Module 23- Video with Amanda Blake- (Somatic Coaching) Body, Brain and Behavior

Even when both coach and client can envision a possibility, clients often fall short or get stuck. They encounter hurdles that they cannot overcome through traditional methods alone.
Common approaches to addressing these difficulties usually focus on mindset, willpower, and intense goal-oriented movement. However, achieving lasting change requires taking a step back into deeper, less visible aspects of human experience.
Progress involves moving beyond external goals to answer a central question: Who do you need to become in order to reach the destination that you seek?

Self-awareness is divided into two distinct functional categories: conceptual self-awareness and embodied self-awareness.

This involves the self thinking about the self. It is a self-reflective process that uses linguistic centers in the brain and neuromuscular systems of the face, head, and neck.
It allows for mental time travel: reflecting on the past and envisioning the future.
It is the mechanism by which we see differently, shifting perspectives and narratives.

This involves the self experiencing the self. It occurs in the present moment only, as sensation cannot be experienced in the past or future.
Examples of heightened embodied self-awareness include the immediate sensation of banging a shin on a coffee table or the localized pressure when squeezing one hand with the other.
It extends throughout the entire body to the fingers and toes.

Goal setting focuses on identifying a destination and planning steps to reach it, such as losing weight or changing glucose levels.
This process activates the Negative Emotional Attractor (NEA) state, which is also referred to as a neutral emotional attractor state.
Brain Network: It utilizes the Task Positive Network, also known as the analytical network, which evaluates statistics, steps, and accountability.
Nervous System: It involves the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. While often associated with fight-or-flight, this system also provides the energy needed for movement, sports, or playing.
Mood: This state is characterized by a neutral or negative mood.
Key Questions in NEA Coaching:
- Where do you want to be one, two, or three years from now?
- What does success look like?
- How will you hold yourself accountable?
- What will you do when you encounter obstacles?

Moving beyond compliance-based coaching requires "coaching with compassion," which evokes a meaningful vision for the client.
This vision focuses on the ideal self and the ideal life, providing the "fuel" and intrinsic motivation for the journey.
Brain Network: It utilizes the Default Mode Network, also known as the empathic network. This network supports moral reasoning, understanding others' feelings, and sensing one's own internal states.
Nervous System: It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for the "rest and digest" or relaxation response.
Mood: This state is characterized by a positive mood and a sense of openness.
Key Questions in PEA Coaching:
- Who do you care about, and how are they tied to this goal?
- What or who is important to you?
- How would your life be if everything was exactly as you wanted it?
- If you were your ideal self, who would you be and how would you be?

Goal setting provides the necessary steps and measurement for action. Without it, the client remains in a dreamy, inactive state.
Vision provides the relaxation and energy needed for momentum. Focusing exclusively on goals risks causing the client to feel they are perpetually falling short, leading to burnout.
The Task Positive Network and the Default Mode Network cannot be switched on simultaneously; therefore, effective coaching requires switching back and forth between these two states.

Embodied self-awareness relies on two primary sensory networks to evoke a sense of aliveness and enthusiasm.

The capacity to feel the body from the inside.
Examples include feeling "butterflies" in the stomach when nervous or a sense of warmth in the chest when experiencing love for a child or spouse.
It is fundamentally tied to emotional awareness.

The ability to know where the body is in space.
The way a person sits, stands, or moves is directly tied to their emotional state. Changing physical posture can alter internal mood states.
Posture Experiment: Slumping the shoulders and looking down while saying "I'm having a great day" feels and sounds different than saying it while sitting upright with the spine at its natural length, breath in the lower lungs, and eyes level with the horizon.

Agitation: Characterized by high energy driven by fear. It feels frantic and ungrounded, often with physical activity centralized in the upper body.
Aliveness: Characterized by high energy, joy, and vibrancy, but infused with a sense of stillness and groundedness. The breath is typically lower in the body, and there is a sense of upright peace, calm, and "rightness."

Coaching should move beyond general questions like "How does that feel?" to specific inquiries about sensation and location:
- Where is the location of the strongest sensation when you discuss your vision? (e.g., the belly or chest).
- Is the sensation warm or cool? Heavy or light? Does it have a color or a sound?
Coaches should make direct observations of movements, such as a foot tapping, a head cocking, or a smile emerging, and invite the client to explore the experience behind those physical expressions.

Developing embodied self-awareness (ESA) has significant quantitative impacts on well-being according to research.
If a person increases their ESA by $100\%$ , they experience relative gains in other areas:
- Flourishing increases by an average of $45\%$ .
- Resilience and adaptability significantly improve.
Interpersonal neurobiology suggests three additional qualities grow alongside ESA:
- Connectedness.
- Empathy.
- Conflict management.
These qualities are critical in health coaching, as health does not exist in isolation from a person's relationships and environment.

The body only learns through repetition and rehearsal over time. Insights from a coaching conversation must be practiced to become permanent changes.
Similar to learning a musical instrument, a sport, or building physical strength at a gym, developing awareness requires consistent effort. One cannot do sit-ups for an hour and expect immediate results; it is the "going back again and again" that develops the skill.
Meaningful happiness comes from deep presence and the fulfillment of potential, rather than the perpetual chase of the next external goal. Embodied awareness is the path toward this presence, essentially acting as a way of "coming home" to one's own life.