This feature is for your benefit. You’ll read about the diverse and supportive care being offered that enables my clients to improve their mind, body and spirt, starting with the relationship they have with themselves!
The word sabotage comes from the French word saboter meaning wilfully to destroy. Approximately 90% of people admit to self-sabotage, citing food as their method of abuse. Tangible side effects include loss of time, energy, money, esteem, well-being and a perspective of what’s realistic, normal and healthy. Sadly, addiction knows no boundaries, it’s oblivious to class, it happens to regular people like you and me.
Stephen King rationalised his addictions by saying “creative people tend to be prone to addictions”. When I came to coaching several years ago, I didn’t think about specialising in the area of health, let alone supporting clients with eating disorders. However, the clients came, maybe because of my own experiences, or my genuine concern for what constitutes a healthy mind, body and spirit.
Sometimes it takes a lot of discipline, but I tend to spend my mornings writing articles, interviewing case studies for my forthcoming book. Also as Editor of the European Coaching Institutes newsletter, I’m busy searching the web for potential material and networking partners. I spend my afternoons and evenings coaching.
However, when I have residential clients sharing my home and life in rural France, it’s my responsibility to be available to support them throughout the day. Most clients are searching for the optimum ‘diet for life’, they want to be healthy and feel youthful. So coaching starts over the breakfast of their choice (usually the juice bar) while exploring what’s stopping them live the life of their dreams, we deal with obstacles and more importantly, plan where they want to be in the short, medium and longer term.
Other typical issues clients want to address include motivation, careers, relationships, spirituality and finances. So, clients are encouraged to spend the morning writing in their journals using various exercises and techniques for rescripting their lives: dealing with past issues, creating visualisations and exploring what it feels like to be, do and have (acting ‘as if’) their desires already achieved. This provides a basis for moving forward and setting smarter goals.
All veggie, vegan and raw clients are welcome. Many come to detox or experience a raw, green living foods diet. So the day continues with food prep classes, self sufficiency lessons (growing your own indoor greens) and often a lot of food based discussions. We explore nutrition, sabotage and analyse the impact their belief around food has on their relationships, in particular the one they have with themselves, their energy and life generally.
Afternoons are generally spent relaxing with holistic treatments and imagining themselves living the life they desire. In the words of Joseph Campbell (no relation) “We must be willing to get rid of the life we planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us”. Many clients enjoy a range of holistic treatments my local therapist provides from La Stone therapy to reflexology and we have a local yoga master too. Some client’s enjoy down time to nap, have a sauna, do some exercise or wander around the grounds and through the forests to the medieval city of St Suzanne, the choice is theirs.
Depending on the length of their stay, we have sessions concentrating on reframing beliefs, values and changing habits; healing the child within; developing and maintaining a positive mental attitude; learning to be assertive and the importance of self care. Towards the end of their stay, we always have a goal-orientated coaching session to set them up to deal with going home to their real world.
Once clients are back in their own home and working environment, I continue to support them with telephone and e-mail coaching. Working with clients, watching them regain their health both physically and mentally is extremely rewarding. I just wish I were wealthy enough financially to open a retreat and hold workshops benefiting many more people than I do now.
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