Coach the Body
Coach the person, not the problem. It’s a simple coaching philosophy that leads to powerful results. When you coach people, rather than their problems, you help them solve their own challenges. You use a holistic view of your coachee to bring out the best in them. In a sense, this approach sees the body and mind as one, rather than seeing them as separate entities.
Focusing on people is empowering. That’s why our coaching model, Start With Heart, begins by connecting your coachee to who they are rather than the challenge they are facing. However, sometimes separating the body and mind is even more powerful.
The body holds wisdom. It contains emotions, sensations, memories and more. To assume it simply carries around the mind is untrue. Coaching the body provides the coach and coachee the chance to become present, to settle into themselves, and often, create a sense of clarity that the mind can’t find.
Here are a few questions you can ask your coachee to connect to their body
What do you notice in your body?
How do you experience that value in your body?
Where do you feel that?
What sensation are you having?
What does the body know?
What is the body needing right now?
If the body could talk, what would it say?
Where are you holding that_______?
How can your body help you shift your lens?
There’s a lot of intelligence in the body. You can connect the body to your coachee’s values; you can move the body to help your coachee shift their lens; you can use the body to determine the best next step.
Effective coaching comes from a deep belief that your coachee has all the answers. Sometimes the answers are in the mind and sometimes they are stored in the body to later be interpreted by the mind. We encourage you to help your coachee connect to their body, help them settle into themselves and therefore be able to access that untapped wisdom. Your goal is to help them respond to life as the best version of themselves — body and mind.
This post was inspired by the recent conversations about Black Lives Matter and My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Mending of Our Bodies and Hearts by Resmaa Menakem. This book beautifully illustrates that racism is not only understood by the mind, but that much of the experienced trauma gets stored in the body. It reminds us that as coaches, we can help unlock insights through accessing the intelligence of the body as much as the mind.