A Holistic what Coach?

Embody Your Light
4 min readFeb 16, 2021

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Hi, I’m Ana-Maria Briciu, I’m 26 and currently studying to become a Holistic Health Coach. Yeah, I pay a shitload of money to do something others just do cuz they feel like it.

If you’re here probably you’re asking yourself ’What is this shenanigan? Another way of doing nothing and being paid for it?’

Well, my incredulous friends, in this article, I will walk you through what an HC is and what an HC is not, some facts & science, some gifs, and good humor ;)

A Holistic Health Coach is like any other coach, except it focuses on health and helps you look at health holistically.

Oh, gotta love the power of words and what they manage to convey.

In case just the thought of reading this whole article gave you anxiety, chill — I know you have a shitload of stuff to think about. So, here’s the long story short — a health coach is the missing link between treatment & prevention, information & transformation, the gap in traditional medicine. You don’t spend 5 minutes in the doctor’s cabinet to get an aspirin cuz your head hurts. You spend 50 minutes to explores why your head hurts, what’s the root cause, cut it off, and throw it to the orcs to feed on it.

Is it your love for croissants? Is it your champion breakfast with coffee and cigs on an empty stomach? Is it your annoying boss demanding shit from you? Is it your partner not understanding once that your freaking love language is GIFTS, not WORDS OF AFFIRMATION? Or your family asking you when tf will you marry cuz time is running out(did you also hear Matt Bellamy singing in your head?). Or maybe Karen keeps asking for the manager when you told her the 3rd time already you’re the manager.

Is there any evidence that it works?

Embark on the science train, babes. Harvard Health Publishing says that according to a recent study, coaching “results in clinically relevant improvements in multiple biomarker risk factors (including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting glucose, body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and cardiorespiratory fitness) in diverse populations.

Whereas traditional psychology has focused on what is “wrong” with people and what needs to be “fixed,” coaching philosophy focuses on what has, can, and will work better for you. This means that instead of rooting around for problems to dwell on, a coach will work with you to harness your strengths, to improve the health behaviors you want to address. Self-esteem grows, love for our beautiful selves increases, food choices improve, relationships nurture, health flourishes.

So yeah, if you’re still here, thanks. It means a lot. Read on and if you need more explanations, you find me on Instagram at am.briciu.

What an HC does:

  • views health holistically and supports you with a variety of lifestyle habits.
  • coaches you to be experts on yourself. You da’ boss, it is just there to guide you on your journey.
  • empowers you to build and continually adapt your unique wellness lifestyle.
  • coaches you on how to make lifestyle shifts you can adapt based on what’s working or not working at the time.
  • offers sustainable wellness strategies that increase the overall quality of life long-term by approaching wellness as a lifestyle, not a short-term solution.

What an HC does NOT:

  • does NOT direct you on the most effective methods of achieving increased quality of life — you’re the expert on your body & health, love
  • does NOT prescribe nutrition and lifestyle wellness plans and programs — you’re not an object that needs fixing, you know best what works for you
  • does NOT focus primarily on nutrition — all areas of life are interconnected and affect each other (remember when you had a fight with your best friend and then went home with a whole Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie pint and watched Modern Family?)
  • does NOT tell you how to live your life — you are the main actor in your life, love ;)

We reached the sunset! Congrats, you, awesome human! Now pat yourself on the shoulder — you deserve it. Yes, do it now. You don’t need to win an Oscar to pat yourself on the back.

YES I AM

If you liked the article and feel like sharing it with your people, please do. And if you want more of me and how to make your life all about happiness, healing, and health, make sure you subscribe here & follow me on Instagram at am.briciu.

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Embody Your Light

Hi, I'm Ana-Maria Briciu, CHC. I love helping people discover themselves and make the changes they need to live happy, healthy & free.