What role does life and wellness coaching play in REDs recovery for dancers? 

The commitment to attaining and maintaining a professional dance career requires exceptional resilience, dedication, and perseverance. Longstanding norms in the dance culture favoring a lean body type play a role in the susceptibility to disordered eating and REDs. 

Dancers often struggle with body image, low self-esteem, anxiety, and perfectionism in an attempt to garner success. This is not an easy road to navigate, and unhealthy coping mechanisms may lead to a downward spiral. The good news is that many supportive resources are available to assist with REDs prevention and recovery.

Dancers who are in the process of REDs recovery benefit from a network of professional expertise. Addressing the underlying issues is as important as receiving sound nutritional guidance, ways to restore energy balance, and advice for establishing appropriate exercise routines. 

Wellness coaches play an essential role in this complex process, which is strengthened by a multidisciplinary team effort. Nonetheless, dancers may not be aware of the value of receiving support from a life or wellness coach. The collaborative partnership established between the coach and the dancer unfolds in a confidential safe space. This relationship thrives on mutual trust, connection, authenticity, and active participation. Working with a wellness coach helps dancers gain insight, motivation, and empowerment to reach their goals, along with enhancing their potential to sustain ongoing health and well-being.

Working with a wellness coach in practice

Wellness coaching takes a whole-person approach incorporating numerous dimensions of wellness, including physical, mental, emotional, occupational, and social components. The structure of the coaching conversation is based on the dancers’ needs, commitment, and willingness to take ownership in working towards their goals. This may be conducted through individual and/or group coaching sessions. 

Keep in mind that coaching is non-directive, and differs from counseling, mentorship, or therapy sessions. Although there is some overlap between these specializations regarding performance improvement, coaching emphasizes accountability for results by the client.

Wellness coaches are there to forward the dancers’ agenda to help them stay on track and take responsibility. Since each dancer is a unique individual, one-to-one coaching is beneficial for targeting the specific areas of wellness you want to pursue. A preliminary assessment is completed by the dancer to determine the focus of the introductory sessions, along with an agreement form outlining the responsibilities and details of the ongoing coaching sessions.

One of the main expectations is that the client is the expert in this process of discovery. Brainstorming takes place between the coach and the dancer, but the dancer sets the agenda and gradually attains the necessary tools to take charge of their desired journey. Each coaching conversation furthers the dancers’ growth and learning to make positive changes, and create a road map to execute a path to recovery and beyond. This will have a lasting impact, as you develop a mindset of action and engagement applied with purpose. 

Both accomplishments and failures are celebrated as they occur to enhance learning and put things into proper perspective. Since well-being is essential for all aspects of your life, wellness coaching goes beyond the REDs experience to address concerns inside and outside of the dance environment. You are much more than your dance identity, so it’s imperative to devote attention to the broader scope of wellness domains.

Key coaching methods

Dancers face many challenges, opportunities, and competing priorities in their dedication to this rigorous, but beautiful art form. Decision-making and focused commitment can be difficult to manage without professional support. That’s where coaching comes in: having a clear vision of your goals, motivations, and desires can assist you in finding the best path to follow. 

A non-judgmental, empathetic coaching style demonstrates acknowledgement, validation, and respect for your individual needs. For example, when you work with me as your coach, we will develop a comprehensive plan to get you where you want to be. This entails the application of active listening skills and powerful questions that encourage self-reflection for fostering progress. A holistic framework is the essence of this coaching method, with expectations that the dancer will assume responsibility and accountability for their choices.

This wellness coaching alliance incorporates three key elements: Awareness, Action, and Achievement. This is the foundation of my “Triple-A” approach to the coaching process. Once you gain a higher level of awareness and clarity, you will be able to actively strive towards your future vision of wellness. 

Together we will explore and identify your choices, harness your strengths, and establish self-management methods that will maximize your potential for recovery and ongoing wellness. This is accomplished through “dancing in the moment” by participating in a dynamic partnership to meet challenges and create incremental measures to move forward. Sometimes the coach will lead the dance, and other times it is the dancer, but this is always an engaging collaborative effort.

Just as in dance, learning new steps won’t happen overnight, but patience and commitment to the coaching process will lead to greater fulfillment. Finding balance and centering in your life is an important part of the development process, similar to working towards improvements in artistry and technique in the dance setting. This involves making choices, accepting challenges, and remaining open to new possibilities.

 What does wellness mean? 

Wellness is a term that exists on a continuum in its application to different contexts. It is difficult to define because each individual has their own ideas of what it means for their quality of life.

My view of wellness centers around a lens of curiosity involving choice and enhanced awareness when seeking improvements in health and well-being. This necessitates an ongoing commitment to integrating the various dimensions of wellness to satisfy the complex needs and desires of each individual. The pathway is not always linear, and the relationships will shift throughout the life stages. 

From a coaching perspective, these principles are designed to achieve long lasting lifestyle benefits and positive behavioral change. The mind-body-spirit connection is at the heart of well-being, as it functions as a unit to determine physical and emotional states of health at any given time.

Written by Dr. Alice Schluger, Certified Wellness Practitioner and Wellness Coach