On Movement in Stillness

I've been thinking a lot about something my yoga teacher said the other day - although it might look like you're keeping still in a pose, within that stillness there should be movement as the aim is always to be stretching and deepening.

There's a clear link for me there with my coaching practice. One of the things it's taken me years to learn (and I've not finished learning, it's going to be a life-long process!) is to be quiet and let the silence grow. A powerful coaching question will always lead to a silence on the part of the client, and you can always tell when there's movement within that silence, when the client's mind is firing off on all cylinders. That's the point when it's crucial for the coach to be still and quiet and leave the space free for the client's mind to expand into.

As I said, it's going to be a lifelong learning process for me, learning to shut up, and I've come a long way from where I used to be (when I first started to learn about coaching I used to sit with my hand over my mouth to remind me!). Some days it comes more easily than others, and I find it easier to stay silent with some clients than with others. Just like yoga really, some poses I can relax and stretch into, some make me fall over!