Out-of-Body Coaching, Not By Design!

Out of Body Coaching Experience – Surreal Coaching

Dear Readers, I had to write this down before I forgot about it. I had my first coaching session where I did the coaching. I haven’t coached anyone in probably a year or maybe two years. Priscilla’s health combined with our project on self-advocacy and my work at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Accessibility lab just meant that my coaching practice had to wait. However, I was given an opportunity to coach someone, who was certified through the Coaches Training Institute www.thecoaches.com to be coached and coach them.

Without delving into the utter specifics of the session, which will always remain confidential, I wanted to talk about my personal experience while coaching this person. The only words that describe it are “an out of body” coaching session. Much like when I speak in front of an audience, I felt like it wasn’t me asking questions and getting deeper into the coaching, it was just me in that person’s sphere of thinking.

My ability to listen to the tone of voice is not just manifested in the words the person is speaking, but it is manifested in their vocal modulation and breath control. Just like listening to or being a singer. But I can only say that within the 15-minute span of the coaching I did, that I was with this person and made what she thought was an insignificant boring issue into one that, by the end, had propelled her thoughts and ideas about her clients to new levels. “To boldly go where no coach has gone before!” To echo a certain fictional space-based television show. But yet, I was the catalyst for such thinking. I, Was, Not, Me! It was almost as if I was asleep asking the questions, adrift, and yet feeling so powerful as to be the one to help steer the coaching ship. It awakened in me a spirit that I think my dear Priscilla is helping to awaken, the spirit of the coach that hath lain silent for a long while. I need more sessions. More people to try and coach, to get back that feeling of helping without taking total control, aka, a consultant. I need to be Dave the coach, but be with that person in that very moment where Dancing in This Moment (a CTI concept) feels so right and whole.

Dave Bahr is the founder of In-Sightful living. He works as an advocate for persons with disabilities and a usability specialist. Schedule a Call with Dave here.

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1 thought on “Out-of-Body Coaching, Not By Design!

  1. I’m the one who was blessed to be coached by Dave today! I am an experienced coach, and part of my practice is to train and mentor other coaches, so I can say with authority that Dave is a gifted coach. His ability to listen, to “be with” is special. His intuition is spot-on. And technically, you’d never know that he hadn’t coached for awhile. What a natural!
    If you get the chance, you should give it a go!
    Paula McLeod
    Executive and Personal Development Coach
    Certified as Professional Coach by the International Coach Federation and CPCC
    http://www.SuccessbyDesignCoaching.com

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