S4 Episode 10: Coaching - Soul or Mastery with Kay Young

Claire saw a post about on Linked In from Kay Young about how Kay disliked the word mastery. Sharing her dislike of the word, Claire invited Kay to The Coaching Inn to find out more.

Kay shares her experience of dialogue and relationship building in her recent accreditation with APECS. We talk about the liberation that comes for coaches when they discover a sense of 'enoughness' rather than being 'not good enough yet'. We explore the potential of coaching to affect systemic change or social justice on a person-by-person basis. Instead of mastery, perhaps there is a more humble approach to personal development? In a recent coach training hosted by coach Naomi Ward at The International School Bremen, one of the delegates described the journey to coaching as going from hero to zero.

Here is a poem which Kay wrote at the retreat

More words…

Breathing more deeply as I head up the drive towards The Farm.

Immersing myself in the landscape.

The sense of space, silence, stillness.

Hearing the wind chimes chanting their sacred sound.

Whispering: it’s time to surrender, to let go, to call off the search.

I knew, deep in my bones, I’d never been more ready.

It happened without effort. Effortless, really.

This capacity to see and feel another

Beautiful human soul.

I cried quiet tears

Of joy.

What a gift. This seeing. Really seeing.

Being seen followed. On a BIG screen.

With no place to hide;

And no interest in hiding.

The words that were spoken,

Emerged from my heart and soul

Birthed by the mystery of life itself.

Some weeks on, I notice

A sense of space, silence and stillness lingers on.

Despite life intervening.

I say less. Ask less. Plan less.

And I feel more; and notice more.

I have a sense that surrendering is finding its place;

Deep within my heart, blood and bones.

It’s taken an entire lifetime.

Contact Kay Young through Linked In

We also talked about Nick Askew’s Soul Biography course and a recent podcast with Mark Goulston.

Let’s leave the final word with Parker Palmer: "The human soul doesn't want to be fixed, it simply wants to be seen and heard. The soul is like a wild animal - tough, resilient and shy. When we go crashing through the woods shouting for it to come out so we can help it, the soul will stay in hiding. But if we are willing to sit quietly and wait for a while, the soul may show itself".

Keywords

coaching, enoughness, dialogue, human connection, presence, witnessing, not knowing, systemic change, social justice