How does life work? Life is actually so simple. As Jesus (needs no introduction) said "I am the way and the Truth and the life." We just make it complicated. You become 'the way' by getting out of your own way. This creates infinite possibilities for your life.
Osho said “A really mature person cannot be serious, there is nothing to be serious about. The whole of life is fun, it is a play, a play of consciousness.” Let's play with some metaphors...
Clarity about inner transformation and absolute Truth with regard to life cannot be put into words and the mind cannot comprehend it. Only an open heart can feel it. As human beings we use metaphors in order to approximate Truth. These metaphors come from different disciplines such as psychology, neurobiology, philosophy, spirituality, yoga, 12-step recovery, and Transformative Life Coaching (TLC): The last of which encompasses the positive elements and wisdom of all of these disciplines: TLC is the overlap in the Venn diagram of these disciplines. TLC is the sweet spot; the reason for being; the Ikigai of Truth. Truth can only be felt.
As Sydney Banks wrote "Similar to the artist's painting, the words of the wise have created only a psychological illusion. A psychological illusion is our personal interpretation of such knowledge. The knowledge you seek can only be explained as a metaphor.” Metaphors are as close as we can get to verbalising Truth. The deeper one looks into these disciplines and their metaphors, the closer one gets to realising that they all have the same message and are attempting to reflect the same Truth.
Life is like a tower. You need to build solid foundations and escape the ego in the basement, otherwise all that you create crumbles and returns to dust. The ego is a great servant but a terrible master. If you can harness its energy, with your soul in the driving seat, it will fuel your life, rather than burn it up. It is like taming a wild horse. The soul lives in the penthouse of the tower that is your life. When the ego looks out from the basement it just sees the mud all around. The soul looks out from the top floors and sees the stars.
Psychology uses Jungian archetypes, ego concepts, narratives, and ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’; addiction recovery uses the 12-steps; spirituality uses the Hero’s Journey and 'The Tower of Life' (the seven Chakras); and TLC uses all of these metaphors and also Hagberg’s theory of Real Personal Power.
Your heart, the dwelling place of your soul, will recognise the Truth behind the metaphors through feeling aliveness, stillness, peace, love, joy, and alignment. Other methods such as story telling, fairy tales (such as Pinocchio), fables, movies (such as ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Star Wars’), and even architecture are other disciplines and metaphors that attempt to give us a way of understanding, coping, and dealing with, and even to transcend, life’s challenges. These all approximate to the same inexpressible Truth.
In this article I will show you how these disciplines and metaphors are all essentially the same with regards to Truth. In this article I will focus on the similarity of The Hero's Journey, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Hagberg’s theory of Real Personal Power and the Chakra System, but also touch upon the metaphors used in other disciplines such as acting and architecture. These metaphors will allow you to feel (if you are ready to quieten your mind and open your heart) how Eastern philosophy and Western psychology are essentially describing the same Truth about life. Truth is timeless and Universal. Here we go...
Life
Emmet Fox, the spiritual leader who wrote 'The Sermon on the Mount' wrote “You experience life when you feel yourself to be free and useful and joyous, and unconscious of either fear or doubt.”
I am a true believer in integrating Eastern and Western methods for having clarity around how life works and for optimal wellbeing, whether it be psychological, emotional, intellectual, physical, or spiritual. Let's dive into the metaphors used by these various disciplines about the true meaning of life and what they all have in common. These metaphors, and meditating on them, is the path to inner transformation, wellbeing, and Enlightenment. In Transformative Life Coaching (TLC) we will work on dropping all your limiting beliefs and create the space within you to allow you to conceive of infinite and timeless Truth and the possibilities that arise from this place. You will become a peaceful warrior with an open heart, filled with light, who turns pain into peace, shame into Self-love, limiting beliefs into infinite possibility, and suffering into service. Your struggles will become blessings. It's when life is challenging that we forget who we are. The disciplines listed above use metaphors to remind you of your Self.
