The Art of Somatic Coaching: Embodying Skillful Action, Wisdom, and Compassion

The Art of Somatic Coaching is an innovative guide to body-based coaching--utilizing the body as the starting point to help individuals, teams, and organizations embody their full potential. Through body awareness practices, bodywork, and the development of perceptive skills, somatic coaches can shift their own way of being and offer the same transformative tools to their clients. Richard Strozzi-Heckler, PhD, author, nationally known consultant, and founder of the Strozzi Institute, introduces the methodology and core principles of his embodied learning approach that he has introduced to thousands of individuals and business leaders worldwide. The Art of Somatic Coaching introduces the concepts and principles of coaching with practices that include body awareness, bodywork, and mindfulness for both the coach and the client. Author and expert coach, Richard Strozzi-Heckler, PhD, explains that in order to achieve truly sustainable changes in individuals, teams, and organizations, it is necessary to implement body-oriented somatic practices in order to dissolve habits, behaviors, and interpretations of the world that are no longer relevant. He explains that these ways of being are integrated in the body--at the level of the musculature, organs, and nervous system. By implementing a somatic approach, these patterns can be shifted in order for transformation to occur. Opening with a discussion of the roots of Somatic Coaching, the book describes the emotional and physical cost of being distanced from our bodies. Originating from the rationalistic idea that the mind and body are separate, this sense of disconnection spurred the emergence of the field of somatics that views the body as not just a physiological entity, but as the center of our lived experience in the world. Out of this philosophy, Somatic Coaching was developed as a way to cultivate the self through the body. Methods in this book include- . Somatic awareness--becoming aware of sensations . Somatic opening--includes bodywork to release held patterns in the body . Somatic practices--meditation, movement, and being present in everyday life The social context in which one is raised, the supportive, healing force of the outdoors and nature as well as acknowledgment of the spirit are also woven into the practice. Through these practices, a rhythm of unfolding occurs in what Strozzi-Heckler describes as an Arc of Transformation--moving in stages from conditioned tendencies to a new satisfying and fulfilling way of being that is fully embodied. Contents- Introduction; Chapter One- A Short Distance but a Big Cost; Chapter Two- Coaching; Chapter Three- Somatics and Somatic Coaching; Chapter Four- The Methodology; Chapter Five- The Rhythm of Action; Chapter Six- The Somatic Arc of Transformation