Useful Coaching Methodologies Based on Neurological Findings and Facts: Naming and Rating Emotions

       The name of the second practice is “naming and rating emotions.” Finding a good way to control our emotions will be a common issue in everyone’s life. Please imagine that we can control our emotions at will when we face a difficult person or situation. How much can we enhance the quality of our social life? I’d like to show one useful way to control our emotions in the following section.

       In the first place, what’s the difference between the next two sentences: “I am angry.” and “I feel angry.” I think that there is one big difference between them. In my view, the first person who said “I am angry” can’t control his or her emotion very well because the person identifies with the emotion itself. On the other hand, the second person who said “I feel angry” may be able to control his or her emotion better than the first person. That is because the person has a certain distance from the emotion and objectifies the emotion. Through the above example, I’d like to propose that the more we objectify our emotions, the better we become able to control our emotions. About emotional control, a famous psychoanalyst Rollo May explains that “the mature person becomes able to differentiate feelings into as many nuances, strong and passionate experiences, or delicate and sensitive ones as in the different passages of music in a symphony” (cited in Rosenberg, 2003, p. 37). As Rollo May suggests, the first step to controlling our emotions is to differentiate our feelings. In order to differentiate our feelings, I recommend that we “name” each emotion. For example, when we feel a little bit angry, we might name the emotion as “a small war.” Likewise, when we feel very sad, we could name the emotions as “a cold ocean.” By naming our various emotions in such a way, we become able to grasp the subtle nuance in our emotions and able to objectify them in the more appropriate manner.

       What is happening in our brains when we name our emotions? According to a research result using fMRI, “the researchers found that when the participants labeled the emotions using words, they showed less activity in the amygdala―the area of the brain associated with emotional distress” (Rock & Page, 2009, p. 364). As this research indicates, naming our emotions is effective in reducing our mental distress.

       In the second place, I’d like to recommend that we “rate” our emotions on a scale of 1 to10. For instance, when we feel a little bit disgusted, we might rate the emotion on a scale of 3. Likewise, when we feel very upset, we could rate the emotion on a scale of 8. Then, I suggest that we ask ourselves: “To what extent can I keep my inner peace?” “Will I be able to tolerate the scale of 6 the next time because I couldn’t lose my temper on a scale of 5 this time?”  By rating our emotions and asking these kinds of questions, I believe that we are more able to notice the various qualities and quantities of emotions showing up within us and more able to control our emotions. Therefore, this “naming and rating emotions” practice is fruitful for us to become a close friend with our various emotions and to enhance the quality of our emotional life.

Reference

1 Coaching with the Brain in Mind: Foundations for Practice

2 Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life

Useful Coaching Methodologies Based on Neurological Findings and Facts: Attention-Practice

       One of the characteristics of our brains is that the connections of neurons become more and more hard-wired as we pay attention to a certain phenomenon. I often make full use of this characteristic of our brains in a form of “questions” during a coaching session. One of the principles of quantum physics for our brain function is in the following: “The questions you ask influence the results you see” (Rock & Page, 2009, p. 179). In an actual coaching session, I ask my clients about various types of questions related to their coaching topics. As a result, they come to notice new emotional or behavioral patterns which they have never found before. With regard to paying attention to a new thing, Rock and Page (2009) explain that “by choosing what to shine the spotlight of attention on, we can effect changes in the very structure of our brain” (p. 180).

       However, how can we consciously shed light on a new thing? I often recommend that my clients keep a “coaching journal.” The purpose of keeping a coaching journal is to encourage clients to pay attention to questions which I have asked and to find some behavioral or emotional patterns in their daily lives. Needless to say, just my asking various questions is helpful for clients to notice their habitual patterns. However, for clients, writing is a more powerful way to pay attention to their unconscious habits than just asking questions. In addition, the more they can conceptualize their habitual patterns in their language by writing a journal, the more they can strengthen neural networks to notice these patterns. As a result, they gradually become able to cope with the old patterns.

       About the power of keeping a journal, one client gave me feedback: “I didn’t notice my emotional reaction to others like that until I started to keep a journal. By paying attention to questions in interacting with others, which you asked, I become more and more aware of my reaction patterns. Also, I come to find more and more new things by continuing to keep a journal.” As this client told me, keeping a coaching journal encourages clients to pay attention to their behavioral or emotional patterns and leads to their coping with their unique patterns once they can notice them. In conclusion, keeping a coaching journal as an attention-practice is very beneficial for clients so as to enhance their self-awareness.