Metaphor
A metaphor uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent an intangible quality or idea. So, a metaphor helps you to visualise something that cannot be imagined: Truth and Universal consciousness cannot be imagined. This is why every discipline listed above uses metaphors that are all ways of attempting to describe the same Universal Truth that cannot be put into words. When the metaphors are received by an awakened soul they are felt as joy, love, peace, and serenity. Metaphors have a way of holding the most Truth in the least space.
Click here for my article about wisdom and Truth:
The Hero's Journey
The Hero's Journey is explained in the following article, which Ihave written:
Almost every film or story that you have ever read will contains some or all the elements of the 'Hero's Journey'.
I explain this in detail in the following article:
The Fairy Tale
Fairy tales are handed down from generation to generation, and may be metaphors for transformation. Marie-Louise von Franz wrote “To me, the fairy tale is like the sea, and the sagas and myths are like the waves upon it; a fairy tale rises to be a myth and sinks down again into being a fairy tale. Here again we come to the same conclusion: fairy tales mirror the more simple but also more basic structure - the bare skeleton - of the psyche.” Fairy tales tap into the deepest recesses of human consciousness.
Fairytales can nurture a child's imagination and teach them about real life. Hans Christian Andersen said "Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale." Maria Tatar stated that “Metamorphosis is central to the fairy tale, which shows us figures endlessly shifting their shapes, crossing borders, and undergoing change." Fairy tales can provide us with a sense that we are not alone in our life struggles, and show how they are related to our choice of who we are BEing: Ego or higher Self. Humans have faced these struggles in one form or another since the beginning of time, and fairy tales represent this fundamental concern of the human condition.
Fairy tales that represent transformative metaphors include Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, Cinderella, The Wild Swans, Royal Jelly (from the Tales of the Unexpected), The Sword in The Stone, Hans my Hedgehog (from the Brothers Grimm) The Princess and the Frog, and many more. These are stories about people transforming, often agonisingly, from one shape to another: They are not just ancient, they're primal. They occupied the earliest storytellers and continue to occupy us now. While they may be old, they're by no means primitive. At their best, they're an expression of a more invisible change: A person's progression into their highest Self.
Albert Einstein said "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Oscar Wilde offered a spiritualised literature which explored the limitless world of the imagination. He used the fairy tale form because it offered an opportunity for unrestricted creativity.
Research, including a 2014 study, has suggested that using narrative strategies and storytelling - such as fairy tales and traditional folk tales - may improve a person’s overall wellbeing and have a positive effect on personal growth and Self-acceptance.
Psychologically, fairy tales reflect our inner landscape, and the characters can represent aspects of our own personalities and spiritual development.
The Psychology of Fairy Tales
Sigmund Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis, which evaluates and treats conflicts in the psyche, believed that fairy tales were especially helpful in illustrating theories of the mind and of consciousness because they were similar to dreams. Like dreams, fairy tales contain symbols that express conflicts, anxieties and desires that humans tend to repress into their unconscious. Carl Jung's view was that fairy tales are the purest and simplest expression of collective unconscious processes of the human psyche. Therefore, their value for the scientific investigation of the unconscious exceeds that of all other material. They represent archetypes in their simplest, barest, and most concise form. Jung said that fairy tales also introduce the various archetypes that he described.
Carl Jung's Archetypes
Carl Jung suggested that every society ever created shared its knowledge through storytelling. Originally all societies were oral and pictorial storytellers, then many moved to written, and now electronic technologies, to tell their stories. Whether it's a Hollywood movie or a classic tale, the same characters show up.
Jung described twelve major archetypes. According to Jung, this is how our minds store information about the human psyche and its relationship to the world. There are archetypes hidden within the deepest recesses of every human mind. These archetypes allow our mind to access and process emotions, people, relationships, and stories into personal meaning, guidance, wisdom, and Truth.
So, Jung used archetypes as a theory to describe the human psyche. These Universal, mythic characters reside within the collective unconscious of all people, regardless of race, culture, or creed. These archetypes provide a symbolic representation of the evolution of human experience, and are deeply held, operating unconsciously, and intricately entwined with our emotions.
