Coaching Practiced

39 Coaching through walking

Arthur Turner

Abstract

This article seeks to support innovation and creativity amongst the coaching fraternity. Although walking-coaching is not entirely new as an approach (Read, 2016), coaching can too often be portrayed as a static event in closed offices or more informal spaces such as cafes. Such approaches can have a psychological dimension such as outlined in Bachkirova (2014) and Spinelli (2014), both of which highlight the ways in which learning can be considered as emergent as humans experience their own ways of being in the moment and in the environment.

KEYWORDS

Walking body existential coaching place creative coaching approaches.

Original publication details: Turner, A. (2017, December). Coaching through walking. The Coaching Psychologist, 13(2), 80–85. Reproduced with permission of The British Psychological Society

INTRODUCTION

This article outlines some of the theoretical approaches to walking (such as the growth in interest in Psychogeography, Richardson, 2015) and the role of the body in leadership or leading (Sinclair, 2011), and the way in which coaching practice can be enhanced by considering embodiment and a different type of access to thinking and reflection through movement rather than a static, face-to-face, process. These ideas are based on the author’s practical experience, some initial research and theoretical considerations. Thought is given to ways in which walking can be included in a coach’s repertoire as a further ...