A Conversation with Priya Ramanarayan on Coaching, Presence, and Purpose 

What connects the ocean and coaching? When you move past the surface in both, you begin to experience depth, insight, and wonder.

My conversation with Priya Ramanarayan, PCC Coach, reflected this idea beautifully. Her journey into coaching was not driven by a sudden shift, but by a growing awareness that had been with her for years.

Priya began her professional life as a software professional and spent close to a decade in the corporate world. Over time, her work moved towards training and facilitation with Dale Carnegie, where she found herself drawn more and more to working with people and supporting their learning journeys.

When the pandemic brought an unexpected pause, it also brought space to reflect. Coaching had always been on her mind, but there had never been enough room to pursue it fully. During this period, she decided to take that step. When she discovered Coacharya and its blend of Eastern philosophy with Western tools and techniques, it felt aligned with what she was already seeking.

Listening, Caring, and Growing with People

 For Priya, coaching feels deeply personal. She describes herself as an empath who naturally connects with people and their emotions. Over time, she has become very sensitive to what lies beneath words, the pauses, the hesitations, and the energy people bring into a conversation.

This awareness has only grown stronger through her coaching journey. She sees it as an extension of her own self understanding. There was always a question within her about what comes next, and coaching seemed to answer that in a meaningful way. It aligned with her need to grow while helping others grow.

Even when coaching feels emotionally demanding, she feels rooted in what matters to her most. She speaks about being able to hold space, listen deeply, and genuinely care about another person’s progress. For her, coaching is not just a profession. It is a natural expression of how she relates to people. That is what gives her the energy to return to this work every single day.

If Not Coaching, Then What?

When asked what she would choose if coaching and training were no longer an option, Priya speaks first of the ocean. She describes herself as a water person who feels deeply connected to the sea, the sound of the waves, and the open horizon. In another life, she imagines creating a small space by the shore, perhaps a retreat for meditation or a simple cafe where people can come to pause and breathe.

A recent scuba diving experience strengthened this connection even more. “There was something really humbling about the ocean. It taught me presence. It taught me surrender and to just trust the entire process. While I was feeling a little jittery and panicky under the water with all the gear, something changed and transformed inside when I started seeing the life around me in the water.” It felt as if the sea itself was guiding her.

She also reflects the other end of the spectrum. If not for coaching, she might have returned to the corporate world as a leader who helps people find their direction and purpose. Whether by the sea or in an organization, what remains constant is her desire to support others in discovering what truly matters to them.

A Belief That Needed Revisiting

Looking back at her younger self, Priya sees how strongly the belief in perfection influenced her early years. Being organised, thorough, and dependable became part of her identity. She took pride in doing things well and in being someone others could rely on, especially during her academic life.

This belief began to change when she entered the world of coaching. Through a self assessment exercise, she realised that perfectionism was no longer helping her grow. What she had once considered a strength was now acting as a barrier. It slowed her down and kept her from moving towards her full potential.

That insight stayed with her. Since then, she has been working consciously to question this pattern through reflection and conversations with her peers and supervisors. The question she keeps returning to is simple. How can I move forward without waiting for everything to be in perfect order?

A concept she recently learned captures this shift well. She speaks about the idea of “1,2,3, Pasta..” which means taking the step instead of preparing endlessly for it. Where her earlier self would wait for all conditions to feel right, she now chooses to begin and learn along the way. Letting go of perfection has become a daily practice of trust and growth, and a way of stepping into what feels more real and alive for her.

What Listening Taught Her About Life

Listening to people’s stories for over two decades has deeply affected how Priya shows up in her own relationships. She shares that every experience of coaching, mentoring, and even reviewing learning conversations has also been a teacher for her. Over time, she has begun to practise gratitude more consciously and to strengthen her belief in acceptance and surrender to a larger order of life.

She describes herself as spiritual and feels this has supported her personal journey in meaningful ways. Hearing so many life experiences has been humbling. It has reminded her that at the core, people are not very different from one another. Each story reflects the same human need for understanding, strength, and connection.

What has changed most is how she meets her family and friends. She speaks about building inner resilience, living with gratitude, and trusting the wisdom of the universe. These are not ideas she only carries into her professional work. They have become values she tries to live by in her everyday relationships.

Making Space to Just Be

When she is not partnering with CEOs and corporate leaders, PriyaRamanarayan makes a conscious choice to slow down. While her work energises her, she knows the importance of returning to what nourishes her from within. Continuous Learning, Meditation and Chanting form a regular part of this rhythm, helping her reconnect with herself after demanding days.

Her love for the sea continues to be a source of comfort and strength. During breaks and holidays, she enjoys listening to the waves and spending time near rivers and beachside retreats. These moments bring her back to a sense of ease and balance.

She also practises Reiki, which she describes as an important way of restoring her energy when she feels depleted. Along with this, time spent with loved ones plays a central role in her renewal. For her, recharging is about softening into stillness, allowing space to simply be, and trusting the practices that help her return to herself.

