Unlocking You by Leigh

Unlocking You by Leigh Integrative Wellbeing Coach & Mentor 🌿
Integrative coaching for people who feel constantly "on" and want more clarity, calm and steady energy.

Every woman deserves to feel calm, energised, and deeply at home in her body and mind. đź’›
That’s the essence of my work: guiding women from stress, fatigue, and self-doubt to clarity, confidence, and vitality. Through my Vibrant Woman Approach, I integrate holistic life coaching, personalised nutrition, mindful movement, and positive psychology to create meaningful, lasting change — inside and out.

This isn’t about quick fixes. It’s about sustainable wellbeing:
➛ understanding your body’s rhythm
âž› reconnecting with strengths and values
âž› restoring balance, focus, and energy in daily life
âž› cultivating self-leadership and emotional resilience

With 30+ years in health, fitness & coaching, I blend science-based tools with a warm, heart-centred style, grounded in EMCC & ICF ethics and practice. In Zürich or online, you’ll find a safe, supportive space to pause, realign, and rise — so you can thrive with energy, confidence, and joy.

đź’› ZĂĽrich & online | EMCC & ICF-aligned coaching | unlockingYOU by Leigh

👉🏼 „Ich dachte, du würdest mir sagen, was ich tun soll.“Das sagte mir kürzlich eine Klientin.Sie ist gleichzeitig in The...
29/08/2026

👉🏼 „Ich dachte, du würdest mir sagen, was ich tun soll.“

Das sagte mir kĂĽrzlich eine Klientin.

Sie ist gleichzeitig in Therapie und befindet sich seit längerer Zeit in einer sehr belastenden Lebensphase. Als wir begonnen haben zusammenzuarbeiten, war sie gedanklich ständig mehrere Schritte voraus.

Was, wenn ich mich irgendwann finanziell nicht mehr tragen kann?

Was, wenn ich mich immer mehr zurĂĽckziehe?

Was, wenn es einfach nicht besser wird?

Sie dachte zunächst, Coaching würde ihr vor allem Antworten geben. Einen Plan. Klare nächste Schritte.

Stattdessen ist etwas anderes passiert.

„Nach unseren Gesprächen bin ich viel klarer. Die Ängste sind noch da, aber sie haben nicht mehr denselben Griff auf mich.“

Der Wendepunkt war nicht, dass sich ihre Situation plötzlich verändert hätte.

Sondern die Erkenntnis, dass sie nicht ihr ganzes Leben auf einmal lösen muss.

Sie kann schauen, was jetzt gerade wichtig ist, was ihr als Nächstes hilft und von dort einen Schritt weitergehen.

Therapie kann ein wichtiger Raum sein, um Erlebtes zu verstehen und zu verarbeiten.

Coaching ersetzt das nicht.

Was Coaching zusätzlich bieten kann, ist ein Raum für das Leben, das jetzt stattfindet.

Denn auch wenn du durch etwas sehr Schwieriges gehst oder noch mitten in einer belastenden Phase steckst: Diese Erfahrung ist nicht alles, was dich ausmacht.

Dein Leben beginnt nicht erst wieder, wenn alles gelöst ist.

Es findet heute statt.

Manchmal geht es deshalb nicht darum, die perfekte Lösung zu finden, sondern wieder genug Klarheit zu haben, um den nächsten Schritt sehen zu können.

Wenn du dich darin wiedererkennst, melde dich gerne bei mir. Wir können gemeinsam schauen, was für dich jetzt gerade wichtig ist und welcher nächste Schritt sich machbar anfühlt. 💛

👉🏼 A year ago, I wrote about autonomy as the freedom to choose.I think I understand it a little differently now.Sometime...
26/08/2026

👉🏼 A year ago, I wrote about autonomy as the freedom to choose.

I think I understand it a little differently now.

Sometimes the hardest part isn’t knowing that we have a choice.

It’s believing we’re allowed to make it.

Allowed to change our mind.

Allowed to step back from something we’ve already invested a lot in.

Allowed to choose a different pace, even when we’re perfectly capable of doing more.

Allowed to disappoint someone rather than continually override what we know we need.

Allowed to admit that something which once worked for us no longer does.

On paper, many of us have a great deal of freedom.

Yet in reality, our choices can be shaped by all sorts of quiet rules we’ve picked up along the way.

I should be able to handle this.

They’re relying on me.

I’ve already said yes.

I don’t want to let anyone down.

I need to be sure before I decide.

