Outdoor life coaching explained

What is Outdoor Life Coaching?

First of all, I suppose it may be necessary to clarify what exactly is meant by outdoor life coaching. While I often happily tell people that it does what it says on the tin, that it’s life training done outdoors, this isn’t always helpful. There are many articles you can refer to to discuss what life coaching is and its benefits; my basic premise is that it is anything by which I, as a coach, help you in your performance of life, be it in a work or ‘social’ context. This could be helping you overcome an obstacle, making you more effective in an existing life process, or supporting you through the practicalities of setting and ultimately achieving an existing or new goal.

Much life coaching tends to take place in therapy-style settings in an office, meeting room, or similar, where a conversation can take place and the coach can take notes. It can be very professional if it is purely work related or more relaxed if the topic is primarily life outside of your job.

Outdoor training obviously circumvents these limitations, but it can still produce results that are at least as good as those seen by people working indoors. However, there are several other benefits that outdoor training provides.

Activity

While the ‘outside’ label accurately describes the location, it does not mention the activity involved. In general, outdoor training is more than just sitting outside; it will usually involve walking (or some other form of travel) and talking.

Obviously this will follow those of us who are prepared for an active life. However, other people who tend towards a sedentary lifestyle can also benefit. Some people who rarely venture outdoors want to, but have concerns. However, even for the most couch potatoes, a training walk can be arranged that is suitable for your fitness level.

The benefits of the activity aspect are obviously that it can provide some form of exercise. However, since he needs enough of a voice to speak, he is obviously not at a high level. What is perhaps more important is that it keeps both parties moving. For someone for whom sitting still in a room and talking doesn’t come naturally, going for a walk may be the answer. Because you’re already physically busy, there are fewer opportunities or requirements to seek out other distractions that can quickly become the focus of all your indoor attention. Your brain is already used enough that you don’t need any further stimuli, no matter how hyperactive it is normally.

Another advantage is that you no longer feel pressured to search for an answer. Inside, with no alternative but to answer the current question, it can be a bit “stressful”, it’s easy to feel in the place. However, outside there is always a walk to turn to. There’s time to just walk around and it’s amazing how quickly the answers come to you naturally. It doesn’t feel uncomfortable at all to walk in silence briefly while one of you is thinking, whereas in a room it can get a bit intense.

confrontation

Meeting in a small room may seem confrontational. This is really nonsense since both parties are there for the benefit of the person being trained. However, sometimes when a difficult question is asked and the coach is sitting around waiting for an answer, the coachee feels like they are being watched, evaluated or whatever. Due to the side-by-side nature of walking and talking, these do not exist to the same extent. Not attracting the attention of your coach is much easier and thus the coachee can feel a greater degree of comfort.

While this can be good for the coachee, there is an obvious downside for the coach: if it is easier for you to dodge the more difficult questions, then it is more difficult for the coach to push you into an answer or commitment. If you want to avoid answering, it suggests to me that you don’t trust your trainer enough to answer, or that you aren’t committed enough to improvement. No gain without a degree of pain suggests that some of the questions you need to process will involve some soul-searching. In short, while you don’t want to be under pressure to respond, you should allow your coach the opportunity to use that tool to help you.

Appreciation

How often do we live somewhere for many years and never really know or make use of all the opportunities that present themselves in our local area? Taking a walk, we suddenly have time to see what is really around us. Without the need to focus on driving, we can notice what’s been there all along.

However, if you choose to walk further afield, unless you choose an industrial wasteland, you may appreciate the beauty of another place. Scotland has so many places to be proud of; places with a peace that allows us to process our thoughts while we are inspired by its beauty.

Different

Outdoor life coaching is different from the norm. For some of us, we get bored easily and the idea of ​​doing something new is appealing. More than that though, there are tools available to an outdoor trainer that cannot be tried indoors. There are a variety of simple but physical metaphors that can be used outside that can help people process in a different way. While this might be particularly helpful for people who process things kinesthetically, doing something the brain doesn’t anticipate can lead to great results.

Finally

While you can enjoy many benefits in your life as a result of life coaching, doing it in the great outdoors will reap even greater rewards. While for many ‘seeing is believing’, in this case maybe ‘doing is understanding’ and you need to go out and try it to truly convert.