Our main objective here at the National Coach Academy is to enable aspiring coaches to reach their full professional potential. One of the most effective ways to educate students about the world of coaching is by offering them a window into the world of real, practicing coaches and showing them all the different ways coaches make a difference in the lives of their clients.
We hope today’s interview adds another insightful glimpse into the dynamic world of coaching.
Today we are interviewing Yelena Dent. Yelena is a Life Coach, Speaker, Author and Certified Magdalena Energy Practitioner based in Denver, Colorado.
NCA: Can you describe your coaching practice and the kinds of clients you typically work with?
Yelena: I’m a life coach and Certified Mary Magdalena Energy Practitioner. My coaching has a lot to do with spirituality as well as every other sphere of life. We find who we are and the qualities that we want to embody, that we want to shine, and we find the qualities which limit us. I work a lot with limitations, with limited belief systems and also I work energetically.
People like to work with a coach who understands that we are not only in a material world. There is spirituality. There is energy. That we are energy. My clients are people who want to learn how to meditate, who want to understand that they have a higher power, who want to find this connection and align themselves with their higher power.
NCA: In working with your clients, what would you say is the most rewarding part of that process and on the flip side of that, what is the most challenging aspect of the work that you do?
Yelena: The most important is that I have to practice myself. I have to be higher energetically than my clients, which means that it requires focus and integrity on a higher scale.
As a coach, I also offer group workshops. I just had my workshop Align Yourself with Limitless Reality. Next morning I sat down to meditate in the morning, my regular practice, just to notice how much my own workshop boosted the confidence in my practice. For me, to stay in tune and to read the clients’ energy and to see the depths that they want to unfold, I have to meditate myself. What I’m teaching clients, I have to practice it myself.
When I sat down to meditate, I was so grateful to myself that I dared to do this profession. That I dared to push myself and do the group workshops. I can comfortably do one-on-one coaching, but the group workshop is what’s pushing me to get out of my comfort zone. While I was meditating, I was grateful to myself that I dared. Why? Because when you teach, you truly learn and grow.
Also as a benefit, I remembered my practice. Selfishly speaking, I am getting deeper. I am getting more clear within myself. My practices are down because I just taught the whole workshop for five hours with people. It gives me so much more boost in myself. I am deepening my knowledge and I was experiencing so much Divine energy within myself. The Divinity was entering me even deeper after the workshop, as if it’s saying “Thank you for doing this work. Thank you for daring to show up for people. To teach people. To be their friend. To be their guide. To be there for them for their evolution, for their development, for their potential.”
It’s a two-way street. If people don’t show up for me, I am refusing to show up for them. If they don’t show up for me, it means that they don’t truly show up for themselves. It’s a loss in both directions.
NCA: I love that you mention coaching being a two-way street. What I’ve found with most coaches that I speak to is that the direction of influence runs both ways: coaches help clients reach their goals and clients help coaches stay accountable in their own lives.
Yelena: Coaches must have coaches. People get stuck. No matter how evolved they are. We need somebody to push us, to push our boundaries.
I have my spiritual master, or you can call her a life coach. I’ve been with her for 14 and a half years. By studying with her, I realized, “Oh my God. I have to offer life coaching, I must do this profession.” Because I’m also a hairdresser. I was finding myself behind the chair teaching people practices, how they can manage their emotional, mental and physical states. I found myself chatting on the phone with my girlfriends for hours guiding them.
For me, it’s like two plus two equals four and for people, it’s a much longer process. And I said to myself, “I have to honor my time, my investments in education, my desire and willingness to learn. I totally can be a fantastic coach.” But I’ve been in transformational work for the last 17 years and then I needed to learn English also.
I am from Ukraine and I’ve been in the United States only for 15 years. In Ukraine, nobody has heard about coaching. We have psychologists but we are not necessarily coaching. I couldn’t explain it even to my friends in Ukraine who wanted coaching. I was just saying, “Well, it’s like I’m guiding you in life.”
It was very scary to move to do sessions and to start to promote myself like this. But then I sat down with myself and I said, “There are probably people looking for me right now just like I was in their shoes many years ago.” I would give everything if I would meet somebody who can actually guide me. Take my hand, guide me and tell me what’s actually going on with me. Why am I experiencing so much fear, inadequacy? How do I deal with this? I have to share my gift. It’s selfish of me not to share this gift.”
By that time, I was overflowing with knowledge, with energy, with love, with everything, and I said, “I just have to share.” I started with free sessions. And then I gradually understood what I’m doing. I made my mistake and things like that, but I loved it. It molded me into who I am right now.
NCA: One of the most common challenges new coaches face is self-doubt. Some coaches call it Imposter Syndrome, where early on they feel somehow inadequate to take on the role of coach. What is one piece of advice that you would give to somebody who is in the beginning stage of their coaching career and dealing with these doubts in their mind?
Yelena: The opposite of doubt is faith. Just have faith. It takes courage. It takes faith to keep showing our potential and usually, somehow, your knowledge just shows up as well. Your practices just show up as well. Sometimes, you have to be a little bit prepared, but sometimes not. I love when I’m not prepared. I love it when I just show up and I sometimes surprise myself. Have the courage to show up because you have your guidance. You have the energy inside of you that guides you. Have faith in that energy.