The Benefits of Spiritual Coaching: Oneness Does NOT Equal Sameness!

Another remarkable benefit of having a spiritual coach is that they can help to clarify any confusion about Spiritual Principles which may arise along one’s path of spiritual awakening.  

Often times our brains get busy trying to understand and make sense of Spiritual principles intellectually while the body is unknowingly retuning itself to the vibrational match of a newly (re)introduced eternal verity.  Something which was always known, but at some point became unknown or hidden, as the result of the conditioned experiences of one’s life.

What I have learned along my personal Spiritual path is that my body often gets it long before my brain does.  Then when the time is right, the spark occurs followed by a resonant mental understanding, followed by a heartfelt sense of grace and knowing.  Magic.

“Oneness does not equal sameness.”  Consider the simple hindu greeting and salutation upon meeting or the valediction upon parting ways of “Namaste.”  Namaste literally translates as “I bow to you.”  It also has the deeper spiritual meaning that the life force, the divinity, the Self or the God in me is the same in all. “Namaste - the God in me honors the God in you.”

So honoring the God in another person is becoming aware that we are all made of the same stuff.  But we are not identical expressions of the stuff!  Wouldn’t that be boring?  A bunch of me’s or a bunch of you’s walking the planet and nobody else but you, or me?  Spooky thought.

I had an experience of embodying oneness at a 5 night silent retreat with one of my favorite enlightened guys, Adyashanti.  It’s hard to describe the experience without sounding woo-woo or cheapening it but I am going to give it a shot here anyway.  

There were 400+ attendees on this retreat and we were four days deep into the container of silence.  In the second silent sitting of the afternoon I opened my eyes suddenly, looked around the room and noticed that everyone was together in the same silent container, observing the same things like thoughts, coughing, peace, body, mind - through different eyes in different bodies.  Suddenly I was hovering above the crowd, then I felt as if I were looking through the eyes of the person next to me, then before me, then the person across the room to the right, and then across the room to the left.  

I remember shaking my head quickly in an attempt to wake my brain up.  I have the subtle memory of attempting to get back into my body or brain and I couldn’t seem to locate me.  The head shaking was enough to wake up my brain and I said “WOAH” to myself silently in my head and closed my eyes again.  See, it sounds weird when I put it to paper.  But it happened and I recognized that the magnitude of the realization for me at that time, in where I was spiritually, was entirely too intense for me to reside in for more than a few seconds.

So the great paradox, the fine line of realizing this eternal verity presents the same dilemma as many other realizations on this path which is that we are in fact spiritual beings having a human experience.  God in form, individualized, unique expressions of the Divine.  As long as we are having this human experience we must honor both, the Oneness, the Divinity in me that is the Divinity in you, and our uniqueness.  

I’m a 5’3”, 40 year old, female, caucasian, with brown hair, hazel eyes, and athletic.  You may be a 5’8”, 22 year old,  male, person of color, with brown hair, brown eyes, and not athletic.  That’s what makes this life one thrilling adventure, our oneness and our individuality.  

So we honor the Divinity within one another, and at the same time we honor the uniqueness of one another as the individualized expressions of the Divine that we are.  We cannot honor one without the other.  To do so is to bypass the human experience and pretend as if it is not happening, which if you think about it, seems kind of silly!

Adyashanti once told me, “Elizabeth, you must allow your spiritual heart to marry your human heart.”  I was so deeply in love with the Spiritual nature of Life that I forgot that the gift for me was the human experience.

Affectionate awareness is what he called it.  I honor the Divinity within you that is you, and simultaneously honor the uniqueness, the individual expression of the Divine AS you!

In closing, A Spiritual coach can assist one in navigating, understanding, and embodying principles such as this.

Namaste.

The Benefits of Spiritual Coaching: What I Learned at the Center for Spiritual Living

My first three Sundays at the Center for Spiritual Living, San Jose were epic to say the least.  Having built a spiritual foundation in Recovery I was ecstatic to find a spiritual community wherein the Spiritual Director and other leaders seemed to be in full alignment with all that I was learning.  I remember hearing so much in the first three sermons delivered by Dr. David Bruner.  

