WHAT IS LIFE COACHING?

Back story.  When I decided I wanted to work in Equine Facilitated Wellness, we have three streams that we can work under.  Equine Coach (riding), Mental Health or Learning Practitioner. I didn’t want to do the first, not qualified to do the second, so had to figure out how I fit in with the third.  My mentor suggested Life Coaching, pfft, no thank you.  Isn’t a life coach, just someone who tells you to live your life?  So many life coaches out there, not many qualified, or if they are, it is a weekend course.  It is not a regulated industry, so I was super careful about who I trained with. My mentor encouraged me to look into Equine Alchemy, who’s founder Lisa is an ICF Life coach, but has integrated the Life Coaching into an Equine Program.  Actually the only one out there.  I read up on the ICF philosophy and slowly came around to what a Life Coach could actually be.  Sooooooo, what is a Life Coach.  No, it is not someone who is going to fix all your problems and tell you how to live your life!  

Depending on who you work with as a life coach will depend on what you receive. I am accredited with ICF, so I work to a strict ethically regulated organization. So, who am I as a life coach?  We all evolve into how we coach, but for those of us who have been trained and man oh man I have trained! I went through the ICF training for a couple of years before being certified, we all, on a base level offer the same work.  However, my coaching has mostly been partnered with the horses who live through their bodies and so, I bring my clients into their bodies, based on the somatic practices.  When a client comes to me wanting to change the narrative of their life, it is not always easy to know where to start, so we listen to where our body wants us to start and we go from there.  

A life coach is someone who will hold space and work with you in order to achieve your goals.  Are you curious about what life could be?  I work with a lot of clients who think the way they live their lives, the conditioned thoughts, the patterns they consistently repeat (and not in a good way), is just how it is.  I ask them to imagine what it could be like if they could change those patterns, those thoughts in their head that does not allow them to be their authentic self.  I invite you to do that now…. Kind of exciting isn’t it?   Now, this doesn’t have to be great leaps of change, it can be very small things, it can be, I want to make new friends, or understand what self care is, or it can be bigger, like, why do I keep repeating this toxic pattern, which is stopping me from achieving what I want in life.  Together we explore the conditioning, the thoughts holding us back and work together on how we can break these patterns.  I work in two modalities, one on one without horses, or with my herd.  I love both aspects.  

What does a session look like?

Working one on one without the horses, this can be in person or via zoom.  The most important thing for me, is that the client feels comfortable, wants to actually do the work and knows that confidentiality is without question, a hard and fast rule.  First, I invite you to have an informal free chat, to see if we are the right fit for one another.  I ask what you are looking to get out of working with a life coach and what your goals are.  If we feel that we would like to continue the relationship, we go to the next stage of a questionnaire, so I can get a little more background information of who you are and where you want to go.  This is not an interrogation, it is a get to know you.  There is no right or wrong answer as it is coming from you, right now, where you are at.  You lead this conversation all the way through, I am here to support you.

Then we start our weekly sessions.  This is where I am strict, we meet weekly. I do not ask too much from our relationship, but what I do ask is for you to turn up, physically, mentally and willingly.  These are your sessions, you have invested your finances, time and yourself into them and I want us both to get as much as possible out of them.  It is a two way conversation, all of the time. If you are uncomfortable about what we are working on, how we are doing it, we communicate, that in itself is a coaching moment.  This is all about collaboration between us both.  

When working with any professional and especially someone who is holding a very sacred space for you to grow and learn, please do your homework as who you trust with this. 

Who is ICF and what makes their coaches stand out amongst the others…..

As an ICF ACC coach, I work to a strict ethics code and core competencies. Under a mentorship, I had to acquire 100 hours of coaching experience and submitted recorded coaching sessions in order to be certified. As an ICF coach, I have to renew my certification every 3 years.

Who would benefit from working with a coach?

I feel that there are preconceived ideas of what a life coach is.  We are not a therapist, that is the first thing.  As a life coach, we hold a space for you to develop yourself personally.  I personally work, living in the present and therefore being able to hold space of what the future may look like.  We have to change our patterns and behavior in the present in order to achieve what we want in the future.  I am not here to fix you or tell you what to do.  You have all the answers, you are very resourceful, I hold a space for you be curious about what that change could look like.  I suppose in a way, I am here to hold you hand and keep you steady.  If you are finding yourself going through life changes and feel stuck, working with a coach will help you break those patterns, those conditioned thoughts and figuring out what is stopping you from moving forward.  How do I work?  I work through the body.  I have found, that I am lucky, so lucky, as I work with my equines and have trained with my equines to work out of a space that they feel themselves in.  Horses live in the present moment, they feel with their body, trust their senses.  I work in the same way, whether that is with or without equines. I work within the body, inviting you to feel all the feels, see where it takes you. I ask that you be vulnerable, feel into the space that is holding you back, but also feel into the space of what that future could be.  Together we set goals (albeit small at times), really work with yourself.  We work on different exercises, I give homework, which is one of the reasons I give a care package, as you then have everything you need to feel nurtured, held, seen.  Also, who doesn’t love a care package in the post.  All I ask of you as a client is to turn up, be vulnerable, be comfortable with being uncomfortable and embrace the possibilities.  We work on different exercises within our sessions, each catered to the client individually! I love this, it keeps me on my toes and sometimes enables you to discover things you never knew about yourself.