Coaching, Explained
by Jessica Singh, MD
Suppose you have an important decision to make…
Are you no longer satisfied with the career you entered whole-heartedly, and looking to find something that better aligns with your values and purpose in life?
Are you trying to make a change in your life, but find yourself stuck?
Are you feeling that you have too much on your plate and have to do everything yourself, certain that if you don’t you’ll let others down and something will collapse?
Or you are facing a demanding situation...
Are you coping with serious illness or loss - either yours or that of a loved one?
Are you striving to care for others while caring for yourself?
These types of circumstances often prevent us from being fully present in the moment and enjoying life.
Imagine being able to evoke your natural intelligence, cultivate inner strength, and make use of the resources you already have in a way that is more conducive to your well-being. What would your situation look like then?
Would you be able to adapt your perspective to reframe whatever circumstance you are experiencing, align it with the bigger picture, and be more present in this moment?
Each of us has the natural wisdom to discern what’s best for us. Accessing this inner wisdom requires a supportive environment, both internally and externally. Externally, coaching facilitates the creation of this environment both externally by providing a confidential, nonjudgmental space; internally, by facilitating an expansion of your own self-awareness to further elicit your own natural wisdom and resources – all using your own expertise.
You have been wildly successful already without a coach. You have everything you need within you to succeed and navigate any situation. Even still, coaching can help you access other effective means of being and knowing.
In this blog, we explore the process of coaching and its benefits, how to know if you are ready for coaching, and how Sukhayu Wellness offerings are unique. At Sukhayu Wellness, we combine global and evidence-based methods of accessing inner-wisdom, including breathwork, meditation, gentle movement, creative means of self-expression, and other mind-body techniques. Our goal is to support you towards a space of further self-empowerment.
In our attempt to compile this information so you can access it easily, we created this comprehensive blog post. This blog post is long - feel free to jump around for you at your inconvenience. We recommend reading this post in its entirety to get the bigger picture; however, you may also find it useful to scroll directly to the the section(s) that interest you.
Table of Contents:
The Process of Coaching
What is Coaching?
The International Coaching Federation defines coaching as an alliance between an experienced, professionally trained coach and the participant in “a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires the participant to maximize personal and professional potential.” Coaching is designed to facilitate both the exploration and development of personal and/or professional goals, as well as the creation and implemention of a strategy for achieving those goals.
“A coach facilitates behavior change by empowering the client to self-discover values, resources, and strategies that are individualized and meaningful. The client is the expert in navigating his/her own life, based upon personal preferences and past experiences.””
What Coaching is Not
Regardless of the coach’s professional background, coaching is not professional advice nor health, medical, counselling, or therapy services.
If your coach has a unique skillset or professional background, you may ask them to consult with you – either during or separately from your coaching session. A consultant provides expert professional advice. However in health and wellness coaching, it is important to direct specific, personal medical questions to a licensed healthcare provider. Health and wellness coaches work in adjunct with your healthcare providers, not independently of them. At Sukhayu Wellness, we do not provide any medical services (advice, diagnosis, or treatment), therapy, or counseling.
“The coach’s primary role is NOT that of a content expert or educator who diagnoses, advises, or instructs the client on what to do.””
Coaching is also distinct from mentorship. Mentorship is a relationship where, “one individual who is more knowledgeable and experienced guides a less knowledgeable and less experienced individual…”¹ The fundamental philosophy of coaching, on the other hand, is that the client is the expert.
Coaching for all Aspects of Life
Sukhayu Wellness LLC offers a uniquely integrative and holistic model of coaching.
The key terms in this coaching model are:
“Integrative” - refers to working with/combining multiple modalities. We use various universal and evidence-based approaches, integrating mind-body techniques, imagery, yoga, Ayurveda and more. Multiple ways of being and knowing; multiple ways of accessing inner wisdom.
“Holistic” - looking at the individual as a whole; encompasses all domains of our existence: physical, mental, spiritual, and social. Holistic coaching takes an expansive view of the self, which is what makes it so powerful.
Integrative Approaches
These integrated approaches are all essentially mind-body techniques, which allow us to let go and unwind.
