Wellness is the complete integration of body, mind, and spirit -- the realization that everything we do, think, feel, and believe has an effect on our state of well-being. ~Greg Anderson
To answer the question, "What is a holistic life coach?", one must first start with the question, “What is a life coach?” A life coach is someone who helps individuals, couples or groups with their problems. The goal is to assist people in finding solutions to make their lives better. Life coaches usually have specialized niches. Some focus on business; some focus on nutrition; others focus on love and romance. My focus as a life coach is on healing: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Rather than using the generic term of life coach, many life coaches create a unique name for themselves such as a Financial Prosperity Coach or an Academic Success Coach or Integrative Health Coach. It helps clients better understand the focus of that coach’s specialization. On the practical side, specific titles also help with search engine optimization and promoting one’s business.
There is no official certification or licensing for life coaches. When I decided to become a life coach, I investigated getting certified because that certification designation on a website adds credibility in many people’s minds. However, if you see a life coach who says they are certified, that often just means they paid money to an independent organization. I could start a life coaching certification program today and start certifying life coaches myself: There’s no oversight. Many life coaching certification programs require no more than a financial donation (usually $75+), and then they provide you with a certificate saying you’re certified. A few do require some kind of training before the certify you. Overall, though, life coaching certification means absolutely nothing. What matters more with life coaches than certification is their life experiences, their training, their personality, and their natural abilities.
So what makes a holistic life coach different than a life coach? A holistic life coach focuses on the mind-body-spirit connection that exists in each of us. We are not just logical beings who live in our brains. We’re emotional and spiritual beings as well. Stress affects our body which affects our mind which affects our emotions. While many of us would like to just take a painkiller and make that pain in our knees go away, but often such attempts fail because they don’t also work at eliminating emotional trauma or issues behind the pain.
In trying to treat a human as a fully compartmentalized being as our society does, one fails to see the interconnection within us. Many of us would like to believe that our brain is in our head and is generally separate from our heart which is in our chest. We’d like to believe that our heart is an organ that pumps blood. However, science is slowly coming to realize that organs do far more than just a physical job, and the brain is not the only source of emotion and thought in our body. One of the ways this is coming to be understood is through organ transplants. It’s not uncommon for individual recipients to take on qualities from their donors without realizing that those traits belonged to the donors. Clearly demonstrated in those cases, more happens with organs than just physical function.
A holistic life coach, then, works to integrate all parts of a human together in order to achieve healing and success. Holistic life coaching recognizes that we are souls with bodies, not bodies with souls. This approach to healing can succeed when other ways fail because it looks for a variety of root causes, not just what is obviously on the surface.
I feel very blessed to be able to help others heal on so many levels. It’s always amazing to work with people who are willing to take the leap of faith and try something new and different. Watching the amazing results they are able to achieve when they explore new perspectives in healing is truly a sacred gift.
© 2014 Green Heart Guidance
To answer the question, "What is a holistic life coach?", one must first start with the question, “What is a life coach?” A life coach is someone who helps individuals, couples or groups with their problems. The goal is to assist people in finding solutions to make their lives better. Life coaches usually have specialized niches. Some focus on business; some focus on nutrition; others focus on love and romance. My focus as a life coach is on healing: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Rather than using the generic term of life coach, many life coaches create a unique name for themselves such as a Financial Prosperity Coach or an Academic Success Coach or Integrative Health Coach. It helps clients better understand the focus of that coach’s specialization. On the practical side, specific titles also help with search engine optimization and promoting one’s business.
There is no official certification or licensing for life coaches. When I decided to become a life coach, I investigated getting certified because that certification designation on a website adds credibility in many people’s minds. However, if you see a life coach who says they are certified, that often just means they paid money to an independent organization. I could start a life coaching certification program today and start certifying life coaches myself: There’s no oversight. Many life coaching certification programs require no more than a financial donation (usually $75+), and then they provide you with a certificate saying you’re certified. A few do require some kind of training before the certify you. Overall, though, life coaching certification means absolutely nothing. What matters more with life coaches than certification is their life experiences, their training, their personality, and their natural abilities.
So what makes a holistic life coach different than a life coach? A holistic life coach focuses on the mind-body-spirit connection that exists in each of us. We are not just logical beings who live in our brains. We’re emotional and spiritual beings as well. Stress affects our body which affects our mind which affects our emotions. While many of us would like to just take a painkiller and make that pain in our knees go away, but often such attempts fail because they don’t also work at eliminating emotional trauma or issues behind the pain.
In trying to treat a human as a fully compartmentalized being as our society does, one fails to see the interconnection within us. Many of us would like to believe that our brain is in our head and is generally separate from our heart which is in our chest. We’d like to believe that our heart is an organ that pumps blood. However, science is slowly coming to realize that organs do far more than just a physical job, and the brain is not the only source of emotion and thought in our body. One of the ways this is coming to be understood is through organ transplants. It’s not uncommon for individual recipients to take on qualities from their donors without realizing that those traits belonged to the donors. Clearly demonstrated in those cases, more happens with organs than just physical function.
A holistic life coach, then, works to integrate all parts of a human together in order to achieve healing and success. Holistic life coaching recognizes that we are souls with bodies, not bodies with souls. This approach to healing can succeed when other ways fail because it looks for a variety of root causes, not just what is obviously on the surface.
I feel very blessed to be able to help others heal on so many levels. It’s always amazing to work with people who are willing to take the leap of faith and try something new and different. Watching the amazing results they are able to achieve when they explore new perspectives in healing is truly a sacred gift.
© 2014 Green Heart Guidance
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