Author Archives: Specialist Online Dictionary

Life Coaching – An Introduction To The Revolution In Personal Improvement

Life coaching arrived in the UK around 10 years ago, having started in the United States some 10 years earlier. The idea of life coaching is to define goals and work out how you can achieve them. Whereas therapy analyses the past, with life coaching the emphasis is on the future and how the client can fulfil their potential.

A life coach will not judge their clients but work with them on issues causing difficulties in their life. They will help the client understand problems, see what may be holding them back, work out solutions, set goals and concentrate on ways to change for the better. Life coaching will usually involve a series of regular sessions over several months and contact with your coach can be by telephone, email or personal visit.

Life coaches will have different styles and use a variety of methods in their work, depending on the needs of their client. Many will use experience gained in disciplines such as sociology, psychology, career or other forms of counselling. However, life coaching is not intended for those with psychological illness.

Individual clients come from all sorts of backgrounds and maybe looking for anything from major life changes to a few small adjustments to put them back on track. Although clients are often individuals, many companies also use life coaches to work with their employees in house. Improving motivation, developing leadership and teambuilding skills, or managing working relationships could be some of the areas covered.

How can life coaching help me?

If you are at a transition point in your personal or professional life then coaching can give you the confidence to set priorities, take decisions and make changes which will ultimately help you achieve a happier life. It is all about taking charge of your life and getting the results you want, rather than drifting and allowing things to happen around you.

In your working life perhaps you would like to improve your career opportunities, achieve more or develop your skills, but you are not sure how. Alternatively perhaps you would like to become self-employed, or simply need a change. A new challenge can give you a sense of purpose but you may lack the confidence to proceed. Life coaching will help you understand and accept your weaknesses, but also enable you to believe in yourself and make the most of your strengths and abilities.

In your personal life you may feel you need or want to change your lifestyle. Perhaps you would like to lose weight, improve your health and fitness, manage stress or gain a better work/life balance. While you may well know what you should be doing, actually keeping up lifestyle changes is difficult at times. Coaching can help you identify exactly why you want to change, why earlier attempts may have faltered, and to view the process in a more positive way. Crucially the targets you set will be realistic so that your motivation and the benefits of change can be maintained.

Good relationships with those around you are very important to your sense of well being and satisfaction with life, but relationships can be difficult both at home and at work. However, this can improve with the help of coaching sessions. Talking through the issues will enable you to see how you can change to help resolve problems.

How can I find a life coach?

There is no professional body or any regulation in the Life Coaching industry. In theory anyone can set themselves up as a life coach with no formal training or experience. There are training courses available but no recognised qualifications. Therefore your own research and instinct will be the most important factors when looking for a life coach. The media, particularly the internet, and personal recommendation are likely to be your best sources of information.

Your choice of life coach will partly depend on your purpose. If you are looking for assistance with a particular area of your life, then you will want to research the experience and skill available in that area. For example, some coaches may be more effective working on family issues than changes at work. However, you may feel that personality and how the coach clicks with you are more important than any particular background. The way the coach asks questions, delivers constructive criticism and motivates their client is of course going to be vital to the success of the sessions. Also remember to consider whether you would like the option of face to face contact with your coach.

A good life coach will not ask for a large payment upfront. After the initial introductory conversation you should be allowed time so that you can be reasonably sure you have made the right choice. This works both ways as the coach will also want to be sure you will have a successful working partnership.

Can I become a life coach?

As a life coach you will need excellent communication and listening skills, a positive approach and the ability to encourage and motivate others. You must obviously enjoy working closely with people and also be flexible. More specific skills may be required if you choose to work in a particular area of life coaching.

Although there are currently no qualification requirements, you may well choose to undertake some form of training course before you start to practice life coaching. Training will develop your skills and is likely to give you more confidence and credibility. As there are no academic standards you will have to rely on your own research and evaluation to find an appropriate course. Your choice will depend on previous experience, and personal interest. Remember to ask about the cost of the course, time involved, support available and recommendations from previous students.

