Working with the Alchemical Self

The human mind is alchemical in nature. I’ve long been fascinated by this. What might seem solid and knowable (“this happened”, “this is truth”, “I can’t change who I am”) is a far more magical thing when approached at the deepest levels of mind.

Most coaches work primarily with mindset matters. It’s useful, certainly, but by no means the whole story. Perhaps you have wondered why mindset methods help, but only so far?

Some coaches go deeper, working with the Inner Child, or experiences that have become entrenched in the emotional brain. That’s a powerful way of working, able to release more of our internal programming. But by no means all.

Few coaches are able to engage in Depth Psychotherapy, however, working with the levels of mind that lie underneath this, where our deepest and most entrenched patterns are formed and held. This is the level at which substantial change can happen, and, often, surprisingly easily, as what might seem to be irretrievably locked in place can become fluid and able to reconfigure itself to better fit you now. But only if the coach knows how.

I love working with clients at this extremely deep level. It’s like watching (and feeling) magic happen. It’s the reason why so many of my coaching clients are reporting lasting improvements they could never have predicted in just a few sessions.

I was fortunate to conduct some original research into this for my MA in Counselling Studies at Nottingham University, almost 25 years ago. My thesis describes how different schools of psychotherapy approach this level of mind and pulls together the common principles of working successfully in this way. I have been drawing on these insights in my work with clients ever since.

This depth method of working is simply not widely known, so I’ve decided it is time to publish my thesis to support the next generation of coaches and therapists.

I am getting goose bumps, reading it again (and wondering just how I managed to write it!) whilst preparing for it to be available to a wider readership.

My plan is to release it on Kindle and as a stand-alone PDF. Here’s a peak at the first step, designing a new cover to replace the original plain black. The photo, by my artist husband Geoff Francis, sums up for me what it feels like when a client enters with me into this level of working and realises the promise it holds.

#feltsense #alchemical #depthpsychology #coaching