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TKV Desikachar, in his book ‘The Heart of Yoga,’ talks about two states of being for a good yoga practice: sthiram and sukham, or lightness and comfort. Sutra 2.46 of the Yogasutras talks about “sthira sukham asanam,” meaning a yoga asana should be stable and comfortable.

This idea has a lot of relevance to coaching. In a coaching relationship, the client experiences movement from discomfort to comfort and from heaviness to lightness; the coach, on the other hand, needs to be present in a state of lightness and comfort. These qualities are essential for a coach to be able to dance in the moment with the client. Let’s look at how a coach can achieve these states.

The most important principle here is that these states cannot be turned on just for the duration of a session. In order to achieve these states, the coach has to continuously work on their being and on relinquishing any needs/desires – ironically even the desire of ‘helping’ the client.

 Lightness is the opposite of heaviness. Heaviness for a coach can stem from the weight of expectations, assumptions and biases. A coach who is emotionally invested in the outcome of the session and expects the client to reach a particular destination will feel a tremendous sense of heaviness when the client goes their own way. Letting go of the need to direct, to prove oneself or even show results and instead to be truly present and genuinely believe that the client knows best are attributes that contribute to creating a state of lightness for a coach. This is also clearly stated in the ICF Core competencies of embodying a coaching mindset and maintaining presence.

The literal meaning of the team sukham in Sanskrit is ‘good space’. Sukham can also mean “happy, joyful, agreeable…” (https://yogainternational.com/article/view/sthira-and-sukha-steadiness-and-ease). A coach can achieve a state of sukham only by walking the path and coaching with authenticity. An authentic coach is someone who has been a lifelong learner herself, has walked the path of self-refinement, has coached herself through the physical, mental, emotional or spiritual challenges she has faced and is always focused on cultivating a sense of awareness of self. A coach who is in a state of sukham or “good space” can facilitate a sense of sukham in the client as well. For sukham to exist in the coach and manifest as presence during the session, a coach needs to work on integration of body breath and mind…which brings us back to yoga.