Zhi Ying
I was Minmin’s coachee for three months, and those three months, if I were to capture it in a word, would be — expansion. I have seen myself mature, grow and extend my range of possibilities with her as my coach. With her, I had my first breakthrough in my relationship with my mom and other issues I was struggling with about myself.
I really appreciate how she lets me set the pace for my own learning, and would ask at the start of every session ‘So what do you want to talk about today?’ followed by ‘Okay, so where would you like to be at the end of the session?’ and this really helps because it’s not her imposing her standards or ideals on me, but rather truly supporting me in moving towards what I want and what I envision for myself. Yet, she strikes a balance between this and being fully invested in my learning. Minmin gives a lot during sessions and is always keen to supply me with knowledge and more information when I request for it.
Additionally, I like how her style of coaching is flexible and shifts between the domains of Body, Emotions and Language. She doesn’t only rely on one area and under her, I’ve gained significant insight into the three areas. Particularly, I have seen for myself how body interventions can have tremendous impact on the other two areas and how choosing different body dispositions can serve me and create productive results in different areas of my life.
Another feature of her coaching that really works is that of her paraphrasing my words back to me and through that, giving a different perspective through which I could see the same issue. This shifting of vantage point has opened me up to my blind spots and assessments that I far too often take for granted. I think one thing I really appreciate is how Minimin listens very attentively but yet without judgement or pre-conceived assumptions. This has helped in creating a safe space for me to share and yet also serving me in seeing clearer for myself what the situation really is about.
My three months with Minmin have been blessed with a lot of learning, growth and love and I am always grateful as to how gentle, loving, generous and sharp she is. She is personable and very easy to connect to, and I truly think she's a wonderful coach to have (:
Mark
Omg Omg I can barely contain the excitement. I learnt so much today!
We started the session by talking about what I wanted to achieve, and I said I wanted to become a more motivated and driven person, which will hopefully lead me on the path to become an inspirational person. We tried to identify emotions that are limiting me from moving out of my comfort zone to new experiences, and there wasn't one, at least not at the point in time. There might be a bit of fear but I don't think it was inhibiting me. We also identified anger at myself, but we came to the conclusion that it wouldn't stop me in my goal, since I see it more as a driving force, so we left it there. I guess this realisation struck me, it exemplifies how emotions we often classify as "bad" can actually serve good, that emotions are actually neutral and it just depends on whether they hinder you or not.
But through the coaching session, I kept asking myself what's been stopping me from doing new stuff earlier in my life, and Minmin suddenly suggested "boredom". There is in fact a glaring mood of boredom that underlies my life. This mood makes me assess that "I don't have anything to learn from an experience/person", that "this is boring", and that "I know it all". IT'S SO TRUE. But I also feel like I've recently been discovering emotions of curiosity and excitement again, but I'm still afraid this boredom might permeate some areas when I look for new experiences. Luckily I've identified it and thus I can make conscious decision and hopefully catch myself when I make assessments like that.
Minmin told me to take a mindset of a beginner where everything is new and wondrous, although she warned that it takes a lot of humility to adopt this, since it means you're admitting that you know nothing. What a revelation! I can't believe that I missed it even after all the times I've been thinking about what moods I have.
Anyway Minmin also coached me in areas of the body, there are 4 bodies - openness (leaning back), resolution (leaning forward), flexibility (up), confidence (rooted down). These will be useful in achieving my goals of being motivated and open :).
We also talked a bit about language and the 6 things (requests, offers, promises, assessments, assertions and declarations) in particular the first 3. I learned how requests need to be specific in order to be "powerful", if not it just leads to miscommunication and mismatched expectations. How responses to requests are promises, how a response to offers create promises from that person to you.
Overall I learnt so much and I'm so excited to use these tools to get me where I want to be in life - a motivated person who is excited about new experiences. I WILL BE A EXCITED AND CURIOUS PERSON.