First and foremost, I want to stress that I support a client-led approach to coaching. I want to understand what is meaningful and important to you. I like to ask a lot of questions and do a lot of listening.
But not everyone has a clear idea on where they might want to make changes, or what interventions might bring meaningful change. When that is the case, I like to dive into what I consider to be the four big “pillars” of health and wellness:
Diet & Nutrition
Exercise
Sleep
Mindfulness / Stress Management
Research is clearly showing that managing these pillars (or pulling these levers) can have a tremendous impact on health and wellness, sometimes more than any supplement or pharmacological intervention. They also come with very few side effects and are elements in our life that we can exercise a lot of control over. And even when supplementation or prescription medication is needed, the benefits are likely to be far greater if we are effectively managing these pillars in our life.
So working through each of these pillars, we might explore:
What are you doing well in these areas?
Where do you think you have challenges?
What do you want to better or differently?
Ultimately, we hope to strive for relative balance amongst these pillars. Significant compromise in any one of them could impact positive change or balance in the others. As an example, if you have exercise pretty-well dialed in, but nutrition and diet is out of balance, you might not see the gains or changes you are ultimately hoping for. Challenges with managing stress and/or getting quality sleep will not allow the body to rest and recover, and again, may limit positive impacts in other areas.
One of the other challenges we often face is we don’t know what we don’t know. Conventional healthcare is woefully lacking in what we look at in terms of genetics (our blueprint) and biomarkers/ blood work (how our blueprint is currently being expressed). We may talk about if you have any interest in getting more data in those areas, the costs, the benefits, and where you can go to get that data if you are interested. I can refer you to several doctors if you are local to the Puget Sound area of Washington State, or telehealth or direct-to-consumer testing services if you are not.
If you already have that data, great! I am trained in coaching for precision and genomic-based medicine and can help you interpret your data / reports (Disclaimer: I cannot provide specific medical advice based on that data, that will be the role of your health care provider). I can also, with your permission, review your treatment plan that your provider may have provided after their review of your data and help you integrate into your daily life.
To be clear, we absolutely do not need that data to get started you on the path of making positive changes in your health and wellness. They are many healthy interventions we can start talk about without any additional data. But if you want to develop a plan customized for you and your genetics, it can be an idea worth exploring.
Hopefully that sheds some light on what it might be like to work with me. If you would like to have a free, 30-min. consultation to discuss in person (well, over Zoom!) whether health and wellness coaching is right for you, please email me at willtochangecoaching@gmail.com and we can set up a time to do so.
Until we meet, chat or see each other, be well and find yourself in good health!
Will To Change Health & Wellness Coaching 