After a while, those thoughts can become so familiar that we stop experiencing them as thoughts at all. They simply become the way things are.

This is something I see in coaching quite often.

The person sitting in front of me rarely needs someone to tell them what to do. More often, they need enough space to hear themselves again, to separate what they genuinely want from what they’ve become accustomed to carrying, and to notice where they may have more choice than they realised.

Autonomy doesn’t mean we get to control what happens next.

It means we remain part of the decision.

Perhaps that’s the question I’d ask myself now, a year on:

What am I still treating as non-negotiable when perhaps it isn’t?

Sometimes freedom begins there. đź’›

👉🏼 It took me a while to see that being capable and caring had quietly become a habit of carrying too much.At work. At h...
23/08/2026

👉🏼 It took me a while to see that being capable and caring had quietly become a habit of carrying too much.

At work. At home. In friendships. In family life. In caring for someone we love.

We can become so used to anticipating, organising, fixing, supporting and keeping things moving that carrying starts to feel normal, even when much of it was never consciously chosen.

For years, I didn’t really question it. It felt useful. Responsible. Part of who I was.

What I see differently now is how easily those strengths can become automatic, especially when we’ve spent a long time being the person others rely on.

I notice it in the small moments. Something is unresolved and my mind is already trying to sort it. Someone is struggling and I start carrying part of it too. Stepping back can feel more uncomfortable than simply stepping in.

I see this in my clients as well.

Often, they already know they need more rest, better boundaries or less pressure. The harder part is understanding why the old way still feels safer.

Why saying no can stay with us.

Why rest can bring guilt.

Why being needed can feel more familiar than simply being.

Working as a coach hasn’t made those patterns disappear in me. It has made me more aware of the moment they begin, and of how easily we can carry so much for so long that we stop asking whether it is still ours to hold.

That moment matters.

Because change doesn’t always start with doing something differently.

Sometimes it starts with noticing what we’re carrying, why we picked it up in the first place, and whether it still belongs to us. 💛

👉🏼 Something has been bothering me, in a good way, as I’ve been writing my Beneath the Surface reflections.Some of the t...
18/08/2026

👉🏼 Something has been bothering me, in a good way, as I’ve been writing my Beneath the Surface reflections.

Some of the things we’re most proud of in ourselves can also be the things that quietly cost us the most.

Perfectionism. Responsibility. Being strong. Control. People pleasing. Achievement. Rest.

Seven reflections so far.

And the more I write them, the less I think they’re really separate things.

Being responsible is a good thing. So is being strong, caring about others, working hard, wanting to do well and having high standards.

I certainly wouldn’t want to lose those parts of myself.

What I’m becoming much more interested in is whether we still have a choice around them.

Can I be strong and still ask for help?

Can I care about someone without always putting myself second?

Can I enjoy achieving without needing achievement to tell me I’m doing okay?

Can I rest while there are still things left undone?

There’s a difference between a strength we’re choosing to use and a rule we feel we have to obey.

From the outside, they can look almost identical.

Inside, they can feel very different.

I think that’s the thread I’ve been finding through this series.

And it’s increasingly shaping the way I think about Human Wellbeing by Design.

We talk so much about what we should do to be well.

Sleep more. Eat well. Exercise. Set boundaries. Manage stress. Take breaks. Find a rhythm that supports us rather than constantly working against us.

All important.

Yet the question I keep coming back to is…

What makes it so difficult for us to do the things we already know would be good for us?

I don’t think sustainable wellbeing can be designed around behaviour alone.

We need to understand what’s driving it.

Maybe that’s why I keep coming back to what’s beneath the surface.

Self-Worth is next.

I have a feeling it might connect quite a few of the dots.

For me too. đź’›

👉🏼 When did rest become something we have to earn?This is Reflection 07 in my Beneath the Surface series.This one is abo...
14/08/2026

👉🏼 When did rest become something we have to earn?

This is Reflection 07 in my Beneath the Surface series.

This one is about rest.

Or perhaps, more accurately, our relationship with it.

“I’ll rest when I’ve finished this.”

“Once things calm down.”

“After this week.”

“When everyone else is sorted.”

I hear versions of these sentences all the time.

I’ve said them myself.

Rest gets pushed slightly further away.

Not because we don’t know we need it.

We do.

Yet somehow, stopping while there’s still something that could be done can feel surprisingly uncomfortable.

There’s always another email.

Another job.

Someone who needs something.

Something we could organise, improve or get ahead on.

What interests me most is what happens when we actually stop.

