how training to be a life coach transformed my own life

A year ago, it was clear my full time job as a High School Guidance Counselor was eating me alive. I was stressed out, burnt out, utterly exhausted and my body was screaming for me to slow down. 

I mean, how many bizarre degenerative and autoimmune diagnoses could I ignore before I actually listened? My body was falling apart and here I was continuing to override the pain and ignore the signals and messages. 

I had always wanted to start my own business, where I could create my own hours and schedule in order to really take care of my health needs. 

....BUT I was unsure about exactly how to make the career shift and take the leap...

diving in is SCARY....AND

Something was missing...

I was looking for that "one more credential", something that would give me professional credibility, but where I wouldn't have to do another 2-3 years of school and participate in an extensive unpaid internship. I was looking at other Master programs and felt nauseous thinking about the financial and time commitments.

When I learned about Life Coaching and the process of becoming a Board Certified Coach and getting the BCC credential, I quickly realized that this was the answer. There was still some training required, the process of submitting an application and sitting for an exam, but there were a variety of programs to choose from and the process did not appear overly complicated. 

As I researched more on the Center for Credentialing Education website (http://www.cce-global.org/Credentialing/BCC) I realized given my education background, the hour commitment of a training program would not be extensive.

Initially in reviewing CCE approved training programs, I knew I wanted something either online or a close traveling distance to me, that would be reasonable for my work schedule and family schedule (2 kiddos, husband, house), and not break the bank. 

I soon stumbled upon the information for the Psychosynthesis Life Coach training through The Synthesis Center. 

One weekend a month 15 minutes away? I can commit to that! 

Reading and practice coaching sessions in between training weekends? That will work!

Price tag reasonable? Check! 

Scholarships available?! Woo!

As I dove more into the content of the training, I started to get really excited about the psychosynthesis whole person approach, which is designed to support individuals on their journey of exploring what has meaning and discovering their unique purpose and values in life.

While I knew that the BCC was the right credential for me, I could have never anticipated the depth of change and transformation I would experience by participating in the Psychosynthesis Life Coaching program.

What I thought was just another means to a credential, turned into the most significant transformational shift in my life.

Psychosynthesis oriented me in a different direction. It provides the framework to explore big questions. Who am I? What has meaning? What do I value? What do I really want? What gives me joy? What do I choose? What is my purpose?

I had never spent time thinking about any of these topics....

Really... I never actually thought about ANY of that stuff before psychosynthesis. 

I historically have been stuck in survival mode, on auto pilot, feeling overloaded, and in constant overdrive. I completely operated from an activated fear place--scared of not being good enough, of making the wrong decision, or not being perfect. I would go, go, go, and do, do, do, fearful that if I stopped I wouldn't be able to get back up again. 

My thoughts consisted only of to-do lists, scheduling and planning, those things I "should" be doing. Usually it had something to do with one of my various roles or masks I wore (mommy, perfectionist, school counselor, woman, daughter, daughter in law, wife, lover) and expectations I had of myself or that I perceived coming from others. I  never gave myself the time or space to think about what is truly meaningful and important to me or who I was underneath all the putting it on. 

If we strip away all of our conditioned thinking, our identifications, our habituated embodied triggers, our judgmental inner dialogue and regulate our nervous system, who are we underneath and what is our truth? How do we connect with this deeping knowing and wisdom? 

When I first started asking these questions, there was a lot of not knowing.

It is frigging scary to not know.  

Psychosynthesis provides the framework and structure to begin to find these answers. It allows for holding both the fear of the unknown along with the CURIOSITY of the exploration. It showed me that there is another way to think and BE in the world.

While gaining tools and skills to become a professional life coach, I learned how to curiously observe and think about myself, others and the world around me through a dramatically different lens and with a clear direction and framework.  

After I started the training last summer, exactly a year ago last August, many amazing things unfolded:

-I took a medical leave from my full time job.

-I started listening to my body and my inner self and truth.

-I officially resigned from my full time job.

-I started a private practice and business as a Peak Performance Coach, Somatic Life Coach and Nia Instructor.

-I started teaching Nia classes.

-I created my own website. 

-I started seeing clients...and then more clients...and MORE clients!

-I graduated from level one and level two of the Psychosynthesis Life Coach training programs.

-I ran workshops.

-I rested.

-I sat for and passed my Board Certified Coaching exam, becoming a Board Certified Coach.

-I traveled to San Francisco to teach in an adjunct faculty member role at the Synthesis San Francisco BCC Life Coach training program. 

-I became the Peak Performance Coach for Hampshire Gymnastics.

-I met and connected with different powerful and inspiring women.

-My whole family dynamic with my kids and husband settled down from me tuning into my natural rhythms and honoring my authentic self. 

-I embodied FLOW, JOY, CONNECTION, PEACE and EASE. 

-I embraced and rode the waves of ANGER, CONFUSION, FRUSTRATION, UNSETTLED, and SADNESS.

-I said no.

-I said yes.

Now, I design my own schedule to align with my needs and choose the projects I want to work on and people I want to collaborate with.

This training has shifted my entire life path and I have watched it magically do the same for others as the past year unfolded. People making changes in their family systems, in relationships, making big location moves, career changes, discovering life purpose, uncovering self. 

This training allows for deep personal AND professional growth.

Are you ready for a major life change or to make a significant shift? There are still spaces left in the 2017-2018 Psychosynthesis Professional  Life Coach Training! The program begins in October at Hallelujah Farm outside of Brattleboro VT.

Come join us for a free introductory information session to learn more about the training program, dates and deadlines, application process and the Board Certified Coaching Credential. 

Find us:
-Thursday September 14th 7pm, FREE Intro-Online Teleconference

-Thursday September 28th 4:30-6pm, FREE Intro-Brooks Memorial Library Brattleboro VT

-Monday October 2nd 5:15-6:45 PM, FREE Intro- Forbes Library
Northampton MA

OR

Check our booth out at the Wellness Fair on Friday September 15th

11am-6pm, at the River Garden Downtown Brattleboro, VT

As a graduate of the program and current adjunct faculty member of both the San Francisco and Northeast trainings, I can speak to the depth of the professional and personal value and opportunity this training provides. Please do not hesitate to reach out with questions!

To register for an info session or for more information please visit www.synthesiscenterne.com