Coaching with Circular Labyrinths Model

Coaching with Circular Labyrinths Model

Why Circular Labyrinths in Coaching

During our Level 2 Coaching Certification Programme, my trainer ngela Gaehtgens gave me the opportunity to create our own Coaching Model. Initially, it was a challenge to find a model that fit and represented what I truly wanted to do as a future Professional Coach.
The theme of Coaching with Circular Labyrinths began to take shape with the introduction of Daniel Pink’s book “A Whole New Mind,” which sparked my curiosity about “circular labyrinths” and their impact on the development of the right side of the human brain. The idea of associating Coaching with Circular Labyrinths materialised intuitively by bringing ideas together: creating and choosing the graphic art, materials, dimensions, colours associated with the mat, and finally producing a colourful outdoor mat with a circular labyrinth and experimenting with it. Walking through the labyrinth, I became truly aware of its potential when associated with Coaching.

Where We Are Going with This Model

Approach:

  • Create a space for exploration and reflection on where I am and where I want to go?
  • Invite the client to walk through the labyrinth during the process.
  • When people walk in a circular labyrinth, they shift their consciousness from linear to “non-linear,” bringing out the deeper, more intuitive part of themselves.
  • Create a safe and trusting space where the most important guidance is to help the client listen to their inner voice, focus on themselves, and become aware.
  • Allow the client to find their own pace and follow the path they desire. There will be space to pause if they need more time along the way.
  • Guide the client midway through the process to walk the labyrinth again, pausing at the centre to reflect before retracing their steps on the way back.

My process is a journey, not a race to a destination other than the client’s own.
With this approach, the client is invited to reflect on their current state and develop an assertive action plan to reach their desired state sustainably.
“There are no wrong ways to walk in a Circular Labyrinth and in the Coaching process!”

  • The client can set their own pace – whether a “usual walk” or at a good pace, they decide.
  • It is entirely in the hands of the client. They can enter with a specific thought to contemplate, with joy, sadness, or pain, or they can wander without initial expectations or plans.

Many things can happen during a walk in the Circular Labyrinth and in a Coaching process:

  • Start the process without expectations and gain awareness along the way.
  • Identify the solution to a problem or change perspectives.
  • Become aware and eliminate possible blockages.
  • Deeply connect with oneself.

“We calm the mind, gain insights, discover solutions… the possibilities are infinite and infinitely individual” – Lauren Artress

 

My Approach: Coaching with Circular Labyrinths

Definition

Vision: Coaching is a process of discovery and self-development. A trusting partnership between the coach and the client that should be based on intuition and responsibility in exploring the client’s current reality, allowing them to develop the courage to create strategies of unity and resilience that bring them closer to their Purpose, with sustainable results through self-awareness and freedom.
Purpose: My purpose is to walk freely and with time through life in the presence of people and to convey peace and empathy that helps them in their self-discovery.
Definition: Coaching is the art of creating an environment through conversation and presence that facilitates the process of discovery and self-development by which the client mobilises themselves. ALWAYS in a partnership based on trust in exploring the client’s current reality and creating strategies that bring them closer to their Purpose and dreamed goals with sustainable results.

Coaching with Circular Labyrinths:

  • Help increase performance, clarify what goals clients want to achieve
  • Helping clients become more than what they often think they can be.
  • Helping to increase performance and clarify the goals they want to achieve.
  • Providing tools so that, at their own pace and with confidence, the client can achieve their goal.
  • Offering conditions that allow the client to make choices and decisions that they consider suitable for their purpose.
  • Co-creating new possibilities, making awareness easier, helping to identify potential, set goals, and create skills to enhance talent and stimulate the will to succeed.

Acronym C.I.R.C.U.L.A.R.


C. Confidence:
Origin – Latin “confidere,” meaning “to fully believe, with firmness.” The suffix “fidere” means “faith.”
For an honest and transparent conversation between two people, unconditional trust is essential.

In a Coaching process, CONFIDENCE is necessary to:

  • Establish a partnership to create an ethical, safe, and supportive environment that allows the client to freely share what they feel, think, and do.
  • Enable the Coach to provide the necessary support for the client to achieve their goal.
  • The Coach demonstrates openness and transparency as a way to show vulnerability and build trust.

I. Intuition: Origin – Latin “intuitione,” formed from the union of “in-” (in, within) and “tuere” (to look at, to guard). Immediate knowledge.
These are the pieces of information that the heart feels and intuition uses to anticipate what may happen, revealing patterns that help clients make decisions.

In a Coaching process, the Coach:

  • Develops an open, curious, flexible, and client-focused mindset, using self-knowledge and their own intuition for the benefit of clients.
  • Guides the client to use their intuition throughout the process to reach their purpose, goals, and objectives. Intuition leads to deeper understanding and allows identifying the desired transformation.

