Science of coaching
Often, people are completely unaware of how many activities they do that are completely automated by their brain. Changing our “auto pilot” requires forging new circuits in the prefrontal cortex. Carving out these new circuits in the brain happens through a process called myelination.
Coaches are experts at keeping clients engaged in new thoughts and behaviors. Essentially coaching provides the framework to create and deepen new circuits in our prefrontal cortex. Ultimately, our thought process and behaviors start to work in a way that supports us in achieving the vision we have for ourselves.
Coaching also builds the capacity in the brain to resist homeostasis (i.e., the automatic physiological process that opposes change from happening). The attention and focus that coaching creates helps us concentrate on the change we desire to make in life and to push past the brain’s anti-change signals.
The more a neural pathway is used, the stronger it becomes. We truly can rewire ours brain in ways that create openness, creativity, and the optimal environment for neuroplasticity, leading to lasting, transformative change.
~ excepts from an article by the Co-active Training Institute
Related Research
Openness
A 2010 fMRI study at Case Western Reserve University found that when subjects spent 30 minutes talking about their desired personal vision, the parts of their brain “associated with cognitive, perceptual and emotional openness and better functioning” were activated (Boyatzis, 2010)
Coaching with compassion can ‘light up’ human thoughts
~ Richard Boyatzis & Anthony Jack
Collaborative
The process of having “collaborative, contingent conversations” that are emotionally attuned and non-directive builds positive neural connections in the brain (Siegel, 1999). These conversations are similar to the best relationships of early development, when a primary caregiver is responsive and open to the needs of the child.
The Developing Mind:
Toward a neurobiology of interpersonal experience
~ Daniel Siegel
Rewiring
There is significant scientific proof for the exciting idea that the brain demonstrates “neuroplasticity.” That is, it is more adaptable than we have previously thought, and it can — and does — change with effort and intention. As neuroplasticity expert Norman Doidge (2007) points out, there is substantial evidence we can “rewire our brains with our thoughts.”
The Brain that Changes Itself
~ Norman Doidge
Mindfulness
Numerous studies suggest that even something as simple as paying “mindful attention” can help develop integrative fibers in the brain, which increases empathy, focus, and the ability to recover from stress (Siegel 2010).
Mindsight, The new science of personal transformation
~ Daniel Siegel
Perspective
Our amygdala plays a key role in scanning for threats and, if it finds one, pushes us into “fight or flight” mode where our bodies become flooded with chemicals such as cortisol and forms of adrenaline. These stress hormones impact our ability to think clearly and often have us make poor decisions we come to regret later (Arnsten, 2008). Thus, the skill of being able to choose a new perspective can be an effective antidote to stress.
The mental sketchpad: why thinking has limits
~ Amy Arnsten
Presence
There is evidence that the very presence of the coach has a profound effect on his or her client. According to research by the HeartMath Institute, “a subtle yet influential electromagnetic or ‘energetic’ communication system operates just below our conscious awareness...(and this) field plays an important role in communicating physiological, psychological, and social information between individuals” (McCraty 2010).
Our Heart Has a Mind of Its Own
~ Rollin McCraty