Somatic (Life) Coaching

  • "Life coaching" refers to a process where a hired coach assists a client in identifying and achieving personal goals, overcoming obstacles, and making changes or shifts in their lives. This can involve a variety of areas, including career, relationships, health, personal growth, and more.

    There are many “niches” in the field of coaching and a coach may specialize in one or more areas. Examples include: Health and Wellness coaching, Executive and/ or Career coaching, Life Transition coaching, Grief coaching, etc. For any particular population or issue, there will be folks who specialize in that area.

    My primary area of interest and expertise is the mindbody

    The concept of "mind-body" (sometimes written as one word - “mindbody”) refers to the inseparable connection between our minds and our bodies, emphasizing the influence and interplay between mental and physical processes. Mind-body refers to the idea that our thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and attitudes have a significant impact on our physical well-being and vice versa. This holistic approach recognizes that the mind and body are not separate entities but rather integrated aspects of our wholeness.

    Adherents of of this philosophy (myself included) understand that mental and emotional states can affect bodily health and that physical well-being can influence our mental and emotional state. It acknowledges the intricate relationship between psychological factors, such as stress, anxiety, and happiness, and their corresponding physiological responses, such as changes in heart rate, hormone levels, or immune system function.

  • Drawing from the worlds of neuroscience, mindfulness and movement, somatic or body-oriented coaching is a method of integrating the intelligence of the body within a traditional coaching framework. It acknowledges that our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations are interconnected aspects of our whole selves and that our bodies can provide valuable insights into our mental and emotional states. By honoring and cultivating body awareness and inviting our body’s participation more fully into sessions, we often find connections and insights that we would not otherwise have access to. Once surfaced, these body-based insights can then be invited into our conscious awareness and integrated into our cognitive “knowing” moving forward.

    Goals for somatic coaching may include stress management, work-life balance, personal and/or professional growth, navigating life transitions, business development or any number of other areas you’re interested in exploring.

    In this model, we assume that you are whole, that nothing needs to be fixed and that you have the answers. We trust that, if invited into the process, the physical, animal body of our being has valuable insights and understanding that we can tap into in service of moving toward a fuller, more embodied way of being in the world.

    “Knowledge is only rumor until it lives in the bones.”

    ~ Asaro tribe of Papua New Guinea by way of Brene Brown

  • Somatic coaching can benefit anyone with a life, a body and a mind! A somatic or body-oriented approach offers a holistic and integrative pathway to personal and professional growth and well-being.

    Techniques and insights gained from somatic coaching can be applied to most aspects of life and given that everything is interconnected, a shift in professional strategy may yield new respect, opportunities or responsibility at work but will result in shifts elsewhere in your life. Any change that is made in a positive and generative direction will have a life of its own, rippling out in all directions. Often in surprising and life-affirming ways.

    You might explore a somatic approach to coaching if you are:

    Experiencing stress, anxiety, or burnout: Somatic coaching can help alleviate stress, manage anxiety, and prevent burnout by helping people cultivate mindfulness and body awareness, enabling them to better recognize early signs of stress, anxiety, or burnout. This awareness allows individuals to take proactive steps to manage their emotional and physical states before they escalate.

    Seeking personal growth and self-awareness: Somatic coaching can help deepen self-awareness, facilitate personal growth, and empower individuals to make more conscious choices in their lives by exploring the mind-body connection.

    A professional looking to strengthen performance, find accountability or simply reawaken your enthusiasm for what you do: Business professionals, athletes, artists, and other high-performers can benefit from somatic coaching to improve focus, creativity, and adaptability, leading to enhanced performance in their respective fields.

    Individuals navigating life transitions: Somatic coaching can provide support and guidance for those facing major life changes, ranging from things like career shifts or relationship challenges to personal loss or challenges presented by aging.

    Those working on relationships and communication: Somatic coaching can enhance communication and conflict resolution skills by helping individuals understand the current patterns and behaviors at play and to explore strategies for shifting those patterns.

    People interested in mindfulness and meditation: Somatic coaching can be part of deepening mindfulness practices cultivating greater body awareness and presence.

  • I bring to coaching 30+ years of working with folks one-on-one and in groups. Beginning (way back when) with customer service, followed by a wildly different 20 years of bodywork and teaching - I’ve worked with people to find solutions, explore new ways of connecting with themselves and new information and to step more confidently into their lives. I’ve facilitated the learning of complex topics like anatomy and biomechanics and I’ve worked with individuals as a bodyworker with the goal of helping them find comfort and a new way of being in their bodies and relating to physical reality. In coaching, I’m able to move away from the role of “expert” and instead lean into the role of witness and companion. In coaching, I get to hold space for your process and to help you lead the way toward your own understanding.

