My Coaching Tools

If I were to describe what type of coach I am I will tell you I am a multi-dimensional coach. From a broad suite of coaching tools and incorporating personal reading and learning such as Polyvagal Theory and Positive Psychology, I offer you personalised, in time, responsive, coaching sessions. This allows us to work with what is relevant for you at the time, and not following a pre-planned, pre-supposed step by step format.

Generative learning is always the objective.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming

The art of achieving your outcomes, the art of communication, of understanding yourself and others for enhanced effects. 

Developed in the 1970’s by John Grinder and Richard Bandler, Neuro Linguistic Programming observed the masters of therapy at the time to “codify” what each was doing and how they were doing it.  They key influential people studied and modelled back in NLP origins were Milton Erickson, Virginia Satir, Fritz Perls and Gregory Bateson.  Since then, many other people have made considerable contributions to NLP including Marvin Oka, Wyatt Woodsmall, and Dr Robert Dilts to name a few.

NLP is:

  • Study and modelling excellence
  • Science of subjective
  • Neuro – brain, Linguistics – language, Programming – strategies
  • Attitude
  • Methodology
  • Evolved as an innovative technology

NLP operates on a series of presuppositions to assist in understanding oneself and others and bring about change.  

NLP utilises the UNCONCIOUS mind to bring about change.  It understands that the Unconscious mind is the powerhouse, and it can be accessed easily.

It creates a platform from which to work from a “content-free” framework.  This means the practitioner does not need to know the detail about the problem at hand, they are focused more on how the problem is occurring and what triggers the behaviour to bring about the change.

It offers the ability to understand and develop new and lasting patterns and strategies, to be alert, to enhance flexibility to obtain what you want from life.

I have spent more than 1000 hours learning about NLP and many, many more hours utilising it personally, teaching it and writing articles about it.

mBraining

Based on intensive research, mBraining is a recent addition to cognitive science. There are at least five brains within the human body head, heart, gut, autonomic nervous system and pelvic brains.

mBraining is the ‘brains child’ of Master NLPers Marvin Oka and Grant Soosalu around 2012. It is based on the latest research in Neuroscience and incorporates NLP and Behavioural Modelling. It aligns esoteric wisdom with modern research.

Each intelligence (brain) has its key functions. Each intelligence has a different way of processing the world.

For example:

  • Head – perceives, thinks and makes meaning. It strategises.
  • Heart – is the centre of our emotions. It feels and desires to connect with others. It is where a person holds what is most important to them (values).  
  • Gut – Creates movement and action. It holds our core identity and is also responsible for our self-preservation.

As life impacts us, we can create neural blocks or constraints. One intelligence may take on the role of another or may cease to ‘communicate’ altogether. For example, someone who has had a troublesome relationship may create a criterion that can be ticked off for who would make the best partner so that they do not get hurt again. –  the head is playing the role of the heart. In extreme circumstances, the heart may not ‘feel’ anymore when it comes to relationships. An mBIT Coach assists in creating proper communication again.

As your mBIT Master Coach we go beyond a ‘head brain’ thought process and access our other intelligences to create internal, interactive alignment and understanding for greater outcomes. I will help you to understand how ‘you’ as a whole is communicating and together, we will create improved and aligned communication so each intelligence can communicate from their highest expression and inner wisdom.

Life Coaching

Life coaching is the art of working with you to assist in obtaining what you want from life. We help you to become clear on your objectives for life and to create strategies to achieve them. We help you to step out the plan, we check in to ensure you remain on target. We are a personal trainer for you and your well-being.

As a rule of thumb, a life coach assists you in your goals, with a forward moving focus. While they will help you to address past events that affect your progress, they are not specialised in dealing with traumatic events or significant mental health challenges unless they have taken that training.

A coach comes in many forms and can work across different aspects of life. For example, transformational coach, emotional intelligence coach, business coach, career coach, relationship coach to name a few. Sometimes a coach will specialise in a particular area. With my broad experience and different modes of training, I can span across several different areas.

Here is what I think makes a great coach and what I offer as your Coach:

  • Ability to listen well
  • Build the client’s resources by helping them to find answers – does not give advice or answers
  • Creates a safe environment for you to be yourself and explore
  • Open, flexible, agile
  • Comfortable in asking challenging questions and discussing uncomfortable topics
  • Works WITH the client for outcomes, does not solve the challenge for them. 
  • Walks the talk
  • Self-reflective                                                
  • Authentic and integrous
  • Client focussed sessions

Clinical and Advanced Hypnotherapy

Hypnosis utilises the power of the unconscious mind, connecting with our inner most desires to make impactful change and transformation.

It can assist in a variety of things across medical and emotional needs. The mind and the body are intricately interlinked, and hypnosis assists in the two communicating together to achieve outcomes, make changes and ease the past.

Hypnosis is a natural state for people – meditation, visualisation, daydreaming, being in flow, just as you wake up or go to sleep (hypnopompic and hypnogogic states) – these are all hypnotic states. It dates back into ancient Egypt and Greece when sleep temples were used as healing sanctuaries to heal people with mental and physical.  A person unwell would be put into trance to provoke dreams. Then priests and priestesses interpreted dreams to gain knowledge of illness and to find cure.

After centuries of research and refinement modern hypnosis accesses the unconscious mind for healing and change. The unconscious mind has many functions, its primary one is to keep us alive. It utilises metaphors and symbols and interestingly, it only knows fact. The role of discerning fact from fiction belongs to the conscious mind. Therefore, when we quieten the conscious mind, we can message the unconscious mind more directly and often without objection.

What happens when in hypnosis?

