How long have you been coaching?
Wow, there’s so many ways I can answer that! See, even as a child, adults sought me out to share their stories with me, so it was since way back then that I realized the joy it brings me to be a source of support and guidance for others, especially if they want to find meaning and feel peace and fulfillment.
But the path to my coaching practice really began much later! I was a teacher of labor law to immigrant, domestic workers when I first learned one of the foundational principles of my coaching: that changing the external world starts within. Until the women gathered their internal power to stand up for themselves, nothing in their outer circumstances could change. When I graduated with my Masters from the University of Chicago, that foundational principle inspired me to manifest what I thought of as my dream job, as a community organizer, because I yearned to help people stand in their inner power. I manifested the job using the principles of the Law of Attraction, even though it was almost a decade before I first heard it! And that job is where I got my first formal coaching training and experience, with budding leaders learning to stand in their center of power to create a better life for themselves and their communities.
Later, I was guided to learn Reiki, a form of energy work, and I thought healing was my path. I made an unconscious pact with Spirit that I would be a healer, and when things didn’t work out precisely as I planned, I fell into a black hole of depression. Reiki, along with many other tools and resources, eventually helped me claw my way out. At the time, I didn’t know that I was not only acquiring all those resources for my own benefit, but that later I would share them with many others!
After I had my children, I started a Reiki practice, using the energy to help people move forward on their spiritual path. But I intuited that wasn’t exactly how I wanted to work, with people on the Reiki table. Finally, Ellen, one of my Reiki clients, helped me realize how I could best fulfill my calling when she requested a session but specified she wanted “the talking afterwards, and the follow-up.” She offered to pay extra for that because “it’s just so insightful, it makes coming worthwhile every time!” I realized then that conscious transformation takes place when I am coaching— which, at the time, was occurring after the body work. And that is when, in 2007, I went from doing Reiki with coaching, to using Reiki in my coaching. And, honestly, even I was blown away by the results! Soon after I started coaching, I had one client who suffered panic attacks in public, and after working together, was able to play music at gigs and invest emotionally in new friendships! That was unthinkable before. Another client, who denied her gift for years and tried to fit into the roles that she thought the world wanted from her, wound up writing and recording her own music and opening her own music company as a result of working with me, and in incredible timing- less than a year! In the past decade, I have helped people with negative power dynamics at work get promotions from the very people standing in their way, or find new jobs with more prestige and money, where their creativity is actually engaged. I have helped intimate relationships become stronger, and entrepreneurs change their mindset and find their businesses suddenly blooming! The results for my clients, and the joy that the work brings me made it clear to me that coaching is definitely “it” for me!
Who are your clients, exactly?
I work mostly with women, but also with men who may feel overwhelmed by life, or by their career, and they intuit that this is not how they are meant to live. They often take care of other people, maybe they are parents or teachers, or provide emotional and material support to someone, but find it really hard to take care of themselves. It’s challenging for them to find time and space to come back to center, and when they make the time and space, they just can’t quiet down the thoughts running them ragged.
This means that my clients often feel disconnected from who they really are, who they are meant to be. They feel lost, and stuck, and unable to see a path ahead of them that leads
in a direction they want to go. The voice of their fears is so loud that it constantly knocks them out of any sense clarity and peace. They need a non-judgmental listener who can help them reframe and find new confidence in tackling their issues, and who can support them in remembering who they really are, and how to stay true to their inner Self. They may be entrepreneurs, or hold jobs, or not receive pay for their work at all, but the common thread is intuiting that there should be more to life than all this overwhelm.
How are you different from other coaches?
Well, for one thing, I don’t just use coaching strategies and techniques. I combine that with spiritual and energy work for deeper, faster, longer-lasting results. I’ve been doing this in my personal life for over 20 years, and professionally since 2007. The energy work helps me exponentially speed up what you would achieve with straight coaching. Using energy work, such as Reiki, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT or Tapping), or shamanic soul journeying, I can help my clients shift the way their brains are wired and change the patterns that would otherwise take years to reshape. Because, you see, underlying everything is mindset: the beliefs each of us were given by our family and the world we’ve lived in, and that have resulted from our experiences. Those beliefs define what we think is possible and good- they create parameters and energetic patterns that get more and more ingrained, the longer we are using them. I teach my clients how to recognize and shift their limiting beliefs so that they can allow themselves to see what is really possible for them.
But it always comes back to the Soul’s agenda. Living in our purely analytical world, we are trained to push through with the goals of our culture and our ego, denying our Soul until it makes us sick. But I know that each of my clients holds wisdom within her, and has access to all that she needs. So it is my job to help her remember that, and learn to access all of her internal and external resources so that she can live an inspired, passionate life t
hat excites her and engages the sacred gifts she was endowed with.
I created a simple system that combines all of these elements and helps my clients feel empowered, centered and energized, and gives them the confidence, peace, and clarity they are looking for to shape their lives and radiate their inner light. That is what I call living in alignment.