These include, but are not limited to:
Tools for self-expression and self-awareness, such as drawing, journaling, movement, breath
Kinesthetics, or awareness of our own body’s motions
Yoga, meditation, and breathwork
We also offer mind-body skills groups for communities and organizations.
Mind-body techniques help us overcome our “fight or flight” stress response, stimulating an active relaxation response throughout our entire mind-body complex. This results in enhanced self-awareness, concentration, and access to our own inner wisdom.
We all know that when we are stressed, it’s common to develop tunnel vision and lose sight of the big picture. Imagine you’re a train conductor on the New York City subway, and all you see in front of you are the lights on the track. Integrating mind-body techniques expands your awareness and enables you to see beyond the track in front of you, beyond the tunnel itself, so that you are now able to visualize the grass and teeming life above you, the sky, and ultimately, the entire Cosmos. At Sukhayu Wellness, we nurture life’s infinite unlimited potential.
“Dr. Singh is gifted with a diverse toolkit to bring healing. We would start with a prayer, to set an intention and invocation for the Divine to guide us in the healing and coaching process.
Her process of leading me through imagery and her creating so much space to trust my intuition was beautiful. I remember this one time when I was feeling so ‘out of it,’ and we did a bliss dance with music and drumbeats. I was so uplifted by that experience.””
At Sukhayu Wellness, we do not endorse one religious belief over another. We welcome and respect people of all backgrounds and have experience with working with faith-based health and healing techniques. Our approaches are universal. Click here to learn more about Sukhayu Wellness.
Benefits of Coaching
In coaching, you can explore any topic of interest. These are some common circumstances in which coaching has been proven to be beneficial:
Academics and career development
Life transitions
Decision-making
Enhancing health
Creating and sustaining change
Balancing self-care with care for others
Acute illness and chronic disease
Chronic pain
Sports and athletics
Performance
Exam preparation
Demanding situations
In sum, no topic is too big or small. Coaching can benefit all areas of life.
How Do You Know If You Are Ready For Coaching?
“Behavior change occurs in five distinct stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance.” ”
The Transtheoretical Model of Change² describes five stages the process of change:
During precontemplation, we become open to discussion or thought about a prospective change, and begin cultivating awareness about it.
Contemplation involves a shift towards even more — and more conscious — consideration of the prospective change. More time is spent thinking about the reasons to pursue change, rather than the reasons not to.
During the preparation phase, we prepare to take action in the form of concrete steps or planning.
The “action” phase is self-explanatory. As we act, we observe in order to determine whether the action is practical and sustainable. If not, we adapt.
Maintenance is a continuous process that opens up new avenues to support continued shifts in the desired direction.
A coach supports you in any stage of this cycle.
Where are you in the process of change?
So, how do you know if you are ready for coaching?
As you see, this is a trick question. No matter where you are, the answer is yes. Just like any other inner work, what you put in is what you get out. Your mindset determines.
Our Services
Individual Coaching
Are you interested in discovering what coaching can do for you? Contact us to experience one-on-one integrative holistic coaching. We would be happy to work with you.
Group Coaching
How often do we have the opportunity to interact with each other in a positive, respectful way that contributes to both individual and collective well-being? How often do we connect on a level that enhances our own wellness while building a sense of community?
Unfortunately, these opportunities are rare for many people.
In group coaching, we learn from ourselves and others in a supportive, non-judgmental environment conducive to inner exploration, self-discovery, and the enhancement of our own well-being. This style of coaching affords each participant their own protected space in a group where they can interact free from external attempts to fix, interrupt, or analyze. Each participant upholds the integrity of the group by adhering to the guidelines — there is no crosstalk or interpretation of anyone’s sharing.
Participants in group coaching also practice the art of listening as a form of learning; basic human needs are the same regardless of our diverse backgrounds. Despite our differences, we share core issues and desires. What surfaces for someone else is often relevant to our own life experiences.
Physician Coaching
Physician coaching refers, of course, to the coaching of physicians. In this field, a coach may or may not have a medical background. Though relatively few physicians are also coaches, the number of professionals with training in both areas is growing.
Physician coaching has been proven to mitigate burnout.¹ Given that approximately 44% of physicians suffer from burnout³, the potential benefits of coaching are substantial for both individuals and organizations.
