Light Up - by Lyssa Dehart (Paperback)

About the Book

A must read for new and experienced coaches/therapists, showing how to use the power of metaphors to demonstrate deep listening and ultimately empower your clients towards self-awareness.

Book Synopsis

Light Up, The Science of Coaching with Metaphors is a transformative read for coaches and therapists at any level, illustrating the vital role of metaphors in coaching. It delves into how metaphors clarify complex emotions and thoughts, aiding clients in understanding themselves better. deHart's approach, involving active listening, presence, and deep curiosity, helps coaches foster environments that nurture client self-awareness and progress. The book is a journey that integrates neuroscience, practical coaching applications, and metaphors to innovate a coach's capacity to demonstrate partnership and mastery.

Light Up provides a unique link between complex theories and coaching methods, exploring the neuroscience behind how metaphors illuminate the brain. Metaphors are idea containers that support people to make meaning. They are used by clients to explain complex ideas in safe ways. The book offers clear examples of how metaphors can be used in coaching conversations to invite client agency and awareness. The concepts explored enhance crucial coaching skills, from agreement setting to creating safe spaces for deep client introspection, lasting change, and, above all, having fun with your coaching and your clients. The book provides many coaching transcripts to support a coach in making connections and empowering them to start playing with the power of metaphors. This is a pioneering resource, translating academic insight into practical coaching tools and presenting metaphors as powerful catalysts for client development.

Review Quotes

Light Up is a must read for both new and experienced coaches, showing you how to use the transformative power of metaphors. Lyssa translates theoretical insights into effective coaching practices to leverage the power of metaphors in fostering meaningful client transformations. With multiple coaching demonstrations and significant examples, this book will help you create many lightbulb moments in your coaching conversations.

Dr. Marcia Reynolds, MCC, author of Coach the Person, Not the Problem and Breakthrough Coaching

When you learn to work with metaphors with your clients, you help them explore new and sacred caverns, you give them wings, and you get that much closer to unlocking their greatness. This book shows you how to become more skillful with your language and a more powerful coach as a result.

Michael Bungay Stanier, author of The Coaching Habit and How to Work with (Almost) Anyone

Remarkable" barely scratches the surface. "Tour de Force" would be better. Lyssa has created a rich tapestry of the science of coaching with metaphor. Her dedicated studies of psychological theories and their contribution to coaching is long overdue and expertly woven. I have long been acknowledged for my own use of metaphor in my work as a coach, a coach educator, and now, as a coach supervisor. After reading Lyssa's masterpiece, I feel like a beginner. What a wonderful place to be as a senior practitioner!

Samuel P Magill Sr. MCC, Pioneer of Coaching Supervision in North America

Lyssa has crafted a masterwork in both her distinctive certification program and its accompanying book, Light Up. This book delves into the neuroscience of how metaphors work in the brain and then seamlessly weaves them with wisdom and integrates them into the foundational competencies of professional coaching. Lyssa's insights will inspire everyone in the coaching arena, empowering them to create deep conversations with both clients and fellow coaches. Her pioneering efforts in this arena are truly commendable.

Otto Siegel, MCC, Co-author of Yes, You Are a Genius

Light Up, The Science of Coaching with Metaphors is a guide, a resource, and a tool for all coaches who wish to integrate and/or strengthen their use of metaphors for their client's enhancement, reflection, and learning. Lyssa articulates a new way of thinking about listening for metaphors. There is important neuroscience on how the brain responds to metaphors. Using the clients' metaphors is pivotal. The client's mind has connected meaning, and the coach can leverage that to provoke awareness and new perspectives. As a coach, this book will assist you in deeper listening and partnership. As a client, being heard and using your metaphors to explore your experience is the transformative moment that opens unimaginable new doors of possibility. Bravo for this work!

Dorothy E. Siminovitch, Ph.D., MCC author of A Gestalt Coaching Primer: The Path Toward Awareness Intelligence

Deep beneath the surface of our conversations lies a motherlode of meaning. We speak and think in images that shape our experience of life. Lyssa deHart guides coaches to nimbly engage in conversations that center on the metaphors their clients use. Coaches will learn concrete approaches in Light Up that draw on evidence-based lessons from neuroscience, somatic coaching, and a well curated selection of therapeutic modalities. As clients grow accustomed to meeting their own metaphors with curiosity and playfulness, they will unleash bold agency with ease.

Gideon Culman, MCC, Executive Coach at K Street Coaching