Rooftop Coaching

During one of my coaching courses, my colleagues and I decided to coach one another. It was summertime and we looked for a private space to coach in but couldn't find one. We ended up, I say this tongue in cheek because it is such a beautiful oxymoron in this case, on the rooftop of the Hyatt in downtown Toronto, the hotel our courses were held at.  There were five of us and we decided on the format of the coaching, which in coaching terms is designing an alliance or agreement, and off we went. We did sandbox coaching, with one person being the client whilst the others take turns coaching. This is a daunting experience for the coachee at first but given the loving intentions of the coaches, safety is quickly established and the coaching can be mighty powerful.  Each of us had a turn as client, and each felt the gift of being heard, acknowledged, encouraged and moved in knowing that we were not alone.  We had learned to be fiercely courageous for our clients, to believe in them without limitations or doubts and we shared this fierce courage with one another.  We were somewhere between heaven and earth, able to look down and see ourselves falling, able to look up and see ourselves flying, in the eyes of our beholders.  We coached one another in our novice and unique ways, making mistakes and hitting the mark and alternating between the two as we played in our sandbox and all the while, we knew we weren't playing, we knew that we were changing ourselves, each other, the rooftop, the world.  A moment frozen in time for me, an intimacy that comes from soul brushing, that was my rooftop experience of coaching.  Much love to Keli, Penny, Vicky, Julie, my soul playmates.