Holistic Health and Me

Smarter Than The Average Coach

There once was a time when a coach was a guy in shorts who blows a whistle and yells at the sports team, saying things like, “Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.” (-Yogi Berra)

But the term ‘Coach’ is being used a lot these days in reference to a variety of things. And I’m not talking about a fancy handbag.

Nowadays, coaches work in many areas of non-athletic teaching, directing, training and instruction. Among the coaches of today you’ve got ‘Fitness Coaches’ who are personal trainers, ‘Business Coaches’ (also see ‘Executive Coaches’ and ‘Corporate Coaches”) who are human resource developers and ‘Dating Coaches’ who work with people specifically to help them succeed in romance and relationships.

A ‘Transformational Life Coach’ can work with a client on a variety of issues, from personal growth to spiritual subjects, time management to money matters, and more. The goal is to help the client find balance, gain self-awareness and improvement in their life. These ‘Coaches’ work with various forms of ‘Life Coaching’ to help their clients effect positive changes in their lives. It is not therapy, but a practice of helping people achieve personal goals with a forward-moving focus.

The Life Coaching Program at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts has something exciting going on. It is launching it’s Life Coaching Foundation Online class on August 2^nd. We’ve just finished the DVD that online students will receive. It contains videos of techniques, tools and exercises that Life Coaching students learn about in class, being demonstrated in real-life situations and coaching sessions.

One video that I found particularly interesting is called “Mini Sessions”. It shows four different situations in which unplanned Life Coaching can happen spontaneously anywhere, anytime, and then be moved into a ‘Mini Session’ or be scheduled into a full Life Coaching Session. One of these sessions, “Relationship Crossroads” is now on SWIHA’s YouTube Channel. I think this video is captivating because it starts out with two friends catching up over coffee. Now, most good friends or close family members who, like some of us, want to explore their feelings and discuss their issues or their personal situations in order to seek improvement will go ahead and just talk about it. But what if one person is a professional Life Coach and the other person begins asking advice? That situation can be handled smoothly and respectfully and this is an under 5-minute illustration of how. It is just one fantastic example of the value this class holds for anyone interested in starting their journey to becoming a Life Coach.

So please click the YouTube link, watch the video and leave a comment to let us know what you think about it!

-Merry L.

Tags: Holistic Health, Life Coaching, Southwest Institure of Healing Arts