To Become a Coach

To become a Coach:
My journey to discover the world of coaching began quite organically.

As a Yoga practitioner and teacher for many years, my interactions outside of a yoga class were mentoring and supporting my students in different areas of life. And that is when I noticed, this could be my calling and the reason why I started looking up ‘Coaching’.

Another reason – were my personal sessions with professional counsellors seeking help and support for healing and growth. Talk therapy did help a lot but I realised I was only talking about my past and that is when I learnt the difference between counselling and coaching.

With little that I knew about coaching then, I started my online search and came across various terms like ‘life coach, mindset coach, business coach etc which only grew my curiosity to learn more about what exactly coaching is.
And with the magic of algorithms, I came across the website of International Coaching Federation as well as Coach To Transformation. And after going through the details, speaking with a helpful CTT personnel, taking the time to think and to figure out my finances, I was finally ready to begin my journey to become an ICF credentialed Coach.

It has been 7 weeks precisely since the inception of my ICF ACC course and I cannot emphasize enough on how insightful and inspiring this journey has been.

Every aspect of learning ‘coaching’ right from getting to know each other in the cohort, to developing trust, to being comfortable opening up and sharing, to learning about the ethics and competencies, to peer coaching. This journey has been absolutely beautiful and immensely transformative.

The most stimulating part of learning to become a Coach is the mindset shift towards the art of questioning without suggesting or advising – something that is so integral to human behaviour. It is a beautiful process of un-learning some old-acquired patterns of conduct to learning new ones, process of introspection, of inquiring with the self.

It is learning to ask the right questions which are thought provoking and believing in the genius of the client to find their own answers. The idea of ‘partnering’ with the client brings about a beautiful sense of equality.

As I am learning about each competency in depth with each word scrutinised by the mentor coach to explain further, it is helping me learn a lot more about myself, about the way I think, the way I can think differently and ask differently.

I have come to believe through this journey so far that coaching starts with the Self.

The more I am consciously developing the mindset to ask myself the right questions, whenever I feel stuck, that much more this process is coming to me ‘naturally’ in my peer coaching sessions.

Last yet an important part of this journey for me are the beautiful connections being made
and the trust that is being built amongst the fellow members within the cohort.

Giving us a safe space to be ourselves, to be present for each other and support each
other which is the true essence of Coaching.

My details:
Authors Name: Vidhi Patel
Title of the Blog: To Become a Coach
About the Author: Vidhi has been practicing and teaching Yoga for the past 8 years after
working in the Corporate Service Sector for 9 years in Telecom and Aviation Industry.
Passionate about supporting and empowering, she is also an avid reader and forever in
love with nature.
Program Attended with CTT: Level 1 ACC Training.
Reason for taking this program: To support myself and others to find clarity and make
better choices.
What worked for you: The entire process of shifting to a coaching mindset.
What benefits you got: Autonomy and Answers to age old questions.