Using Mindfulness as a Catalyst in Coaching

This is an APA format paper which was written in 2020 during my study of the Application of Positive Psychology.

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Abstract

In this paper I explore the concept to introduce and incorporate mindfulness into coaching practice and catalyze the success in a coaching session. This is based on the reviews of relevant researches and findings on the positive impacts of mindfulness practice.  I argue that a coach who is mindfulness trained and with the mindfulness traits, will be more effective in her / his coaching practice and bring better results to the coachee. Hence it’s essential to outline a plan to introduce the mindfulness practice to the coaches and incorporate into their coaching session.

            Keywords: mindfulness, coaching, coaching core competency, facets of mindfulness, mindfulness trait, empathy, active listening, presence, attention, awareness, self-regulation, mindfulness technique, mindfulness-based program, experiential learning.

Mindfulness and coaching both have been established with their status within applied positive psychology practices. Mindfulness is a practice that has gained its reputation and popularity rapidly in the last decade, to promote health and well-being among medical patients as well as healthy individuals, regardless of religions and races. Coaching has developed its own professionalism and certification internationally by governance body such as International Coach Federation (ICF). A certified coach should demonstrate evidence of his / her core competencies in the coaching sessions. For a successful coaching session, the coach is expected to hold a safe and trust space with total presence for the coachee, through active listening and powerful questioning to allow the coachee engage in self- exploration of sensation, emotions and thoughts, and subsequently awaken awareness, make decision, set goal and design actions. Therefore, in addition to the professional training in coaching practice, what other practice can further empower a coach to develop the coaching core competencies? 

Passmore and Marianetti (2007) had explored using mindfulness in four specific uses as a technique for a coach to prepare for coaching, maintain focus during the coaching session, remain emotionally detached, and to teach mindfulness to coachees for developing resilience. This paper further review other relevant researches on mindfulness practice and the relation to coaching practice, which provides the insight for the coaches to use mindfulness practice as a catalyst to further develop his / her coaching core competencies and the success of each coaching session. Finally a holistic plan of incorporating mindfulness practices and techniques in coaching is outlined for the coaching community.

Literature Review

The selected literation reviews aim to explore the relevance and evidence of the values of mindfulness in coaching, and also to set the directions of developing the plan for incorporating mindfulness practices and techniques in coaching.

The Facets of Mindfulness Cultivate Empathy and Active Listening

A study by Baser, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer and Toney (2006), examined five self-assessment mindfulness questions (i.e., MAAS, FMI, KIMS, CAMS, MQ) and concluded the five facets of mindfulness, namely observe, act with aware, describe, nonjudge and nonreact. This created the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), which has then been widely used as a self-assessment tool for mindfulness. About a decade later, further research had been conducted by Jones, Bodie and Hughes (2016), and identified that the five facets of mindfulness indirectly positively impact the self-reported abilities to facilitate reappraisal via empathy and active listening, as well as the abilities to process more sensitive person-centered support messages via empathy. In another word, through mindfulness practice, people become more aware and accepting of their own emotional experience, and hence are able to listen, understand and empathize with the distressed other person, and respond with positive regards.  

The two core cognitive-affective processes, empathy and active listening are the essential core competencies of a coach, also the building blocks to establish trust and intimacy with the coachees. The empathy and activing listening from the coach, help the coachee feel safe, connected and open up in the coaching conversation.

Mindfulness Training and Practice Change the Mind

Mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) have gained much interest and adoptions not only in the medical field, but also in the corporates and individuals who aim to develop performance and better quality in life. To support future development and innovation of MBP’s, Crane et al. (2016) identified the constant essentials and the variant uniqueness of MBP’s. The underlying disciplines in science, medicine, psychology and education shape the common ground of MBP’s. Each MBP trains the participants through mindfulness meditation as the foundation training, to retrain the mind with present focus with greater attentional, emotional and behavioral self-regulations. However, based on the different contexts, audiences and applications, modification will be required on the actual experiential curriculum, length, delivery format, and so on.

