Founder of the Body-Centered Coaching Method, Marlena Field, PCC, CPCC, is a Professional Certified Coach who has been doing body-centered work for 14 years.

Marlena's Mission:
To coach practitioners to access the body's wisdom for insight and learning to unlock deeper, more powerful sustainable impact for themselves and their clients.

Marlena's Philosophy:
Trust the body's intelligence as a resource for meaningful change.

Marlena's Story: Marlena's studies began with Ron Kurtz, author of "Body-Centered Psychotherapy: the Hakomi Method". She continued her development path by studying Jin Shin Do, a form of acupressure. Her coaching expertise was further honed through studies at the Coaches Institute (CTI) and Co-Active Space Leadership Program.

With a life-long interest in creating meaningful change, Marlena is inspired by the fact that as she learns, she experiences shifts and changes - in her thinking, in her body and in her way of being in the world.

As a young teacher, Marlena was fortunate to have a principal who thought "out of the box". Under his guidance, Marlena explored the efficacy of different styles of learning within the school system, and was exposed to a variety of insights on learning and personal change.

As a young mother of two, and away from the school system, Marlena made a change by refocusing her career on working with adults. Her interests led to her study of Hakomi (body-centered psychotherapy) where she discovered the power of mindfulness and trusting the wisdom of the body. She embodied what she already understood to exist deep inside of her; sustainable change includes the body. It expanded her belief of the innate resourcefulness that exists within each one of us. This training was transformative and led her to work with individual clients.

Once her children left for university, Marlena made a significant personal change — she re-located and married her husband Jim. During this transition, she discovered the coaching field. Subsequently, she studied with and was certified by the Coaches Training Institute (CTI).

Marlena has learned to flow with change. And, she has been challenged to be accepting of change that is not of her own choosing. Jim, her husband of ten years, has suffered two bouts of cancer and a stroke. One important question Marlena asked herself during those years was, “How do I deal with this?” She continually came up with the same response – “accept it”. That didn’t mean having to like it, resign herself to it, give up, or fight against it. To Marlena acceptance means this is the way it is now; it means facing today's truth.

Marlena knows that change happens and we are responsible to choose how we are going to be with the impact. Learning to stay on the positive side and embrace gratitude has been a daily practice for Marlena. She has developed a strong sense of who she is and a trust in her deep inner core.

Facing life and death has a way of challenging one's present moment and what is important in this lifetime. Another important question Marlena continued to ask herself was, “What is my life’s work?” She became clear that body-centered coaching is the work she loves and she is passionate about it.

An inspiring and passionate advocate for the use of the body as a resource for change, Marlena invites coaches and other helping professionals to experience mindfulness and the body's wisdom for themselves, and incorporate this into their work with clients.

Marlena has written a book, developed a tele-training series and recorded three CDs of body-centered coaching demonstrations. These help coaches assist clients to access body information that creates such a depth of insight, self-awareness and self-acceptance that it can truly be life-changing.

View Marlena's credentials