Weekly musings, 2/26/16: the benefits of coaching

Last week, a client said to me, “you know, these annoying little breathing exercises are making a huge difference in my daily life? Whenever I find myself doing something hard or feeling anxious, I breathe and it makes everything more manageable.”

This exchange highlights the benefit of a coach. She finds the breathing exercises annoying, and likely wouldn’t explore breathing on her own. She was referred to me with chronic neck pain; the combination of breathing exercises, progressive exercise, and the massage therapist she sees have eliminated the her chronic discomfort; the breathing was an instrumental part of that. 

We all have things we don’t like doing. I don’t like jumping, my husband doesn’t love isometrics, and my years of working with clients have taught me one person’s favorite exercise is another person’s nemesis. We (naturally) avoid the things we dislike when left to our own devices, but often these are the things we need. An outside set of eyes can be helpful in picking out what we can improve upon. Another, less cost prohibitive option is following a really well thought out pre-written program, either online or in a book. I tried for years to coach myself; I have made more strength and flexibility gains in the last 12 months following a program written by someone else than in my last five years of training. If you have goals of gaining strength or mobility, consider contracting out; your body will thank you for it.

*Early bird registration for the Nature and Movement retreat ends March 1; more information can be found here: http://www.bewellpt.com/events/2016/9/11/mind-body-nature-a-two-day-movement-retreat