Can we sit down in the middle of the day without feeling we should be doing something?

Can we have an afternoon with no purpose?

Can we rest before we’re exhausted?

Or does part of us immediately start negotiating?

“I’ve done enough today.”

“I deserve this.”

“I’ll make up for it tomorrow.”

If we feel the need to justify rest, I think that’s worth noticing.

Perhaps somewhere along the way we’ve learned that doing is fine…

but doing nothing needs an explanation.

For many capable people, productivity feels good.

Useful feels good.

Being needed feels good.

Rest offers none of that reassurance.

There’s nothing to show for it.

Nothing to tick off.

Perhaps that’s why some of us are much better at recovering from exhaustion than preventing it.

Rest isn’t laziness.

It isn’t the opposite of ambition.

And it shouldn’t have to wait until we’re tired enough to deserve it.

If you didn’t have to earn your rest, what would you do differently?

I’ll leave that question with you.

📖 Save this reflection if you’d like to come back to it.

💛 Follow along as Beneath the Surface continues. ✨

✨ This photo was taken during a really lovely moment.What it doesn’t show is the adjustment happening underneath.Learnin...
12/08/2026

✨ This photo was taken during a really lovely moment.

What it doesn’t show is the adjustment happening underneath.

Learning to do less.

Accepting more help.

Not always being able to organise things the way I would like.

Recovery has been reminding me that not everything responds to effort.

I’m someone who usually finds a way. If something needs doing, I’ll work out how. If plans change, I’ll reorganise them.

That has served me well for a very long time.

It also makes being physically limited rather interesting.

You can be sensible. Do the exercises. Follow the advice. Give your body what it needs.

You still don’t get to decide how quickly it heals.

I’ve caught myself measuring progress by the things I can do again.

Driving. Working more normally. Training. Carrying something without thinking about it.

Small things, really.

Except they don’t feel small when being capable and independent have quietly become part of how you know yourself.

Perhaps that’s one of the things these unexpected pauses can show us.

Not only what we’re missing, but how much of our identity we’ve attached to being able to do it.

I’m not sure strength is always finding a way through.

Sometimes it might be allowing yourself not to.

At least for now.

👉🏼 What happens when achieving something feels good… but never quite feels enough?This is the sixth reflection in my Ben...
11/08/2026

👉🏼 What happens when achieving something feels good… but never quite feels enough?

This is the sixth reflection in my Beneath the Surface series.

This one is about achievement.

Something most of us would probably consider a good thing.

I certainly do.

There’s something deeply satisfying about working towards something and getting there.

Finishing the qualification.

Delivering the project.

Getting the promotion.

Reaching a goal you’ve worked towards for months.

You did it.

It feels good.

Then, sometimes surprisingly quickly…

What’s next?

Another goal.

Another challenge.

Something else to work towards.

I’ve noticed how easily achievement can quietly become more than something we enjoy.

It can become part of how we measure ourselves.

Am I doing enough?

Am I progressing?

Am I successful?

Am I enough?

That last one changes things.

There’s a difference between wanting to achieve something… and needing to achieve something to feel good about who we are.

From the outside, they can look exactly the same.

Inside, they feel very different.

Sometimes even rest becomes productive.

A walk needs to count towards our steps.

A hobby becomes something to get better at.

Even our wellbeing can become another thing to succeed at.

I don’t think the answer is to become less ambitious.

There can be so much joy in growing, learning, creating and achieving.

Perhaps it’s simply about becoming curious about what’s driving us beneath it.

Do I want to do this?

Or somewhere beneath the surface…

do I need to do this to feel okay about myself?

Achievement can tell us a great deal about what we’ve done.

I’m not sure it was ever meant to tell us who we are.

So perhaps the question isn’t how much more you can achieve.

Perhaps it’s who you are when, for a moment, there’s nothing left to prove.

I’ll leave that one with you.

📖 Save this reflection if you’d like to come back to it.

💛 Follow along as Beneath the Surface continues. ✨

👉🏼 What if the life you’re trying so hard to manage is the very thing you’re forgetting to experience?A conversation wit...
09/08/2026

👉🏼 What if the life you’re trying so hard to manage is the very thing you’re forgetting to experience?

A conversation with a client recently made me think about this.

She had a life she was grateful for.

People she loved. Work that mattered to her. Things she’d worked hard for.

Still, something didn’t feel right.

She was tired more often than she wanted to admit.

Her energy seemed to run out before the day did.

There was always something else needing her attention and, even when she had time to herself, she found it difficult to really switch off.

