Coaching Health Potential

by Dr. Paul Drouin

The concept of Health has absolutely evolved in the last decades from the absence of diseases (World Health Organization) to full potentiality (Quantum Integrative Medicine).

Grasping the depth of this concept requires an understanding that is rooted in the sciences of quantum physics and neuroplasticity. The frontiers of Health and Wellness Coaching need to be expanded from the conventional model based more on the principles of active listening and lifestyle support to a quantum model based on neuroscience and quantum physics. The process is much more than simply holding someones hand to help them live with the misery of a disease or accept the inevitability of their genetics. Instead, the result should be skillful guidance for your clients to improve their resilience, master their genetic destiny, and cultivate their fullest potential.

The impact on the client for successful Health Coaching should result in:

1. Greater heart and brain coherence
2. Increased resilience
3. Slowing down aging
4. Increasing your intelligence and positive neural circuits
5. Reducing the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease and cancer
6. Higher performance at all ages
7. Positive impacts on your genetics
8. Raising your Immunity
9. ‘Wealth’ and Success

To be effective, a Health Coach must be trained in a perspective based on an updated model of science (quantum physics and neuroscience) in order to have a clear and precise view of the right path to follow when guiding their clients.

Successful coaching should provide the following positive outcomes to clients:

1. Increasing Brain and Heart Coherence is not an esoteric concept. Brain and heart coherence can be measured by specific technologies (brain scans and headband sensors  such as the Muse) that assess brain waves and heart rate variability
   
   Improving brain coherence through efficient meditation (1) as well as HRV training and monitoring (2) has been proven through thousands of studies.  A competent Health Coach should master these techniques and practice them on a regular basis. Many medical doctors (fewer today, fortunately) tend to have the attitude of “do as I say, not as I do.” This does not apply to an authentic Health Coach.
2. Resilience is another key concept in health today. It is no longer possible to live in a bubble and avoid all stress. Through coaching the client should raise their threshold of coping with stress, but even more, their homeostatic capacity to come back to a zone of rest after experiencing stress. The building of a more flexible and adaptable nervous system is a must. This is achieved, of course, through meditation and increased HRV and through an understanding of neuroplasticity and how we can modify our behaviors and perceptions by mastering our mental and emotional states.
   
   Neuroplasticity and techniques of retraining the brain should be part of the curriculum of a Health Coach
3. Slowing Down Aging. More and more individuals who have implemented the concepts presented in this article are witnessing a slower rate of aging. Many of them may look a decade or two younger than their age. The monitoring of lifestyle, diet, exercise, and sleep in addition to meditation and HRV training are proven factors that have a positive impact on aging.
4. Increasing Your Intelligence and Positive Neural Circuits. There is an interesting concept in neuroplasticity called Synaptic Pruning – “use it or lose it” or “neurons that fire together wire together.” This concept of pruning does not stop with the advent of adulthood, meaning we have the capacity to continue growing and changing our brains. rewiring them in new ways. This phenomenon is the ultimate key to changing your life through increased intelligence and the development and empowerment of positive emotional states.
   
   There are no known limits to the extent to which we can affect how our brains are wired. A Health Coach should be able to access the power of neuroplasticity and change the brain and health potential of their clients. (3)
5. Reducing Risk Factor Associated with Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer. The term ‘risk factors’ is very common in medicine and is usually a negative indicator or red flag in your journey by pointing toward a fatalistic disease, rather than being a signal that points you toward positive strategies to maintain in check the possibility of disease that is not yet manifested. 

The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton is a major contribution demonstrating that we are not victims of our genes or even our risk factors. We are masters of our health destiny through our thoughts, emotions, and belief systems. Wouldn’t you be interested to know 20 years before a disease manifests that a small change in your daily habits could add 20 years to your life?  

It is the responsibility of the Health Coach to make a difference in the health destiny of their clients. What a great mission!

6. Higher Performance at All Ages. The term ‘performance’ must be redefined here. We are not referring to the performance of an athlete here. Performance is better described as a state of integration that can be translated when the client says, “I feel better now than when I was in my twenties, happier, more successful, and more whole at a personal, familial, and social level.” 
   
   Health is a process of the integration of higher archetypal qualities associated with a sense of well-being and the capacity for more love, compassion, and acceptance. The Health Coach must be initiated in the holistic and energetic anatomy of the psychosomatics of the client.
7. Positively Impacting Your Genetics. As we said previously, we are the masters of our genetic destiny. Only a curriculum that has updated its model of evolution from the deterministic biology of Darwinism through the perspective of consciousness and neuroscience can raise the level of awareness of the Health Coach.
8. Raise Your Immunity. The Covid pandemic has brought the world to a critical point of social isolation. The side effects of lack of support were as disastrous as the virus itself. Now and in the future, we need to be ready to coach an entire population through positive lifestyle habits and resilient strategies.
   
