Holding The Space
- Sri Priya
- Oct 27
- 2 min read
As we begin our journey with Coaching, we get familiar with many facets of it. We start by learning what coaching is and what it isn’t. From there, we move on to understanding the fundamentals, the framework and it's nuances that help shape meaningful conversations.
And then comes practice. Believe me, it’s only through practice that we truly begin to grasp the real essence of coaching. It’s a journey that calls for a mindset shift and asks us to embody ethics, trust, presence, deep listening, awareness, and facilitation.
When I started my journey toward becoming an ACC, the initial months went into understanding this framework. But as I continued through the mandatory 100 hours of practice and immersed myself in a few insightful books on coaching, something began to shift. I started to form my own perspective, one that came not from theory, but from experience.
And today, as I sit here reflecting, now as an ACC and the founder of my own coaching venture, one thought stands out clearly. I asked myself, “What, according to you, is most crucial in coaching?” Without a wink of an eye, my answer was “Holding the Space.”
In today’s world what we crave most as human beings is to be heard in a true sense. As coaches, therefore, the privilege and responsibility of holding that space for someone to open up, to think aloud, to explore becomes both an art and a discipline.
So, what does it really take to ‘hold the space’ for another person?
To Let Go of ourselves, including our pressing priorities, thoughts, values, judgements, need to solution, need to respond et all. It’s more about being there as a mirror for the client. It’s their time to be fully seen, heard, accepted as is with no judgements whatsoever!
To Be There, to hold the space not just to meet client’s goals but going beyond to help them see and know themself as a person. That’s when the real unraveling happens for the client. This then leads to awareness, insights, and slowly to transformation.
To Embrace Silence. When a client chooses to pause, be in silence, just hold it. Don’t give in to the urge to fill up the space. Silence, a pause, is what triggers deep reflections and their inside journey. So, as coaches, the more comfortable we become with silence, the more effective our conversations will be.
To Listen Beyond the words, to feel the emotions, the energy that’s flowing then. A client feels more seen and valued when we recognize the emotions behind the words. Be a mirror that reflects the client’s ‘inner world’’.
I once read in an article by Heather Plett
Often the hardest thing about holding space is that it can feel like you are doing nothing
But are we really doing anything? Not at all. We are in fact, doing everything, by being vulnerable, setting aside ‘self’, and unconditionally being there for another person.
And all of this begins with the simple yet powerful act of embracing and being silent.
As Rumi says
The quieter you become, the more you can hear
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