Our “Way of Being” has everything to do with the possibilities we create for our future. This is the premise of ontological life coaching. Ontology literally means the science or study of being, how we are constituted within ourselves and how we interact with others in the world—the way you are at essence.

When you see how you are being – how you are acting, thinking, communicating, the emotional and mood states you live in, then you can intervene in your own life.   We coach to build a bigger observer in you, our clients, so you become able to call forth new and more generative ways of being.  This offers a greatly expanded repertoire of actions and behaviors to bring into your life and literally results in a changed person, not simply someone who is acting in new ways.

Some people will notice there is something different and wonderful about you. Among many changes you will feel more joy and freedom.  This really is possible, and we know it from our own experience.

Coaching takes place on the phone or in person if you live nearby. We give our clients an initial complimentary session, so they experience first hand the potential benefits and how we work.  We recommend most clients to expect to work with us for at least a year if they want to produce substantial lasting shifts. We ask clients to commit to three trial sessions, and thereafter sessions on a quarterly basis. Most clients meet with us weekly or biweekly.

Our coaching work begins with getting a sense of the “stories” that we live from. Once revealed, we discover the degree to which stories are fact or fiction. We get a composite picture of how one is constituted. We see what drives this person and where the gaps are between what they say they want to do, and what they are actually doing. This is a rich and often surprising process.  We discover that the very thing we do on a daily basis may be the thing that continually stops our flow of success is a given area.

Our discovery leads to venturing into the terrain of the constitutive elements of

➢    Language — we think and communicate throughout our daily existence in language.  Language predicts our future.   How we talk reflects who we are and what is, or is not possible for us.

➢    Moods and Emotions — we are emotional beings. Emotions can both enrich and obstruct.  Negative or positive emotions predict our trajectory. We live in and from our moods.

➢    Body — what  we feel, what we think, how we act. What is possible for our self, what we know is literally embodied through a complex of physiological processes.

➢    Spirit — our ability to be centered, have presence, aware and in awe

A person is composed of these domains which exist in dynamic web of interrelatedness. We coach to all four of these arenas. Making a shift in only one, for example how we communicate,  is insufficient although helpful. Making a shift in all four will produce powerful new awareness and actions in your life.

We use acts of language acts  such as promises, offers, requests, declarations, assessments and assertions to shift your self-view and interactions with others. We do not necessarily aim to resolve the past as in psychotherapy, rather our aim is to enlarge, enrich and deepen one’s territory for expression and being in their lives. Ontological coaching develops our emotional awareness and learning. We coach to build our emotional capacity and resilience, creating a less reactive and more proactive individual. The incorporation body dispositions is another powerful tool to build mental and emotional awareness and empower the client by through direct shifts in thinking and communicating

Ultimately the work is client driven. We work concurrently with goals and actions that will propel the client into a remarkable set of new results in one’s life.  The model we work from claims that an educated or transformed observer will generate bold new actions that result in dramatically different outcomes from what were previously possible for them.  This differs from other forms of coaching, the investigation into the observers way of being becomes essential  before formulating new courses of action.

Another aspect of the work involves the design of a life care program tailored to an individuals needs.  The Radical Self Care™ Program is a means for honing all areas of your life to become a resource for your success. This includes well-being, exercise, diet, sleep, stress elimination, time management, play, building relationships, setting  priorities, time management,  along with centering, spiritual and/or other needs.

Def: Ontology 1721. a "metaphysical science or study of being,", from modern Latin, ontologia (coined in French by Jean le Clerc, in 1692), from the Greek,  ontos "being" + logia "writing about, study of." The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary goes on to say “that department of metaphysics which relates to the being or essence of things.” Metaphysics correctly defined, deals with the first causes of things, and is a theoretical or speculative philosophy as the ultimate study of being and knowing. While metaphysics itself may be theoretical, Ontological Coaching is not. It brings our understanding of being, to the ultimate mode of observation, intervention and action. When we see clearly how we are being in the present, only then we can choose a new future coming from our essence.