Carl Jung's Archetypes
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
This was described by in 1943 by Abraham Maslow, the American psychologist. It is a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs, motivation, choices and action, culminating in self-actualisation or Enlightenment. It has essentially remained unchanged. The various Maslow Hierarchy levels are almost identical to the seven Chakras of Eastern philosophy, also known as the 'Tower of Life' (see below). Interestingly, most European and American scholars in psychology and the general populace in 1943 had never heard of the word Chakra, let alone understood its meaning.
The theory states that five categories of human needs dictate an individual's behaviour. Those needs are in ascending order: Physiological needs; safety needs; love and belonging needs; esteem needs; and self-actualisation needs.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
Lower-level basic needs like food, water, and safety must be met first before higher needs can be fulfilled. Few people are believed to reach the level of Self-actualisation, but we can all have moments of peak experiences. The influence of the levels is not completely fixed: For some, esteem outweighs love, while others may self-actualise despite poverty. Our behaviours are usually motivated by multiple needs simultaneously.
The Tower of Life (or the Seven Chakras)
The Tower of Life, also known as the Seven Chakras or energy centres (prana), follow the Hero's Journey, fairy tales, and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Chakras mark places where spiritual energies intersect. There is a wonderful book by Dan Millman, the Olympic athlete turned spiritual coach, called 'Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior,' which describes these energy centres and how they relate to our awakening.
This tower conveys what you need to know for now, as you progress upwards along the spiritual path. The Tower of Life, like the 'kingdom of God', is within you. This is clear as it represents the ascending parts of your own body.
Each floor has distinct qualities. As you progress through the levels, each successive level represents a more expanded way of awareness of BEing: A guide to who you are right now.
The Seven Chakras
The original meaning of the Sanskrit word Chakra is "wheel" and refers to the chariot wheels of the rulers, called cakravartins. The term is defined as a spinning disk or wheel of energy that runs along the spine. In between these wheels are energy channels, which allow the energy to flow from one place to another. The health of one's Chakras is directly connected to the physical, mental, and emotional well being of a person. Blocks in the energy flow must be released through feeling the associated emotions and learning the lessons that they are teaching us.
A couple of decades ago, it was believed that the Seven Chakras related only to spiritual development. However, recent scientific studies have proven the opposite, uncovering several regulatory Chakras in the human body that are deeply related to human psychology, wellbeing, emotional peace and joy. The field of neuropsychology, which studies the brain and the connected nervous system, is increasingly recognising the role Chakras have in human psychology. The East is meeting the West.
In Buddhism, there are four primary Chakras. In many forms of Hinduism, there are seven. These seven Chakras are believed to be connected via nadi, or energy channels. The concept of Chakras ties into the early Hindu concepts of a physical body and a 'subtle' body, which is spiritual in nature. While the physical body consists of mass and is visible, the subtle body, which includes the mind and emotions, consists of energy and is invisible. Over time, the concept of Chakras evolved, influencing various Hindu and Buddhist traditions and healing therapies. They belong to a set of beliefs known collectively as Tantra.
In this system, spiritual or psychic energy from the subtle body influences the physical body and vice versa. This means that the status of a person’s Chakras can shape their overall health and wellbeing.
The concept of Chakras has influenced many holistic practices worldwide, including yoga, Ayurveda, and some modern therapies, such as sound baths.
Some Western scholars believe that the Chakra system began in India between 1500 BC and 500 BC, when the earliest yoga texts, the Vedas, were written. However, most of the Indian scholars believe that the origin of the Chakra system is much older than that. The Chakras, as psychic centres of consciousness, are first mentioned in the Yoga Upanishads (600 B.C.) and later in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (200 B.C.). The original sages passed down the knowledge of the Chakra system through an oral tradition, much before the Aryan (Indo-European) people entered into India. Hence, to trace the origin of the Chakra system, we have to discover the source of the oral tradition of the Chakra system beyond the available ancient texts. In the oral tradition, the transmission of knowledge was from teacher to the student, through presence, speech, stories, prose, and verses, as metaphors.
