Do you see your clients remotely or in person? Either way, there is a way to practice psychotherapy and coaching that decreases potential burnout and increases potential transformation–for both you and your clients.
Anytime we engage in relationships, we are engaging in an energy exchange. One person gives there attention, and the other person receives attention. This attention is just one way we exchange in energy in relationships. Talking is another way–when we talk a lot, we use our energy to do so. And when we listen, we receive or take in that energy.
In a social encounter, this happens naturally with little awareness. However, in a therapy or coaching session, there is a specific contract where the client receives attention and the clinician gives attention. This giving of attention is a giving of energy. As the client talks, the clinician also is taking in energy that is not theirs. When a clinician gives their energy to other people while absorbing other people’s energy, they end up feeling burned out and depleted.
Burnout can cause a clinician to feel heavy, apathetic, tired, and bogged down by other people’s energy.
I’ve found over the years that I tend to give my energy away the most when I forget that other people have their own Source of energy within them. As a clinician, I’ve learned to stay in contact with my own Source of energy as I guide my clients back to theirs. This honors their sacred journey as theirs, and it honors my system as sacred, too.
As you listen to clients, try breathing up the midline of your body. When you notice any energy in your own system is stuck or blocked, direct your attention to that place in the client. In this practice, you are keeping your own energy flowing while also supporting your client in their embodied alignment. Listening in this deep way, to the unspoken and subtle blocks to health, you can listen and tend to the client without leaving your own energy behind.
