I had some preconceptions of what coaching was about (high performance coaching, intensive and lots of goal-driven homework). I wasn’t in that place of looking to reach for the stars. What I was looking for was someone to help me get to a stable base.
I was fairly sceptical yet willing to try a new approach to sorting through my own issues that I’ve been dissatisfied with for many years.
INTENSIVE
I signed up for an intensive programme of coaching and we began looking into my main areas of frustration (insomnia and anxiety) as well as the sadness and dullness I’ve carried with me for years.
This involved becoming more aware of the those emotions creating awareness of the thoughts and internal dialogue that caused those feelings and how I’ve been behaving in ways that hasn’t been working for me.
We worked on starting to change how I’m making myself feel by conscious intervention into I’ve been representing thoughts, how I’ve been talking to myself, and how why what I’d been doing had been the right thing to do (even though it was not benefiting me).
We’ve worked on changing how I perceive myself; what I believe is true about me and my potential.
Ani has an impressive range of tools she’s able to bring to my situation and we have also used techniques such as visualisation, affirmation, emotional freedom therapy, meditation, and techniques from the NLP toolset.
I’ve found the coaching sessions themselves to be very enjoyable and I feel very at ease and at home in Ani’s company.
At the end of the 8 week programme I can honestly say that I felt great and so much more positive, optimistic, confident and resilient than I had done for some time.
I HAVE THE POWER
So feeling great and confident…I had an idea that I was able to enjoy those old behaviours that don’t work for me.
Boom! This time I’d really done it. My levels of anxiety had descended to new depths.
HURT AND GETTING BACK ON TRACK
But there was one one ray of sunlight from that ultimate lesson. I now knew that I never wanted to go to that place again.
I was initially embarrassed to talk to Ani about what had happened because of my disappointment with myself but I’m so glad I did. She was massively supportive, empathetic, insightful and full of hope, possibilities and leads to follow.
She helped me get over the events, quickly, and back on track.
HERE’S TO THE FUTURE
Since working with Ani I definitely feel more comfortable talking about my own struggles. She’s someone to talk to, who listens, who is very perceptive (so many observations resonate) and helps me to find my own ways to work on problems as well as helping me out when I can’t see a way through.
Her own experiences are inspirational and shows so much more is possible than we take as read or accept as ‘the only way’.
I’ve been surprised by the breadth of her knowledge of different avenues of self-development and actualisation and a willingness to use what works rather than being tied to any specific school of thought.
-Mark, Architect