My new article 4 Ways to Have Easy Mindful Moments That Benefit You and Your Clients is available on The Coaching Tools blog and, while it’s written for coaches, the content is equally valuable and usable for everyone.

How can you make the most of increasing your awareness and presence? A little mindfulness and create better balance and relationships in work and life when you:

1. make more informed decisions
2. better adapt to situations
3. better communicate your needs

Here is the full article!

We’ve all heard about mindfulness. It’s hard to escape the idea these days! Being “mindful” has pervaded every aspect of our lives from spiritual growth to eating, business and the boardroom. But, what does mindfulness really mean for you, as a coach, and what can it really do for your clients?

Here are 4 ways that mindfulness can benefit you and those you coach:

For the Coach:

1. Mind you – Before a coaching session, check in with yourself. 
   What are you noticing about your current state? Take a moment to breathe deeply, and let go of any extra thoughts or worries that aren’t relevant to your upcoming coaching session. Mentally set your worries and concerns aside – or write them down to manage later. Take stock of your focus and your attention – and intention – to work with your upcoming client. Shake off any physical tension and stress. Sometimes it just takes a few jumping jacks to reset everything!
2. Mind your space. Take a moment and look – really look – at your coaching space.
   Even if you coach by phone and your client will never see your space, having an environment that supports you will support your client throughout your conversation. Step back and look for any distractions like unfiled documents or clutter. Do you have the things you’l need close at hand? Being present, focused and taking a mindful look at your coaching space beforehand allows you to keep a more mindful, active presence for your client during the session.

For your Client:

3. Mind your client.
   You know active listening is a key component to a great coaching session! Keeping mindful of your presence during a session is a catch-22 situation. You want to be aware of your presence, but you don’t want to be paying attention to your own presence at the cost of your coaching. It takes practice to recognize how present you are – and it’s well worth the effort. Try checking in silently with how present you are with your client before you ask a question or at natural breaks in the conversation: what are you noticing? Regardless of your answer – never judge yourself. This is your chance to take stock and reset as needed. Maybe you need to shift to a more comfortable position in your chair to limit the distraction of a sore leg, or write a note to yourself about a thought that surfaced for you. And save any significant evaluations of your internal or external distractions for after the session!
4. Support your client’s mindfulness.
   The more your client recognises and understands the impact of their actions on themselves and others, the better equipped they are to make their best choices. Consider opportune moments to incorporate questions for your client to check in, in a mindful way, on their insights, answers and thought process during coaching. To be more mindful, some clients will resonate with the idea of intuition, the feel of a room, or the colour of a conversation. Others will find it easier to assess changes in their heart rate, tension in the jaw or shoulders, or to notice whether they’re seated with an open or closed posture. You will come to know your clients and how they best connect with mindful concepts.

Keep it simple, be more mindful with these 3 steps:

Regardless of where you inject a little more mindfulness in your coaching, it’s the same three steps:

1. Pause
2. Identify
3. Acknowledge

And the optional fourth step:

4. Adjust? Everything may be exactly as it should be. Or perhaps a tweak or overhaul is needed. And it may not be the time, place or situation to adjust – which is why this fourth step is a question.

And now, with mindfulness, you and your client can go forward more aware and present to the whole coaching session – and questions at hand.

Contributing author: Jenn Danielson brings science and spreadsheets together with incense and energy to help people create balanced growth. With a background in science, standards and project management along with solution-focused coaching, Reiki and mindful practice, she supports people creating their next best career steps, within the bigger picture of their lives. Connect the dots and walk the balance of career, health, life, family & fun. Visit Jenn’s website here and follow her on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.