Cognitive Coach

As a career educator, and specialist in working with students with severe emotional disabilities and autism, I was given the opportunity, several years ago, to take a position at our school as The Instructional Coach. As a coach, I do help teachers with curriculum and development, effective teaching strategies, and the like; but I, also, have had the amazing opportunity to be trained as a Cognitive Coach.

Cognitive Coaching is a model which is rooted in the philosophy that we typically already have all the tools we need to solve the problems that face us. All of us get stuck, all of us have struggles, all of us face obstacles. Cognitive Coaches do not provide people answers, but, instead, the coach asks their clients questions and reflect back the person’s thinking knowing that the client has the tools and resources to solve their own problems and overcome obstacles.

Samyama Coaching

As a long time practitioner of the technology of yoga, and a student of yoga philosophy for over 30 years, we realized that the solutions to many of our modern problems lie in ancient wisdom. Most of the problems of the world today are caused by a lack of internal peace, by unfocused minds and by a lack of compassion. While we may look for quick solutions to the afflictions that affect our lives, often these solutions are more of a band-aid. The root problems in our society today seem to be the same root problems that ancient peoples faced. Using the ancient text The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Samyama Coaching is a combination of lessons and practices to help us find contentment, even in the most challenging circumstances.

As the co-creator, Becky Myers, states:

There is more to yoga than movement. Strength and flexibility are excellent side effects, but the real fruits of yoga are the skills necessary to create a life of peaceful discernment.

A powerful new way of seeing and interacting with yourself, your relationships, your world; a sense of peace that transcends the conditions of the moment and provides support in all situations.
The Samyama Model teaches perceptual shift using four central practices:

Ahimsa (non-violence)
Satya (truth)
Brahmacharya (balancing vital energy)
Santosha (contentment)

Coaching works to build self-awareness on intellectual and emotional levels, just as yoga movement works to build physical self-awareness. These practices are so integrated, interwoven, and supportive of one another that coaching clients are strongly encouraged to attend movement classes a minimum of two times per week for the duration of coaching.