Coaching is the artful use of language. It is about using one’s knowledge of language, body and emotions to assist someone in seeing their breakdowns and the possible harvest that may come from them. For example, when we prepare a pie and then place it in the oven, we don’t think twice about the oven. But, if for some reason the oven doesn’t work, suddenly we are vastly aware of the oven. This is what we call a breakdown.

A breakdown is the moment when we usually say, “Oh no!” At this point we may react in many ways. We can become angry and frustrated; we may think: “why me?”, or “poor me!”; or, we can choose to respond by becoming creative and searching for other options and solutions. For example, go to our neighbour’s house and offer a piece of the pie we were making in exchange for oven use.

Coaching is also about observing the person within his or her own context. The actual garden a plant grows in affects what type of plant it is, what characteristics it will/will not have, and what hardships it will encounter. Have you ever seen a Palm tree in Alaska? Similarly, we humans breathe and are imbued by the cultural, historical and temporal mix we grow in. This must be acknowledged and recognized by our coach not as a defining conviction of doom; but, rather as part of the inherent ups and downs of our lives. Our style of suffering is a cultural and historical phenomenon.

Another benefit of coaching is gaining awareness of the body dispositions and moods we tend to live in or avoid. We usually have a consistent mood for certain conversations. For instance, every time I talk to my mother, my shoulders are slumped, my muscles are tight and I’m frustrated. In being able to notice these aspects of ourselves, we can practice shifting.

Life is about practice. If I practice keeping my shoulders back and my muscles soft while speaking to my mother, an intervention on the physical level, what shows up differently emotionally, or otherwise? Take a moment now to examine how you are sitting as you read this? Are you leaning forward and reading quickly? Are you lying in a hammock drinking a Pina Colada? Notice also how your body alignment is related to your emotional state.

The body plays a major part in how we are experiencing life. Because we are a coherence, that is each part of us reflects the whole of who we are, our bodies will reflect our internal conversations and our moods, shift one and the rest will follow. At times, the entry point of change may be language; at other moments, it will be body or mood. Listen to the "Star Spangled Banner", and then listen to "Grease Lightning". You will probably notice that you inhabit very different body dispositions. The power lies in having the capacity to shift from one type of music to another when life asks it of you.

Like any modality of healing, coaching has its tools, philosophies and foundations. However, the power of coaching lies not in a recipe of how to get from A to B. Instead its power comes from bowing to the mystical unfolding of life. Two or more people come together with certain linguistic, emotional and body skills, and engage in an authentic conversation open to generating new ways of being and new possibilities. The beauty of coaching is that we know not where it will lead us and unexpectedly we enter new terrain.

© Veronica Paz Olalla - 2004

Veronica Olalla is a coach and acupuncturist, working in Boulder, Colorado – for more information, visit her website: http://www.integralacupuncture.com/