Life After Depression With Hypno-Psychotherapy

Depression is a debilitating human condition and a common cause of suffering worldwide. This elicits a sense of urgency for mental health professionals to meet this challenge of the treatment of depression.

In 1999, The World Health Organisation (WHO), issued a proclamation regarding the prevalence of depression. Depression is currently the world’s fourth most debilitating human condition, after heart disease, cancer and traffic accidents. The WHO predicted that by the year 2020, less than two decades hence, depression will have risen to become the second most common cause of human suffering worldwide.

This may be a surprise to many as this is a disorder well known to healthcare professionals across the globe. There are many so called ‘miracle drugs’ often in the news, and so shouldn’t the rate of depression be on the decrease? Well, unfortunately according latest statistics in the UK and USA, it is actually on the rise in every age group.

In his excellent book ‘Treating Depression With Hypnosis’, Doctor Michael Yapko PhD, says “Hypnosis is not a type of therapy like psychoanalysis or behaviour therapy. Instead, it is a procedure that can be used to facilitate therapy. Because it is not a treatment in and of itself, training in hypnosis is not sufficient for the conduct of therapy”. Hypnosis is, in my opinion the vital procedure that allows my clients to focus fully and without distraction upon the therapeutic strategies I apply in treatment sessions. This, of course, requires thorough training and experience in hypnoanalysis and psychotherapeutic techniques.

Dr Yapko reached two powerful and empowering conclusions in his work. Firstly that people suffering with depression need to be taught to accept and work with ambiguous circumstances in life, and secondly to search for and focus on a meaning for their life.

This is such sage advice. I find continually that clients presenting with depression at any level are struggling with the vagueness of life and its meaning for them. Life is ambiguous in that we don’t really have the answers for most of life’s most challenging questions and this can leave anyone a little dizzy thinking about it, let alone looking for answers to give meaning to their existence. In the masterful work of the late Dr Victor E. Frankle, this need for a meaning in life is made very clear. More than this it is shown how the how, is very less important than the why in life.

In his book, ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ Victor Frankle says “Life does not mean something vague, but something very real and very concrete, just as life’s tasks are very real and concrete. They form man’s destiny, which is different and unique for each individual”. Having survived the Nazi Concentration camps of world war two, Victor Frankle is well qualified to make such profound statements. If you are suffering from any level of depression, I recommend a reading of this short but empowering book.

Modern Clinical Hypnotherapy is producing good results for many individuals suffering with depression. This is not an easy or instant fix, but fairly early progress can be made with the individual who is truly wanting to overcome this life restricting condition.

I’m optimistic about the results we will continue to see from treating depression with clinical hypnotherapy as a part of a balanced treatment regime.

By: Alan Crisp DHP MASC MBIH LNCP GHR Reg

For an initial consultation and assessment, whatever the problem you desire help with, please contact Alan Crisp DHP on 020 8658 4290, or email him at alancrisp@hypnoseek.com. His web addresses are: http://www.hypnoseek.com and http://www.yourtruth.co.uk

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Liberation Of Consciousness

There is a particular mantra (word or phrase used during meditation) of which I am very fond: Baba Nam Kevalam. It is written in the sanskrit language and I have heard it translated into English many ways over the years. “God’s name only” is a very simple, direct and useful one, but I tend to translate it differently for my yoga students. “Everything is an expression of God” or “Everything is an expression of the supreme consciousness.” Whether that is the best translation or not, I can not say, but it works for me, and I believe the statement to be the truth and furthermore that the realization of that truth by a person will result in a dramatic transformation in him/her. A transformation from the “normal” to the sublime, from the tortured to the blissful, from the ignorant to the wise, from the harmful to the benevolent, from the unconscious to the conscious.