Chakras came to the West via a translation by the Englishman, Arthur Avalon (a pseudonym for Sir John George Woodroffe, an Orientalist who's extensive and complex published works on the Tantras, and other Hindu traditions, stimulated a wide-ranging interest in Hindu philosophy and yoga), in his book, "The Serpent Power" published in 1919,
Vedas are considered as the philosophy of the Indian system and Chakras are considered as the science of the inner body. According to the Chakra philosophy, the whole Universe is perceived as being created, penetrated, and sustained by two fundamental forces, which are permanently in a perfect, indestructible union. This principle of polarity is the foundation stone of the Chakra system. Biologically it represents the masculine and the feminine poles. For my explanation of the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine click here:
The Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine is another metaphor for transformation and Truth.
In Chakra philosophy, these forces or Universal aspects are called Shiva and Shakti. Shakti is the personification of the Universe, and her activity is to love, while Shiva shares the state of supreme consciousness.
When you build a tower without rock solid psychological foundations you unconsciously end up building 'The Wrong Tower.' Click on the following link for my article on 'The Wrong Tower Phenomenon':
The Chakras and Neurobiology
The Chakras balance two opposing forces: The balance between Chakra excitation and Chakra inhibition is crucial to healthy cognition and behaviour. Glutamate and GABA are the two opposing neurotransmitters. Whereas a brain dominated by glutamate would only be capable of exciting itself in repeated bursts of activity, conversely, a brain governed by GABA would only be capable of quiet and soft activities, with little synchronisation necessary for meaningful communication between brain areas. Healthy brain activity thrives in the middle of these two extremes, where a balance between excitation and inhibition generates complex patterns of nervous system activity.
The Root Chakra
This is the first Chakra and is located at the base of the spine. It is the “root” of your being and establishes the deepest connections with your physical being, your environment, and with the Earth. It is responsible for fear, paralysis, desolation, and survival, and your sense of safety, and security. It relates to that which looks out for the self alone. This level is populated with only opponents and enemies and vibrates at a low energy level. Tragically it is the place where most people dwell and live (pardon the pun - rather don't truly live). It relates to the basic urges of food, sex, sleep, ambition, and self-preservation. If you don’t feel safe, you can’t ever feel a sense of trust, which is part of the Heart Chakra (the fourth level). This is extremely important in basic attachment and security. Without this, many physical and emotional issues can arise, including deep-rooted fear.
If you are not feeling safe, then you live in survival mode, this activates your autonomic nervous system, which is the part of the nervous system responsible for the control of the bodily functions that are not consciously directed, such as breathing, the heartbeat, and digestive processes. It is your fight or flight reaction. This is one of the main areas that causes post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when under the effects of trauma or lack of safety. So while food and shelter provide basic needs, to truly feel inner peace you need to feel safe. Only when you feel safe can you allow yourself to feel loved and feel a sense of belonging.
When the Root Chakra is balanced, it is thought to create feelings of security, positivity, energy, independence, and strength.
The Sacral Plexus Chakra
This is the second Chakra. This is located in your lower abdomen and is responsible for creativity, joy, emotion, sensuality, intimacy, and desires. This level also involves sorrow and weakness.
The Solar Plexus Chakra
This is the third Chakra. This is located in your abdomen, above your belly button. It is the energy centre responsible for order, personal power, purpose, will (as opposed to a calling, which is an altogether more delightful and abundant way of BEing), Self-esteem and confidence, and control over your Self and others. To allow this gives you a sense of personal power, and achieving control over your Self can be very empowering. This Chakra is responsible for processing life's experiences. When this Chakra is balanced, it becomes a source of energy, productivity, and confidence. This level involves the emotions of anger and discipline.
The Heart Chakra
This is the fourth Chakra and is the location of the open heart: The ego (the place from which most people live) is no longer the centre. It is the core of your deep bonds with other people, your sense of caring and compassion, your feelings of Self-love, and unconditional real love towards others, unity, generosity, kindness, trust, service, and respect. When you open your heart, you can receive love, compassion, and are more flexible and open to change. Maslow refers to this level as the “Love & Belonging Needs." Without relationships and human interactions, a person can feel isolated, angry, mistrustful, jealous, depressed, or lonely, while an abundance of love, community, and social interaction can sustain people through difficult times.
