What is coaching?
Modern coaching practice has its origins in the 1950s and the idea that everyone is naturally creative, imaginative and whole. Humanistic psychology (Carl Rogers, Fritz Perls and others) assumes that every person has the resource to understand themselves, to change and to grow in their attitude.
I trained at the Somatic School in London to become an ICF cert. Somatic Coach training programme at the Somatic School in London and I am reproducing their definition of coaching here, which is fully in line with the ethical principles of the International Coaching Federation:
“Coaching is partnering in a co-creative process of enquiry in service to the potential which is seeking to emerge in the life of the client.” (Somatic School London)
Coaching is partnering in a co-creative process of enquiry in service to the potential which is seeking to emerge in the life of the client.
Coaching is not psychotherapy. Psychotherapy deals with a person's life, it seeks a diagnosis and wants to know how it has been affected by the past. Coaching deals with a person's life and how he/she can change this life for the future, it is a process of ‘being with’, accepting, and accompanying alongside.
What is a coach doing?
A coach initially only enables one thing: a conversation and an encounter in which someone is explicitly listened to with the aim of gaining new insights. The coach does not solve the other person's problems, but facilitates the search for meaning.
In my understanding of coaching, my work is not primarily solution-orientated, but initially only awareness-orientated. This gives clients a freedom of choice that often unexpectedly expands their range of possibilities. At that moment, blockages can be released and the numerous facets of this space of possibilities can be realised.
And what is Somatic Coaching?
‘Soma’ comes from the Greek and means ‘body’. Somatic coaching is body-orientated coaching that focuses on the whole person - body and spirit, emotion and mind. Sometimes this is also called ‘bodymind’, which refers to the body's implicit knowledge of its inner and outer connections and organic intelligence. Even if we include cognitive processes, there is always an openness to wanting to perceive what the body has to tell us. It is important to distinguish between conceptual and physical or embodied self-perception - and that since the Enlightenment, the latter, ‘primitive’ self-perception has been neglected. It was only during the period of climate change and the ‘Anthropocene’ that it was slowly recognised that humans are part of nature and its laws. If only the conceptual part of us works, which follows constructs, sooner or later people feel distanced and alienated from nature and ultimately from themselves.
Humans are also nature.
In Somatic Coaching, we focus on what and how something is said - with the help of the body. Here I have also learnt a lot from animals, which have no written language and only communicate through sounds, bodies and energy.
What approaches do I use in a session?
Authority of the body
The client is the expert of their body and their processes, they guide the process. We trust and listen to the body's impulses and knowledge.
As a client, you always have the freedom to move, express yourself, sit, stand, shake yourself, lie down - I encourage you to follow these impulses, even if it is unfamiliar.
We cultivate a new connection to the body and learn to appreciate the authority and language of the body.
Slowing down
We slow down our actions in a coaching session. We spend moments centring ourselves and listening to the body. What happens from these moments we trust as valuable insights and opportunities.
Experiment
In Somatic Coaching we also work with experiments and play. Nothing happens without the client's invitation and consent. We ‘try something different’ are processes that we invite.
We are always non-judgemental, curious and with an open mind.
What is not yet known to us
From a 'safe space', we are curious about what we are not yet aware of. Body-orientated coaching looks behind the smile, is sometimes non-linear and spontaneous.
Non-verbal communication
We are open to non-verbal communication and there are moments when we do not speak.
Corrections allowed
It is important that you as a client know that you can always interrupt and correct me as a coach. This knowledge means that your space is safe. Only you have the authority over you and your process.
Simplicity
When it stops being simple, we stop.
Permission to experiment
In experimentation, we leave room for the messy, the magical, the human.
The body in motion
Whenever possible, we allow the body freedom of movement, experimentally, at the pace of the body.
The intelligence and wisdom of animals
I have learnt most things from animals. As a therapist for animal-human relationships, these experiences also flow into my work. Are you fascinated by animals? Then you've come to the right place.
Resolving traumas together
Are you not only a sensitive personality with responsibility, but also an animal lover? Then it may be that your animal has a lot to tell you! Embark on a journey of healing together and get to know your pet in a different way. Especially if you and your animal want to be more relaxed, then learning together and befriending the body is the most deeply connected work we can do with our animal.
If your body knew what was good for you, would you want to learn from it?
I work according to ethical principles with professionals, people who are responsible for other people, artists and highly sensitive people.
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Session procedure
In the first few moments we will explain the topic you want to talk about and the clarity you want. I will ask questions of clarification and will cover the topic in such a way that its depth is appropriate for the time we spend together. The actual coaching process is fluid and is usually initiated with a body-centred orientation. We spend the last few minutes providing feedback and an outlook.
If you are undergoing psychotherapeutic treatment, please let me know. I work trauma-sensitively and pay attention to therapeutic boundaries that coaching should not exceed.
Things you can remember
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The lead is yours.
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Trust the process.
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Make yourself comfortable.
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Slowness is the new speed.
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Be experimental and treat your body as a laboratory.
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See Somatic Coaching as a walk without a map or destination, following chance.
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Silence is golden.
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Take time to integrate experience.
I look forward to working with you!
Susanne Neubauer