What do you think about spiritual life coaching?

Is Spiritual Life Coaching Psychotherapy?
Is Spiritual Life Coaching Religious or bible base?
Do I Have to be Religious to Benefit from Spiritual Life Coaching?

 

To answer specifically....who is 'they'?

to answer at all.... who is 'they'?

 

Wil, it is likely from some advertising piece...

Like in every aspect of self-governance....life, if you will....when you need a "coach" you are likely in trouble and showing your own weakness. When you join a fitness club...either you take the "trainer" or you just work out at your own volition. Which one do you think is better? More lasting? More natural?
Same with spiritual life coaching....it is spoon fed nonsense for the veal-calf of humanity. If this sounds a little harsh, I understand, but I have very little respect for either the coach or the coached in this context. Do not confuse this with some team sport...there you need coaches. If you need a coach or personal organizer or spiritual motivator you are either have too much money or too little brain (or both)

 

I don't know hermes...

I'd say any teacher, preacher in any religion could fill the definition of a spiritual life coach...unless you are dismissing them all (leader and congregant alike) ...

Some folks need a helping hand to 'get out of the darkness' I wouldn't deny them that.

 

They? If you check Google about these people you will find them.

I believe in bible base counseling. I think this kind of counseling is sole enough to cater every sin/problem human have. But Is these kind of spiritual counseling - bible base or just some kind of humanistic counseling?

 

I don't think you can dismiss the value and benefit of a good coach and better yet, a mentor.

Mind you, I can think of plenty of bad ones. To really work it's a matter of chemistry, and in spiritual terms, of alchemy.

 

I goggled... hence the need to know the they you are referring...

As Thomas indicates....a good coach is good... you can become a preacher or spiritual iife coach online overnight...just fill out the form and send in your dollars...

Are some bible based? sure.
Are some psychotherapists? Sure.

Are all either? No.

 

And good ones are both, if 'spiritual' then informed by the insights of their sacra doctrina, as much as the insights into the workings of the mind.

 

I'd think Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, etc. all have their versions which may not require either...

Just because they ain't bible based or psychotherapy wouldn't make them not good...

$995 discounted to $395 only today or $10 a month for our online course....

That would be a red flag in my book...(and if you gotta sell your soul to join)

 

Hi, Katherine, and welcome to the forum. You asked,

"Is Spiritual Life Coaching Psychotherapy?"

--> No, it is not.

"I believe in bible base counseling. I think this kind of counseling is sole enough to cater every sin/problem human have."

--> I do not. My area of study is personality disorders. I do not think that praying to God, etc., is the way to deal with personality disorders (although it may be part of an effective psychotherapy). The way to deal with personality disorders is to use therapy-based methods to determine the causes of the personality disorders, along with using compassionate techniques (along with what I call "discipline-compassion" techniques) to help the client deal with what is going on. I do not think these techniques (or similar techniques) will be found in Bible-based counseling.

But I might be wrong. How does Bible-based counseling deal with personality disorders? What techniques does it use, for example, with anxiety disorders? With depression? With people who have huge egos? With "functioning psychopaths"?

 

No, I am not dismissing them all....I think there is a difference in spiritual counseling versus coaching...one is "question/answer" the other is "I am telling you how you live". I am a proponent of question/answer dialogue but loath the foaming at the mouth, dictatorial preaching. The Hindu guru system was always based on asking questions, for those who ask good questions the answer is half-way there, but some you can "preach" and you cast your pearl to swine.

 

In the traditional context of those religions, it's a given. The idea you don't need a guide is, I think, a product of modern consumerism.

 

Ah, that's the telling point.

 

My thoughts are around this - what training does a religious leader have in dealing with the complexities of the human mind? Most people who treat mental disorders, from the simple to the very complex, have an education in the process. Many add on personal favorites that may not be in the mainstream, but they at least have a foundation in what is mainstream.

I have seen some truly disgusting so called spiritual counseling from couples that went to their priest and so forth. A priest, or any form of religious leader is not trained to give counsel, and it is hubris for them to even think what they have to say has any value in fixing the issue.

 

Within the field of Counseling and Guidance, there is a professionally-recognized specialty called Pastoral Counseling. But a person with a degree in Pastoral Counseling will know what he/she can and cannot handle, and will refer people with "serious mental problems" to the proper specialist.

The scary part, then, is people who are 'mere preachers' and they think this gives them the right to counsel all kinds of 'mental problems'. As a matter of fact, there is a lawsuit pending against the Church of Scientology right now for this exact kind of problem.

 

I don't have a problem with guides. They can help you see insight in situations where you may be confused about a spiritual event that happened in your life.

 

I am not saying they don't need a guide...I am saying that guide need neither be a psychotherapist, or bible based ...

 

"I am saying that guide need neither be a psychotherapist, or bible based..."

--> My spiritual guides are neither psychotherapists nor bible-based guides.

 

Didn't say they needed to be ...

 

In the general community? Not much, I would think. Pastoral care is always an issue. Some priests are good, some not so good. Usually priests enter a parish as assistants, so it's a learning-on-the-job process, but there's also provision for on-going education towards specialisms.

And I've been misdiagnosed by my family doctor. I don't think specifics help.

My point is no-one needs any training to set themselves up as a 'spiritual life coach' ... so if not 'spirituality' in the context of a Tradition, from which all our notions of spirituality derive, then it's 'spirituality' according to the opinions of the coach ... and in a consumer culture, that can be anything you like.