What is a life coach and what role does a coach play?

Author: Teresiah Malatji

It takes a village of  Life Coaches to build a community full of healthy and fulfilled human beings.

To have someone trust you with their lives is such an honour and a big responsibility that I don’t take very light. I have come to revere my calling and will do everything possible to make sure that I impart the lives of those who cross paths with me with principles and tools they need to create and live fulfilled lives. I am a life coach to anyone who cross my paths and if you want to spend more time with me than the time I give for free, then we can establish a relationship at a cost.

The relationship between a Life Coach and a client is sacred and must be treated as such. Your life coach can become your spiritual teacher or guide who will lead you into enlightenment. The right coach can lead a client to a place of growth and development- personally, socially and professionally. Both parties must carefully think and seek wisdom before entering into a relationship. Life coaching can include either or all aspects relating to personal, social, professional and spiritual matters depending on the needs of a client.

In practice, a life coach helps their clients to develop and implement a strategy to achieve life goals, the strategy is coupled with motivation and encouragement from the coach, accountability, identifying and removing obstacles that make it difficult to achieve set goals.

Personally, the word life coach is a fancy and modern word for a healer, or a guide or spiritual guide or a teacher. They say “it takes a village to raise a child”. Think of life coaches as the much needed village that most of us were not not privileged to have when growing up. Civilisation has made it more difficult for us to experience the powerful effect of the wise elders who play a crucial role in building a healthy society. A life coach is like the much needed elder that you never had growing up.

You may have been raised by a village but still lack guidance in other aspects of life. Or you may be going through life changes or are evolving and need someone to take you through those changes or that evolving journey. That is the reason I believe that a life coach should rely more on their life experiences than theory when coaching. Many life coaches like me have honoured the calling to heal, teach, enlighten and awaken their fellow human beings.  Depending on the gift of an individual, a life coach can be your guide or spiritual guide or guardian who is medium that can access wisdom, knowledge and understanding on how to navigate life.

The wisdom, knowledge and understanding of a life coach can come from different sources. Some life coaches have gone through training from various institutes. Some coaches have received their knowledge from serving as students under other experienced coaches. Others derive their knowledge from their blood lineage and departed ancestors who are knowledgeable in a specific field. Some are using their  own life experiences to guide and help their clients.

In my case, my knowledge comes from my spiritual, personal, social and professional life experiences and direct access to sources of intelligence through my spiritual journey. To some people the sources of intelligence is God, or  or a Creator or Supreme power, or the Divine, or The Source, or Modimo (a name used by my Pedi tribe to refer to the Creator). In this regard it is very important for a coach to reveal upfront their position with regard to and understanding of belief systems. This disclosure will give a client an opportunity to make an informed decision when selecting a life coach.

When the life coaching involves spiritual matters then there should definitely be some alignment between the coach and the client. There should be a common understanding or common ground to avoid unwanted discord or clash of energies or spirits. We must be mindful of the fact that in the physical realm, human beings still operate from a separation perspective.

Human made systems such as cultures, norms, religions, belief systems have created a language barrier which unfortunately goes limit the power of oneness and connectedness. As a healer, I cannot heal you when we are operating from a different ground. The energy of a life coach and that of a client must align for healing to manifest. While there are many ways to kill a cat, you must find a way that resonates with you.

Some of my clients who believe that they resonate with the person that I am, must still go through a cleansing of the wounds created by their religious indoctrination or limiting belief systems. Sometimes the cleansing becomes the answer to unhealed wounds that a client is suffering from. My advice for any one who is looking for a coach is that you should learn as much as possible about the coach that your desire to connect with.

They say “when the student is ready, the teacher with show up”. You will know when the time is right for you to create a relationship with a life coach. Trust the voice from within and know the right coach to create a relationship with. If you have to pray about or meditate about it until you are led to right person. The first hour of a  meeting between a coach and a client is very critical and must be used to assess alignment between the parties.

As a society we must intentionally craft a society that is rich with accessible life coaches. As parents we must intentionally connect our children to various life coaches who will impart wisdom and knowledge to our children when they are still very young.

I pray that you find the right guide or teacher for your life and build a beautiful and meaningful relationship.