Agustín Piedrabuena: “We bury our pending internal matters”

Within the concept of coaching, very different ways of understanding the personal and professional development, as well as emotional well-being. Likewise, there is no single methodology or way to define the problems that coaches must face in their work. Because of this, there are coaching trends with their own characteristics, and some of them even combine the ideas and techniques of several of the others.

In this case we are going to get into the transpersonal coachig, one of the most adaptable "branches" of coaching, from the hand of someone who has been working from this for many years: Agustín Piedrabuena, Director of InnerKey.

Interview with Agustín Piedrabuena: How transpersonal coaching transforms your life

Agustín Piedrabuena has a career spanning more than two decades as a manager in large companies, and is the founder and Director of InnerKey, coaching training school created in 2011. His way of understanding human well-being is based on a work philosophy that is based on combining the structure of Coaching with the depth of Transpersonal Psychology. In this interview he talks to us about the concept of transpersonal coaching.

What is the fundamental objective of transpersonal coaching?

The fundamental objective of transpersonal coaching is to help people, from the depths of their Being, to build the personal and professional life they truly desire. And I emphasize the word "really", since most of the time, either we don't know what we want and we just run away from what we don't want, or we think we know it from our small and fearful rational mind. In both cases we are substantially limiting our lives. Working in depth, transpersonal coaching helps you know who you really are, know what you really want, and go for it with courage and determination. As you can imagine, working in this way, a transpersonal coaching process marks a profound before and after in people's lives.

And what are the main pillars on which transpersonal coaching is based?

The word trans-personal refers to transcending the person, which means going beyond the small character with whom we have identified. Inside our mind we believe we are someone, and that someone is made up of our entire structure of beliefs and emotions associated with recurring thoughts about ourselves. Since in the West we tend to have many more limiting beliefs than empowering ones, and much more fear than courage, most People believe they are much less than they really are and, therefore, they only believe they can live a life far below their authentic selves. purposes.

Therefore, transpersonal coaching helps people overcome their own character, and place themselves in a higher, wiser and more powerful place. It helps them make a leap of consciousness so that they can observe themselves from more "above" and, from there, resolve their issues and make decisions that are much more precise, accurate and aligned with life than they really they long. Transpersonal coaching helps you walk from the strength and conviction of your Being, leaving aside your noisy and fearful mind.

Can it be said that transpersonal coaching enhances the process of personal and professional development?

I would say that, beyond enhancing it, it multiplies it. If a coaching process only helped people achieve their goals, without thereby As they grew and became wiser, they would have to look for a coach every time they set a new goal. aim. On the other hand, if we help them know who they are, what makes them unique and unrepeatable, to awaken their worth personal and professional, and connect with the true purpose of your heart, then you will never need aid. From that moment on they will achieve what they set out to do for themselves. That is the greatness of transpersonal coaching!

From your experience, what do you think are the most common limiting beliefs in human beings?

Most of us humans in the West are "stuck" in our adolescent minds. As an illustrious Zen master said, humans usually die at twenty and are buried at eighty. There is a moment when we believe that the time has come to be adults, and at that moment we park and bury, for life, our unfinished internal issues. Hence, most people carry within them beliefs and emotions typical of adolescence: fear exaggerated failure, fear of not being accepted, shame for being different, fear of discovering what they really are, lack of self-esteem, belief of not having enough talent or intelligence, belief of not having charisma, nor enough power of influence, nor enough courage, nor mental clarity, ambition, willpower... All these beliefs and emotions are part of that little character that we believe we are. We believe we are that because of the experiences, often painful, that we have had in our childhood and adolescence.

All that pain creates a shell of protection that prevents us from continuing to grow and resolve our old pending issues. In order not to suffer again, we bury our open wounds, we put on all kinds of masks to appear be different, more confident, more powerful, more attractive, more of everything we miss in our inside. If, for example, you coach a 40-year-old person, chances are they have been cultivating that protection for 20 years, holding on to it, loving it and hating it at the same time. That attachment to our created character is usually our biggest obstacle to changing, since any change poses a great threat to the status quo of our character.

That is why transpersonal coaching is so challenging and transformative. When you observe your own character and discover what he is doing with you and your life, you wake up and stop being his slave. You take the reins of your life with the wisdom of the woman or man you are now, and not from the wounded child or adolescent that lives inside you. From there you can conquer the great goals that your heart desires, because you will have overcome your worst enemy: your own belief in who you are.

Do the benefits of transpersonal coaching usually appear gradually, or can they become noticeable in a short time?

A transpersonal coaching process usually lasts between 4 and 6 months and has between 6 and 8 sessions. During this time people experience a great change. But beyond the benefits perceived throughout the process, which are many, the greatest advantage of this type of coaching is what you take with you for the rest of your life. You will have grown, you will have discovered who you are, you will have discovered your unique power, and you will have the courage to use it and build the life you long for. What more could you want?

Is finding meaning in life easier with the help of a coach, or is that a task that only each person carries out?

The path of awakening, that is, of becoming wiser every day and creating an increasingly full life, is something that each person must do for themselves. Nobody can do it for you. It is a great rule of the Universe. Creating a life with meaning is very difficult! if we are serious. Talking about it is very easy. Living it is an often hard and painful process, since you have to face numerous existential doubts, and you have to let go "things" that, although you know that they tie you to where you shouldn't be, deep down you don't want to let go due to panic into the void or because of the laziness of change. Feeling accompanied by a Transpersonal Coach during this difficult process is a blessing!

What would you say to a person who is looking for a school to study coaching and doesn't know how to choose?

I would ask you what your purpose is for training in coaching. If it is to really help other people, I would advise you not to learn "light" coaching. There is a lot of "light" coaching in the world, which hardly achieves sustainable results in people. If you seriously want to help, learn to do challenging and deep coaching like transpersonal coaching.

If your motivation for training in coaching is your own journey of inner growth, I would say the same thing. If you really want to grow, you have to go down to the depths of your unconscious. "Light" coaching will leave you halfway.

If what you want is to help people or teams in the business world, I would also say the same thing. Learn coaching that really works. Companies need coaches with a lot of courage, capable of shaking the very foundations of the powerful beliefs that are limited to so many executives and teams. Coaching in the business world is the most difficult, since at work we wear a double armor: the professional and the personal. For this reason, as coaches we need to have very powerful, deep and transformative, that take professionals and teams out of their usual frenetic loops of self-feeding.

Now, if your motivation for training in coaching is basically to fatten your resume, then I would tell you to look for a very easy course, and one that has a lot of "stamps." Some that would be done via streaming, so that you didn't even have to expose yourself. If, deep down, your purpose is not to help (yourself or others), then a light coaching course will be enough for you.

In all other cases, I recommend learning the most transformative and sustainable coaching I know, transpersonal coaching.