Ring, ring…
I opened my orange, Samsung flip phone to see Jer, a friend of mine from high school, calling. It was 2006, and I was a year into my new career as a massage therapist.
Jer asked me how things were going, and I shared this thing that kept happening during my sessions: people would talk. As they talked, I could feel the stress in their shoulders and see how it directly related to what was happening in their life. The thing was, no matter how hard I tried to tell them that their body was talking, it didn’t seem to change anything.
Maybe you know what I’m talking about, [first name]?
“That’s funny you say that…” as he continued to tell me about this new thing he was doing.
It was called “coaching.”
I got curious about the idea of coaching, and after investing in my first coach, I can say that coaching changed my life.
Coaching helped me tune in to my own inner wisdom and follow my path forward. In 2008, I took my first coaching certification class and spent the next few years getting curious to how a coaching structure could support my clients in their sessions.
I realized that how you talk to people matters just as much as the modalities you use.
I stopped telling my clients how to listen to their body and I engaged the coaching framework to support them in connecting their own body & mind.
That is where BodyMind Coaching was born.
Fast forward to this past year.
If your social media newsfeed is anything like mine, it is filled with all sorts of images and ads of “coaches” who promise massive results if you follow their exact formula.
I would watch trainings, webinars, and group “coaching” calls where the coach would tell someone to push through their fears and do exactly what they say.
I would get daily emails about how the “best” coaches are now scaling to 8-figures (because 7-figures is no longer enough), and the secret to getting there was using their magic funnel.
Somehow, coaching has become all about numbers, systems, funnels, marketing, massive goals… and if you don’t reach those goals, your ‘mindset’ is the problem.
The worst part of all of this is I felt the pressure to play the game too.
Let me be clear: most of what we see online nowadays, isn’t actually coaching.
Anyone who is more loyal to their formula/process/magic bullet than they are to you and your desired results is not coaching, they are consulting.
Coaching is magical. It is a dance. It is a powerful process that helps someone know more of themselves.
I believe in the power of coaching and its ability to transform lives – and that means we have to get back to the heart of what coaching is all about.
That includes me.
Earlier this year, I shut down enrollment to my programs so I could take a moment to breathe and reflect. If I want things to change in the coaching industry, I must model those changes for myself.
And you know what happened when I stripped down all the “shoulds” the coaching industrial complex shows us…
I fell back in love with coaching…
The real, hold space, explore, help someone hear themselves, and take aligned action for themselves, kind of coaching.
I’m sharing all of this with you today because I think it’s time we all got back to the heart of coaching, especially because most holistic, service-based professionals have the capacity to be incredible coaches.
And in order to do that, we need to get really super clear on what coaching actually is and how it supports you and your services.
I created a special Q&A training that goes over all the details on what coaching is and isn’t, the difference between coaching and counseling (and yes— I talk about scope of practice), what Bodymind Coaching is, how coaching can improve your clients’ results while allowing you to change how you get paid (in a non-sleazy way that is supportive of your clients).
I’m also excited to share that Bodymind Coaching Certification Program is back and better. We have simplified and streamlined our 60-hour coach training and certification program to help you achieve one thing: be a kick-ass, professional coach who actually coaches.
In the Q&A I go over all the details about our Fall enrollment and how you can apply.
If you are curious about how you can better support your clients and create more ease in your life and business, this is for you.
It’s time for the true coaches to step up.
