Feeling called to experience soul-centered coaching and to create more meaning and joy in your life? Contact us today to see if free sessions are available through Advanced Student Practitioners pursuing certification through the Institute for Soul-Centered Psychology and Coaching
The word “psyche” actually means “soul” in Greek (Hillman, 1989), and the Greek philosopher Heraclitus posited the importance of the soul as long as 2500 years ago (Hillman, 1995). C. G. Jung, widely acknowledged alongside well-known pioneers like William James and Sigmund Freud as one of the founders of the field of psychology, emphasized the importance of soul in his work—so much so that the Index to Jung’s Collected Works devotes seven columns to the heading “soul.”
Soul-centered coaching is a term I adopted early in my client practice to describe the process of guiding and mentoring anyone who is looking for personal transformation by engaging Somatic, Symbolic, and Shamanic approaches. Based on tenets of Depth psychology, founded in large part by Sigmund Freud and Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung in the early 20th century; on Transpersonal psychology which emerged in the late 1960s, founded by Stanislav Grof, Abraham Maslow, and others; and on Archetypal psychology, created by contemporary Jungian, James Hillman (d. 2011), soul-centered coaching seeks to help individuals reconnect with their authentic self, overcome programming that no longer serves, and uncover their gifts and calling in his life time.
"Soul-centered coaching not only helps clients to overcome limiting beliefs, difficult emotions, and negative reactions that can stand in the way of happiness and success, it also helps them create new possibilities in their lives."
As a certified transpersonal (soul-centered) coach, I have found the field of depth/transpersonal coaching to be an exciting and stimulating practice that offers opportunities for profound self-exploration, learning, and transformation. Unlike many forms of coaching, which rely on cognitive-behavioral techniques to shift attitudes and habits, soul-centered coaching is based on both psychological and spiritual tenets that empower both coach and client to connect with deeper, more creative, and more peaceful and powerful aspects of ourselves through engaging with the unconscious.
Accessing the Unconscious
Thanks to Jung and his colleague, Sigmund Freud, contemporary coaches and psychologists have developed an understanding that both the personal unconscious (Freud’s theory that each of us is affected by everything we experience and may have repressed or suppressed), and the collective unconscious (Jung’s (1969) notion of the “whole spiritual heritage of mankind’s evolution”) encompasses the soul of humanity at large, and is “born anew in the brain structure of every individual.”
Both the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious play a critical role in our developmental process and our capacity to break through to a new understanding of the soul. So, if depth and transpersonal psychologies engage the soul, and soul is what helps us make meaning of our suffering, then depth and transpersonal coaching offer a soul-centered approach that relies on plumbing the depths of the unconscious (both personal and collective) in order to make meaning and help clients transform.
In practice, soul-centered coaching not only helps clients to overcome limiting beliefs, difficult emotions, and negative reactions that can stand in the way of happiness and success, it also helps them create new possibilities in their lives (Dangeli, 2018). As a relatively new field, it draws on a variety of theories and techniques embraced by soul-centered (transpersonal) counseling, including mindfulness, meditation, intuition, somatic practices, ritual, and shamanic perspectives, among others (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016). This unique combination of transpersonal ideas and focus makes transpersonal coaching a deeply creative process that stimulates and engages each individual on multiple levels of mind, body, and spirit.
Opportunity to Try Soul-Centered Coaching
If you feel called to the idea of working with a soul-centered coach, many of the advanced students in the 1-2 Year Certificate Programs in Soul-Centered Coaching Psychology at the Institute for Soul-Centered Coaching and Psychology™ offer sessions free of charge or at low introductory rates in order to complete requisite practicum hours with real clients.
If you are interested in awakening to new truths about the truth of who you really are as a “spiritual being having a human experience,” or if you are seeking to break through old patterns, increase your creativity, and achieve greater freedom, joy, and serenity, please reach out today to see if there is availability for you to benefit from this exciting, transformative, and deeply soulful modality:
Contact us today to see if free sessions are available through Advanced Student Practitioners pursuing certification through the Institute for Soul-Centered Psychology and Coaching