Coaching – A Nurturing Space for Consciousness

Throughout my experience in coaching, I’ve often asked myself: what truly makes a process of transformation profound?

-Is it the client’s desire? Perhaps their level of openness, motivation, or even pain?

-Is it the talent of the coach? Maybe their presence, deep listening, relational intelligence, or the quality of human connection they offer?

-Is it the method or strategy being used? The technique, the structure, the questions, the tools?

-Is it a fortunate—or unfortunate—combination of all these elements?

-Or maybe it's something subtler, and at the same time fundamental: the invisible ground of consciousness where all of these meet, unfold, and where transformation takes place?

Since David Chalmers (a philosopher of mind and language) first introduced what he called “the hard problem of consciousness” in 1995, this has been seen as the essential challenge any theory of consciousness must address.

We do have a detailed explanation of the structure and dynamics of the brain as a physical system (what Chalmers calls “the easy problem”), but that in itself doesn’t seem to answer the deeper question: why—why do we feel something, why is there a subjective experience when our brain engages in physical processes? That’s the hard problem.

One of the boldest theories to spark intense debate in recent neuroscience circles is Integrated Information Theory (IIT), developed by Giulio Tononi.

IIT proposes that any system which exhibits integrated information (Φ) above a certain threshold is, in theory, conscious.

While the theory is grounded in a rigorous mathematical framework to quantify consciousness (Φ – phi), it essentially explains only the cause-effect structure of a complex system. It identifies what matters—but not how or why these structures give rise to subjective sensations or the emergence of consciousness.

Source: CEUR Workshop Proceedings – Paper 20

Source: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy – IIT

The theory remains incomplete. It has even been labeled pseudoscience by some, and Chalmers himself—while sympathetic to the idea—admits that IIT still does not provide a satisfying explanation for the hard problem of subjective experience emerging from a material substrate.

Even with these deep uncertainties around the brain and consciousness, in the coaching dynamic, perhaps the point is not to decide which element is most important, but to recognize that true transformation happens when all of them converge within the vast dimension of informational integration.

And the coach’s role, above all, is to facilitate awareness of that space.

I’ll even offer a metaphor for that final idea:

“The client brings the seed, the coach is the gardener, the method is the set of tools... but nothing grows without fertile soil — the active and present consciousness.”

If you feel it’s time to bring more light and clarity within yourself, I warmly invite you to a discovery session.

Sometimes, one small step can open an important door.

Take the leap!

PS. The work in the image, "Phi," is not a separate piece but will be part of the pages of a unique copy of my book, "Text, Sound and Texture."

https://www.anamariasanduta.com/en/post/span-over-time-the-birth-of-a-book