empowering and anyone can benefit from it.
I would like to point out that a life coach should be professionally trained (which just in case you wonder- I am a qualified Life Coach and graduated with excellence) to be able to help you overcome difficulties, setbacks and hurdles, which can range from small issues like feeling stuck or unsure about the future, through to a crisis, or even trauma.
This is something to look out for because the profession is not regulated at this stage and anyone can call themselves a coach.
Life coaching is future orientated and solution based, it is engaging and action driven.
Let me break this down for you:
Future oriented:
This means the focus within a coaching journey lies mainly on the presence (what is now) and the future (who do you want to be, what do you want to achieve, how do you want to feel, how do you want to behave, what life do you really want to live, what relationships are you calling in).
In saying that, coaching focuses a lot on behavior-, feelings-, emotions-, mindset-, thoughts- and action- improvement, which in my coaching practice is being addressed at the root cause that oftentimes lies in the past. Important: this doesn't mean you need to relive the past to overcome certain blocks in your life, it just highlights the need to create awareness as to why you behave the way you behave for instance.
As a coach I frequently act like a mirror to allow my clients to understand fully what is holding them back from moving forward.
Solution based:
Self explanatory, coaching is about moving forward and giving you solutions in the form of actions steps (oftentimes practical exercises) that will help you achieve a goal.
Engaging and action driven:
Each coaching session is about you and your needs - a space in which transformation can happen when you are open to it. The more you are open to the process and curious about where it might take you, the more engaging the session will be.
All of my clients walk away from each session with at least 3 practical action steps to strengthen what they have learned about themselves.
My approach is holistic and usual includes a range of areas to improve wellbeing.
These exercises could be:
Somatic - working things out through your physical being (i.e. someone with anxiety will be provided with a toolkit to work on physical symptom relief); the somatic aspect to my coaching also includes emotional processing.
Mindset - improving the way you perceive yourself, your life, certain situations, looking at the glass half full rather than half empty
Spiritual - self reflection, self development and spiritual growth, stepping into your essence
Practical - sometimes it's the practical things that need attention (i.e. how to organise your schedule, recognizing priorities, taking regular breaks etc.)
Another question I am often asked is:
What is the difference between counselling and coaching.
Without going into this too deeply it is important to highlight that coaching is not suitable for people going through mental illness, oftentimes coaching can be a complementary service to psychotherapy or counselling, but is not a substitute.
While counselling usually concentrates on “talking the problem through and out”, coaching focuses mostly on the “what next”.
In my own personal experience with counselling I found that I benefited from it a lot and it provided me with relief, but oftentimes I left a counselling session wondering: “I talked it all through but what do I do now?”
Coaching in my opinion fills that gap, the “what do I do now” is covered with the action steps, which to me is fiercely empowering.
What kind of issues does a coach help people with?
Here are some examples of issues I have helped people move through and onward from:
Feeling lost and isolated after a separation
Moving into parenthood
Overcoming Burnout
Finding clarity in relationships (should I stay or should I go)
Body Image issues (very dear to my heart) - learn to love your body
Confidence issues
Career change
Moving into retirement
Feeling stuck and numb to life
Getting anxiety under control - leaving it behind
limiting beliefs that are holding someone back but they just don’t know how to move on from it
achieving a goal or milestone
These are just some examples and as pointed out before anyone can benefit from a coach by their side, the colaborational nature of coaching makes it a warm, open environment, where everyday problems, or bigger issues can be utilized as a catapult for personal growth.
Please feel free to email me with any questions you might have - I am always excited to hear from you.
Much love
Marisa
