When people look into the fire, they produce serotonin in their bodies. This has been determined since prehistoric times: fire gave warmth and security. That is how people used to be able to survive. This is still the case in our bodies, despite all the modern technology that has made us independent of fire. That is one of the reasons why fire has a big place during the practical days in my Yurt.
Also during the meeting with participants of the Embodied Coaching 2020-2021 group, which took place recently. It makes me really happy to see my participants around the fire share how they put the knowledge they have gained into practice. I am really touched by the stories of coaches who have made a real difference in the lives of their clients. Stories of coaches who, through the specialisation they have in Embodied Coaching, can now help their clients in a deeper, more effective way. Further than with Transactional Analysis alone.
A different line
Often clients only come to a coach or psychologist at a late stage of trauma-related physical complaints. Doctors often diagnose physical complaints as being merely stress or environment-related, but sometimes a different line is needed. Sometimes, as a coach, you have to work with those very physical symptoms so that the client can regain their resilience. It is often not enough to coach only with cognitive abilities and emotions, but attention must also be paid to the physical.
When I think back to the meeting of the graduate group, I feel the warmth again. Not only from the fire, but also the warmth of the conversations. The warmth I feel when I see how much these participants have grown in the year that they followed the Embodied Coaching specialisation. I think back to how it all started, with the first meeting in September 2020.
Embodied contract with yourself
All participants who follow the training are allowed to draw up an Embodied Contract with themselves. This contract looks like this:
Listen to your inner understanding about what you have to do.
What are your biggest frustrations and struggles in your work right now?
What are you currently struggling with that this training could help you with?
What exactly do you want to be able to do at the end of this training year?
What exactly does this mean to you? Why is this important to you?
What happens in your body when you look at this word?
What image do you have of it?
What actions are involved?
What support do you need?
How do you want to feel at the end of this training year?
What exactly does this mean to you?
What happens in your body when you look at this word?
What image do you have of it?
What actions are involved?
What support do you need?
I am going to evaluate this contract on: Signature:
All participants fill this in for themselves and at the end of the training they evaluate this contract. Keeping track of your progress in this way is very valuable.
Genuine desire to contribute
The coaches I come into contact with genuinely want to contribute to their clients’ lives, but sometimes they run up against their own limits. This is not so strange. If, as a coach, you have no knowledge of bodywork, you will get stuck in some processes.
Clients often know very well cognitively why they react in a certain way and feel a stress reaction in their body but are not able to calm themselves down. At that point, as a coach, you can start working on the physical aspect of the complaints, but I regularly hear that coaches do not dare do that, for fear of harming their client.
That thought is valuable, because in some cases it really isn’t a good idea to start. But in many cases, with the right knowledge, you can help a client just fine as a coach. Recognising the difference between the two, you learn when you specialise in Embodied Coaching.
Messages from participants
Regularly I receive short messages from participants saying that they are really making a difference and that they are happy with that. That does me good. Also, during the evaluation at the end of a training programme I receive warm, happy words. I have listed a number of them for you:
- I feel that I have entered a new phase in my professional life.
- My own toolbox has been expanded.
- I can trust my intuition.
- I am sooooo content.
- I am happy.
- It was beautiful and open.
- I feel that I belong.
- It was very physical.
- I feel seen and I learned to look well. I am grateful.
- I realise that for me and my clients, our emotions are our best friends.
- I now know how I can experience safety myself and thus make it safer for my clients too.
- I feel my physis (resilience). It is so healing to feel that.
I notice that because these participants are so enthusiastic and genuinely happy, my inner fire also burns harder. By teaching coaches to work with bodywork, I can better put my own mission into the world.
I told you at the beginning of this blog: when people look into the fire, they produce serotonin. But that is by no means the only way to bring this about. Being genuinely happy with the difference you make in the world is also one.
Discover Embodied Coaching
Are you curious about this specialisation in bodywork and do you want to learn more about it? Then I invite you to fill in the Embodied contract with yourself (download it here). This way you give yourself the opportunity to listen to your inner understanding. You know what you have to do. Do you want feedback on this? Then feel free to mail it to me.