Mind-Body Medicine 101: What Health Coaches Need To Know

Have you ever noticed anxiety or stress affecting your appetite, mood, or sleep? If you answered yes, then you’ve experienced the interconnectedness of your mind and your body. Mind-body medicine recognizes that they aren’t two separate entities—they’re one system, working together and shaping our overall well-being.

What Is Mind-Body Medicine?

Mind-body medicine is the holistic healing modality that takes both the physical and mental into account. It’s concerned not only with physical symptoms but also with thoughts, emotions, habits, and behaviors, all of which shape our health.

This science-backed approach to wellness emphasizes the body’s natural capacity for healing, leveraging techniques like meditation, yoga, and biofeedback to manage stress and build self-awareness and emotional resilience. It is especially concerned with chronic, toxic stress and its negative effect on the body.

In recent decades, mind-body medicine has become increasingly widespread as more people experience the life-changing benefits it has to offer. By tapping into the power of what is often called the “gut-brain connection,” doctors and patients are preventing illness and promoting healing from many common non-communicable diseases including gut health issues, insomnia, anxiety, depression, pain issues, and even some cancers and autoimmune disorders.

At the core of mind-body medicine are many techniques that fall outside the realm of traditional Western medicine. As a result, the average general practitioner is probably more comfortable administering injections and prescribing pills than they are leading a guided visualization or meditation exercise.

That’s where the health coach comes in.

Mind-Body Medicine Tips and Resources for Health Coaches

Health coaches are incredible allies to clients embarking on mind-body medicine healing journeys. They play a pivotal role in making this integrative approach to wellness more accessible and approachable, no matter what their client may be going through.

“Health coaches are uniquely positioned to help translate their clients’ needs into real-life mind-body practices.”

There are three key ways health coaches can support clients who are introducing mind-body approaches into their lifestyle: 

1. Meet the client where they are. Not everyone will readily embrace practices they may perceive as “woo woo,” even if their doctor prescribes them. The good news: Studies show that mind-body techniques provide benefit regardless of whether clients believe the techniques work! Good places to start for beginners might include a short meditation through a free app like this one or a movement practice like chair yoga or Qigong, which you can find for free on YouTube. Health coaches can right-size their approach based on the client’s comfort level, needs, and abilities.
   
2. Set expectations and avoid perfectionism. Every yoga pose won’t be accessible for everyone’s body, and in meditation, our minds inevitably wander—and that’s okay. Health coaches set their clients up for success with mind-body methods when they create realistic expectations, so that the natural frustration that can arise when trying something new doesn’t deter the client from trying again next time.
   
3. Help them take ownership of their practice. Ultimately, the client’s buy-in is necessary for them to reap the benefits of mind-body techniques. Health coaches can listen to clients’ needs and interests and help them connect to a practice they can own. Whether that’s helping them find a tai chi class in a nearby park, suggesting a mindful nature walk, or bringing awareness to their breath (check out our Guide to Relaxation Through Breathing here), health coaches are uniquely positioned to help translate their clients’ needs into real-life mind-body practices.

Why Mind-Body Medicine is Critical to Long-Term Health

Stress is at an all-time high. More Americans are depressed, anxious, and taking prescription drugs than ever before. The need has never been higher for mind-body medicine, and for health coaches who can help clients access these transformative practices and cultivate good health for life.

Our healthcare system is slowly tuning into the value of preventing illness and promoting wellness, rather than treating diseases only after they arise. The more emphasis we bring to prevention and whole-body wellness, the more central mind-body medicine will become. 

When we manage stress, cultivate self-awareness, and develop emotional resilience, we protect ourselves from both present and future stressors and the long-term health harms they can create. Health coaches who integrate mind-body medicine approaches into their work with clients can leverage the power of the gut-brain connection to promote real, long-term healing.

Learn more about the FMCA Health Coach Certification Program where our students learn how to integrate mind-body medicine into their practice.