What type of personality do you work with best and what is expected of me?
My best clients are open to learning new things and curious about what they don’t know— sometimes out of sheer fatigue from living in a way that doesn’t work for them! They are committed to themselves, to growing, and they want to experience a transformation and live a life filled with purpose and meaning. (They tend to be critical of themselves, so sometimes they tell me they have not been motivated enough to force the changes they want, or that they don’t have it in them to achieve their dreams, but when we examine that, it quickly becomes apparent that it’s not really lack of motivation, but just lack of visible progress with the methods they have used before.) Many of my clients are spiritual, even if they don’t necessarily belong to any particular religion, or do in a very loose way. They tend to feel passionate about something, even though the “thing” may vary- some are passionate about art, or their families, or teaching, or changing something in the world- some don’t know what they are passionate about, but they radiate passion anyway.
The work that we do together is pragmatic and oriented to change, and it requires commitment on your part, to show up fully, to be honest with me and with yourself, to implement the practices and do the exercises. We will be completely realistic about what your life enables you to implement now, and we will create gradual change towards what feels “too big” just yet —but that will only happen if you are committed to the process.
For what type of people will your coaching not work?
My coaching won’t work for people who are deeply cynical and suspicious, or who are unwilling to question their own beliefs, or for people who have been so traumatized that they have no positive associations or memories. It will also not work for those who are completely committed to the rational, analytical, logical model of thought we inherited from the enlightenment (although nowadays the scientific model has been shifting, especially since our understanding of quantum physics has begun to grow) and are unwilling to learn about the fact that we are energetic and spiritual beings.
What is your system? What does it include? Does it work?
Honestly, I still have not come up with a good name for my process —I’m working on that— but it’s about realigning with wisdom and this is what it consists of:
- Become Present and Clear
- Create sacred space
- Ground your energy
- Check in with your True Self
- Acknowledge what arises
- Sit with What Is
- Recognize connections
- Remember stories
- Notice effects
- Choose the energy you want to experience
- Pick and use the tool that will achieve the change
- Reassess
- Check in with your True Self
- Give thanks
It includes learning to assess your own subtle energy and to create the conditions for you to access your True Self, along with the wisdom it holds for you. The system also helps you distill the information you receive so that you can make sense of it and make informed choices. It teaches you to recognize underlying limiting beliefs and other energetic patterns, and includes a whole spectrum of tools that go from breath-work and movement, to shamanic drumming and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT or Tapping) to help you release patterns and experience new energies.
The system really works (you just have to read my testimonials to see that), but what is so hard to put into words is the feelings you experience, the clarity and serenity that using it offers.
What results can I expect?
I suppose it depends on you, not just on what you are intending to accomplish, but also how much you are willing to put into it. My clients who have followed the system and used the tools consistently have deepened their relationship to their True Self and refined their ability to use their intuition. They have learned to navigate their life, relationships, and work from a centered, grounded place of wisdom, that provides clarity and confidence that they can face their challenges. Some deeply entrenched ideas and patterns that have limited them for their entire lives have shifted, allowing them to create new opportunities, including those aligned with their deepest yearnings. They feel supported, peaceful, and connected— able to experience more joy, more intimacy, more abundance and grace.
Can I contact some of your former clients to see what it’s like to work with you?
I am so blessed to work with the people I do. My former clients are amazing, talented, insightful people, and they appreciate the work we have done together. Especially in the first years of my work, my clients were the reason I had any work at all, they brought their friends and relatives to work with me. If you read my testimonials, you can pick from there who you would like to talk to.
How quickly can I expect results?
Obviously, this depends on how much you put into the assignments I give you. Aside from that, virtually every client I have had experienced results within our sessions immediately, and began to see the changes in the outside world within a couple of months, in the form of easing relationships, holding boundaries more effectively, sleeping through the night without waking in a panic, feeling more confidence that translated into successes at work, a new flow of creative ideas— whatever it is they came in to see me about, and a lot of things they didn’t know they were coming to see me about.
Andrea, based on what I have been hearing and reading about you, I know that I want to learn from you. What are my options to get started?
Congratulations on deciding for your own thriving! I am thrilled to help you!
Click on the ContactMe link, and write Free Introductory Call in the subject, we’ll set up a time to talk on the phone or via the Internet, to get you started on your path getting out of your own way, loving the life you are living, and building the life you thrive in!
If I am not sure whether I am ready to get started now, how can I sample your work at a low cost to see if it is the right solution for me?
One way to sample my work is to fill out the form to receive the download I offer in the sidebar. It’s a great tool that you can start using right now, and in addition you will receive my e-zine that is written to help you connect to your Self.
I am ready to do this, but I still have a few additional questions, can I call you?
I would be happy to answer any of your questions and walk you through the options to see which is best for you. I am excited to see you thriving and honored to be the one to help you do it! Got to the Contact me tab and choose your favorite way to do so!
