How does it work? The service is not prescriptive in nature. Rather than proffer advice, “we’re trained and practiced in helping individuals assess their own personal strengths,” she said. “We take a broad-minded approach that addresses the body and the spirit. Then we create goals week by week that are achievable.” Silver emphasized that the process is definitely not therapy — client and coach together come up with a plan, informed by the coach’s expertise.
One client had just turned 60. Although he had always been thin, he had put on weight and was diagnosed by his doctor as having high blood pressure. After a month, it was clear stress was a major contributing factor to his health issues. In exploring the options for stress management, Silver discovered he was not familiar with the concept of mindfulness. She suggested meditation.
The client did some reading on his own and committed to trying different approaches. “He didn’t have time to take a course, but he was able to incorporate meditation in his workday before going to sleep,” Silver said. Since undergoing the program — the two continue to work together — “he has definitely increased the exercise, taken off some weight, and improved his diet.”
Each improvement is significant, be it a smoker reducing his habit from a pack and a half a day to half a pack or a couch potato exercising five days a week for at least 20 minutes.
Getting rid of unhealthy habits and starting healthy ones, such as snacking on fresh vegetables and fruit rather than potato chips, is essential, although the way this is done varies by client. The benefit of a health coach is the individualized approach. Clients are helped to discover what they like, so that being healthy ceases to be a chore. People become motivated, Silver added.
Robbins saw firsthand the benefits of organic food when her oldest son was diagnosed with cancer at age nine. “Having to go through chemo and radiation was pretty devastating, but I was able to supplement the medical treatment with herbs and healthy foods. He did very well because of that.” She also discovered “how little the medical world knew about how food affected you.” (Some doctors have asked for her brochure after she became a coach Robbins said. “Health coaching has become complementary to their practice,” she said.)
Robbins offers a six-month program for $1200 that includes an initial consultation which determines “the client’s goal and ensures client and coach are a good match.” Then comes an hour-long consultation, preferably in her office, every two weeks. “We cover all parts of their life,” she said. “Each session I try to focus on one particular area. Usually they start to see pretty positive changes quickly.”
Many people don’t know what makes them happy, which she partly attributes to society’s judgmental attitudes. “People have a lot of epiphanies,” she explained. “For example, instead of looking at food as being comforting it should be nurturing. In each session we get down to the basics of nutrition and what’s good for you.” Robbins draws on her knowledge to recommend the right diet for the client, which of course varies by individual.
In some cases, removing gluten from the diet results in huge changes for the person. Just switching to a diet of whole nutritious foods works wonders, Robbins said, with the person feeling more energized and satisfied, lessening the craving for junk foods. Job stress is also a big issue for people right now, with the economy forcing more people to stay in jobs they hate or suffer from job insecurity. She focuses on how they can be kinder to themselves when they’re not at work, which might mean learning to say no about working overtime, taking 15 minutes a day to meditate, or making a commitment to spend a half-hour three days in a row to playing with one’s children.
Robbins has studied body language and works with clients to learn how to read what their body is telling them, since the body doesn’t lie. Mindfulness is an important part of re-connecting. “Remembering to be mindful is difficult at first, but once you get into the practice it becomes part of who you are.”
“We’re just so disconnected. We’ve forgotten how to listen to ourselves,” she said. By reconnecting with themselves, individuals also forge a larger connection, to “something bigger than yourself.”
