What Is Mindfulness and How Is It Related to Coaching?

According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus and founding director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts, mindfulness “is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment. We feel more alive. We also gain immediate access to our own powerful inner resources for insight, transformation, and healing.”

For me, active listening is at the heart of good coaching and mindfulness is at the heart of active listening. To actively listen, I must be fully present and in the moment with my client. In coaching, it is just as important for clients to practice mindfulness. When they do this, they are able to, as Kabat-Zinn says, tap into their own inner resources, and begin the process of realizing their potential.

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