    I ask really good questions. I’m on your side; unconditionally. I believe that we are all whole, have always been whole and are not in need of fixing. I think that the brilliance of what our animal bodies do for us on a daily basis is magical and that we don't actually have “bad habits” or “shortcomings” or “compensation patterns” but brilliant strategies that we now find ourselves seeking to intentionally shift. What most of us need is the space and time to think (and move and feel!) our way through our conundrums and challenges in warm accompaniment.

  • I’m committing to transparency and equity in coaching by offering all sessions at a sliding scale and leaving it to you to decide what rate best meets your life circumstances.

    Cost-per-session range is from $75.00 to 175.00 per 60 min session*.

    For those who have financial privilege and can contribute more than the standard cost of the session towards the community support fund - $175.00

    For those who have financial security and can pay for the true cost of cost of a standard 60 min session - $125.00

    For those who have financial need/vulnerability that prohibits paying the full cost of a standard session, and would like community support funds to be made available to you, the community supported rate is $75.00.

    *For those who have financial need/vulnerability that prohibits paying any of the amounts listed above, please be in touch to arrange something that feels good for both of us. Community Support funds will be available.

    For more information about sliding scale pricing in service to economic justice as well as more detailed definitions of financial privilege vs stability vs vulnerability, click here.

  • Yes and no. I trust that within our first conversation* or a session or two at the most, you and I will figure out if what you are needing is a short term boost or support with a long term project. If it's the first, pay as you go! Easy peasy.

    If it’s the latter, you and I will come up with a game plan regarding the number of sessions and cost.

    Bespoke packages are designed with several things in mind - how much support you need, what you hope to accomplish with support over a longer period of time, etc.

    Generally a bespoke package may be a series of 4, 8 or 12 weekly pre-paid sessions spread out over the course of a month or two or three. Or, perhaps you would like a bi-monthly session with weekly check-ins for accountability or perhaps you need a more focused approach - like meeting twice a week for 3 weeks - for a short term project or issue. Whatever you need, together we can find what works best for you.

    * Please be in touch to set up a short Zoom or phone call to see if we are a good fit for each other. You can schedule online here.

Overview of a Coaching Session

This is to let you know a little bit about what to expect from a body-oriented (somatic) coaching session especially if you have not explored coaching before.

First and foremost; coaching is not therapy. A primary distinction, generally speaking, is that therapy tends to be backward facing or looking at the past, often exploring reasons why we ended up where we are. Coaching is generally future focused and geared toward exploring how we can move forward from wherever we are. 

Classical coaching has a framework within which a body-oriented approach can be practiced. Our coaching session will be an hour long. You and I will spend the first few minutes settling in; perhaps catching up a bit before getting started. The middle part of a session can look like almost anything but often includes the following elements:

  • Goal setting and agenda discussion - Deciding together how best to spend our time together.

  • Assessment of your current situation - Figuring out where we are now, helps define a path forward

  • Exploration and self-reflection - This is where the fun stuff happens and new connections are made!

  • Goal refinement and action planning - Taking any insights and putting them to use.

  • Identifying blocks to forward movement or momentum - This will help clarify strategies for moving forward.

  • Accountability and progress review (If needed).

The last 5 minutes or so will be used to close the session, to wrap things up and say farewell.

While much of our session may be conversational, in body-oriented/ somatic coaching, we have the opportunity to invite our “soma” into the conversation. Our bodies have been with us from the very beginning and hold all that we have experienced and been in relationship to. As such, our bodies are a rich source of information and insight. There is sometimes a need to honor our past experience as it pertains to our current situation, so please know that nothing is “off limits” per se. You and I, however, may find ourselves focusing more on finding clarity about what is happening right now and how it can be explored or experienced in a way that might provide a shift in perspective of felt sense of the situation.

In somatic or body-oriented coaching we lean into the idea that our organism/ animal body is entirely whole as it is and is inherently intelligent. We trust that it operates and organizes in ways that are often below our level of conscious thought or understanding. In somatic coaching, we give ourselves permission to explore and trust this aspect of our knowing. 

Your role is to bring something to our session that you would like to explore, an open mind and heart and a willingness to trust in a process. My role is to provide space and support as you think (and feel and move!) through it. We might utilize a variety of ways to access your inner knowledge about your current conundrum. We may explore movement (or stillness), body sensations as well as thoughts and emotions that may arise.  Anything that presents itself within the session is useful and is welcome. Please know that while I may offer feedback, reflection or observation, my role is one of witness and support person, not a giver of advice. I’m here to accompany you in your process and provide facilitation and support where needed.

I enter into this partnership with you with the understanding that you already possess all the answers. You are the expert about you. Sometimes, questions need to be explored in the presence of another in order for answers to solidify and for them to fully find a home in your life. That’s basically what coaching is.

“Coaching is two people coming together to think about one of them.”

~ Claire Pedric