The core training of MBP is mindfulness meditation. Numeric neuroimaging studies have been conducted and uncovered that the brain areas and networks have been changed to regular participants of mindfulness meditation, which displayed the trait of self-regulation of attention control, emotion regulation and self-awareness (Tang, Holzel & Posner, 2015). For example, Farb et al. (2007) used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the neural modes of self-reference across time and in the present moment among the novice participants and those who had completed the eight-week mindfulness meditation training course. The results revealed that compared to the novice participants, the mindfulness trained participants showed reduction in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) which is for the cognitive function of retrieval of remote memory across a time-scales in the past and to the future. The mindfulness trained participants also showed increased engagement of a right lateral network of the brain, comprising the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and viscerosomatic areas. The functional connectivity analysis also indicated a stronger decoupling between the right insula and the mPFC in the mindfulness trained participants, compared to the novice participants who habitually engage in mind wandering. Theses indications demonstrated that through mindfulness meditation training, people can easily shift their attention and awareness from the autopilot mode to the experience at the present moment more authentically.

Being and maintaining presence is the key core competency of a coach. Only when the coach is fully present to the coaching session with the coachee, the coaching conversation can go on with the flow. More importantly, the presence of the coach is the anchor for the coachee to remain present at the coaching session to make the right decision.

Mindfulness Improves Decision Making

Existing research results on mindfulness from its application from clinical field to real life, have proved that mindfulness improve the decision making in both the social and non-social aspects (S. Liu, Y. Liu & Ni, 2018). Mindfulness positively influenced social decision making on improving fair assessment, moral decision making and pro-social behavior. While on non-social decision making, mindfulness reduced individual’s impulsive gambling, negative bias and sunk cost bias. Different types of mindfulness intervention methods show different degree of effectiveness in the above mentioned effects of decision making. This is a very important finding to design the mindfulness intervention based on the contexts.

In the coaching practice, the coach holds a safe and trust space for the coachee to explore and define the outcome for each session. To achieve a specific outcome which the coachee desires for, the coach should have the core competency to ask powerful questions to help the coachee to explore his / her social and non-social beliefs, values, needs, wants, etc, from the current thinking towards a new or expanded ways of thinking, in order to gain new experience and perception for making the good decision. Therefore, mindfulness interventions can be helpful to both the coach and coachee in the coaching session to explore learning for better decision making.

A New Framework of Integrating Mindfulness in Coaching as Experiential Learning

Almost after a decade since Passmore and Marianetti (2007) formally proposed to teach mindfulness in the coaching process, Kemp (2016) further argued that coaching process was a experiential learning, which was a ready-made framework for bringing mindfulness into the integration. He proposed a new framework of coaching process, in which instead the coachee solely owns the agenda and goal, the coach co-creates the agenda and goal with the coachee. This new framework outlined five stages for teaching mindfulness in the coach process. Stage 1 was to assess the level of the learner (i.e., the coachee) in mindfulness experience. Stage 2 was for the coach to guide the coachee to practice mindfulness. Stage 3 was for the coach to help the coachee to consolidate the evolve mindfulness practice along the learning journey. Stage 4 was for the coach to redesign mindfulness practice for the coachee to the next mastering level. Stage 5 was to close the learning process and allow the coachee to continue the mindfulness journey by his / her own, with supervision by the coach when required. Indeed, this five stages of teaching mindfulness in coaching process can be experimented out to maximize the success of the coaching session, with the permission from the coachee.

 

A Holistic Plan of Incorporating Mindfulness in Coaching Practice

In view of the four specific uses of mindfulness in coaching practice by Passmore and Marianetti (2007), and the framework of the five stages for teaching mindfulness in the coaching process by Kemp (2016), a holistic view of incorporating mindfulness in coaching practice can be further developed. The main objective is to enhance the coach’s core coaching competencies through mindfulness practice, while the coachee benefits from the facilitation by the coach applying the mindfulness techniques during the coaching session. Ultimately the coachee can choose to be mindfulness practitioner once he / she experiences the positive outcome from the coaching session.