  • We enter a state of unconscious dominance by quietening the conscious mind
  • We can directly communicate with the unconscious mind
  • Acceptance of suggestions delivered externally that align with your desires and values.
  • Conscious part of our brain becomes less critical although this can vary depending on how well induced the hypnosis is.
  • You are not asleep – in fact brain is equally as active and sometimes more active than when in a “waking state”.  There can be an increased activity in the right side of the brain which relates to our imagination and creative side.

Here are some interesting facts about hypnosis:

  • Hypnosis can assist in improved recovery from surgeries and illnesses. This was evidenced as early as 1845 when surgeon James Esdaile operated on people using only hypnosis as the anaesthetic. More research has been completed since then to evidence this.
  • Hypnosis can assist in pain relief. One such study said “findings indicate that hypnosis interventions consistently produce significant decreases in pain associated with a variety of chronic-pain problems” Elkins, Jensen, Patterson [2007]
  • Hypnosis can often use “Law of Concentrated Attention”. This works on the basis of ‘where we put our attention, we get our results’. Whenever attention is concentrated on an idea repeatedly, it spontaneously tends to realise itself. We don’t need to be in deep trance for this to happen.
  • In fact, light trance is a natural state and one where people can still have good change and outcomes.
  • Hypnosis includes effective language patterns, the art of storytelling, creating powerful internal representations for the client, connecting body and mind communication and subliminal suggestions.
  • Many people already do self-hypnosis without realising.

As your hypnotherapist, I will guide you to gain a hypnotic state – you are in control of the state and the depth of trance you enter. We will first establish rapport, trust, and answer any questions you may have. It is important that you trust your hypnotherapist to allow yourself to relax fully.

We will have already established, through the coaching part of the process, what you desire in visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic terms and we may already have worked on the block in other ways.

I don’t used prewritten scripts. The power of hypnosis is being able to communicate in what you personally want and perceive and in your own map of the world – prewritten scripts don’t allow for this. Often, I will record the hypnosis in the session and send through to you so that you have access to it in between sessions. Because the unconscious mind likes repetition, having access to your recording allows you to keep that messaging constant. Some hypnotherapists will charge you extra for this service – I don’t.

Timeline Therapy

Time Line Therapy™ (TLT) was developed by Tad James, PhD in the 1980’s. It is a compelling therapeutic process evolved from hypnosis and NLP.

The goal is to change current responses subtly, unconsciously and permanently to past experiences and life events. This will enable better responses and behaviours to future situations and a sense of better well being and congruence.

Often, we respond unconsciously – we seem to just act and/or react. Our emotions can be triggered. This often happens because of something that has happened in the past, the meaning we have placed on it and the behavioural responses we have created because of it.

Utilising Time Line Therapy® technique allows us to move past these limiting beliefs and personal constrictions in life. You will be guided to access specific memories in a safe and dissociated manner to learn how to disconnect from the negative feelings associated with the memories. Once this occurs, we move forward, free from the unwanted responses and able to create our own, more positively impactful responses and take charge of our own lives more fully.

As an example, I have worked with many people in this manner. One such person came to see me for workplace bullying. They wanted to be able to cope with the bully and feel more empowered. Employing TLT on the third session we found that when feeling bullied the person went back, without even realising, to being a four-year-old child, hiding in their room (metaphorically) and telling themselves to ‘just be quiet, just be good and everything will be alright.’ This was a significant time in their life as their parents were arguing a lot and eventually separated and divorced. By accessing this internal information, learning from it and releasing the emotion this person was now able to be in the office as their adult self. They found the change in their responses and the ability to face the matter now as an adult profound and empowering.

If we utilise this method of therapy, it will often be around the third or fourth session. Sometimes it can take a bit of time to see what is really going on and/or what the true problem we are facing is. That is people often see the surface structure behaviour as the problem – this is often just the symptom. We work together to discover the deep beliefs, values and identities at play that are really causing the behaviours and thoughts being realised.

It also requires us to have good rapport, trust and communication. I aim to ensure these are fully their before enlisting deep TLT techniques.

Your wellbeing and safety is always at the forefront of every session.

Positive Psychology

This is a new field of psychology based on the study of happiness.  We are naturally ‘wired’ to notice danger – self preservation is the primary function of the unconscious mind. Positive Psychology incorporates emotional intelligence, resilience and strength-based principles for a happier, more meaningful life.

Problem-focussed therapy and focussing on correcting our short comings has been dominant in therapeutic healing. Positive psychology encourages us to discover and nurture our character strengths. It focusses on highlighting the requirement for us to move from a negative and unresourceful outlook to one more optimistic and positive view to improve quality of life.

Positive psychology does not deny the existence of our flaws, negative thoughts and unwanted behaviour; it offers us the realisation that equal consideration should be given to our strengths and virtues.

Our ‘story’ about ourselves, our world, our relationships affect our physical wellbeing and outlook on life.

Positive Psychology assists in understanding the stories, identifying our strengths and enhancing our viewpoint of life.

It focuses on the positive events and influences in life, including:

  • Positive experiences (like happiness, joy, inspiration, and love).
  • Positive states and traits (like gratitude, resilience, and compassion).
  • Positive institutions (applying positive principles within entire organizations and institutions).

If you were to embrace Positive Psychology then it expands outside of us to include kindness and empathy to others, to do good deeds and strive to for a better world. What I find exciting, is this is also the highest desires of mBraining and NLP as well – to reach out for positive impact past our own needs and desires.

As a Coach who embraces Positive Psychology, we will work together to assist you in seeing the ‘silver linings’ of events. We will explore gratitude and compassion and how powerful these two tools are. We will find and develop ways to enhance your resilience so that life is great, no matter what it throws at you.