Unfolding Embodied Self-Care:
Advanced Developmental Strategies for Coaches
Improving self-care is as close to a perennial coaching topic as one can get. It seems that nearly every coaching engagement, at some point, touches on the topic of improving self-care.
Why is Self-Care such a persistent challenge?
Improving self-care is often a challenge because we begin in a self-defeating way, from self-deficiency and self-rejection. This way of starting immediately creates a strong undertow that sabotages our well-intended efforts. While fighting this undertow, most of us conclude that we lack the necessary self-control, discipline, and perseverance to change ourselves into someone we fully accept. And these struggles only seem to reinforce our sense of self-deficiency and self-rejection.
We feel ashamed at our repeated failures and we quickly give up trying to take better care of ourselves as a way to take cover from the shame we feel. After all, who wants to keep trying something that makes us feel deficient and ashamed?
Unfolding Embodied Self-care introduces a different approach that will radically improve the results that you and your clients create.
from self-improvement to self-unfoldment
Aletheia Coaching offers a new paradigm of development called self-unfoldment that has a radically different starting point compared to self-improvement. Self-unfoldment starts with the question “What if nothing is missing?” What if you are everything you need right now to organically unfold a better way of caring for yourself? What unfolds if you start with unconditional self-love and radical self-acceptance, even love and acceptance of your self-deficiency, self-rejection, and shame?
Self-care is a natural and spontaneous act of deeply embodying your innate Wholeness as Presence. In self-unfoldment, learning and development moves in two directions simultaneously: 1) you uncover and compassionately work through the emotional patterns that underlie self-care challenges (aka your Parts) and 2) you deepen embodiment of the resourcefulness, creativity, and genius of your innate Wholeness as Presence.
a journey of ten self-care transformations
In this course, we will journey through ten self-care transformations, each one addressing a particular challenge and offering a particular support for achieving self-care goals. The journey will be organized using the Enneagram of Unfolding Individuation, a teaching about the Enneagram that is unique to Aletheia. The ten self-care transformations are:
From self-denying to self-trusting
From self-controlling to self-accepting
From self-sacrificing to self-nurturing
From self-promoting to self-worth
From self-searching to self-esteem
From self-objectifying to self-understanding
From self-doubting to self-confidence
From self-indulgence to self-delight
From self-determination to self-love
From self-sedating to self-satisfaction
We will cultivate an atmosphere of playfulness, radical acceptance, open curiosity, and deep empathy as we work through these transformations.
For each of these transformations, you will learn:
Specific lines of inquiry to uncover personal blocks and untapped inner resources
Specific somatic practices which will unfold your self-story, leveraging Polyvagal Theory to deepen safety and enable the release of long-held patterns of somatic-emotional armoring
Specific somatic practices that will reconnect you to your felt sense and innate resources, leveraging the psychological resources of specific muscles from Bodynamics
Specific contemplative practices that utilize special breath meditations, leveraging neuroplasticity and memory reconsolidation to generate a sustained transformation of self
Specific social practices that help to re-establish your place in the social world as you unfold a deeper embodiment of your true self as Presence
Experiencing these transformation from the inside-out and learning these new paradigm developmental strategies will take your coaching to the next level.
Become a more Shame-sensitive Coach
The most common underlying issue in self-care challenges is shame. Whereas guilt is the feeling that we've done something bad, shame is the feeling that we are bad. When we feel ashamed, we quickly withdraw from contact with others and with ourselves. This withdrawal erodes our ability to know our true self and to own and embody the innate resourcefulness, creativity, and genius of who we are as Presence. In this state of withdrawal we feel deficient in a way that then reinforces our feeling of shame. In this way, shame undermines self-development. All developmental coaches need to adopt a shame-sensitive approach to coaching.
Learn how shame lurks under presenting issues, how coaches often collude with their client’s shame, and how certain approaches to coaching can unintentionally activate feelings of self-deficiency and shame in ways that sabotage the client's development instead of supporting it.
Become a more shame-sensitive coach by uncovering and working with your own patterns of shame and shame-proneness and learn specific developmental strategies to free yourself and your clients from shame-fueled self-sabotaging patterns and become more shame-resilient.
what is the Structure and Rhythm of the Course?
The most powerful way to learn these developmental strategies is to experience them from the inside-out through your own transformative self-care journey.
The course is twelve two-hour sessions spanning approximately ten months. Sessions are held approximately every 3-4 weeks. Each session includes community-building, teaching, discussion, and somatic practices.
Between sessions, you will explore each self-care transformation through personal inquiry and practice and through mutual sharing and support in your Presence Pod, a small group of 3-5 fellow participants.
Private Coaching to support you through the crux
Every self-care transformation includes a segment of the journey that we call “The Crux.” The Crux is the leg of the journey that is most challenging, where you must face difficult emotions, entrenched habits, and must challenge apparent self-deficiencies. Some people will encounter multiple cruces on their journey.
Each participant will receive five 50-minute private coaching sessions with course faculty. Additional private coaching sessions are available for an additional fee. These coaching sessions are intended to help you navigate your Crux.
What are the course pre-requisites?
This is a course for developmental coaches of all levels of experience and training who want to deepen their understanding and expand their skill in working with persistent self-care challenges.
If you are new to Aletheia Coaching, you will be introduced to the self-unfolding approach and learn how to practice unfolding through self-inquiry, somatic, social, and contemplative practices. You can integrate what you learn with your current coaching approach and, if you are interested, you can deepen your skill by continuing on to the Aletheia Advanced Coaching Program to learn the full method. This course does not teach the full method of Aletheia Coaching. For that you must take the Advanced Coaching Program.
If you are already a graduate of the Aletheia Advanced Coaching Program Levels 1, 2, and/or 3, you will learn how to apply Parts Work, Process Work, and Presence Work in focused ways to foster these self-care transformations. And you will learn additional practices only taught in this course.
What is the estimated time commitment for this course?
As with everything, the value you get from this course is directly connected to your investment. We estimate that this course will consume a minimum of ~3 hours per week on average. Some weeks might be a bit more, some weeks might be a bit less. This time is consumed by participating or watching the live sessions, attending Presence Pod meetings, and your own self-inquiry and practice. Additional investment will depend on your personal self-care, learning, and developmental goals.
WHAT TIME OF DAY ARE THE SESSIONS HELD?
Each session is offered in two sections allowing participation from around the world in different time zones. A typical cohort will include people from Asia, Australia, North America, and Europe. Sections are held from 9-11 AM and 5-7 PM Pacific time zone. All sessions are recorded allowing flexibility in participation.
HOW LARGE ARE THE COHORTS?
The cohorts are typically 20-40 people. Because the sessions are held in two sections, a typical session is attended by 10-20 people.
What is the cost of the course?
The tuition for the course is $2,999 USD which includes all live sessions and recordings, materials, and private coaching.
BONUS: Three Group Coaching Supervision Calls
As a bonus, Steve March, the course leader will host three group coaching supervision calls to provide additional support for applying what you are learning in this course to your work with coaching clients.
When will the next cohort begin?
Unfolding Embodied Self-Care is an annual offer that begins in January/February of every year. Please consult the course schedule for the exact dates of the next offering.