“There is no logical way to the discovery of the laws of the Universe – the only way is intuition” – Albert Einstein

R. Resilience: Origin – Latin “resilientia,” meaning to bounce back.
Resilience is the ability to face and overcome adversities, happening when one understands the problem and mobilises resources to overcome it.

Through the Coaching process, the Coach:

  • Helps the client in discoveries and learning using tools and techniques that allow the expansion of self-perception and self-knowledge in situations.
  • Supports identifying barriers and limiting beliefs and new possibilities for action, enabling the client to develop more resilient behaviours towards their purpose.

“The value of a human being lies in the ability to go beyond oneself, to step outside oneself, to exist within oneself and for others!” – Milan Kundera

C. Courage: Origin – Latin “cor cordis,” meaning “heart,” synonymous with heart.

Courage is not the absence of fear; it is letting the heart act despite fear, enabling each one to achieve their goals.

The Coaching process:

  • Recognises and supports the expression of the client’s feelings, perceptions, concerns, beliefs, and ideas.
  • Brings transformation and change, which involves transitions that require much courage to follow the path towards individuality.
  • Supports the discovery of living life with purpose, and courage opens a path to the unknown!

“Courage is the first of human qualities because it guarantees all others.” – Aristotle

U. Union: Origin – Latin “unio onis,” meaning the action of uniting.
Union means the association or combination of various elements to form a whole.

The Coaching process:

  • Establishes a partnership to define what the client believes needs to be addressed or resolved to achieve what they desire, as well as creating their measures of success.
  • It is a partnership between the Coach and the client, and for discovery to occur, it must be a combination of willingness and presence, which translates into union.
  • Develops and maintains an open, curious, flexible, and client-focused mindset.

“A true friend is someone who takes your hand and touches your heart.” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

L. Libertas (Freedom): Origin – Latin “libertas,” meaning the condition of an individual who has the right to make choices according to their own will.
Freedom is to change one’s mind and make a new choice if the first alternative chosen is not the most suitable for fulfilling their purpose.

The Coaching process:

  • The client has the freedom to change their mind and make a new choice if the first alternative chosen was not the most suitable.
  • The freedom to express thoughts and feelings without fear, guilt, or aggression.
  • Establishes a partnership with the client to transform learning into discoveries for action, promoting the client’s autonomy in the process.

“The most important thing I learned to do after forty years was to say no when it’s no!” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

A. Awareness: Origin – Latin “conscientia,” meaning knowledge of something shared with someone.
Self-awareness means having a deep knowledge of oneself and the ability to proactively manage thoughts, emotions, and behaviours.

The Coaching process:

  • Encourages the client to look at themselves, better understanding their own characteristics, thus having the opportunity to achieve the desired well-being and success in their daily life.
  • Facilitates discovery and learning, evoking the client’s self-awareness – “we should always be attentive to everything that involves our being.”
  • The Coach is fully aware and present with the client, using a frank, flexible, balanced, and confident style.

“Each advance, each achievement conceived by humanity has been linked to an advance in self-awareness.” – Carl G Jung

R. Responsibility: Origin – Latin “respondere,” meaning “to answer, to promise in return.”
Responsibility is associated with the ability to answer for everything that happens in one’s life.

The Coaching process:

  • Understands and consistently applies the ethics and standards of Coaching.
  • Establishes a partnership with the client and creates clear agreements about the relationship, process, plans, and goals to be achieved.
  • Helps the client find behavioural and technical skills and competencies that improve performance and lead to achieving their goals.
  • The Client is responsible for their own choices and their own progress, working on it consistently and with commitment.

“Responsibility is everyone’s; it’s the only way to human survival.” – Dalai Lama

Acronym C.I.R.C.U.L.A.R.

  • C. Confidence: The ability to establish and maintain a trusting relationship.
  • I. Intuition: Using self-knowledge and intuition for the benefit of clients.
  • R. Resilience: Supporting the identification of barriers, limiting beliefs, and new possibilities for action.
  • C. Courage: Supporting the discovery of living life with purpose, and courage opens a path to the unknown.
  • U. Union: Partnership and union between the Coach and the Client for discovery to occur.
  • L. Libertas (Freedom): The client has the freedom to change their mind and make new choices.
  • A. Self-awareness: Encouraging the client to look at themselves to better understand their own characteristics.
  • R. Responsibility: The client is responsible for their own choices and their own progress.

Coaching is a process of discovery and self-development!

A trusting partnership between the coach and the client should be based on intuition and responsibility in exploring the client’s current reality, allowing them to develop the courage to create strategies of unity and resilience that bring them closer to their Purpose, with sustainable results through self-awareness and freedom.

“We only know with exactitude when we know little! As we acquire knowledge, doubt sets in.”
– Johann Goethe

The Author

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