Empowering the Coach with Mindfulness Traits

As outlined by Baser et al. (2006), the five facets of mindfulness will empower the practitioner with five skills, which include (1) observing internal sensations, perceptions, thoughts and feeling as well as external experience; (2) acting with awareness without distraction; (3) describing inner experiences with words; (4) nonjudging of inner experiences with kind curiosity towards thoughts and feelings; (5) nonreacting to inner experiences with acknowledgment towards thoughts and feelings. These five skills are the fundamental and essential building blocks to empower the coach with the core coaching competencies to establish trust and intimacy with the coachee, and to able to coach in full presence through active listening and powerful questioning, to facilitate the coachee to gain new awareness and hence setting goal and designing actions.  In order to acquire these skills, a coach should start with going through a structural training in a designated mindfulness-based program and followed by regular practice in mindfulness in the daily life and working.

(1)  Attending mindfulness-based program (MBP)

MBP developments have nested in a wide range of disciplines and contexts, built upon the foundational approach and structure of the “first generation” of MBP’s, namely Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) (Crane et al., 2016). In particular, MBSR was originally developed in 1979 with the intention to relief suffering through outpatient clinic. Kabat-Zinn (2003) conducted a study beyond its clinical efficacy to the applications in larger contexts in real life. Today, MBSR is the most common MBP that is offered outside the clinical set up, into schools, companies and private institutions. Therefore, it’s recommended for a coach to attend the eight weeks MBSR program, to equip himself / herself with a series of mindfulness techniques, such as mindfulness meditation, mindfulness yoga and body scan, as well as exploration of patterns of thinking, feeling and action. During the MBSR training, brief lectures and group discussions are held during group time for reflection. Last but not least, commitment to practice daily using the audio guides is required from the participant throughout the eight weeks.

(2)  Practicing mindfulness in the daily life and working

Once the coach has consistently followed the eight weeks MBSR program with the daily practice, he / she would have developed a daily routine into mindfulness practice. The coach can then further redesign the practice based on his / her own preference with most effective outcome. Mindfulness practice will eventually become a way of being of the coach under any situation and circumstance, and certainly in his / her coaching session with any coachee.

It’s also recommended to the coaches to form their circle of mindfulness practice among the coaching community. This will include mindfulness into the peer-to-peer practice and supervisions. With the social support, coaches can better maintain and evolve in the mindfulness practice day to day.

Instilling Mindfulness Techniques by the Coach in Coaching

Mindfulness techniques can be used by a coach to prepare himself / herself before the coaching session, to effectively maintain his / her presence during the coaching session, and also for self-reflection after the coaching session. In addition, the coach can apply the mindfulness self-assessment questionnaire as references to ask powerful questions to bring up the deeper awareness of the coachee.

(1)  Before the coaching session

Coaches are usually rushing from meetings to meetings, which may cause stress and anxiety. In order for the coach to settle down into a coaching session, Passmore and Marianetti (2007) proposed a four minutes meditation, which can include a series of breathing exercise, such as anchor breathing, ladder breathing and quick body scan. The coach can redesign the breathing exercise for his / her best preference from experiments and experiences.

In addition to the mindfulness meditation, the coach can take another one minute to practice the awareness and intension technique, by writing down the intention to the coaching session, such as “May I be fully present in this coaching session”. Alternatively if it is the first session with a new coachee, the intension of the coach will be “May I be very open-heart and open-mind in this session”.  

(2)  During the coaching session

The coach would practice mindfulness listening throughout the coaching session, and catch every important phrase that the coachee says, and notice the change of the body language, expression, emotion and energy shift. When there is a vibration of energy, the coach would want to pause mindfully, to allow the coachee fully experience the shift before continuing the coaching conversation. When the coach notices his / her mind wander, he / she would want to quietly do a short anchor breathing and kindly bring back his / her presence to the coaching conversation.

