Understanding the Self is a critical part of coaching and is a key component across coaching programs. Understanding Self is also a central theme in Kurt Lewin-led organizational development concepts, as an integral part of the triumvirate of Self, Teams, and Organizations. It is also at the core of all human interactions.
The oldest reference to ‘self’ is from the Vedic scriptures, over 5000 years old, especially the Upanishad. These describe the self as energy, as a holographic fragment of the infinite, an eternal and expanding universal creative energy. The interpretation that we, the creations of the universe, are energy beings encased in mind and body matter, was scientifically proved about 100 years ago through Einsteinian concepts of Relativity. We, as individual consciousness, are part of the collective Consciousness.
In between, psychologists and philosophers struggled and fought on the ‘Who Am I?’ question. To Rene Descartes, his adherents, and Newton and his followers, the human was a thinking machine made of matter. To many, even today, the concept of energy, soul, and spirit are extensions of a mythical god, and hence unacceptable. True, it takes effort to separate the myth of religion and god, from the truth that we are energy beings.
Freud and Jung made the unconscious conscious. Jung expanded the individual psyche further and further through the Collective Unconscious approach. This approach is eerily similar to the Collective Consciousness described in the Upanishad. Jung was well-read in Vedic scriptures. However, the focus remained on the negative, the unconsciousness, rather than the positive, the consciousness. This continues till today. Several mental health institutions that I visited wanting to be a guinea pig in meditative energy manifestation turned me away saying their focus was mental ill health, not mental health! Very wise!!
From a coaching perspective, the understanding of the Self is critically important on multiple levels. Unless a coach is self-aware and willing to self-discover limiting memories and beliefs, the coach is unequipped to work with clients to help them discover their negative beliefs. We come across many coaches, who still carry their baggage of conditioned beliefs, unaware and disinterested in exploring within. Such coaches do not serve clients well.
At Coacharya, our coach training starts with ‘self-discovery’ through a reflection of what we perceive through what we learn. This is done in order to create self-awareness of our unconscious incompetencies and interferences. Self Coaching is the starting point for any coach education. Through self-coaching, one can discover oneself, one’s limiting beliefs, and blind spots. This helps us to move into conscious awareness of incompetencies, which we can now act upon to bring about conscious competence and then anchor that into a flow state of unconscious competence. The journey of awareness from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence is the Hero’s Journey of Coaching.
Coaching competencies generally start with the determination of one’s goals based on aspirational values. These are generally blocked by limiting beliefs. The dissonance between aspirational values and limiting beliefs is reframed in coaching. This requires the coach’s intervention. This intervention is only possible if the coach has undergone a similar reframing process in discovering and dissolving one’s own limiting beliefs. Without this, the aspirational value of any wannabe coach will be blocked by their unconscious incompetence.
Learning coaching competencies is necessary. It is not enough. Understanding the Self through rigorous reflection, through practices such as meditation, are critical to the coach’s self-discovery and awareness. This is the Coacharya process, enabled by our integration of Eastern Wisdom with Modern Science.
