Have you ever experienced a knot in your stomach when you’re worried or maybe nervously excited?
Or have you had a headache due to stress or a heady feeling of giddy anticipation?
Or have you noticed how your body changes when you’re experiencing a strong emotion: either a wonderful or not so great sensation?
All these are signals from our body which can give us more awareness about what we are going through. However, as human beings many of us tend to spend so much time in our heads, dealing with our thoughts and the emotions we are experiencing that we almost forget we have a body. And it’s our body which can give us important cues and a deeper insight into what we are experiencing at an unconscious level.
As coaches, we can support our clients to create deeper awareness about the non-verbal language we speak. Somatic coaching, an approach that views the client as a whole person, takes into account breathing, body language, posture and internal physical reactions to support powerful transformation.
Our unconscious mind where we store our memories, beliefs, thoughts, habits is stored in our body. So a creative and very effective way to go much deeper in a coaching session is to explore what might be happening in the physiology of our client. Each of us has a mind-body-soul connection, and as coaches we can tap into this connection to assist our clients to create a much greater level of self-awareness and life-changing transformation.
There are several ways in which you can work with your client to tap into their physiology:
• Get curious about any movement you see when your client talks about something important. This might be a change of facial expression: their face might brighten up, or they might crease their forehead. Their posture might change: they might sit up straighter, or they might slump down in their seat. They might turn their gaze away, or stare into the distance. When you notice this happening, use the opportunity to explore what might be going on at a deeper level by asking questions like, “What happened just now when you crossed your arms?”
• Get your client to move during the session if it appears appropriate. To stand up, to take a few steps forward, to stretch, for example.
• Explore how their perspective would shift if they moved their body or shifted their posture. For example, if a client is struggling with an emotion that makes them uncomfortable, you could suggest to them to shift position – if they would like to change the perspective - and ask “What do you think/how do you feel from this perspective?”
• When you support your client to understand success when they achieve their goal, ask them to consider how they would move their body; with questions like, “When it is as you want it to be, how would you stand/walk/move your body?” By doing this you could be giving your client an opportunity to step into a place they have not been able to step into and experience before.
It is also very important we as coaches don’t make assumptions about our client’s body language. We must not assume they are getting defensive or uncomfortable when they cross their arms or look away. Instead, get curious about what you notice and ask the client what are their thoughts or focus or what are they experiencing when their physiology changes.
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