Reference

Coaching with the Brain in Mind: Foundations for Practice

Family History and Narrative: Integral Coaching

       Through a coaching activity, I found that most clients had commonalities in their coaching topics. Although there are a variety of topics, in nine cases out of ten, they talk about their family issues such as a story about their parents or grandparents and memory with parents. I think that our memories might be inherited from our ancestors and our brains may be highly affected by not only our parents but also more previous generations.

       In terms of neuroscience and psychotherapy, Badenoch (2008) points out that our bodies and limbic region in our brains may not be integrated when we have a psychological issue about family. I’m not a therapist, but no less important is the fact that even most psychologically healthy clients tend to talk about family issues. Why do people tend to talk about family issues even though their coaching topic seems to be irrelevant to family issues? As mentioned above, one presumable reason is that our current memories and brains are highly wired by old memories with family, or it may be possible that our ancestors whom we’ve never met before affect our brains.

       Next, I came up with the following idea: “How can I help my client solve family issues in a coaching session?” In my view, the key is hidden beneath a narrative practice. In an actual session, I attempt to listen carefully to my client’s family story, asking various questions related to it. Surprisingly, during the session, most clients give me a comment like this: “I really feel good right now because I was able to share the story which I usually couldn’t talk about with anybody. Also, I’m surprised that I found a relation between this coaching topic and my family issues.” Many therapists insist that narrative technique is effective for clients because it encourages them to release negative emotions. Based on my experience, however, I suppose that the effect is not only to unleash negative emotions but also to integrate our brains in an appropriate way and to shape a new brain.

Reference

Being a Brain-Wise Therapist: A Practical Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology

Mirror Neurons and Coaching: Imitative Learning and Empathizing: Integral Coaching

       The definition of a mirror neuron is a neuron that fires both when we act and when we observe the same action performed by another person. For instance, when we move our arms, some neurons corresponding to the movement are activated. In the same way, when we just watch another person moving his or her arms, our neurons related to the movement fire without actually moving our arms.

       In fact, I sometimes offer a coaching exercise for my clients based on this scientific fact. If a coaching topic of my clients is “to be able to make a speech in public with dignified presence,” I may offer the following exercise. First, I will ask my clients what the ideal image of a good presenter (e.g., voice tone, gesture, posture, facial expression, etc.). Next, I may choose a skillful presenter and may ask them to watch a video of the presenter, for example, YouTube. The purpose of this exercise is for clients to imitate a presentation of their ideal role model by watching the performance. As mentioned above, just watching another person’s performance leads to fire neurons related to the performance, so this imitative learning based on the mechanism of mirror neurons might be helpful for some coaching topics.   

       Furthermore, in my experience as a coach, most of the coaching topics are related to “others.” In such a topic, the key is usually “empathy” to others. Therefore, I’d like to scrutinize the result of research on the relationship between mirror neurons and empathy. Iacoboni (2008) reveals that

[M]irror neuron areas, the insula, and emotional brain areas in the limbic system, particularly the amygdala―a limbic structure highly responsive to faces―were activated while subjects were observing the faces, and the activity increased in those subjects who were also imitating what they saw. (pp. 118-119)

In other words, our mirror neurons fire when we look at others’ facial expressions. To describe the neural mechanism for empathy in detail, Iacoboni (2008) elucidates that: “By means of this firing, the neurons also send signals to emotional brain centers in the limbic system to make us feel what other people feel” (p. 119). In any event, this result strongly supports the idea that mirror neurons are the key to understanding others’ emotions. If a client who is a manager in a company is struggling with human relationships because he or she lacks a feeling of empathy, I might suggest a practice for him or her to consciously observe others’ facial expressions. On the basis of the above research result, this practice will enhance clients’ ability to empathize with others. 

