Abstract/Summary

This short article focuses on a specific technique: Being the observer. The paper is part of a wider series of techniques papers on mindfulness coaching published in The Coaching Psychologist. The paper offers a short description of the process and when this technique may be most helpful within a coaching conversation. It builds on the papers in the previous editions of TCP, which have briefly reviewed the science and potential for mindfulness approaches in coaching and other techniques. As a technique paper, I have deliberately kept the discussion short, but for those interested in the wider evidence behind the application of mindfulness, a more detailed review is included in earlier papers, as well as other techniques which can be used alongside attitude choice (Passmore, 20171a, 2017b and 2017c, 2018). For a comprehensive review, readers may wish to review Michael Cavanagh, and Gordon Spence’s critical review of the mindfulness literature (Cavanagh & Spence, 2013).