What is Life Coaching?

    This is a question that many people ask me when I say that I’m a life coach. Sometimes I answer this question with another question: “Do you know the saying : ‘we go where our vision is’? Well, as a life coach, I help people create a clear vision of what they want, and work with them to make their vision a reality. Would you like to know more?”
    If they want to know more about the background of the this profession, I say that coaching emerged during the 1970s, mostly as executive or business coaching. Life coaching came about more recently, opening coaching to not just the professional life of an individual, but to a person’s whole life – from career, significant others, family and friends, finances, self-care, as well as social, physical and spiritual dimensions and so on. So, if a person needs assistance to clarify what she or he really, really wants from her or his life, a life coach is the professional to go to. The life coach’s job is to assist people to look towards their future, define their goals, and develop and execute plans of action to reach them.
     Usually I also clarify that the relationship between coach and client is one of a partnership, where coaches are the experts on a process, but clients are the experts on their lives. The clients are the ones who make the decisions, taking responsibility for their choices and achievements.
    Life Coaching is not psychotherapy. Clients don’t come to coaching because they need treatment for a mental illness; they are usually very functional human beings that ask professional assistance to live more meaningful and fulfilling lives.
    Life Coaches are not consultants either. Coaches are not specialists on how to fix things in peoples lives, they are professionals trained to assist people to fix their own problems. Life coaches truly follow the saying: ‘Teaching people how to fish is better than giving them fish.’
    I also explain that within life coaching there are many specialities, such as relationship coaching, health & fitness coaching, life vision coaching and so on. For instance, one of my specialities is life planing and design. I love to work with people who want to take advantage of life transitions to clarify what they really, really want from their lives and assist them to “go for it.” Many of my clients are people that are OK with their lives BUT they thrive for more. They are people interested in personal development, and they are interesting people with whom I love to work with! 
   It is important to note that coaching is a self-regulating profession, in that there aren’t governmental independent supervisory boards that regulate it. Nevertheless, there are coaching organizations with ethical standards and training criteria that certify coaches, regulate the profession and protect clients' interests. The International Coach Federation (ICF) is one such organization. You can go to their web page - coachfederation.org - to learn more about coaching in general. 
    If you have any questions about life coaching, write me through my blog or via email. If you what to try coaching, contact me to set up a free session.
     My email is ana@amazecoaching.com

See this article on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X35XidB6aU