Over the last few weeks I have taken part in some great networking events and I have been talking about what I do as a life and wellbeing coach. Many people had heard about coaching for adults but I have come across a lot of curiosity and interest in terms of what coaching can do for children.
For my lovely young audience, I often work in the capacity of a 'RelaxKids' Coach, teaching children about mindfulness and emotional resilience through playing. 'RelaxKids' is an amazing organisation that was founded about twenty years ago with the aim to increase children’s confidence, resilience and self-esteem by learning a mixture of relaxation and mindfulness techniques.
As some of you already know, I have two children of my own and, during the first lockdown, I felt the urge to find a door that would lead me to expand my knowledge of coaching children and learn the skills to help young ones. My eldest son was only 8 and he was having such a difficult time coping with isolation and lockdown. After searching the web, I came across 'RelaxKids' and found a lot more than I had hoped for. Not only was I able to study and qualify as a 'RelaxKids' Coach but I also became part of an amazing network, spreading happiness at a much needed time!
A 'RelaxKids' class is normally 45 to 60 minutes long and it can be delivered as a 1-2-1, a family workshop, or in large groups. It is based on a 7 steps routine that moves children from high energy to low energy, hence enabling them to relax in a natural manner. During a session, children will dance, run around and move their body to let the energy out and release endorphins. We will then do some fun games before proceeding to stretching exercises, self massaging such as a face massage or reflexology and deep breathing exercises. It is absolutely amazing to see how well children do at all these and the fact that every section of the class is only a few minutes long keeps them interested.
We then move into my 2 favourite parts of the class: believe and relax. Believe is all about teaching children how to develop self-esteem, self-compassion and self-acceptance. This is where, as a parent, I continue to be amazed about how children struggle from such a young age to talk positively about themselves. This step can be so powerful when practiced regularly and I have seen amazing results with my own children.
Finally, we finish off with some lovely visualisations where I read two stories to the children, inviting them to close their eyes and using their imagination to fly away to magical and happy places. I explain to children how they can go back to these happy places whenever they want because happiness is already within them.
I normally finish the class by having a chat with the children and it melts my heart when they say that they are feeling happier. I don’t think I could ask more than that!
I am running my sessions on Zoom and Teams both privately and with schools. If you are reading this article and you would like to try a session, just give me a call and I’ll be delighted to tell you more. I am passionate about helping adults and children and totally in love with what coaching can deliver.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Love, Ren
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