The Heart Chakra is the bridge between the lowest three Chakras of matter or ego (see above) and the highest three Chakras that are related to spirit or the highest Self, the soul (see below). The lowest three levels are not interested in the higher levels. That is the challenge of any Hero's Journey: How to become aware that you are not aware! Clearing the lowest three floors and dealing with the issues there strengthens the ego. On the fourth floor, the realm of the open heart, you first make contact with your soul (higher Self). You cannot develop the upper branches until your roots are grounded and run deep. There is no shortcut to blossoming in the spiritual journey. The Tower must have a strong foundation or it will crumble. You have to clean up the basement before you move into the penthouse with the helipad. The upper floors should not concern you in the early phases of the recovery of your true Self. This is the danger of the ego. Let go of what you can't control.
'The great leap' is a leap of faith. It is the most wonderful, yet difficult and painful leap that any human being can make in their life, but also the most worthwhile: This is a leap up and out of the personal concerns of the lower three levels and into the heart. Once you get to the Heart Chakra the rest is an elevator ride skywards. All our external goals (which are the only ones that our dysfunctional society celebrates and encourages, which lead to dramas and the crumbling of our Tower) that reflect the ubiquitous human quest for external validation, hold us back from ascending all seven levels. It may be possible for some to take the leap in this lifetime, but not all, depending on openness, honesty, commitment, and willingness.
As you ascend through the levels you get a different perspective on the world: Gradually evolving from a lens of fear to one of love. At this fourth level we see openness, honesty, and love in service of one another.
You will be drawn down to the lowest three levels repeatedly until those lower issues, that must be brought into the light, have been dealt with and cleared, and the lessons learned.
Only once you have done this, can accept what is, rather than clinging to dream-like illusions, and let go will angelic energies draw you upwards to return to your true home: Your sacred Hero's Journey; your soul's purpose.
The Throat Chakra
This is the fifth Chakra. This Chakra supports Self-expression, communication, revelation, and authenticity, allowing us to express ourselves completely with vulnerability and yet with confidence. When you feel safe, loved, and have a sense of Self, you can speak freely and communicate your feelings. Maslow refers to this area as Esteem Needs. Esteem needs refer to the need for Self-esteem, Self-confidence, and mastery of one's Self. As Maslow explains, these needs are the basis for the human desire we all have to be accepted and valued by others.
The Third Eye Chakra
This is the sixth Chakra. It is also known as 'The Brow'. This is where our consciousness is located. It is the centre of intuition, insight, vision, clairvoyance, perception, foresight, knowledge, intellect, and perception and directs our sight and everyday awareness of the world. When you achieve this level, you have compassion, attunement with yourself and others, an inner awareness, imagination, serenity, and a feeling of being in service. This Chakra is believed to be a source of spiritual power. According to this belief system, an open and balanced third eye Chakra allows you to notice the connections in this world and beyond. When balanced, the third eye is believed to free you from earthly attachments; the cause of much of our pain. This level is the dwelling place of those with pure effulgent light who are in communion with spirit.
The Crown Chakra
This is the seventh, and the highest Chakra. Also known as the “thousand petal lotus” Chakra, this is considered the most spiritual of the central Chakras. It is pure spirit. This is located at the top of the head. It leads to higher states of consciousness and a great 'remembering' of who you really are. It is the centre of trust, devotion, inspiration, harmony, awe, bliss, compassion, wisdom, Truth, peace, the sense of oneness, transcendance, Self-realisation, and Enlightenment. This Chakra’s role is to promote a more enlightened approach to the world. No self (with a small 's') remains. It is pure Self (with a capital 'S", also known as the soul).
Opening the Crown Chakra is believed to connect a person to their higher Self, since it’s the place of spirituality, Enlightenment, and energetic thoughts. It is tied to inner wisdom and the cosmos. When unbalanced, the Crown Chakra is thought to influence depression, disconnection from the outside world, frustration, and destructive emotions.