She wasn’t looking for a completely different life.

She wanted to feel more like herself in the life she already had.

As we talked, it became clear how much of her energy was going into managing.

Thinking ahead. Remembering. Organising. Keeping things moving. Making sure nothing got dropped.

Perhaps you recognise some of this.

I thought about it again when I stopped beside these trees.

At first, I noticed what was immediately in front of me.

The trunks. The branches. The leaves.

Then I looked through them.

There was a whole view beyond them that I’d almost missed.

Life can feel a little like that.

We can become so occupied with what’s immediately in front of us that we stop seeing the wider picture.

That’s part of what Human Wellbeing by Design means to me.

Not creating a perfectly balanced life.

Not adding another set of things to do well.

It’s noticing how the life we’ve created is actually affecting the person living it.

Our energy. Our health. Our relationships. Our sense of ourselves within it all.

Sometimes the question isn’t:

How can I manage everything better?

Perhaps it’s:

What am I no longer seeing because I’m so busy managing what’s in front of me?

Maybe one to sit with this Sunday. đź’›

👉🏼 Why can disappointing someone else sometimes feel harder than disappointing ourselves?This is the fifth reflection in...
07/08/2026

👉🏼 Why can disappointing someone else sometimes feel harder than disappointing ourselves?

This is the fifth reflection in my Beneath the Surface series.

This one is about people pleasing.

Although the more I listen, the less convinced I am that people pleasing is really about pleasing people.

I think it’s often about belonging.

About staying connected.

About feeling accepted.

About avoiding the discomfort of letting someone down.

I don’t believe people are naturally people pleasers.

What I hear instead is:

“I don’t want to upset anyone.”

“It’s easier if I just do it.”

“I don’t mind.”

“It’s really no trouble.”

And perhaps that’s why it can be so difficult to recognise.

It can look like kindness.

Generosity.

Being easy-going.

Caring deeply about others.

All beautiful qualities.

Yet somewhere along the way, being accepted can begin to feel safer than being fully honest.

Saying yes can feel safer than saying no.

Keeping someone else comfortable can feel easier than risking their disappointment.

And gradually, without really noticing, we can start leaving parts of ourselves behind.

Perhaps this is what sits beneath people pleasing.

Not simply the wish to make others happy…

but the very human need to belong.

The more I reflect on it, the more I believe that belonging was never meant to cost us ourselves.

What if people pleasing isn’t simply about being kind… but about believing your place with others depends on it?

I’ll leave that question with you.

📖 Save this reflection if you’d like to come back to it.

💛 Follow along as Beneath the Surface continues. ✨

👉🏼 Stepping back sounds simple.Until you’re the person everyone is waiting on.Until a lot of time, thought and energy ha...
06/08/2026

👉🏼 Stepping back sounds simple.

Until you’re the person everyone is waiting on.

Until a lot of time, thought and energy have already gone into one direction.

Until pausing brings up a question you may not really want to ask:

What if this isn’t the right way forward after all?

In a recent post, I shared a situation where we had become so close to the details that the bigger picture was becoming difficult to see.

So we paused.

The answer didn’t suddenly appear.

What became clearer was how much effort had gone into trying to make one idea work.

Partly because so much had already been invested.

Partly because changing direction might disappoint someone.

Perhaps also because admitting that we weren’t sure felt harder than continuing to adjust the details.

I think many of us know this feeling.

Doing can feel safer than reflecting.

As long as we’re changing something, discussing something or trying one more option, it feels as though we’re still moving forward.

Yet a pause can feel uncomfortable, especially when it doesn’t give us an immediate answer.

What helped wasn’t someone taking over the decision.

It was slowing the conversation down.

Listening more carefully.

Noticing what kept being repeated.

Paying attention to what wasn’t being said.

We’re still in the process. There isn’t a neat ending yet.

What has changed is that the next decision no longer has to come from the same place of pressure.

Sometimes we don’t need someone to give us the answer.

We need someone who can stay with us in the uncertainty long enough for us to hear our own thinking more clearly.

This is part of what Sustainable Wellbeing by Design means to me.

Creating enough space to notice what pressure, responsibility or the need to get it right may be hiding beneath the surface.

Sometimes we can do that alone.

Sometimes it helps to have someone beside us who doesn’t take over, but helps us ask the question we haven’t yet been able to ask ourselves.

Perhaps stepping back isn’t moving away from what matters.

Perhaps it’s how we return to it differently.

Where might you need a little more space before deciding what comes next? ✨

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