Sometimes when I simply reflect on the word “conscious,” I become euphoric. It is so simple, yet so liberating to be truly conscious of something, anything. No big mystery. To be “aware” of something is another way of saying it. If I notify my kids that it is snowing outside, they will immediately run to the window to verify the story, and assuming I have told the truth, they will soon become “conscious” of the snow. They run to the window, not because they don’t trust me, but because they are hungry for that experience of awareness of the snow. Snow is something they have seen before but only rarely in the rainy area we live in. Yet, it is something they love for many reasons. Snow gives them great joy and they drink in the “vision” from the window. What a blessing it is that holds their attention (another word for consciousness I believe) so firmly. The snow is so white and pure, and it floats so gracefully to the Earth seemingly from Heaven. Ten minutes ago they might have been bickering over a toy they don’t even want to play with, but now they are sharing a window as they both witness snow. Their minds are focused, joyful, one with the snow. For my kids, snow is fulfilling the purpose of art, lifting their minds up from their normal existence to a more lofty state.

But what is consciousness? It is something we all have to some extent, some people seem to have more of it than others, and if we get hit on the head too hard, we lose if for a while. But is it something we can cultivate and grow? Can we expand or somehow strengthen our consciousness? I am not talking about the intellect. That is something completely different. That is the computer, the information manipulator, the little puzzle solver. I am talking about consciousness. The consciousness that tells us “I am breathing”, “I am cold”, “The sun just came up”, “I am hungry”, “I exist” “You exist” “I have a blissful feeling in my heart.”

I propose that we consider consciousness a valuable commodity that can be expanded/developed, and something that can be used to an extent we would never have dreamed possible. Furthermore, I am going to go very far out on a limb now and tell you I believe we can use this “super-consciousness” to revolutionize our personal existence and give us undreamed of powers. Next, I would like to introduce the concept of “intuition”. Here is a word we are all familiar with, but not generally in terms of religion. Sadly intuition is thought of as not much more than a lucky hunch here and there, but I think it is a natural albeit undeveloped personal ability, which is both reliable and nothing more than an extension of that day to day “consciousness” that I mentioned above.

So what’s the problem? Why aren’t we all brimming over with the power of intuition? Because:
A. We are drowning in a sea of mental noise
B. There is no “B”

OK, hold on to your hat; this is the way I see it…. Our primary existence is consciousness. Essentially, we are nothing more or less than a pinpoint of pure consciousness. That pinpoint is surrounded by the rest of the cosmos, which I will call “reality.” We are the subject, “reality” is the object (signal) we are trying to be “conscious” of, but (for better or worse) in between we have a layer of noise, which I will call the “ego”, a fictitious sense of self, a misunderstanding of who we are, and that persistent belief that we are this absurd dream identity is the only thing preventing us from experiencing heaven right here on Earth.

So, how do we get rid of the noise and attain this super consciousness? For want of a better word, let’s call it “yoga.” Yoga directly translated means “union,” similar to the translation of the word “religion” by the way. Yoga promises to unite us with our true nature known in yoga circles as “the Self.” The full nature of yoga practice goes way beyond the scope of this short essay, but for the benefit of the novice who may hold the misunderstanding that yoga is merely a set of stretching exercises, I will briefly run over the 8 “limbs” of yoga as originally presented by the great yogi Pantanjali:

1. Yama (a group of 5 morel rules of the road)
2. Niyama; some additional guidelines for day to day behavior (study, helping others etc)
3. Asanas; the physical exercises that have become popular in the West
4. Pranayama; best known as breathing exercises
5. Pratyahara; withdrawal from the senses (preliminary to mediation)
6. Dharana; concentration exercises (meditation)
7. Dhyana; Attention to spiritual phenomena (contemplation)
8. Samadhii; Complete absorption in spiritual experience

I highly encourage anyone interested to seek instruction from a qualified instructor. For more information on yoga and the Baba Nam Kevalam mantra, please visit http://www.babanam.com.

Baba Nam Kevalam