In the pilot study by Dyrbe, et. al¹, 88 physicians who received professional coaching evidenced significant reductions in emotional exhaustion and overall symptoms of burnout. Study participants also experienced improvements in overall quality of life and resilience. All this after receiving a total of just 3.5 hours of coaching by a professional coach!
Session themes for physician coaching often focus on professional fulfillment, leadership development, improving efficiency, self-care, cultivating community, and integrating personal and professional life.¹
Some argue that coaching is an extravagant cost for healthcare providers; however, the cost of physician turnover is incomparably greater. The cost of provider turnover is a staggering but mitigable cost to organizations. In fact, the cost of replacing a single healthcare provider is roughly double or triple the provider’s salary.³
How much is your well-being and professional fulfillment, or that of your colleagues, worth?
“Medical training emphasizes perfectionism, denial of personal vulnerability, and delayed gratification…Set in a professional culture that stigmatizes weakness and self-care, these factors contribute to burnout.””
As a physician myself, I did not even know what coaching was until I discovered it by chance. At the time, I was working in a hospital where the chair of the department sponsored a pilot coaching program for a select number of faculty. Given the cost of coaching, this was exceptionally kind of her — not to mention savvy. This woman understood the value of supporting her staff to enhance their well-being and professional development. I was grateful to have her as a leader; she truly appreciated her faculty.
Our faculty coaching group met with a professional coach for two hours monthly over the course of nine months, and we each participated in an additional one-on-one coaching session every month. By the end of the program, I found that we had all transformed on two levels: individually and as a group. Each coaching session provided a space of psychological safety, A place of community. I connected deeply with the other faculty members in the room — people with whom I’d never have interacted on this level otherwise We shared trust, vulnerability, and acceptance. I was so inspired by this experience that I wanted to do this work for others; eventually, I even became a coach myself. Camaraderie brings support and hope in even the most stressful of environments.
“Coaching presupposes sufficient inner resources and the necessary expertise to tackle life challenges, and provides the guidance to harness these internal mechanisms.””
Case Studies
This chart is a summary of experiences — case studies of our clients whose lives have been transformed by integrative holistic coaching.
Summary and Next Steps
Congratulations! You made it to the end. In this blog, we’ve discussed the process of coaching and its benefits.
Here are the main take-aways:
Coaching is designed to facilitate the exploration and development of personal and/or professional goals, as well as to help you create and implement a strategy for achieving those goals. It supports you in expanding of your own self-awareness to further elicit your own natural wisdom and resources - all using your own innate expertise.
Coaching is not mentoring nor medical advice.
At Sukhayu Wellness, our offerings are uniquely integrative and holistic; we incorporate global and evidence-based mind-body techniques. These techniques balance our “fight or flight” stress response, stimulating an active relaxation response throughout our entire mind-body complex. This enhances self-awareness, concentration, and access to our own inner wisdom.
Coaching is powerful in both individual and group settings. It is also an effective tool in any organizational setting to enhance professional fulfillment, promote personal resilience, cultivate community, and mitigate burnout.
Remember, coaching only augments your own success.
Contact us if you are interested in pursuing coaching together.
If you are interested in group coaching specifically, let us know as groups are formed on a continuing basis.
We hope you have enjoyed this blog. Subscribe to our newsletter to continue learning, as well as to receive news and updates! If you have feedback or questions, please email us at wellness@sukhayu.life.
References:
1) Dyrbye, L. N., Shanafelt, T. D., Gill, P. R., Satele, D. V., & West, C. P. (2019). Effect of a professional coaching intervention on the well-being and distress of physicians: a pilot randomized clinical trial. JAMA internal medicine, 179(10), 1406-1414
2) Theeboom, T., Van Vianen, A. E., & Beersma, B. (2017). A temporal map of coaching. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 1352.
3) Shanafelt, T., Goh, J., & Sinsky, C. (2017). The business case for investing in physician well-being. JAMA internal medicine, 177(12), 1826-1832.
Resources:
Further Reading:
The Wisdom of the Whole: Coaching for Joy, Health, and Success by Linda Bark, PhD, RN, MCC. Create Space Press. (2011)
