Coaching - Consciousness, Purpose, Action
People often ask me about my style of coaching. I would call it “integral”. In Latin, “integer” means whole or complete. Thus, Integral Coaching is to become aware of, understand, adapt and integrate your whole-self to fulfil your purpose in a given context (social, professional, cultural). The essential questions could be summarised as:
Who/what/how am I? This is about Consciousness.
What am I here to do? For the sake of what? This is about Purpose.
How am I going to get there? This is about Action.
Integral is about working holistically with and within our human experience, our way of being. “Being” refers to all human spheres - cognitive (mind, thoughts, language), emotional (moods, emotions), physiology (body, presence) and spiritual (purpose, meaning).
How does this translate into my coaching approach? Let me use the metaphor of horse-drawn carriage as your being, your “whole-self”. The carriage represents your body, the horses your emotions, the coachman your mind and the passenger/owner of the carriage symbolises your soul. The main task of this carriage (mind-emotions-body) is to follow the direction of the owner (soul) in a way that navigates the territory without (too much) damage to the carriage.
Well, don’t we know what tends to happen.... the horses pull in different directions, run wild or refuse to move any further. The coachman lacks discipline and skills, doesn’t look after the carriage, mistreats the horses or can’t control them. And he doesn’t listen to the direction given by the passenger – maybe he doesn’t understand her or is afraid where she wants him to go. The result is often that the carriage veers off track, gets seriously damaged and/or goes around in circles.
Very few coachmen (minds) are willing and competent to listen to the owner of the carriage (soul) and follow the directions on the journey of life. Often, it takes a serious crash (or being fed up with wandering around aimlessly) that the mind starts to listen to the soul’s language.
As an integral coach, I facilitate my clients’ observing and engaging their whole selves: they realise they are not their minds (coachman), that emotions (horses) are needed to pull the carriage but in a constructive way, that they can’t ignore their bodies (carriage) and that the true journey is charted from within (soul).
During the coaching, we step into an observer-mode, looking at our carriage (our whole-self) as it travels along within the context of our lives, just like in a film. We develop a non-judgemental and compassionate attitude because we know we are not just the witness (spirit or consciousness) but also at the same time embody the horses, carriage, coachman and passenger. During the coaching process, we work on integrating all these aspects, making adjustments where needed and practising listening to the real directions and signposts. We start harnessing the best of ourselves (mind-body-heart-soul) on this journey while being conscious that we are witnessing at the same time (spirit).
Enjoy your journey to the full.
