Integral Coaching

The high I feel from 5 days in the Integral Coaching “Dojo” far exceeds that of the plane I’m in. Traveling home from Ottawa, reflecting, indeed makes me realize there is no faking your way through this ‘next-level’ coach training, just as there is no faking your way through any martial tradition. To succeed in becoming certified and stepping in as a lineage holder, for which I have an opportunity come June, would bring a level of pride for which I am still trying to comprehend.

Maintaining this ‘high’, and wielding it skillfully in my day-to-day life, while passionately doing ‘the work’, will require more of me to show up in the world than has ever been necessary in the past. To have such a strong calling of life purpose, and to be supported in the expression of it through the structure and rigor of the Integral Coaching Canada (ICC) method is a rare gift and immense privilege.

I began my formal training with ICC in November of 2009, and all the training has been meticulously designed to leave students who are four months shy of completion, the option of taking the miraculous “ah-ha” moments and the devastating “oh-shit” moments and either engage fully in the risky mystery of paradoxical known-yet-unknown potential, or follow the safe, traditional, and linear path toward completion. The first option fosters embodiment of the method and an incredible opportunity for service in the world, the second may just do the trick, but it will be exhausting, and limiting of the full delivery of my unique potential, in this method, into the world.

During the beautifully orchestrated precision of certification day at ICC, for which mine will be in June, it is rumored that “shit happens” there. You see, they bring in 19 volunteer clients (the size of our class) from the Ottawa area, for which each has a unique and personally meaningful life topic to work on, and we each have the sensitive and real privilege of serving another human being with the support of, and in front of, a panel of master level Certified Integral Coaches. So no matter what happens in the conversation, there is a very intentional, triple checked process in place, that serves to evolve both potential coach and client. No matter what, no one loses, even the coach that doesn’t make the grade. Knowing this however, leaves me with a strong, drive, and intention, that is inline with my life purpose, to be one of those students that shows up, on that day, embodied in the method, and contribute, with pride, the reinforcement that the rumor, in some way, is indeed true.