How to Coach Yourself and Others Essential Knowledge For Coaching | Page 438

The Five Freedoms – Using Our Senses
Satir keenly observed that many adults
learned to deny certain senses from
childhood, that is, to deny what they hear, see,
taste, smell and touch/feel.
Noting the significant role our senses play in
our survival, she devised the following “Five
Freedoms” tool, essentially affirmations, to
help people connect to their body and self in
the moment, and focus their attention on their
inner resources and creative choices in the
present. (Here we see how ahead of her time
Satir was; these are mindfulness concepts proven today by neuroscience
research.)
The Five Freedoms are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

The freedom to see and hear what is here, instead of what
“should” be, was, or will be.
The freedom to say what you feel and think, instead of what you
“should” feel and think.
The freedom to feel what you feel, instead of what you “ought”
to feel.
The freedom to ask for what you want, instead of always waiting
for permission.
The freedom to take risks on you own behalf, instead of
choosing to be only “secure”.

Satir’s Therapeutic Beliefs and Assumptions
Satir believed people have an internal drive that propels them to become
more fully human. She viewed this positive energy, as a life force that
exerts wholesome pulls and pushes on us–physically, emotionally, and
spiritually–throughout life.

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