 |
Life Coaches Providing Help for Personal Self-Fulfillmentby KRISTEN ARMSTRONG, Staff Writer
|
| New Year's resolutions are easy to make,
but keeping them all year is a little more difficult. If you need a nudge in the right direction, life strategies coach Kim Tapper, and intuition and creativity coach, Celia Im, might be able to help you on the road to success. Tapper, who is just about to open her practice at the Middleburg Fitness Center, defines her work as “helping move people from a place where they're stuck to a place where they're unstuck, heading towards their goals.” The goal-oriented aspect of Tapper's practice is what makes it different most from traditional therapy. “Certainly your past has something to do with your issues,” she said. “But the goal is to not focus on it, and to move forward.” On the whole, clients come to Tapper for help with organization (physical, mental and emotional), getting motivated, getting in touch with their authentic selves, trying to approach a life transition healthfully, losing weight and coping with injury or disease. In her opinion, one of the best ways for people to start their journey toward making positive changes in their lives is to keep a journal. “Write anything in your journal,” Tapper said. “It's the most awkward feeling at first, but one you get going, it will help you gect in touch with you and what you want. It's all about getting honest and getting real, and using people and tools around you to get you where you want to go.” Im, who works in Middleburg and Fairfax, has a slightly different approach to coaching her clients. “Instead of having people set goals, I usually help them examine their approach to life,” she said. She does this by talking to her clients and asking questions, but also through music. Im holds a doctorate in musical arts, and uses music to help clients “to connect the mind and body, to get out of the thinking mind to the heart, where there is quiet, stillness and knowing.” When clients come to see Im, they usually have questions about their career and their relationships. In their first session, she tries to get them to pinpoint one main question that they explore over the course of about 12 weeks. “The original question [my clients] come in with usually have a lot of other questions that bubble up naturally around it,” Im said. “It's like a mosaic and there are pieces of the puzzle that start to fit together over a 12-week session. By then, they begin to see behind their [original] question and see the whole picture.” Im's advice for people who want to make a positive change in their lives this year promotes introspection. “People should examine their approach to life, instead of setting goals,” she said. “Letting the very soul of our being speak is really all we need to do, and everything else falls in line. Before we can really ask the question of what to do, it's good to expand our awareness of what we want to be.” For more information on Kim Tapper's services, call the Middleburg Fitness Center at (540) 687-6007. And to learn more about Celia Im and her practice, visit the Web site at www.celiaim.com. |