Exploring The Client's Body
Understanding your client's body is crucial in coaching, as physical states and body language can reveal a lot about a client's emotional and mental state. By being attuned to your client’s physical cues, you can gain help them to gain insights into their thoughts, feelings, and overall well-being. This understanding can help build rapport, facilitate deeper conversations, and guide more effective interventions.
Equally, when clients are able to connect in with what they are feeling in their body they can get deeper insights into what is going on for them.
You can explore it by:
- Asking your client what they are feeling in their body and supporting them to link this to how they're thinking and what they're feeling
- Listening on a deeper level and noticing congruence / incongruence between their words / tonality / body language and energy
- Tapping into your own and your clients intuition and exploring what this "gut feel" is telling you
- Supporting your clients to look at different tools to change state such as dancing, grounding, meditation, somatic shaking
- Creating environments that are high in trust and safety and support your client to be in their parasympathetic rather than sympathetic nervous system
We teach you about somatic approaches to coaching in the professional diploma Module 5, we equally explore this in both diplomas in Module 1 where we look at listening skills, Module 3 coaching for emotions and Neuroscience
Are you wondering how this can show up in a coaching session? We share some examples below which can give you clarity on how you can apply this concept to real life coaching scenarios.
Why It’s Important: A significant portion of communication is non-verbal. Body language, posture, facial expressions, and gestures can reveal feelings and thoughts that a client may not express in words. Being aware of these cues can help you better understand your client's emotional state, even if they aren’t verbally acknowledging it.
Example:
Imagine you’re coaching a client who says they are feeling confident about an upcoming presentation, but their posture is slouched, their arms are crossed, and they avoid eye contact. These physical signs may indicate anxiety or a lack of confidence despite the verbal statement. The coach could gently point this out: "Noticing you're saying you feel confident, but your body seems a bit tense. What's going on?" This could prompt the client to explore their true feelings, allowing for a more open and honest conversation.
Why It’s Important: Coaching is not just about mental and emotional growth; it also involves physical well-being. By helping clients become more aware of their body and physical sensations, you can assist them in developing self-regulation skills that promote emotional resilience and overall wellness.
Example:
During a session, a client might describe feeling overwhelmed by anxiety during stressful situations. The coach can guide the client to focus on their physical sensations, such as their breath or muscle tension, to become more aware of when they’re starting to feel anxious. The coach might ask, “Where do you feel the anxiety in your body?" Or "What do you notice is going on in your body?" By helping the client connect with their body, the coach can introduce calming techniques like deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation, teaching the client to manage their physical responses to stress.
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