Life Coach Training
Lesson 33
Intuitional Coaching
We have spoken many times of the power and importance of using your intuition in coaching. In this lesson we will focus on how to let your intuition guide you.
In this course we have learned many coaching techniques, and you may know other techniques from other studies. All such skills are useful as applied appropriately. You also know that there is far more to coaching and healing than technique. The essence of successful coaching is attunement. Youcan know lots of techniques, but when and how to use them—or not—or go beyond them—will make your coaching sessions truly meaningful.
For several years I worked as a cook in a health food restaurant. When I was learning to cook I formulated dishes from a recipe book. But after a while I got bored with the recipes and it was much more fun to create my own dishes. I based my dishes on recipes I had learned, but ultimately the new dishes went far beyond those in the recipe book. (That’s how the dishes in the recipe book got started by those who created them!)
So it is with coaching. You have a kit of skills from which you can draw when appropriate, but the best coaching is like improvising music or any artistic act. There is an organic flow to a coaching session, with speaking and listening, acting and resting, crescendos and quiet moments, weaving and integrating the insights and energies of both coach and client. Every coaching session is a unique co-creation between coach and client. I have never done two coaching sessions exactly alike, even with the same client. Certain themes remain constant, but you keep finding new angles and interesting ways to approach them. You also go deeper as you progress.
In the beginning of your coaching journey you will rely more on specific skills. As you grow in experience and confidence, you will depend less on rules and more on intuition, imagination, flow, and creative impulses. You will enjoy your sessions more because you speak and act from inner guidance, and your clients will receive greater benefit.
Trust your intuition and act on it. A word, phrase or idea may pop into your head during your coaching session, which seems a non-sequitur to the conversation. Bring it forth. You may feel moved to work with a particular client and not another. You may be guided to ask a client a question that seems more personal than the level at which you have been working. You might be inspired to share an experience from your own life. You may have a certain method you like to employ, such as choosing an angel card, inviting the client to role play, or suggesting that you sit outside. You may feel moved to recommend a certain movie or book. If you feel strongly to say or do something, move with it. You will often be pleasantly surprised to hear from the client that your guidance served her.
When you move with your intuition, you will be more present and alive, and your sessions will be stimulating for you and your client. Never accept boredom as an element of a coaching session. If you are bored, so is your client, and neither of you will benefit (except that you will be stimulated to tell the truth that this is not it, and seek for what is it). The truth is always enlivening for both client and coach. If you sense that your client has veered from authentic expression, it’s time for you to amp up your own authentic expression to keep the session on course. Coaching and living from intuition keeps you on the cutting edge of your aliveness.
Coaching intuitively also offers your client a model of self-trust. Your client learns more from your example than your words. If you are locked into a technique, you are teaching your client that reliance upon forms is preferable to moving with the current of life force. (Use forms if they work; just don’t be attached to them.) When you move with the energy in the moment, your client will observe your model and be inspired to do the same in his life.
The voice of wisdom is within you, speaking to you and through you. (“I do not have to worry about what to say or what to do, for He who sent me will direct me.”) When you are dedicated to serving your client, your intuitional voice is very present and available to you. Be open to it, listen to it, trust it, and act on it. You will find that your intuition is your best friend, not just in coaching, but in all of life.
Exercise:|
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1. What has your intuition guided you to do in a coaching session that has worked for you?
2. How did following your inner voice help your client?
3. How would you describe the tone, essence, or vibration of the institutional voice that speaks to you?
4. How can you cultivate your connection to that voice, not only during your coaching session, but in all of your life?
5. Considering a particular coaching client, what does your intuition tell you about the best way to approach your sessions with him or her?
6. What is your intuition guiding you to say or do for your own happiness and well-being?
Affirm:
My inner wisdom guides me in my coaching and in my life.
I trust my intuition, I act on it,
and I am delighted with successful results.