Wonderful coaching - when old things really fade away

This experience happened a few weeks ago - but it was so wonderful that I am still very moved by it. Travelling six hours by train to a training course costs something. Financially and in terms of time. And sometimes I ask myself whether it's worth it, whether less would be ok, whether I should let professionalism and further training cost me so much. And then there are those moments when the answer to the question comes to you.

Elisabeth*, a woman well into her 70s, told me that she witnessed one of the first bank robberies over 50 years ago. Her boss had just gone into the bathroom to moisten the stamp sponge - there was still such a thing back then. He didn't switch on the light - and when he stepped out of the dark corridor, he was shot by the bank robber - next to her. She was also supposed to be shot, but miraculously escaped with her life. After the robbery, she was - naturally - extremely traumatised. But in the 1960s, there were hardly any psychological services for traumatised people. She was sent on a Kneipp cure. It actually did her good. This is probably also due to the fact that any right-left movement (such as walking or treading water, as with Kneipp) actually promotes stress management. It helped a little - but the deep horror remained. A decade later, she found faith. She experienced great relief after receiving a prayer of blessing in a church service. The trauma faded. What remained was a fear of dark corridors. Whenever she looked into a dark corridor, panic, inner tightness and nausea would set in.

I told her that, among other things, I had completed a coaching course called wingwave a method that helps to release fears and blockages. The method is often used with athletes when they have blockages during certain movements. It is also very effective for performance anxiety, fear of flying, fear of heights, exam stress and other fears and blockages. Wingwave supports natural stress processing by activating the right and left hemispheres of the brain. At night - in the so-called REM phases - or even when going for a walk, these stress processing processes take place automatically. In coaching, you do this virtually while you are awake, which often helps to find surprisingly quick and lasting solutions.

At the beginning of the coaching session, Elisabeth's view of the dark corridor still caused pressure on her chest, tightness and nausea. After less than half an hour, she was able to relax. She could look into the dark corridor - and it was ok. She no longer felt any anxiety. A stress test also showed that the dark corridor no longer triggered any stress.

But behind the bank robbery trauma, two other stressful situations emerged - her life had already been acutely threatened by other people twice in her childhood. Each time she had only escaped death by the skin of her teeth. That too was still in her bones and in her soul.

Really intense. And not atypical at the same time. People often only break down after the third similar situation. The first crisis is often stored away as an isolated incident: „It can happen.“ The second threatening or stressful situation as a coincidence: „It's amazing that this has happened to me twice.“ When something similarly terrible happens for the third time, people perceive it as a rule: „Disasters always happen to me.“ Many people then no longer have the resources to defend themselves internally. This is why, when an acutely stressful situation is resolved in coaching, the precursors sometimes come to light. The good news is that these stresses can also be resolved and released - just like Elisabeth.

Seeing Elisabeth's face relax as the coaching session progressed was infinitely beautiful. The moment when she looked into the dark corridor and no longer felt any fear was simply wonderful... when I think about it, I still have tears in my eyes - of happiness. With happiness. And when I heard later that her chronically tense shoulders had relaxed „incidentally“ after the coaching, that was the icing on the cake.

I am deeply grateful that I have professional training and can continue to help people with all my expertise... and that I can entrust everything that is humanly impossible to my good God. To be there when something wonderful happens is simply marvellous....

Book tip: Release blockages. My wingwave coach colleague Christoph Schalk and I have written a quadro that introduces the methodology and explains how you can also use it for self-coaching.