I appreciate this definition of coaching from the International Coaching Federation.

Coaching is a partnership between coach and client. The coach provides a creative and thought-provoking process that inspires the client to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership.

The coach and client relationship is bi-directional. This means that we learn from one another and we teach one another. The success of our partnership is contingent on full commmittment to the relationship and to your transformation.

We move through the world with a mind and a body. Our thoughts and beliefs are shaped by our personal experiences and the systems and structures we live within. These thoughts and beliefs don’t merely occupy our heads. They become part of our tissues and subconscious. They inform how and when we take action. They even influence how we relate to others.

When we are looking to change not just the way we think but how we show up in the world, how we take action and how we relate to others, we have to learn to include our emotions and our sensations - our entire body - as wisdom. This knowledge helps us understand why we are the way we are and what might need to change to live in this world the way we desire. We cannot merely will ourselves to transform, we must engage all parts of ourselves in the process.

Reduce Stress: My overwhelm and stress is negatively impacting the way I show up for my colleagues and loved ones. I want to learn more about the sources of my overwhelm and develop restorative practices.

Develop as a Leader: I want to receive feedback with an open heart and mind, instead of feeling defensive and stuck.

Connect to Body: I want to build a relationship to my body. I want to understand what my emotions, sensations and physical form might be communicating to me.

Embrace Conflict: I shut down during conflict. I want to change my relationship with conflict and feel it as an opportunity to build deeper relationship and unlock new possibilities.

Embodiment practices are ancient and they are evolving in real time as people around the world adapt them to our current conditions.

I am sharing Living Lineages, a document put together by Strozzi Somatics and generative somatics that attempts to credit and trace the various influences that have shaped this field and form of transformation. Some important teachers I link to my own knowledge building, practice and perspective include Resmaa Menakem, Carlin Quinn, Staci Haines, Dr. Rae Johnson, adrienne maree brown, Kai Cheng Thom, Dr. Scot Lyons and Manuela Mischke-Reeds.