Reference

Mirroring People: The Science of Empathy and How We Connect with Others

The Impact of Metaphor on Our Brains and Minds in Integral Coaching

       In Integral Coaching, coaches offer two metaphors for a client to describe the client’s current and new way of being. During a coaching session, I’m always amazed at the power of metaphors. In fact, every client gives positive feedback to me after I offer two metaphors. For example, one client gave me a comment: “How did you come up with the metaphor? And how did you gain such a deep understanding of me even though we have met each other only one time?” In addition, another client told me: “I was completely able to visualize the scene which your metaphor described. It was like a true movie…To tell you the truth, I’ve never seen such a wonderful movie. Thank you so much!” Every time I listen to my clients’ stories about metaphors, I always become happy and recognize the power of metaphors. Fortunately, I’ve experienced those impressive moments as a coach, but I came up with the idea about a metaphor: “What is happening in my client’s brain and mind while he or she is listening to my metaphor?” and “How does one metaphor affect our brains and minds?” I’d like to elucidate the phenomenon and mechanism in the following section.

       First, I was wondering which brain parts were activated while my clients were listening to a metaphor. It is true that a metaphor is a form of language, and one might say that we activate Broca’s area in our brain, whose main functions of which are language production and language comprehension. However, as one of my clients shared with me the visual image embedded in a metaphor, I come up with an idea that we activate different parts of brain from Broca’s area while we listen to a metaphor and visualize it. Regarding this point, Lakoff and Johnson (1999) explain: “Metaphor allows conventional mental imagery from sensorimotor domains to be used for domains of subjective experience” (p. 45). Lakoff and Johnson (1999) don’t directly mention which brain parts are activated, but when we conceptualize an idea while listening to a metaphor, we may form a visual image by activating sensorimotor cortex.

       Second, Kegan (1994) illustrates that a metaphor offers “the benefit of engaging the left and right side of the brain simultaneously, combining the linear and the figurative, the descriptive and the participative, the concrete and the abstract” (p. 260). As Kegan points out, clients can activate both left and right side of their brains at the same time while they are receiving a metaphor. Of course, activating both sides of brains may be beneficial for clients, but I noticed another interesting phenomenon. After I offer a metaphor, I’m always sure to ask my clients about a first impression of the metaphor. Then, I find clients’ fascinating activity that they always add a new meaning to the metaphor and create their own “story.” Kegan (1994) also clarifies that when a coach’s metaphor “addresses the internal circumstances of being a maker of meaning-structures, the client may find that, drawn to put his hands to reshaping it, he is engaged in reshaping the very way he knows” (p. 260). As a coach, I actually saw such a scene several times in a coaching session, so I believe that a metaphor includes a tremendous power to change clients’ way of being. Thus, I need to be careful to choose an appropriate metaphor for my clients because a metaphor includes a potential to define clients’ current and future way of being.

Reference

1 In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life
2 Philosophy in the Flesh : The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought

Feel Empathy to Clients Based on Developmental Theory

Now, I provide not only adults but also adolescents with Integral Coaching, and I often feel that I want to support their psychological growth, looking at their developmental process same as the process which I went through.

However, I sometimes forget the fact that I followed the same developmental path and I faced the same developmental objectives that they face right now. Regarding this point, I always try not to forget the fact, but it is sometimes difficult for me to remember the fact.

I think understanding developmental psychology leads to empathy to clients’ development, so I want to cultivate the understanding in a serious manner. This is a short memo after a coaching session.

Psychotherapeutic Technique: Empty Chair

I’d like to introduce a very unique and influential therapeutic practice in gestalt therapy. Empty Chair technique is effective “when a client is stuck, either in an internal or external conflict or not knowing which of two options to choose” (Rock & Page, 2009, p. 294). A part of the process in this technique is below; the situation is that it seems difficult for a client to complain about his or her subordinate because the client is too kind to people to reproach for the subordinate’s neglect of duty.

Coach: Let’s say that your subordinate is sitting here in this empty chair. What would you say to him?

Client: Why don’t you perform your duty? Are you really a professional consultant? What’s your motivation to work? If you don’t have passion, quit right now!

Coach: Now, please stand up and move over to the empty chair and when you sit in it, please become him having heard all that you said right now. What’s your response as him?

The dialogue goes on, and the empty chair technique is performed in that way. In my view, this technique is helpful for clients to take the other person’s perspective and to change behavior and thinking patterns. To explain a therapeutic effect in more detail, clients can re-organize his or her perceptions and experiences and create a new gestalt through this exercise.