The Advice She is Still Learning to Live By 

A wisdom nugget Priya often offers her clients is to let go of excessive control. She speaks about focusing only on what is within one’s influence and releasing the need to manage people, situations, and outcomes. She refers to this idea as POSE, a reminder to stop trying to control people, objects, situations, and events, and instead place trust in a larger flow of life.

Yet, she is honest about how challenging this can be in her own life. When you care deeply about someone and feel responsible for their well being, the urge to control can return. She recognises this pattern in herself and sees it as part of being human rather than something to judge or hide.

Over time, her understanding of strength has changed. For her, strength is no longer about holding tightly to outcomes. It lies in putting your complete effort with the right intention and then trusting, allowing, and learning to surrender when needed. This remains an ongoing practice, one that keeps her grounded and humble. It is an advice she shares with her clients, and a lesson she continues to return to herself, again and again.

When Her Clients Changed Her Thinking

There was a moment in her coaching journey that stayed with Priyaand had a profound impact on how she saw her own life choices. While working with a group of women leaders in an organisation, she noticed that one theme kept returning to their conversations. Work-life balance. These were capable and accomplished women, yet each of them was struggling with the same question of holding both career and personal life with care.

This struck a personal chord for her. During her 2-year career sabbatical, she had chosen to focus fully on family. At that time, she believed deeply in giving her energy to one space at a time. For her, it had always felt like a choice between this or that.

But over time, group coaching conversations changed something. “That was the moment something hit me, and I thought, it need not be this or that. It can be both.” The discussions helped her see that work and life did not need to compete. They could coexist with intention and care.

That experience changed her own perception of identity and choice. It reminded her that coaching is never a one-way process. While clients grow through the conversation, the coach is often transformed too. For her, this journey with the women leaders became a powerful lesson in holding space for both self and others, and in allowing new ways of thinking to break patterns and take root.

Finding Her Way Back to True North

For Priya, “True North” is about staying anchored to the deeper goal of your life: who you are becoming, and not just what you are achieving. A difficult day, she says, is when she feels disconnected from this deeper direction.

“On such days, I pause, I step away from the noise, and I return to doing my simple grounding exercises – my chanting, my gratitude journaling, a quiet walk, deep, breathing, Reiki. All of this consciously reminds me what is within my control and I can act on. And what’s not within my control, I just surrender.”

So, getting back on track is not dramatic for her. It is a return to presence, acceptance, and trust. It’s gentle.  And almost always, that realignment brings her back to her True North.

The Quiet That Is Often Misread

Laughingly, Priya shares that when people first meet her, they often see her as calm and reserved. Because she tends to be quiet and composed, it is sometimes mistaken for distance or disinterest in social connections. Some even assume she is withdrawn or unapproachable.

In reality, she shares that this quietness comes from observation. She is simply taking in the people around her and trying to understand the situation before stepping in. What looks like silence on the outside is actually attentiveness and curiosity on the inside.

Once people get to know her, this perception begins to change. They discover someone warm, present, and deeply human behind the composed exterior. Relationships that begin cautiously often grow into lasting connections. She believes that when trust is built, it stays, even across long gaps in time.

For her, this is the irony of first impressions. What appears as reserve is actually care in its earliest form. And when the space opens, it becomes friendship that lasts.

When Surrender Is Put to the Test

For Priya her core values today are trust, acceptance, and surrender. Among these, surrender is the most difficult to practise when life becomes demanding. It asks her to trust the process and allow events to unfold without trying to manage every outcome.

In moments of pressure, another instinct can surface. “This is one thing that gets tested most of the time, especially in stressful and high-pressure moments. The instinct to step in, to manage things, to fix things for people, suddenly creeps in, and I can slip into over-responsibility.”

What helps her is awareness. She is quick to recognise, at that point, she consciously returns to the values that steady her. Acceptance, gratitude, and faith in the larger process remind her that not everything needs to be held or solved. This return to her values is what helps her regain balance when surrender feels hardest to live by.

What She Wants to Be Remembered For

For Priya, legacy is measured by how people feel after a conversation with her. She hopes to be remembered as someone who helped others return to their own strength, clarity, and sense of direction.

Ultimately, she would want her legacy to be “a quiet transformation”, the lives touched gently and the courage awakened softly to pursue their goals and aspirations.

Across Priya’s journey, one pattern becomes clear. Her coaching is rooted in presence, trust, and the ability to hold space without rushing to fix or control. Whether she speaks about releasing perfection, practising surrender, or finding her way back to true north on difficult days, the message remains consistent. Growth begins when a person pauses, listens deeply, and chooses from what truly matters.

This approach also affects how she works with leaders and learners. She creates an environment where people can hear themselves more clearly and build resilience from within. Over time, this way of working leaves something lasting. A confidence to move forward with acceptance, gratitude, and trust.

In that sense, her legacy is already taking form in every conversation she holds and in every person who walks away more grounded and more certain of their own path.