A spiritual coach is a person who helps a client gain, understand and use spirituality in his or her life. Spiritual coaches guide clients to find meaning, joy and fulfillment in their lives. Besides determining a specific spiritual path, spiritual coaches also can aid clients in their conclusion of a spiritual journey. Coaches and clients can use a number of tools to achieve these goals, including religion, books, writing exercises, prayer and meditation.
In the same way that a life coach can guide a client to external success, such as winning a new job, obtaining a satisfactory love life or managing conflicts with other people, a spiritual coach can see that a client's spiritual needs are satisfied. Instead of attending to the outward factors of a client's life, a spiritual coach focuses on the client's mind, body and soul. These areas can be examined to provide clues about how to improve a client's life from the inside out. The coach also can give a client a greater understanding of his or her purpose in life.
One of the principles that a spiritual coach can teach is that spirituality can be leaned upon for help during daily or life events. Clients are taught to find peace with life's troubles through their spiritual foundations and networking. Releasing negativity can be one of the very first lessons in a coaching session. Spiritual coaches also can guide clients in their understanding of themselves, of the world and of a particular faith or belief system. Prayer, meditation, reading, assignments and assorted activities can be employed to help the client gain these understandings.
Spiritual coaches often encourage some form of faith. It's not uncommon to find that spiritual coaches have their own spiritual biases or religious inclinations. It's important for those seeking the services of a spiritual coach to verify that the coach's beliefs are in line with his or her own. Otherwise, a client might have a belief system imposed on him or her as part of a session, even if he or she does not agree with it.
These types of coaches preoccupy themselves with the internal workings of an individual so that feelings, needs, and desires can be closely examined during sessions. A coach can help train a client about how to identify and deal with proper and improper emotions, needs and wants. Similarly, clients will have to self-assess to determine whether the coaching sessions are working for them, because unlike a life coach, spiritual goals usually will be intangible.