   The Quantum Health Coach that we are describing in this blog will be equipped not only to support and guide the client through this major stressful event but also to raise the immunity of individuals through the monitoring of all the health parameters we discussed in this blog.
9. Wealth and Success. What is wealth without health? Most people will agree with this statement. But there is more than this. It is very difficult to emerge from a state of poverty when an individual is permanently maintained in a state of flight and fear. Adding to this that most of the time the brain needs to be rewired through success and new beliefs. Many of you will agree that wealth starts with the mental attitude of success. The Health Coach equipped with techniques for brain and heart coherence based on neuroplasticity will create a more positive ground for wealth and success.
   
   Conventional Medicine has refined the process of identifying diseases for the last century, now the time has come to scale health with the same ingenuity to counterbalance the currently unsustainable cost of healthcare. In other words, the necessity for wellness medicine is critical for resolving the healthcare crisis. Coaching health potential, as described in this blog, is based on the training of a new generation of Health Coaches who are trained on the foundation of neuroscience and quantum physics, as offered at Quantum University through our Quantum Health Coach Program. 

The value of a Health Coach should be their ability to evaluate the capacity of their clients in order to make a positive difference in their Health Potential.

Another important aspect of Health Coaching is the coming of a new player in the Healthcare and Wellness field that should be recognized as a Wellness Doctor. 

Credibility in our society is directly related to the level of education. The future of Health Coaching belongs to those who have raised their credentials to the level of PhD or Doctorate (5).

Exploring Holistic Medicine Degree Programs

Join our PhD program in holistic medicine and embark on a journey towards becoming an expert in integrative healthcare. Expand your knowledge and skills in complementary therapies, nutrition, and mind-body medicine, and make a meaningful impact on the lives of your patients.

Our holistic medicine school offers the following degree programs:

• Bachelor in Holistic Health
• Master in Holistic Health, and Natural or Integrative Medicine
• Doctorate in Holistic Health
• PhD in Natural Medicine 
• PhD in Integrative Medicine 

Individual degree programs can also be combined into Degree Tracks classified as “Fast Track”. These tracks, as well as our Completion Degrees, expedite the completion of your programs. Experience a faster, more cost effective and fulfilling journey towards your holistic medicine degree with Quantum University’s Fast Track options.

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1. Brain coherence and meditation:

• Davidson, R., Kabat-Zinn, J., Schumacher, J., Rosenkranz, M., Muller, D., Santorelli, S., et al. (2003). Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. J Psychosomatic Med, 65(4), 564-570. https://centerhealthyminds.org/assets/files-publications/DavidsonAlterationsPsychosomaticMedicine.pdf
• Edser, J. (2019 Dec 16). Brain and Heart Coherence. Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine. Retrieved from https://www.lifestylemedicine.org.au/content/brain-and-heart-coherence/
• Kim, D.-K., Lee, K.-M., Kim, J., Whang, M.-C., and Kang, S. W. (2013 (Jul 31). Dynamic Correlations between heart and brain rhythm during autogenic meditation. Front. Hum. Neurosci., Vol 7. doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00414. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00414/full
• Ruladhar, R., Bohara, G., Grigolini, P., and West, B. J.  (2018 May 29). Meditation-Induced Coherence and Crucial Events. Front. Physiol. Vol 9. doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.00626. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2018.00626/full
• Self-Care for Mom. (2020 May 10). How to Boost Your Thinking & Make Better Decisions By Increasing Personal Coherence. Retrieved from https://motherhoodcommunity.com/how-to-boost-your-thinking-make-better-decisions-by-increasing-personal-coherence/
• Tang, Y., Hölzel, B. K., & Posner, M. I. (2015). The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(4), 213-225. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273774412_The_neuroscience_of_mindfulness_meditation

2. HRV training and monitoring: 

• HeartMath. (2015 Jan 26). Article Explains Science of the Heart: Importance of Heart Rate Variability for Your Health. Retrieved from https://www.heartmath.org/articles-of-the-heart/science-of-the-heart/article-explains-importance-of-heart-rate-variability-for-your-health/
• HeartMath. (2017). The Heart-Brain Connection. Retrieved from: https://www.heartmath.org/programs/emwave-self-regulation-technology-theoretical-basis/
• HeartMath Institute. (2017). Science of the Heart: Heart Rate Variability. Retrieved from https://www.heartmath.org/research/science-of-the-heart/coherence/
• Quantum University. (2017 Aug 17). Neurocardiology, HRV, and Coherence – Dr. Rollin McCraty. [Video file]. https://youtu.be/6u0JjjikmT0

3. Quantum University (2017 Jun 11). Discover How to Rewire Your Brain with Neuroplasticity. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/bbLP-as1ABk
4. Quantum University (n.d.). Doctorate and PhD In Natural or Integrative Medicine. Retrieved from https://quantumuniversity.com/degree-programs/#PhD