Krista Nerestant
Certified Neuro Linguistic Life Coach
Our main objective here at the National Coach Academy is to enable aspiring coaches to reach their full professional potential. One of the most effective ways to educate students about the world of coaching is by offering them a window into the world of real, practicing coaches and showing them all the different ways coaches make a difference in the lives of their clients.
We hope today’s interview adds another insightful glimpse into the dynamic world of coaching.
Today we are interviewing Krista Nerestant. Krista is a Certified Neuro Linguistic Life Coach and owner of Self-Ish Lifestyle based in Cedar Grove, NJ.
Krista Nerestant endured multiple traumas as a child in the Philippines and a young immigrant in the United States—yet she rose to face every obstacle she encountered with courage and self-love. Along the way, she found success and healing, discovered the hidden gifts of trauma, and eventually became a spiritual medium and inspirational leader in her community.
In her book, Indestructible: The Hidden Gifts of Trauma, she shares the hidden gifts of trauma that have empowered her not just to survive but to thrive in a life most would have given up on. These pages contain her hard-won understanding of how it’s possible to extract life-healing lessons from each of life’s obstacles—even a violent past. A book that will inspire readers to seek the presence of the Hero within and begin to create the life they want, Indestructible reveals that the power of choice—belief, perspective, feeling—is the ultimate resource.
Indestructible is set to publish with She Writes Press Publishing on September 8, 2020.
NCA: Can you describe your coaching practice and the kinds of clients you typically work with?
Krista: I combine the processes of the mental body and the spiritual body together. I’m a spiritual medium and also a Certified Neuro Linguistic Life Coach and hypnotist. I touch on every aspect of a person — the mental body, the physical body, the emotional body and the spiritual body.
NCA: I noticed your site is called Self-ish Lifestyle. Can you talk a little bit about what that means to you?
Krista: When I first started doing this work, a lot of my clients who ended up sitting in my chair were very high-stress or in what you would call a chaotic or stuck state. A lot of the times when we would go through the process of the session, we would soon find out that the reason why they are where they are is because they didn’t put themselves first, whether that’s due to lack of self-care or they put themselves in situations where they just keep giving. I decided, “You know what? I’m going to call it Self-ish Lifestyle.”
I became very adamant and became an advocate of a self-care regimen, hence, the Self-Care Tuesday podcast that I created to really empower and advocate for putting yourself first. You can’t take care of anybody else if you are running empty.
NCA: What would you say is the most challenging aspect of the work that you do?
Krista: The self-caring part. Even though I’m an advocate, I have to really be adamant about it for myself and making sure that I’m also taking care of me. It’s so easy to overextend and overly give.
What I do in every session is teach specific techniques to implement on a daily basis, because daily practices become habits. It’s just like brushing your teeth or washing your hair. When you start doing this as a daily practice, within a week or two, you’ll be able to do it more efficiently and you won’t be able to live without it. And if you do live without it, what happens is you become aware when you start getting depleted and you’re no longer in your state of balance or power.
You’ll never stop learning. Every session is a lesson. I record every session because there are gifts in every session to gain.
NCA: Can you think of a mentor or a coach in your own path to becoming a coach who was the most vital to your success and in what ways did this mentor help you thrive in your career?
Krista: The most influential person on my path to becoming a coach is Ms. Virginia Satir. She was a world-renowned psychologist. She passed away in the early ‘80s but her work has gone on.
When I got certified in NLP in 2014, I was curious as to how Bandler and Grinder created this NLP program. I come to find out that Grinder and Bandler had shadowed Virginia Satir because she was making such an impact in the mental health world. She was healing family dynamics in such a short time. She was the first psychologist who decided that individual sessions were no longer working, especially in the family dynamics. Bandler and Grinder shadowed her for months and then they took what they learned and created NLP from that.
I just recently got certified in Satir Transformational Systemic Therapy (STST), also called the Satir method. That was a very cool experience.
NCA: What is one piece of advice that you would give to somebody who is just starting out in their coaching career?
Krista: To study. To learn in order to gain the confidence you need to implement a session fully. That not only serves you as the practitioner but also serves the client.
Be very honest in where you stand and where you are. When I first started, I didn’t charge. Then when I started to get certifications and I got more knowledge, I raised my prices.
You’ll never stop learning. Every session is a lesson. I record every session because there are gifts in every session to gain.
Finally, always put your self-care and your highest form of self first.