One thing I learned at the Center was that "there is a power for good in the Universe and I could use it." [Ernest Holmes] This altered my perception of life as I knew it and the way I moved through the world.  Wait, are you saying that life is not happening to me?  If there is a power for Good in the universe and I can use it, does that mean it’s not using me, attempting to destroy me?   Yes, I had many misunderstandings and my spiritual coach walked me through this one, and more. 

"God is personal to all who feel this indwelling presence."  This was a major turning point that changed my life.  In recovery, just about everyone is in the process of discovering or re-discovering what their “higher power” is.  There was a running joke about having it be the door knob, or the people in the group, even Starbucks.  Thinking it to be something outside of myself like a big daddy in the sky simply wasn’t resonating with me.  I just did not understand yet what God was or meant to me, until I arrived at the Center in San Jose.  My spiritual coach walked me through this one too.

"There is a place inside of everyone that has never been harmed, hurt, or wronged in any way."   [Dr.David Bruner] Sure, everyone but me, I thought.  Wait, am I included in the everyone referred to here?  If that was true and that place is within me then I can access it.  I can do more than access it, I can dwell in it.  In fact, I would like to dwell in it and allow myself some respite and relaxation.  I took comfort in this space within me which I was never conscious of before and it became my own personal spa for the soul.

I began to attend services regularly and found myself wondering how this man was so darn happy.  I became committed to discovering the secret to happiness that seemed to be the way of life inside of Religious Science.  I enrolled in Foundations to learn the basics and then I had to be there every Sunday to see my new friends and hear the message.  I didn’t want to miss any of it. 

Soon I made a powerful connection with one of the practitioners, Marilyn Pelz.  I set up a meeting with her, not knowing what to expect, and she was very open, kind, and a great listener.  At the end of the session she prayed with me and it was a very powerful experience.  I floated out of the Center and believed that I was well on my way to discovering a deeper level of happiness in my life.  Eagerly I setup another appointment, and then another and another.  She became my spiritual guide, walking with me on my journey inward, shining the light on everything within.  Healing, revealing, affirming, praying, and opening up to love are only a few things that occurred in my sessions with Marilyn; which created the real possibility for me of enjoying my life and presence on this planet.  A life that I truly love.  A life of happiness. 

This is only a touch of what I have learned at the Center for Spiritual Living.  The benefits of spiritual coaching touched upon here are life altering changes in my belief system.  I highly recommend it.

The Benefits of Spiritual Coaching: Why Spiritual Coaching?

Spiritual Coaching is a powerful experience that can assist you in the transformation of your life.  There is an unlimited supply for Good in the Universe and you ought to have it.  Whether your current experience has you at rock bottom in your life or at the top of your game, there’s room for growth and expansion in all areas.  You may say, “my life is so great, I have no complaints and no desire for transformation.”  To which I respond “if there were a 30 foot pot filled with gold just in front of you, would you not want to walk over and get some of it?”

This Universe is a goldmine and you did not land in the Earth suit as an individual expression of the Divine to simply accept what is even if it is un-desirable.  Don’t get me wrong, acceptance is a powerful tool which I will delve into later.  Thriving is how I believe your life ought to be and ought continue to be.

Sometimes we can get stuck in the rut of our day to day lives focused on getting through the workday, feeding the family, grocery shopping, picking up the kids from the babysitter, laundry, housework, banking, treating our partners with attention, love and affection and getting enough sleep to wake up the next morning and do it all again.  When our lives are so busy we may forget that we are creating our futures in the now.  By creating our future in the now we live into that future, thereby experiencing it here and now.  Kind of like planning for a vacation.

One hour per week of spiritual coaching allows for time to connect with the deeper parts of yourself that can’t be easily contacted in the busy-ness of your life.  It’s an opportunity to really think about the experience you desire for yourself in your life, opening up the creative channels and creating a shift in consciousness that will move you from surviving to thriving.

A spiritual coach can guide you on this inward journey, providing tools to use throughout the week and accountability to ensure that you are headed in the direction of your dreams.  Your spiritual coach will also assist you in uncovering hidden fears and beliefs and work with you on creating new beliefs through prayer, affirmations, spiritual practices, and chants created specifically for you.