ANIMA COACHING™ combines the practice of coaching with the care and ethics of psychotherapy. It is not focused on diagnosing mental illnesses but attends to soul cries underneath the symptoms. For instance, in the DSM IV depression is considered a psychopathology (the diagnostic & statistical manual of mental disorders) but depth psychologists consider it a wake up call from soul. If, however, a severe psychopathology is suspected ANIMA COACHING™ will recommend a clinical psychologist.

The fundamental difference between coaching and therapy is the depth of the work. All forms of counseling effect psyche, the totality of one’s conscious and unconscious. (See Model of Psyche.) However, the deeper one dives into the psyche, the more soulful and spiritual the journey becomes, linking one to their purpose for existing in this family, in this community and/or organization, in this culture, in this religion, and in this time.

Most coaches and conventional therapists focus on the surface level of ego consciousness, focusing on behavior modification, stress reduction techniques and/or teaching new skills for survival. This includes life, success, performance, career and executive coaching as well as the conventional therapists MFT, LCSW, and most psychologists.

ANIMA COACHING™ is different. It combines the best practices from the professional disciplines of personal life coaching, ego psychology and depth psychology. Where conventional therapists treat psychopathologies ANIMA COACHING™ helps heal the split between ego and soul caused simply by being an individual in our western society. ANIMA COACHING™ uses the depth psychological techniques like dream interpretation and psychodynamic analysis to reveal the symbolic messages from your soul.

WHAT IS DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY?

Depth Psychology (the study of the unconscious) includes ego consciousness but focuses primarily on the dynamics within the unconscious. These unconscious dynamics control our behavior by protecting our wounds with childhood defenses thus blocking the soul from guiding us towards being a fully initiated adult. To work solely on ego is like pulling weeds. You can pull and pull and pull but the weeds keep popping up. To work with the unconscious is to know the weed’s root structure and how the seed disperses. Unfortunately, the conventional schools of psychology and all schools of coaching do not teach the wisdom of the unconscious mind. So the weeds of our lives stymie our souls, trapping us in childhood scripts.

Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung were the modern discoverers of depth psychology, the study of the personal and collective unconscious. They continue an ancient tradition whereby the shaman of a tribe worked primarily within the realm of the unconscious via hallucinogenic drugs and/ or dreams and visions. In fact our Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious texts are filled with messages from God coming in visions and dreams. Freud stayed with in the personal unconscious avoiding religion, where Carl Jung dug much deeper into the collective unconscious and most certainly into religions, both Eastern and Western.

FREUD’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY

The primary focus of the post Freudian schools i.e. psychoanalysis, psychodynamics, object relations, psychiatry is the personal unconscious. These analysts dive deeply into the family and its dynamics to understand the psychological scars formed in childhood that has disturbed healthy psychological functioning. Much of this work focuses on undoing the rigidity of the superego and parental imagoes thereby freeing libidinal energy for creative pursuits.

JUNG’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY

Carl Jung was the first psychologist to unite the mystical traditions with the psychological and philosophical traditions thus diving into the mythical and collective unconscious. His Analytical School of Psychology deals primarily with the depression and despair often occurring in crisis particularly at midlife. Jung’s work does not replace Freud’s work as so many predecessors try to do it builds on Freud’s work; where psychoanalysis aims at liberating the adult from childhood parents, wounds and destructive patterns, Jungian Analysis aims at liberating the soul for the journey of a life contributing to the evolution of this world. We answer the spiritual questions like: Who am I? And why am I here? What is my unique purpose? How can I make a difference and leave a legacy?

ANIMA COACHING™ is a Jungian Integral Coaching practice. It is a unique blend of three schools of thought – the integral psychology of Ken Wilber which includes Don Beck’s Spiral Dynamics, depth psychology with an emphasis on Carl Jung’s Analytical Psychology yet drawing on the wisdom of psychoanalysis, and the early Jewish and Christian mystical traditions, Kabbalah and Gnosticism.

ANIMA COACHING™ suggests the following books for further details on this unique blend of theories.