Reference

Coaching with the Brain in Mind: Foundations for Practice

Two Types of Presence in Coaching or Therapy Session

I think that “presence” is very important in therapy or coaching to transform or heal clients because our presence is a manifestation of our psyche. Presence is one of the key concepts in the third force, and there are two types of presence: interpersonal and intrapersonal presence. As Schneider and Krug (2010) elucidate, interpersonal presence “refers to the capacity to be present to experiences, feelings, and attitudes occurring between therapist and client that are implicitly or explicitly unfolding in the present moment in the therapy room” (p. 137). In terms of Integral Theory, interpersonal presence is categorized in the Lower Left quadrant (collective interior), and it can be said to be a shared subjective experience. On the other hand, intrapersonal presence is “the capacity to be present to inner experiences, memories, feelings, and attitudes that are implicitly and explicitly unfolding in the present moment in the therapy room” (Schneider & Krug, 2010, pp. 137-138). Although interpersonal presence shows up between therapist and client, intrapersonal presence arises within therapist and client. Expressed in another way, interpersonal presence arises from the Lower Left quadrant, and intrapersonal presence comes from each therapist’s and client’s Upper Left quadrant (individual interior). I’ll build a better interpersonal presence between my client and I, and pay attention to my intrapersonal presence in my coaching session.
Reference    
Existential-Humanistic Psychotherapy

My Current Way of Being and New Way of Being

This morning, I had a coaching session with my coach through Skype. She is my Integral Coach and, at the same time, my supervisor. So, she always gives me useful feedback about my assessments and coaching program which I created for my clients, and also supports my growth. This was the second session with her, but she gave my two metaphors to describe my current and new way of being based on the first session.

My Current Way of Being: Busy Space Explore

My New Way of Being: Practical Master Body Builder

I love these metaphors. Especially, the first metaphor exactly describes current me (I don’t talk about it here). Furthermore, the second one correctly points out what I need in order to support my weakness of the CWOB and to develop more.  

So far, I’ve offered some metaphors for my clients, and I noticed the power embedded in the metaphors, but I’ve never been offered from someone else. Thus, today’s session was meaningful for me because I found many new things about Integral Coaching and in me. 

Transference in Coaching Session

I think that not only a therapist but also a coach should pay attention to "transference" between a client and coach in a session, so I capsulized the concept below.

             This psychological phenomenon between a client and therapist is one of the key concepts in a therapeutic setting. Freud categorized this concept into the following three ideas.

1 The positive transference, in which the patient’s feelings for the therapist are primarily affection and trust.

2 The negative transference, consisting primarily of hostility and suspicion.

3 The un-neutralized erotic transference, in which the patient experiences insistent desire for sexual intimacy with the analyst. (Kahn, 2002, pp.184-185)

About the positive transference, Freud regarded it as an unobjectionable phenomenon and insisted that it enabled a therapist to provide a client with a sense of trust or safety which built a preferable relationship between the client and therapist. On the other hand, Freud raised an alert over the negative transference. He argued that a therapist must intervene in and remove it if the transference comes up in the session. Otherwise the therapy session will not work for a client. Likewise the negative transference, Freud warned that the erotic transference had a negative impact on the therapy session. Although it is sometimes recognized as a kind of the positive transference, Freud explained that “if those feelings persisted in spite of the analyst’s best effort to convert them to analyzable material, there was nothing to do but refer the patient to another therapist” (Kahn, 2002, p.186). Thus, a therapist should have a competency to discern the type of transference. 

Reference

Basic Freud: Psychoanalytic Thought for the 21st Century

My Integral Coaching for Whom?

While engaging in Integral Coaching, I just came to think: “For whom do I provide this coaching?” Needless to say, I do it for my clients. That’s right, but my coaching offers tremendous benefits for my growth and development as a human being (I don’t like the word “benefit,” but I can’t find a more appropriate word…perhaps, welfare, well-being…I don’t know.). It is true that I “give” something to my clients as a coach, but at the same time, I obviously “take” or “learn” something important from my wonderful clients.

My coaching is full of agony and joy. In each coaching session, epitome of our life manifest in that moment. I suppose so. I live my life, but I sometimes seem to live others’ life…For whom does my coaching exist in this real world? For me? For my clients? For the universe?

“The Developing Mind”: The Locus of Our Emotion in Our Brain

In this book, the author articulates our emotions like this: “[E]motion is at the core of internal and interpersonal processes that create our subjective experience of the self” (p. 155). To tell you the truth, I have one coaching client right now, who wants to control emotions, so I’ve kept my antenna fully spread out toward “human emotions (trigger, process, mechanism, types of emotions, etc.).” 

