Deepa Shankar
ThreeFish Consulting
When people ask me about coaching and what it takes to coach well, I find myself saying, “Meet the client where they are and let the rest flow.” I experienced a deeper and closer understanding of this statement when I read the book ‘A Shift In Being,’ by Leon VanderPol, and I find myself returning to this book every year, almost like a centering journey for me.
Many people refer to their work as one of enabling transformation for others. It is profound and an honour to actually be able to enable transformation for someone else. However, is it really possible to do this unless we navigate our own path, our own journey of learning and peel the layers of narratives that make and break us from time to time? Leon speaks of deep coaching as transformative, healing and spirit-based. He says, “To transform is to heal and to heal is to recognize our inherent wholeness and completion.” To meet the client where they are, we need to be a presence, an energy field in which a shift in being can take place for the client. This is possible only when we ourselves embark on our own transformation first, before we do the same unto others.
I know, this may sound a bit difficult to practice; however, the most wonderful aspect of this book is the nine practices of deep coaching in which transformation unfolds naturally. The practices are intentional activities committed to for extended periods of time. These practices enable you to take on a journey of self-discovery and personal transformation, allowing you to be whole and present for not only your client but for all those who come your way.
As Leon emphasizes in his book, “Some practices will be easier for you to grasp or have more immediate appeal. If a practice feels too ‘out there,’ or you are not resonating with it, let it go for now. Each practice alone is capable of enabling great change; taken together they form a powerful whole.”
A shift in being is really about shifting from doing to being. The more we allow ourselves to BE, the more we are likely to witness the depth in the unfolding of miracles and magic in our coaching and in our life.
