Advance HE logo

Tweetchat No 8: Mindfulness and coaching

by Rossana Espinoza March 1, 2018 8:50 am0

Mindfulness and coaching

 

In last year’s SDF conference, one of Clutterbuck’s pearls of wisdom was a wonderful question: how do we show ourselves compassion everyday as coaches? This brings to light that as coaches we do feel and demonstrate compassion for those we are working with, but how about us? and how about our coaching practice?

Mindfulness has been a significant part of ancient Eastern spiritual traditions. Mindfulness opens us to appreciate and work with the ‘universal vulnerabilities and challenges’, which are inherent in the human condition (Crane, 2009).

Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as the awareness that arises from the moment in which we pay attention to an experience. Mindfulness occurs when we pay attention in a way that is purposeful, in the present moment, and coming from an spirit of acceptance.

Put it simply, mindfulness is ‘being aware of what is going on, as it is arising, attending deeply and directly with it and relating to it with acceptance’, as beautifully expressed by Rebecca Crane, mindfulness is ‘a powerful act of participatory observation’.

Nonetheless, as many of us experience, mindfulness feels like hard work. Being present and going deeply into the moment feels taxing. Much more appealing perhaps is to throw ourselves into multi-tasking and feeling busy!

If we face it, we may invite ourselves to a wonderful path towards (Crane, 2009):

  • Awareness development
  • A framework of kindness, curiosity and willingness to be present with the unfolding of experience
  • A deeper understanding of human vulnerability

Are you ready?

 

Our next Coaching Tweetchat seeks to explore the following questions:

  1. What is mindfulness?12:05 pm
  2. When would you use an approach involving coaching and mindfulness?12:15 pm
  3. What mindfulness techniques have you used in your coaching?12:25 pm
  4. What are the tensions and challenges in the use or potential use of mindfulness in your coaching practice? 12:35
  5. How do you show compassion for yourself as a coach every day?12:45 pm

 

List of references

Crane, R. (2009). Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy. Hove: Routledge

Newby, A. (2018). Mindfulness as a coaching tool. ICF

 

Resources

Riddle, D (2012). Three keys to mindful leadership coaching. Forbes.
Laura Trice: The power of saying thank you – “Why won’t I say will you praise me this way”