Coaches benefit athletes in all kinds of sports, and these days, they are empowering people to enhance their lives.These coaches are life coaches, and Karen Ahlquist, a 10-year Warrenton resident, is one of them.Horsepower Coaching is the name of her business and she offers a monthly class called Living a Joyful Life at the Warren County Fitness Center, 1000 Outlet Mall, Warrenton.As a life coach, she approaches clients knowing that they are the experts of their own lives, they just need a little help remembering that sometimes.“At its simplest form, (coaching is) two heads are better than one,” Ahlquist said. “The coach’s only agenda is the client. The coach brings an objective, non-judgmental perspective to the conversation.“The significance of that is the people in our lives, the people who love us, all have an agenda for you. The coach is the only person who helps you figure things out and doesn’t tell you what to do or what you should do.”Ahlquist is in the process of being certified by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), an independent organization that certifies coaches and sets and maintains coaching ethics and standards for coaching professionals.Ahlquist said most of her clients have different reasons for coming to her, but they have commonalities.“They all are ready for a positive change and they’re ready to make it happen,” she said.In general, too, her clients tend to be going through life changes or transitions, she said. Those transitions may include: marriage, divorce, moving, a career change, retirement, a new baby, an empty nest, etc.“As long as we’re alive, we continue to grow and develop,” she said.Sometimes people get stuck or distracted along the way. Ideas get so far and then don’t work anymore. They need new goals. Life coaches help clients set and meet life, family or professional goals.“As adults, people do what everybody else does. At some point what everybody else does only gets you so far, then it’s what’s specific to you? What matters to you?” Ahlquist said.She added, “People try to fit us into molds that other people want us to be, but there’s nobody like you in the whole wide world.”She said moving from what others do to what is best for themselves is the journey of being an adult. A life coach, then, “coaches” a person through such transitions.Coaching happens in a conversation, either on the phone, in person or by Skype.Ahlquist has clients out of state and in different countries. She charges $180 a month for three personal sessions. Each session is 45 to 60 minutes.In her class at the Warren County Fitness Center, the information is more general. Each class has a topic that guests will find helpful. They attend as many as they want. The cost is $5 or a punch on a membership card.Students there have had lessons on identifying and removing obstacles and being in the present, something Ahlquist said can immediately eliminate a lot of stress and create more joy.Ahlquist believes coaching can improve most people’s lives. Life coaches, in general, support healthy habits and help people live lives that are more effective and easier to enjoy.Also, “We are physical, mental, emotional and spiritual beings. If we’re not healthy in one of those areas, it will affect another area,” she said.For more information about one-to-one services, visit www.horsepowercoach.com or call Ahlquist at 636-377-1273.For more information about classes at the Warren County Fitness Center, call 636-456-1567.

Karen Ahlquist of Warrenton is a trained life coach. She runs Horsepower Coaching and also leads a class at the Warren County Health Department Fitness Center. Record photo/ Kate Miller.