Aha! Moments: Exercise 3 - "Invite in Qualities" to Be Your Best! | by Marcy Nelson-Garrison

Client Skydiving and Enjoying Themselves

The "Inviting in Qualities" is a powerful grounding exercise that's useful before going into a situation where you want to be your best or that might be challenging. It's an adaptation of the Navajo "Beauty Before Me" prayer. By doing this as a session you are teaching a client how to do this on their own, and you can also use it for yourself.

  • When to Use: In Session / Homework
  • Best When: Preparing for something challenging or scary, when you want your clients to bring their absolute best.

"Inviting in Qualities" Exercise Instructions

You will help your client choose 1-5 qualities and then "invite those qualities in" through a grounding exercise. In this grounding exercise you'll walk your client through putting the qualities chosen behind them, in front of them, to the left, the right, above, below, within - and all around. Finally you'll wrap-up with a review to go deeper.

1) Choosing the Qualities to Work With:

  • Ask your client to choose 1-5 qualities that will fully support them in the situation they are about to enter. Some example qualities might be "integrity", "playfulness", "courage", "respect" - whatever qualities they need to be their best.

2) Feel into the Qualities:

Before beginning the grounding exercise, ask your client to get a "feel" for each of the qualities they chose.

  • Ask them to imagine the energy of each quality, to feel it in their body.
  • Then ask your client to give each quality a color and/or texture and/or sound - whatever works for them to bring the quality alive.

3) Grounding Exercise to Invite the Qualities In:

NOTE: You'll be doing this exercise for all 8 of the following positions:

  1. I place the quality of........ behind me
  2. I place the quality of........ before me
  3. I place the quality of........ to the left of me
  4. I place the quality of........ to the right of me
  5. I place the quality of........ above me
  6. I place the quality of........ below me
  7. I place the quality of........ within me
  8. I place the quality of........ all around me
  • Start by letting your client know they'll be choosing a quality to put in different places around them, and that you'll be asking them to feel into that.
  • Then ask your client, "What quality would you like to place behind you?"
    Once they've chosen, ask them to say "I place the quality of ......... behind me". Then ask them to feel the energy of each statement, envisioning that quality present and powerful for them.
  • Next ask your client "What quality would you like to place before you?"
    Once they have chosen a quality, ask them to say "I place the quality of ......... before me". Again, ask them to feel the energy of each statement, envisioning that quality present and powerful for them.
  • Now repeat this "Inviting the Qualities in" for the remaining 6 positions continuing with number 3. I place the quality of........ to the left of me, ending with number 8. I place the quality of........ all around me. Be sure to ask them to feel and envision each quality present and powerful for them before moving onto the next quality.

4) Follow up and Wrap-up:

Finally, wrap-up this exercise by asking the client some powerful questions to deepen their learning. Some examples could include:

  • How was that for you?
  • How do you feel about yourself/the situation now that you've completed this exercise? What feels different? How?
  • What was your biggest learning from this exercise? What will you do with that?
  • What surprises were there for you?
  • How could you bring this feeling/these qualities into your life?
  • Which of these qualities would you most like to work on?
  • When else could you use this exercise?
  • What change do you feel inspired to make after this exercise?
  • If there was one key action you could take now that would help you embody this exercise, what would it be?

©2016 Marcy Nelson-Garrison

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Contributing Author:

Marcy Nelson-Garrison is a transformational product mentor, certified professional co-active coach, visual artist and the founder of the Coaching Toys online store. Coaching since 1999, Marcy has a passion for applying creative processes to personal development. She is the Author of Creating Aha Moments, Creative Right-Brain Coaching Exercises for Individual, Group and Team Breakthroughs, The card deck: Q? Basics, Open-Ended Questions For Coaching Mastery and the popular Card Deck Master Class. You can sign-up for Marcy's newsletter and download the eBooks Creating Aha Moments and 10 Ways To Profit From Creating a Card Deck free here >>

Learn more about Marcy & see all their articles here >>

Image of Client Skydiving in Suit by Pressmaster via Shutterstock

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