Coaching Practiced

38 Mindfulness in coaching: Being the observer

Jonathan Passmore

Abstract

This short paper focuses on a specific technique: ‘Being the observer’. The article offers a short description of the process and when this technique may be most helpful within a coaching conversation.

As a technique paper, I have deliberately kept the discussion short, but for those interested in the wider evidence behind the application of mindfulness, a more detailed review is included in earlier articles, as well as other techniques which can be used alongside attitude choice (Passmore, 20171a, 2017b, 2017c, 2018). For a comprehensive review, readers may wish to review Michael Cavanagh and Gordon Spence’s critical review of the mindfulness literature (Cavanagh & Spence, 2013).

Keywords

Mindfulness coaching, meditation, coaching psychology.

Original publication details: Passmore, J. (2018, December). Mindfulness in coaching: Being the observer. The Coaching Psychologist, 14(2), 105–107. Reproduced with permission of The British Psychological Society.

INTRODUCTION

This article is one of a series of articles focusing on mindfulness techniques that can be used by coaches with their clients. The focus in this paper is on helping clients to observe themselves as they engage with others during their day.

BEING THE OBSERVER

Much of our life is spent rushing between one task and the next. We can be so engaged in the process that we may rarely take time to observe what is happening around us, or to observe ...