The Compassionate Coach: 6 Ways Mindfulness Can Help You Be More Compassionate (Part 2 of 2)19/7/2015
Article published on the Malaysian Association of Certified Coaches website in July 2015 : Link to the article : _ Link to the PDF file : _ In recent years, the science of compassion has emerged. Now, we know more about the biology and the neurosciences of compassion : when we feel compassion, our heart rate slows down, our body secretes the “bonding hormone” oxytocin, and regions of the brain linked to empathy, caregiving, and feelings of pleasure are activated, which often results in our wanting to approach and care for other people. We have also discovered some of its benefits on mental and physical health to those who feel it. And even some researches have demonstrated through MRI how compassion is a skill that we can strengthen through training. There are some programs that have been launched, mainly in the United States, around compassion like the “Compassion Cultivation Training” from “The Center for Compassion, Altruism Research and Education” (CCARE) at Stanford University School of Medicine and the “Cognitively-Based Compassion Training” from Emory University. Scientists are also looking for its application to the fields of education, medicine, business and government. As written in my first article, compassion, as defined as an “emotional response of caring for and wanting to help those who are suffering (Batson, 1991), is different from empathy which is the “mirroring or understanding of another’s emotion” (Dacher Keltner, the Greater Good Science Center). So empathy relates more to the feeling part whereas compassion goes further with the desire to help and relieve the suffering of other. According to Chade-Meng Tan, compassion has 3 components: - the first one is the affective component, which can be translated by “I feel for you”, - the second one is the cognitive component which is “I understand you”, - the third one is the motivational component : “I want to help you” In Meng’s definition, empathy is an essential element of compassion and would relate to the first component of compassion. Knowing that, how practicing mindfulness will help you to bring the power of compassion into your coaching practice? Numerous researches have already demonstrated the benefits of mindfulness on cognitive functions, on well-being and on mental and physical health. It is now proven that mindfulness - the awareness that arises when you pay attention to the present moment with certain attitudes - increases empathy and compassion for others and for oneself. How?
Quickly, you will reap very useful benefits for your coaching practice… as well as for you daily life, for the people around you and more globally to our society. One study suggests compassion is contagious, so if you want to be part of a more compassionate world, just do it! Imagine how the world would be different if we all learn this skill! Bonus: Build your ‘compassion’ muscle right now by practicing these 3 activities:
References and recommended links:
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AuthorHi ! I'm Nadege Esteban. As a Mindfulness Trainer and Coach, I promote mindfulness as a way of living and working… and I gave myself this personal mission: to inspire as much as possible people to give mindfulness a try and hopefully to adopt it in their daily life. Be Inspired
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