Research Paper By Iliana M Delgado
(Transformational Coaching, USA)
The contributions of my professional life have been in the helping fields. Working as an adult educator, I facilitated curricula in both the public and private sectors. As a corporate trainer I learned about corporate culture and taught others how to operate effectively within it. Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) to students with varying levels of proficiency guided me to enhance my creative skills and acquire new competences in problem solving. By engaging mothers, who were in welfare-to-work programs about the power of literacy, I learned to motivate women to free themselves from dependency and acknowledge their successes regardless of cognitive level and educational background. As a diversity and cultural competence trainer, I promoted the discovery of blocks and shadows that lie deep within individuals and groups to create dissention, elitism, bias and hate. But my deepest and most soulful learnings came when as a yoga teacher I connected with the profundity of my being and experienced my connection to Universal Truth. What I had taken on as a way to relieve stress became my guide and first step towards the conscious awareness of wholeness and the texture of the fabric of existence.
Experiencing the wholeness of being and its implications—the psychological, emotional, physical and spiritual perspectives—has become my life’s journey. The paradigm shift that has furthered this perspective supports my access to compassion, flexibility, health and harmonious living. This, in turn, is accompanied by the realization that we can and do connect on a daily basis to the miraculous nature of reality, to the realms of limitless potential and boundless possibilities. Advanced course work in Metaphysics at the American Institute of Holistic Theology (AIHT) and training in Reiki as a Level III practitioner (MASTER) served as catalysts for further transformation and deeper experience.
Recognizing my longing for a more profound integration of the knowledge I had already acquired, I became ordained as an Interspiritual/Interfaith Minister at One Spirit Interfaith Seminary. Along with a daily meditation practice, I slowly began to embody my new perspective on life, what I call my holistic view.
I share all this with you because it helps to explain why I have chosen to be a Holistic Life Coach. I am on a soulful path to creating a balanced, peace-filled, harmonious and gratifying life and wish to partner with others who wish to do the same. Underlying this desire lies the awareness that everything is energy; that we are all one; that each of us has a divine purpose; and that we have the power to co-create in our lives.
However, In order to create a life that is satisfying and aligned with our values and the universal order, we must choose to live consciously, bringing awareness to thoughts and emotions. Ultimately every experience is born of thought. And thoughts generate the emotions that register sensations in our bodies.
At the age of 64, I am just beginning to appreciate the nature of existence. My experience and desire to serve move me to employ coaching as a tool for assisting others to transform their lives along with me and realize their bliss. Every person who raises her consciousness becomes an agent of transformation for those around her. And as our numbers grow, we are able to impact the rest of the world. “The Hundredth Monkey” is an inspiring story that suggests that a change in a species occurs when a critical mass is reached. Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., a prominent psychiatrist and activist, works tirelessly in the creation of women’s circles throughout the world that promise to transform the hierarchy of patriarchy in the twenty-first century. In keeping with this evolutionary conviction, I trust that as we raise our consciousness we participate in raising the consciousness of the planet.
We are living in a time of rapid evolution and transformation. A global community that highlights the uniqueness of each culture is at once bringing them together to create new fellowships of spirituality that are not bound by any one religion. People all over the world are experiencing a longing to awaken to their unique gifts and offer them in service to the world. Our established cultures and social systems were designed to simply ensure our survival and are not equipped to nurture the high aspirations that are vital to ushering in the myriad possibilities available to us for the greater unifying story that we are yet to birth.
Coaching serves as a catalyst to support people in releasing old and limiting beliefs that exist within the confines of their own small stories. The development and growth of the field of coaching in the last thirty years presages the coming of a new age. Life coaching, and holistic life coaching in particular, recognizes the we are part of a greater whole and that the resulting sense of belonging and interdependence elicits an awareness of our responsibility to humanity and the planet. Simultaneously, it identifies the duty we owe ourselves to explore our depths through the multi-dimensionality of our minds, bodies and spirits so that we may connect to our authentic selves and fulfill our chosen purpose.
The Mind
Until we are made conscious, we assess what’s right and wrong, good and bad based on beliefs devised when we were children. Our day to day experiences are determined by beliefs that, for the most part, remain unquestioned. Many of these beliefs undermine our personal power and stifle our potential for success. We become locked into habitual responses based on our beliefs and when faced with the ensuing unhappiness or failure, we look for something or someone to blame.
What are beliefs? Beliefs are thoughts that we make real, or accept as true. Choosing to make a thought real or not is a decision under the power of the will. The will gives us the freedom to use our imaginations to turn thoughts and intentions into life experience. By choosing to investigate our thoughts we become aware of the inner landscape that gives meaning to the experiences of any given moment. We can then exercise our power to overcome the limitations of our thinking.
