New kind of coach: coaches for teams and top performers are standard fare. Coaches for one and all--for everything from personal fitness to careers and, yes, even life itself--are a growing phenomenon. Swiss News reports on how the trend is playing out among some Geneva expats.
| Auteur | Mangold-Vine, Gail |
| Fonction | Business |
There is a buzz of anticipatory excitement in the room of a Geneva conference centre as some 50 people--45 women, five men, expats aged late twenties and up--wait for UK-based Michael Bradford, the American-born "life coach" to begin his talk. The title of his presentation--'Reclaim your health, happiness, prosperity and joy'--is not without ambition, even as the crowded hall suggests that the pitch is striking a chord.
Not that expats on a quest would surprise habitues of Geneva's burgeoning English-language self-help scene, with its dozens of outlets ranging from left-brain oriented consultants for optimum career and skills development, to a growing number of holistic coaches, practitioners and therapists--and every possible offering in between. There is a brisk market in classes, seminars and workshops. Publications fly off the shelves of bookstores. And then, of course, there is the occasional guest speaker, like Bradford. This appearance was one of many in a week's visit to Switzerland--some public, some within companies and organisations.
'Clear the energy'
Bradford says most of us have learned to mould ourselves to outward expectations. Because this goes against our true nature, energy blockages form either in the body or the 'auric field' which surrounds us. In his view, if you restore the flow, you have a healthier individual, and even the seriously ill can enjoy an improved life when energies again flow freely, he says. But the process requires the root causes of problems to be identified, owned, and addressed. Coaching can support the process, but the real change comes from the individual.
In questioning two volunteers from the audience, Bradford uses a metal rod that appears to move of its own accord. He says it responds to unseen energies. After his gentle but thorough probing, a wife and mother says she has come to understand that she sacrificed her creativity because she could not reconcile her passionate artistic self with the malleable creature her lather expected. A man says he now sees that his mother's expectations have prevented him from identifying his true career path and committing himself to a tong-lasting relationship. Shock appears on the faces of both people when they conclude they have been held back by attitudes they didn't know they held. Both appear energised by the realisation.
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"He's serious, but I'm not sure the approach is for me," says a British accountant as he approaches the speaker for a...
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