“Body is the bow. Asana is the arrow. Soul is the target.” – B.K.S. Iyengar

Aligning with your self truth is achieving optimal alignment in the body and mind, on and off the mat. In yoga we align in postures. Some guides call postures ‘situations’. Some postures or situations we love and other we do not, some are easy and put our body in a bliss full relaxed state and others push us into discomfort where we begin to sweat, fight, feel blockages, and experience dis-ease within the body. Through achieving optimal alignment we learn much about ourselves and how we deal with our current ‘situations.’ How we deal with our sweat is how we deal with life.  In coaching we align with our goals- ah, yes the mental struggle, where the ‘real work begins’, by which we need to design the creative space, the road map, by building an agenda with intention. We begin to align with our intention and whether we’re speaking about yoga or coaching it is your focus. Its what guides you, what you expand on and what you grow from, and where ‘ah-ha’ moments come from. Aligning with true intention on or off the mat fuels action and action leads to change. Optimal Alignment is an inside out process.

Energy flows where attention goes, right? Then aligning with the right intention, with the right goals, with the right energy is vital to manifest your outcome, your ah-ha moment.

“The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” – Baba Ram Dass.

Listening is the cornerstone of coaching, and yoga. Powerful, deep listening informs your yoga and coaching process. Yoga is a constant conversation between body and mind, but in order to converse with the Self we must listen to the Self first, deeply listen. Through active or deep listening in coaching we begin see more then we hear. Listening to what the client is saying and not saying. What are you really saying? What is the body really telling you? What are you truly understanding and learning through each asana, ‘situation’. Active listening is the most powerful and profound gift anyone can give to the Self or to an another human being- the gift of being heard, fully understood.

How you do anything is how you do everything.

“There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.” – Rumi.

Yoga cultivates your intuition abilities. The ability of intuition is innate however, most of us I dare say need to tune into our intuition a bit more. I have discovered that over the course of 3 months through Yoga2Life tuning my intuition was hands down a rocking moment and a moment I had not expected to come from coaching. When in yoga we cleanse the body through movement we twist and bend and sweat and pretzel and svasana to not only strengthen the body, let go of the past, become present, or whatever mantra you have brought to class in your pocket but to also cultivate intuition. Intuition is a powerful tool and what guides coaches and yogis alike. Check in with your ‘gut’ once in a while on what is right or wrong through our daily lives. Through yoga we learn to ‘hush’ the voices of others, the comments, opinions, thoughts so we can begin to turn inward and discover answers from within. In coaching we guide a fellow being to find this experience to turn inward to tap into their ‘gut’ to help them discover their perfect outcome. Intuition is our intelligence.

One part of a yoga practice is to learn to stand strong and to build strength. We know that our physiology can directly affect our psychology. With that said, when we learn to stand strong in our warrior poses, we are more empowered to stand strong and face whatever obstacles are in our path.

Coaching is all about empowerment! The skills a coach learns help to highlight how a person does one thing in their life probably is indicative of how they do other things in their life. For instance, do you shrink back from change? Or do you take a deep breath and step into the flow?

A coach believes that everything their client needs is within their client. A coach helps direct a clients attention back to what is within his or her influence. It’s empowering to make a choice to take a step forward, more empowering than someone telling you what to do.

In yoga, the teacher doesn’t DO the postures for the student, the student does the work. In coaching, the coach is there as a guide. The coach doesn’t create the path, the client does. Now that’s empowering!

Have you ever heard that the transitions are just as important as the postures themselves? It’s true! Transitions are hard. It takes more awareness to transition from one posture to the next while staying in optimal alignment. Often times, we flow through the transitions mindlessly and instead focus on the final posture. However, transitions, when done correctly, in yoga, help us to build strength for the more advanced postures. Transitions help us to be more present and to tap into our breath and to calm the nervous system. Transitions are a time to remember, reconnect and realign…. If only we didn’t rush through them.

A coach helps a client mindfully move through transitions in life. In coaching, how a person transitions from A to B is just as important as achieving an end goal. When a person is moving through a transition in their life, they are able to choose which direction to take, which path to take, and slowing down, taking some time to do some self inquiry gives a client the space to navigate through life’s transitions.