Learning to exert our power in order to move away from commonly accepted ways of thinking to a more expansive view of life can seem like an onerous undertaking. But it is attainable and well worth the effort. Coaching encourages mindfulness and a direct clear relationship with your thoughts so that you learn to consciously choose your actions. You learn to avoid repeating the same patterns that have created unhappiness, failure and alienation in the past. When you know your internal world with clarity, you can use the creative capacity of thought to realize a unified worldview and live in harmony with existence. Within the unified paradigm what we think not only affects us but everyone and everything around us.
Holistic coaching encourages the taking on of practices that support a new worldview while applauding persistence and disciplined action.
The Body
We are beings in physical form. The power of our beliefs not only determines our destiny, it influences our biology. Like your brain, every cell in your body stores information. We call this gathered information memories. Our beliefs and the resulting emotions get hardwired onto our bodies. Our bodies become evidence of our thoughts in form. Sometimes instantaneously the physical body will respond to a mere thought as a sensation that elicits an undesirable action. When we become conscious of the thoughts and the memories stored in our bodies and bring them to the fore, we gain a different nonrational understanding of how the past has influenced our present actions. A number of scientific studies have shown that certain stored emotional patterns are associated with physical disease. The cause of illness then is not simply bacteria and virus, but the way bacteria and virus interacts with the immune system for those people who fall ill. Beliefs around insecurity and fear, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness have been associated with increased susceptibility to illness and reduced immunity. There is a direct correlation between our self-esteem and our health. From the standpoint of the unified paradigm, holding thoughts and attitudes of care and good will towards yourself and others is health giving. We receive what we give out. And let us not forget the impact of eating well, exercise, rest and peace and quiet on our bodies. These undertakings influence the sub-atomic particles that compose it.
Not only is the body a wise communicator, it is also a magnificent resource for teaching and learning. There is an intricate interweaving of our minds, body, emotions and spirit that surpasses the intellect’s ability to express rationally and logically. The voice of the body, speaking through sensations and feelings, continuously informs us of a much greater capacity to know and experience the world. A coaching approach that includes a body-based component allows an expansion of our capacity to be with the uncomfortable feelings of both negativity and positivity. It also offers opportunities for choices in self-healing. Truly, the human body is a site for everyday miracles and unparalleled wisdom. The mindfulness practices that coaching encourages help us to be present to what is happening in our bodies in the moment. In this way we are at liberty to take stock of the feedback from our body sensations and feelings to consciously engage in right action.
The Spirit
We all have the capacity to access what is needed to overcome challenges, solve problems, and manifest fulfillment. The door of unlimited potential and endless possibility is always open. It is the heart that opens the door that fully engages our true power and creativity, our core essence. We uncover our gifts, our purpose, our meaning through our hearts. This is soul encounter. Holistic life coaching acknowledges the soul’s need for deeper exploration whether a client is secular, religious or spiritual.
Our soul’s directive is the expression of our unique purpose, where our true power lies. When we deny our true power, we miss the greatest opportunity to fully engage with Spirit, the Universe, God, Oneness, Ultimate Truth—whatever name you wish to use. When we connect with our souls and live from the heart, divine wisdom becomes readily accessible and a relationship with the impossible is initiated.
Working with a coach can help us identify our authentic intentions and provide the support needed to tread unknown territories. We are encouraged to let go of what is holding back our power and to draw and rely on the pervasiveness of divine universal intelligence.
Spirit is the all-encompassing intermutual quality of pure energy shared by all souls. Spirituality can manifest as an acknowledgment of the connectedness of all life; as an appreciation of the divine light that shines within every sentient being; as a commitment to becoming a more enlightened and fulfilled presence. It is not about being a spiritual person but about integrating the laws of spirit, the natural laws of existence, into our daily lives. Through holistic life coaching, a client feels impelled to reflect and witness existence in the present moment where awareness, creativity and divine wisdom reside. While in service to authentic intentions that arise from love, compassion and empathy, a client learns to honor what is and what is yet to be born. From that place she creates a plan that is ignited by personal power to generate an actualized reality.
Through a Holistic Life Coaching Program you can learn to live within the unified paradigm. You can choose to probe the margins of your soul’s longing to the full extent. You are supported to go after what you truly want because you meet who you truly are.
A holistic life coach can help you to:
The emergence of a more conscious world is possible if those of us who wish to see peace and healing on the planet devote ourselves to knowing who we truly are. When we deepen our conscious knowledge, we can assume the power to take responsibility for our lives and work towards becoming compassionate, joyful and masterful. We are boundless and beautiful beings, channels of love, light and wisdom. Connecting to the secrets and mysteries of existence that are ever present, limitless and available, compels us to ascend from joyful surrender to enlightened grace.