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Coaching with ND Movement Coach

The Aim of Coaching

While I am a qualified life and leadership coach, my passion is exercise and assisting neurodiverse individuals. Exercise is simply incredible for the body and mind. My aim is to help people move more, and use the journey to movement as a vehicle to work with their neurodiversity.

You can read my article about running and my neurodiversity for some examples of what I’ve learnt about myself through movement.

Client Limits: Due to this being a part-time gig, I only take on a limited number of clients. If you reach out and I do not have availability, you will be added to a wait list.

Who do I coach

Ultimately I seek to help adults start moving.  My passion is assisting those with neurodiversity.  I will never exclude neurotypical people, however, my service it geared towards the neurodiverse.

What to Expect

Duration: A standard coaching engagement lasts 3 months. This includes fortnightly chats (or less frequent if that suits your schedule).

Accountability: I provide 2–3 weekly check-in messages. These are short messages offering encouragement following your planned movement sessions. If you’ve committed to something, I’ll check in to see if it happened.  I find this helps a lot to know that someone will send a quick message to check in.  You don't have to reply.  Just know that I am thinking of you.

How will it happen

Video conference: Due to working full time, sessions will be in the evening or during lunch time.  These will be held over zoom or a similar platform.  You don't have to use video if you don't want to, although seeing you will help me see your reactions.

The First Step

Obligation-free introductory chat: It is important that we have a good connection when helping you on your journey to movement. To see if we are a good fit, we’ll start with a general 15–30 minute chat. If we are both comfortable to continue, we can plan for a formal coaching engagement.

Movement

Whatever you want it to be:  Movement is what you decide it should be for you.  You main goal could to be healthier, maybe lose some weight or to manage neurodiversity symptoms better. I'll work with you to find a place to start. 

Some examples could be:

-Being more flexible, by regularly stretching.

-Doing mindful yoga practice.

-Getting outside for regular walks.

-Working towards doing a given number of push ups.

It doesn't matter, what your movement goal is, I'llhelp you work towards it.

SMART(ER) goals

Goals should have the following characteristics, to help give the best chance of achieving them.

S - Specific:  For example, on these days, I'll go for a15 minute walk outside.

M - Measurable:  For this example it is getting out for the 15 minutes.  In the longer term, this may be related to increase the time spent moving, or achieving more reps of a given exercise.

A - Achievable:  Movement  It should something you can do with your life committments.

R - Realistic: You won't run a marathon tomorrow.  If you are starting from a low base, your movement needs to be low friction.  There is nothing worse that going straight to a PT session and hurting yourself.  I need to be right for you.

T - Time bound:  Exactly when will the movement happen? 

ER - Exciting Reward:  This is about motivation.  If you are able to meet what you set for yourself (or even 80% of it), will you reward yourself with something that will help keep you motivated?  It should be something that will help you, though.  So a bucket of KFC won't really help if the goal is to be healthier. 😊

Fictional coaching transcript

To give an idea of what a coaching session consists of, here is fictional transcript of a second coaching session. A goal and plan had been established in the first session.

Coach: Hi Alex. Good to see you. Before we talk about the goal from the first session, how are you feeling in your body right now as we sit down to chat?

Client: Honestly? A bit tense. I feel like I’m back in the principal’s office because I didn’t hit the target we talked about last time.

Coach: I hear that tension. If we were to take the "principal's office" feeling off the table for a second, what did your actual experience with the movement goal?

Client: I did it on Tuesday. It felt great—I felt focused afterward. But Thursday and Saturday just… didn’t happen. I sat on the couch thinking about it for two hours, but I couldn't move.

Coach: You had a successful Tuesday and then a "stuck" Thursday. When you were on the couch on Thursday, what was the internal dialogue running through your mind?

Client: It was just: “You should get up. It’s only 15 minutes. If you can’t even do 15 minutes, you’re never going to get healthy. You’re being lazy.”

Coach: That sounds like a heavy conversation to be having with yourself. When that thought—“If I can’t do 15 minutes, I’m lazy”—hit your brain, what happened to your energy level in that moment?

Client: It plummeted. I felt heavier, actually. The more I told myself I was lazy, the more the couch felt like a magnet.

Coach: Interesting. So the thought “I am lazy” actually made the physical act of moving more difficult?

Client: (Long pause) Yeah. I guess it did. It made it feel like a huge mountain instead of just a 15 minute walk.

Coach: Let's look at that "Lazy" label through a different lens. If a friend told you they were physically unable to move because they were overwhelmed by a task, would "lazy" be the word you’d use for them?

Client: No. I’d probably say they were burnt out or stuck in "waiting mode."

Coach: So, if we replaced "I'm lazy" with "I'm experiencing a transition block," do you think that will change the way your body reacts to the idea of getting up?

Client: It feels less like a character flaw and more like... a technical glitch? Like my brain’s gears aren’t catching.

Coach: I love that imagery. If we accept that this is a "technical glitch" rather than a personality failure, what is one tiny "manual override" you could try when you feel those gears slipping next time?

Client: Maybe I could just put my shoes on? Not even leave the couch, just put them on.

Coach: And if you put those shoes on and still stayed on the couch, what would that tell us about the goal for that day?

Client: That the shoes weren't the issue, maybe the environment was.

Coach: Exactly. You're investigating your own process. Based on what we’ve uncovered about that "lazy" thought, what is the new "rule" you want to set for yourself when you miss a session?

Client: To stop the name-calling. To just ask, "Where is the gear slipping?" instead of "Why am I like this?"

Coach: How does that new approach feel in terms of your motivation for the coming week?

Client: It feels lighter. Like I’m allowed to be a work in progress.

Coach: That’s a powerful place to start. Shall we look at how we can tweak the Tuesday success to make Thursday a little more "greased" for those gears?

Fees & Charity Donations

As a side gig passion, I’m not really interested in making money . However, if something is totally free, it has no value. To give the coaching value, the fee is a $100 donation to a charity.

To formally commence the coaching sessions, I will need a copy of a donation receipt to a registered charity. As an added bonus, if they are a registered charity, your donation will be tax-deductible.

Suggested Charities:

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