‘I have a strict regimen to cope with stress'

I work with clients across the globe, so there is a lot of digital interaction. However, now everybody is working from home rather than in a professional setting. In our group coaching sessions, we always have a moment where we catch up on personal lives. The whole theme of our meetings has shifted to the COVID situation and how they are coping with it now. As a life coach, it is not about giving advice. In fact, I do very little talking. It is my job to ask leading questions and help my clients reach the destination on their own. I’ve never seen anything like this in the past 40 years of my work. What makes this interesting is that we are all experiencing it, across the globe. There are some universal experiences - like the other day, I was on a call with my clients in Singapore, Japan, Morocco, and they were all talking about how they are coping with this new work from home situation. Meanwhile, there are some unique situations as well. Like one client’s three-yearold child peeped into our meeting and wanted their attention. These are all things that affect us because they were on a professional call, and I help them cope with the situation. For myself, I have a strict regimen of pranayama, meditation, and walking. Scientifically, these are all stress-busters and help me centre myself during the shutdown. Now, I do miss the face-to-face interactions with my clients, but we need to manage for now until this all passes by. This will make the eventual meeting with them again all the more sweeter.