Outdoor Life Coaching Explained

What is Outdoor Life Coaching?

First of all, I suppose that perhaps it is necessary to clarify what exactly is meant by outdoor life coaching. While I often cheerfully tell people that it does what it says on the tin, which is 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, whether 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 mainly life outside of your work.

Outdoor training obviously avoids these limitations, but can still produce results that are at least as good as what people who work out indoors see. However, there are several other benefits that outdoor training provides.

Exercise

While the ‘outside’ tag 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 to be sedentary can also benefit. Some people who rarely venture outdoors want to, but have concerns. However, even for the most addicted 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’s obviously not at a high level. Perhaps more importantly, 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 are already physically busy, there are fewer opportunities or requirements to seek out other distractions that can quickly become the focus of all your attention indoors. Your brain is already used enough that it doesn’t need more stimulation, no matter how hyperactive it normally is.

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

Confrontation

A 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, this does not exist to the same extent. Not calling the attention of your coach is much easier and thus the coachee can feel a greater degree of comfort.

While this may be good for the coachee, there is an obvious disadvantage for the coach: if it is easier for you to dodge the tougher questions, then it is harder for the coach to push you for an answer or commitment. If you want to avoid responding, it suggests to me that you either don’t trust your coach enough to respond or 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? When taking a walk, we suddenly have time to see what is really around us. Without the need to concentrate on driving, we can notice what has been there all along.

However, if you choose to trek 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 being inspired by their beauty.

Different

Outdoor life coaching is different than 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 tested 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 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 really convert.