This is my assumption, but there seems to be two types of emotions within us: The first is personal emotions, and the second is interpersonal emotions. The former emotions are for example joy, sadness, happiness, and so on. These emotions can be happened without others. On the other hand, the latter emotions are for instance anger, empathy, jealousy, love, and so forth. Generally speaking, these emotions arise from the relationship with others (in a word, these emotions are like psychological projections). Then I came up with the following questions. “Do both types of emotions happen in the same process in our brain? Do they activate the same parts in our brain? Why do we have different types of emotions?; some of them are not toward others, but some of them are toward others.” I’m still searching and thinking about this topic.   

Reference

The Developing Mind: Toward a Neurobiology of Interpersonal Experience

Integral Coaching: The Importance of “Looking As” the Client

It is often said that to Look As a client is more challenging than Look At the client, but I really feel so through my coaching journey. Both of them require a different kind of ability of a coach.  In a word, the ability to Look At the client calls for a high cognitive development to see the client from multi-perspectives. On the other hand, the ability to Look As the client entails not only cognitive development but also various lines’ development (emotional, somatic, interpersonal, spiritual, moral, etc.). That’s why I need to make strenuous efforts to develop whole capacities as a coach, as a human through integral life practices. 

My Integral Coaching and the Wisdom of Behaviorism

              I believe that the insights of the psychotherapeutic schools associated with behaviorism might be helpful for my coaching clients. Now, I engage in Integral Coaching activity, which is based on Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory and Robert Kegan’s Subject-Object Theory. In each coaching case, I always need to assess client’s behavioral aspects. For example, in every coaching session, I make sure that I ask my clients about questions related to individual objective things (e.g., action, respond, behavior, energy flow, etc.). Furthermore, I pay attention to my behavior during coaching session, for instance, my posture, gesture, facial expression, energy state, and breathing rhythm.  

In addition to the assessment, I sometimes offer some developmental exercises for my clients to create a new way of being, considering my client’s past behavioral patterns. When I think about the best exercise for my clients, I’d like to refer to psychotherapeutic techniques more. Especially, I think that Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will be helpful to modify clients’ behavioral patterns, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is also useful to make clients’ life rich and meaningful. In a word, the wisdom of behaviorism is indispensable in my coaching in order to assess and transform my clients.   

Providing Coaching and Getting Coaching

Yesterday was a meaningful day for me as a coach. I can’t describe it well, but because I felt a “true human connection” between my client and I. Also, I noticed the moment during the coaching session was, sacred, holy, and blessed. Actually, I believe that my client’s Big Mind and Big Heart resonated with mine…The atmosphere during coaching session was like a concert of the masterpiece of symphony with  mixture of agony and jubilance. I’ve never “tasted” such a moment before. Yesterday’s experience ignited my heart and passion as a coach.

Also, I got coaching from my Integral Coach through Skype today. This was also an exceptional experience for me. She gave me not only feedback about my assessment of my clients but also plethora of insights toward my assessment, client’s coaching topic, and my “CWOB (Current Way of Being).” The coaching session with her was a succession of “aha moments.”

I really would like to continue to provide people who rely on me and need support with Integral Coaching, and I wish to keep on getting Integral Coaching from other coaches. Both of them are wonderful opportunity to interact with others deeply and accelerate not only clients’ and my psychological growth but also our quality of life. I believe so.

A Brain-Based Approach to Coaching: Neuroscience and Coaching

I read an interesting article “A Brain-Based Approach to Coaching” which introduces a unique coaching method based on neuroscience. To tell you the truth, I really expect the neurophilosophy class to give me a hint or a fresh idea which makes my coaching more effective and more functional. In that sense, this article provided me with unique perspectives about coaching. Basically, why do we need coaching? I came up with this fundamental question in my mind though I work as a coach now. As for this question, the author explains the need of coaching in the following way. For us, “change” is much harder than we think, and not only we but also our brains need coaches. This is a unique answer. 

In my view, each of us has inherent immune system to change. So, it is strenuous for us to change something which we want to alter. The author remarks that “change requires more than just scant thought; it requires ongoing attention and a significant effort of the will.” This statement implies an important thing. We need continuing awareness and conscious training in order to change something in us. However, we tend not be able to do that by ourselves. That is because our will power is not so strong as we think, and we have immune systems to change. In that sense, we need others’ help to change; that is coaching. Coaches encourage clients’ constant awareness and support their endeavor to change.