During the coaching conversation, a coach is to ask question to invite the coachee to observe his / her sensations, emotions and thoughts to awaken awareness. Therefore, the coach can try out experimenting by referring to the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer et al, 2006), to construct the questions. However, the questioning should be by invitation but not leading or telling.

(3)  After the coaching session

After each coaching session, the coach may want to practice a gratitude tap to thank the coachee and himself / herself to completing a meaningful coaching session. Alternatively, the coach may want to practice a loving kindness meditation to wish the coachee well, if the coachee is going through a tough time.

Inviting the Coachee into Mindfulness Practice

At the beginning of a coaching session, the coach may invite and guide the coachee to practice mindfulness meditation together. This will allow both of them to be more focused into the coaching session. Outside the coaching session, the coach may share more information about mindfulness-based programs with the coachee, and provide support if the coachee is keen to start the mindfulness training.  Mindfulness will help the coachee to make better decision during the coaching session and outside the coaching session (Liu et al., 2018). However, the coach should get full permission from the coachee before starting any mindfulness practice with the coachee. This is not just because of the guiding principle of coaching practice, but also the theory of self-determination.

Conclusion

In this paper, I have explored the supporting evidences to incorporate mindfulness into coaching and catalyze the success of a coaching session. Indeed, it’s also my own learning and experience that through structural mindfulness training and regular practice, I slowly develop the mindfulness traits within myself. This helps traumatically in my coaching practice. My full presence is automatically shown up in a coaching conversation, through my expression and body language, as well as my intuition to pick up the import phrases spoken by the coachee, and the energy shift at any moment. It’s my pure intension and passion to share the insights with the larger coaching community, and embrace mindfulness to create more success and compassion to ourselves and others around us.

References

Baser, R. A., Smith, G. T., Hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L. (2006). Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness. Assessment, 13, 27-4. https://www.academia.edu/27744773/Using_Self_Report_Assessment_Methods_to_Explore_Facets_of_Mindfulness

Crane, R. S., Brewer, J., Feldman, C., Kabat-Zinn, J., Santorelli, S., Williams, J. M. G., & Kuyken, W. (2016). What Defines Mindfulness-based Programs? The Warp and the Weft. Psychological Medicine, 47(6), 990-999. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/what-defines-mindfulnessbased-programs-the-warp-and-the-weft/BA98A87D84A3097A06BFC3A1FBB61C2B

Farb, N. A. S., Segal, Z. V., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., McKeon, D., Fatima, Z., & Anderson, A. K. (2007). Attending to the Present: Mindfulness Meditation Reveals Distinct Neural Modes of Self-reference. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2(4), 313–322. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsm030

Jones, S. M., Bodie, G. D., & Hughes, S. D. (2016). The Impact of Mindfulness on Empathy, Active Listening, and Perceived Provisions of Emotional Support. Communication Research, 1-28. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293014783_The_Impact_of_Mindfulness_on_Empathy_Active_Listening_and_Perceived_Provisions_of_Emotional_Support

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Context: Past, Present, and Future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10, 144-156. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1093/clipsy.bpg016

Kemp, T. (2016). Mindfulness and Coaching: Contemporary Labels for Timeliness Practices. The DAGE Handbook of Coaching, 281-398. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317182929_Mindfulness_and_Coaching

Liu, S., Liu, Y., & Ni, Y. (2018). A Review of Mindfulness Improves Decision Making and Future Prospects. Psychology, 2018(9), 229–248. https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=82574

Passmore, J., & Marianetti, O. (2007). The Role of Mindfulness in Coaching. The Coaching Psychologist, 3(3), 131-137. http://www.mysgw.co.uk/Images/368/Passmore%20&%20Marianetti%20(2007)%20The%20role%20of%20mindfulness%20in%20coaching.pdf

Tang, Y. Y., Holzel, B., & Posner, M. (2015). The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(4). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273774412_The_neuroscience_of_mindfulness_meditation

Overview of Mindfulness – MBSR Course. (2013). Retrieved from the Habits for Wellbeing website: https://www.habitsforwellbeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/140114-Overview-MBSR-Course.pdf