Empowering Manager
leadership through partnership
'Coaching Without Words - The Power of the Body in Coaching'
International Coach Federation European Coaching Conference
Norway 21 May 2005
If there was a vital resource, a source of information and a tool that would help you coach better, help your clients get more value from your coaching, and improve your own quality of life you would want to use it wouldn’t you? A resource that is always ready and waiting to serve you? Well, there is, and it’s right there behind your nose. It is your body.
The body is intimately connected to our feelings, our power, our motivation and our ability to act and learn. This is a huge topic. Relatively recent learning and discoveries in this field include: the Alexander Technique, research in Early Learning and Movement (1), Brain Gym (2), New Equations (3), Movement Pattern Analysis (4). And there is a very wide and much older knowledge base from traditions such as yoga, tai chi, Oriental medicine, meditation, and martial arts.
This intimate connection between our body and feelings has two directions. Just looking at people in the street, we can easily see how the way we feel affects how we hold our bodies. You know by the slumped shoulders of one person that they are feeling low, by the upright and lively posture of another that they are in a good mood and ready for action. Actors and dancers constantly make use of body posture and the signals the body sends to convey information about feelings, status, relationships and much more. The other direction of the connection, the impact of the body on how we feel, is rather less often noticed, and less often exploited.
We know about this intimate connection and yet we don’t always use it. In my experience, one reason is simply because the body is such a very powerful vehicle for change, we will tend to avoid using it. All the impulses that tend to resist change will arise so there may be a need to remind ourselves to listen to the body and use more often what it has to offer.
There are two main areas I will cover in this presentation:
1. The body as a source of information and material for coaching, and
2. Body posture as a route to choosing how we feel.
As coaches, we owe it to our clients to care for and listen to our bodies in a way that keeps our energy clean to serve them better. We also owe it to our clients to make use of anything we have available that will support their agenda. Many of the ICF Coaching Core Competencies(5) call us forth to use the body in service of our coaching and our clients, including ‘Coaching Presence’, ‘Active Listening’, ‘Powerful Questioning’, ‘Direct Communication’, and especially ‘Creating Awareness’ which refers directly to the body as one of the factors that affects a person’s behaviour.
Some ways you can use the body as a coach:
§ Check in with your own body just before you go to your coaching meetings, and keep checking during your coaching session. Before you coach: Move, stretch, use Postures of Choice exercises, or go through your own favourite warm up routine. I’m guessing you will want to be alert, clear of your own tensions, worries and concerns and ready for your coaching. Or you could go through the Body Check procedure.
o Notice how you are holding your body, how it feels, tensions, sensations,
o Name what’s there, how it feels, explore what it may mean – what do you want to change about how you feel to be ready for coaching?
o Experiment with changing posture Slowly try out a different posture – (this can be either one you choose or one of the Postures of Choice)
o Notice the impact and name what’s there. Continue until you get the change you want.
§ During coaching, stay awake to what is going on with your own body. At its simplest level, this will help keep you alert and ready to listen. Be ready to stand, move around and change your position when you feel it will help the coaching. You can also offer insights from what you notice as material for the coaching. Example: “I notice that I’m hugging my knees and feeling very scrunched up in my stomach as I’m sitting here, does that resonate with anything for you?”
§ Working with a client face to face gives you the opportunity to notice their posture by looking, to reflect back what you see or mirror. In face to face or telephone coaching, you can take your client through the Body Check procedure. This can be very helpful in many different situations, especially if the client is stuck or is finding it hard to put into words what’s going on.
o Ask the client to - Notice how you are holding your body, how it feels, tensions, sensations,
o Name what’s there, and Explore what it may mean
§ Option 1: Stay longer in ‘process’ with the posture and associated feelings – you can use this to guide the coaching, giving material to work with. Continue with ‘process’ coaching. You may find the client’s posture naturally begins to change.
§ Option 2: Experiment with changing posture Slowly try out a different posture – this can be either one they choose or a suggestion from you
o Notice the impact of a new posture and name what’s there. Continue to work with the new posture if appropriate.
Postures of Choice
During the presentation, you will have an opportunity to try out some of the Postures of Choice. These are short, one minute exercises which can be used to choose how you feel. The Postures continue to be developed and added to. Your feedback will help with their development. At present, the postures include: Calm Down, Energise, Moving forward into Action, Inspiration, Courage and Power.
References
- Christine Macintyre and Kim McVitty Movement and Learning in the Early Years (2004) Paul Chapman Publishing
- Brain Gym – www.braingym.org.uk
- New Equations – www.newequations.com
- Warren Lamb - Movement Pattern Analysis. www.motushumanus.org
- ICF Core Coaching Competencies at www.coachfederation.org
- More information about Postures of Choice www.alisonsmith.org.uk/postures.htm