International Coach Federation

SIG: Energy Work and Coaching: The Next Wave
Host: Rhona Post MA, MCC, Certified CI Practitioner
December’s Topic: How What We Hold-- Holds Onto Us

My meditation teacher, Michael Gregory (www.mindfulnessmeditationcenters.com) provides straightforward guidance for mindfulness practice. Watch your breath. Observe yourself as you observe your breath. Although simple in theory, breath watching can be challenging as we are constantly pulled toward our senses, qualifying what we think, feel, see, hear, and smell. We are captivated by our stories. I think of my mind as a large screen television with access to more than 150 channels. Whether I’m watching dramas, horror, documentaries, commercials, or re-runs about my life, I’m pre-occupied with my narratives.

I am not alone. Our stories explain why we do what we do, how we see the world, who we can trust, who we should avoid, what we want or don’t want, etc. Not to mention the many hours of the behind-the-scenes interviews we conduct where we berate or deliberate with ourselves, act as the hero or the victim of our stories.

It’s a merry go round, for sure, and some of us want to get off. Why? We want more peace, more joy and a greater sense of equanimity.

The purpose of the Energy Work and Coaching SIG is to provide coaches with another vantage point from which we can work. Using an open forum approach, we explore topics that will help us coach from a strong centered presence, using our intuition to guide us to work more deeply. We practice with a variety of somatic, energetic and ontological coaching tools. Our goal is to foster community—a place where our unique gifts are received. The more we model what is possible for our coaching clients, the easier it becomes for them to take the risks necessary to transform their relationships to their stories.

In November, my coaching colleague, Sandy Mobley (http://www.thelearningadvantageinc.com/) and I led a discussion about the power of positive thinking as it relates to changing our neural programming. We practiced with several tools, including the GAP, Length, Width and Depth (http://www.strozziinstitute.com/) and a loving kindness meditation. 

Rhona Post, MCC