Integral Coaching Diary: The Phenomenological, Neurological, and Physiological Effect of Coaching

I plan to work with four clients in six months. Now, I started to work with one client. After first meeting, I was intrigued by the process of coaching. For example, I was able to “feel” that sacred collective consciousness between my client and me happened. I noticed that by comparing my state of consciousness before and after coaching. Obviously, my state of consciousness during the coaching session altered. This is the first point I noticed about the coaching session. In a word, that was a mysterious phenomenological phenomenon.

In addition, maybe the coaching session affected our brain neurologically, physiologically. The coaching session shaped a new brain (perhaps, not only brain but also our body). Through the Integral Coaching, how do my clients evolve psychologically and change phenomenologically, neurologically, and physiologically? My current interest resides in it.

Daily Self-Observation and Journal Practice from Joanne Hunt’s Article

 After the first day of the Integral Coaching Canada’s program, my instructor handed an article to us. This article was written by Joanne Hunt who is one of the founders of Integral Coaching Canada, and the topic of this article was psychological resistance. Everyone has a kind of psychological resistance. For instance, when we decide to quit smoking, but most of us find difficult to do so. Because we have a hidden desire to maintain our status quo. Of course, this is not a strange phenomenon, but this is a natural biological function for us.

However, how to build a good relationship with “psychological resistance” is a key point in coaching. The following self-observation journal practice is helpful to bring our psychological resistance close.

1 When did I feel resistance today?

2 How did this resistance present itself in my body? My thoughts?

3 What were my judgments associated with the resistance? My feelings?

4 What was I most responding to?

5 What change was I resisting? (Having to change my mind or my view or my way of being? Having to drop my agenda, my way of seeing things? My new practice? This new idea?)

6 What am I most trying to keep intact?

7 What is required to let go of this grip to keep things safe?

8 What did I learn about my dance of change and resistance?

For every force, there is an equal and opposing force.

For every change attempted, there will be resistance of equal magnitude.

The above sentences describe our psychological resistance beautifully.

Reference:

Joanne Hunt, “Coaching: The Dance of Change and Resistance”

Integral Coaching Canada: Module 1 Day 1

I’d like to recall this wonderful coaching program, so I’ll write down what I learned, what I felt, and what I thought during five days.

On the first day, I entered the hotel room where this program hold, feeling excited and a little nervous. And this program began by introducing ourselves. Each participant had four minutes to introduce themselves. Moreover, one of our instructors told us not to introduce in a traditional way. Honestly speaking, four minutes were too long for me (I believe everyone thought so), and a creative self-introduction was more problematic than four minutes… As I imagined, I finished my introduction for just one minute, so I created an unprepared meditation practice for everyone. Maybe this idea was nice and worked well…maybe.

Then we learned and practiced the following things on the first day.

1 Ways of Listening

2 Introduction to the Integral Coaching Method and Theory

3 Tuning in to a Client’s world

4 Powerful Questions

To me, I’m able to listen to someone in some degree, but my capability to ask powerful questions has room for improvement. Strictly speaking, perhaps, my listening capability also needs a little work. I’m going to cultivate both of them gradually through my actual coaching activity.

Anyway, this program gave us not only theory and knowledge of Integral Coaching, but also many opportunities to practice. This program was truly practical. I can say that was intense but really fruitful.

My new journey as a coach started on this day.

Integral Coaching Canada: Started my coaching life

 Intense five days were over. In a word, I learned a lot and had wonderful experiences in this coaching program. To tell you the truth, I felt that my mind overloaded after the third day. Of course, I know Integral Theory already because I study it at JFKU, but I overestimated my understanding. In this program, we studied mainly two of the five concepts in the Integral Theory, quadrants and lines. At first, I thought applying quadrants and lines was easy for me, but actually it was difficult to use them for analyzing clients in an appropriate manner. Also, there was a big gap between studying the concepts and applying them to the real world. I realized how profound quadrants and lines were.

 Integral Coaching Canada’s program was challenging for me. After this module one, I had a lot of wonderful friends (future Integral Coaches). I can’t forget these five days. My journey as an Integral Coach started.