Start Here: The 3 Core Practices That Shape My Coaching Work
If I had to summarize the heart of my work, it’s this:
A values-driven approach to healing, growth, and meaningful change.
Whether I’m working with someone navigating a breakup, struggling in their marriage, healing from childhood wounds, or just feeling stuck in a cycle, we ALWAYS start here.
Because until you know what you truly value, in love, in life, in how you spend your time and energy, you will keep making decisions that serve survival or others, not your highest self.
There are three core practices that shape every part of my coaching work. These pillars are what I return to with every client, in every session, no matter the struggle:
Value Driven
Thought Awareness + Reframing (CBC)
Mindfulness
Each of these practices invite us back home to ourselves, back to our truth. Together, they lay the foundation for sustainable, powerful and purposeful *holistic* success. What I mean by that is the success is not just the external but also internal (that’s the freedom).
1. Values Driven: The Compass
If I had to name the bridge to a profound shift in our thinking and behavior it’s in alignment with your values — not your trauma responses, not your fear and control, not other people’s expectations of you.
But most of us are in autopilot, we are living from others values, we haven’t even considered what our truth is.
Instead, we’ve learned to survive: to get approval, avoid rejection, and stay small.
In our work together, we start by clarifying what really matters to you — not your parents, not your partner, not society. Once those values are clear, they become your compass. With practice these values allow us to become rooted in the earth like a tree. Unshakeable.
Real-life example:
A client who valued freedom and connection realized her job (with 70-hour weeks and zero boundaries) was stealing both. She didn’t need to quit right away but she did need the awareness to start aligning her choices with what mattered most. And when she did, everything began to shift.
When your life is out of alignment, your body and spirit will tell you.
Anxiety. Resentment. Burnout. Those aren’t flaws — they’re signals.
Let your values be the way back.
2. Thought Awareness & Reframing: Rewriting the Story
The second core practice is Cognitive Behavioral Coaching (CBC) helping you become aware of the thoughts that drive your behavior and learning how to reframe them.
So many of our thoughts aren’t actually ours, they’re old, inherited beliefs shaped by early experiences:
“I’m not worthy.”
“I can’t trust anyone.”
“Love always ends in pain.”
“I’m too much.”“There isn’t enough money.”
CBC teaches you how to pause, question, challenge and rewire.
We ask: Is this absolutely true? And then we gather tangible evidence of the truth to flip the script.
Example:
A woman in one of my groups carried the belief, “If I speak up, I’ll be rejected.” She had years of evidence that it felt risky and yet, in the safety of our group, she practiced using her voice. Not only was she not rejected, she was deeply heard. She began to recognize that she was not only seen but brought value. That moment rewired something deep.
You don’t need to “think positive.” You need to think true.
There’s power in choosing thoughts that support the life you want to create.
3. Mindfulness: Being Here, Now
In a world that rewards constant motion, mindfulness is rebellion.
It’s the third pillar of my work because without presence, we’re just reacting.
Mindfulness is the practice of slowing down enough to actually witness yourself, your body, your breath, your choices, in real time.
It teaches you how to respond with intention, not just react from fear or lack.
For my nerdie birdies, science backs this up, mindfulness strengthens the prefrontal cortex (responsible for decision-making and self-regulation) and reduces activity in the amygdala (your brain’s fear center).
Translation? You’re calmer, more grounded, and better able to choose what serves you.
In practice, it looks like:
Noticing when you’re shutting down in an argument
Feeling your breath before answering a hard question
Putting your phone down during dinner, tasting your food
Feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin
Mindfulness connects you to the essence of life. Don’t miss it, babe!
This Is the Work That Lasts
These three pillars values, CBC, and mindfulness — are the foundation of every breakthrough I’ve seen in my clients’ lives.
They help you stop abandoning yourself.
They help you show up as your full, expressed self.
They give you language, tools, and choice where there used to be reaction and fear.
You don’t need to fix yourself, you need to create a home to come back to, inside of yourself.
When we are rooted, we are free.
This is where we start. And if you’re ready, I’d be honored to walk with you.
With all my love,
- D
Want to go deeper into these practices? I’ve got an upcoming 10-week women’s group coaching starting Thursday, August 14th at 6pm. Ready to rewrite the way they relate — to love, to others, and to themselves. Fill out the attached application and email me at coach@dinabrady.com.