Spirituality can be a great tool for many. Some people may find this belief system helpful in understanding their lifestyles, but it is still important to keep all avenues of support open. Talk with a health care professional if you’re having issues with mental health or physical health.
Chakras and health
Depending on the philosophical and spiritual orientation of the practitioner, a person may promote healthier Chakra energy with a range of Chakra-based therapies, such as:
Yoga, including the use of specific yoga positions to promote energy flow. Yoga has proven benefit in recovering from trauma and is recommended as one of the two main treatment modalities recommended by the landmark book 'The Body Keeps The Score' by trauma expert Bessel van Der Kolk. Yoga involves a combination of movement and mindful breathing. It helps to calm a dysregulated nervous system. I practice yoga five times per week
Meditation to visualise unblocking the Chakras. Meditation has proven benefits (in many scientific studies) in allowing the whole brain to function in concert. I believe that it should be a daily practice. I meditate twice every day. Meditation is often a part of Chakra unblocking. Meditation reduces stress, eases anxiety and depression, lowers your blood pressure, gives you mental clarity (through reducing the negative inner chatter) and access to your intuitive wisdom in the stillness of silence. For my article all about meditation and how to do it please click here:
From the perspective of Western medicine, Chakra-based therapies may be popular for several reasons. For example, they may support relaxation and promote a sense of wellbeing. A sense of spiritual wellbeing may also impact mental or physical health. For example, a 2019 study found that older Taiwanese adults who reported spiritual wellbeing had lower scores for depression and higher scores for perceived good health. The participants reported practicing exercise and relaxation techniques to improve their spiritual wellbeing. Both of these also have benefits for health.
With our emotions, we want to move energy up to liberate ourselves. The tendency amongst us all (especially amongst the British!) is to shove it all down and swallow our emotions along with our pride. They become lodged in our lower Chakras, heavy weights that make us feel stuck. To release them, we need to first recognise that they are there, feel them, and allow them to make us uncomfortable. Only in our willingness to see what we’ve hidden can we unearth and release. Working with or mastering these Chakras is part of a quest for spiritual Enlightenment in Hinduism.
Comparing the metaphors of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the Chakras
The following diagram shows how these two metaphors are essentially just two ways of describing the Truth about life.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs compared with the seven chakras by Diane Roberts Stoler, a neuropsychologist and trauma therapist
The similarity between the two systems is very obvious. We will never know if Maslow knew about Chakra philosophy and translated it into a Western style, or whether the Universe somehow presented this guide to Self-development and Self-actualisation to both cultures.
Maslow combined the final two Chakras into his last level, the need for Self-actualisation. It is the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Achieving personal growth and development throughout your life allows for Self-mastery, the desire to help others, and a sense of the meaning of life. Once you are Self-actualised, you’ve met your full potential as an individual.
Architecture and acting
The proscenium arch, the metaphorical frame or arch separating the stage from the auditorium, through which the action of a play is viewed, entices the audience to an actor's will. It defines or differentiates the two "worlds" of the theatre the world of the actors and the world of the audience. This is in contrast to immersive theatre, where the play is intertwined with the audience.
The proscenium may be considered as a social construct which divides the actors and their stage-world from the audience which has come to witness it. The concept of the witness and the actors on the stage is a metaphor for how we can develop spiritually. The soul, as spirit, is an observer of life which is the stage. As William Shakespeare wrote "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts." Actors and artists bare their souls in the expression of their work and in each moment bring a new life to creativity. As observers, we can not rearrange the set behind the arch or influence the actors. The key to joy and a spiritual life is that we need to learn to enjoy the play that is life, be observers, and let go of control. Actors too must realise that it is their authenticity, and not their mask, that creates real magic on stage.
Summary
Metaphors are used by various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, spirituality, and religion in an attempt to describe the same thing: Indescribable Truths about our true nature as part of the infinite. As such these metaphors have many parallels, which point to how the ego is a wonderful servant but a terrible master; that our higher Self is our path to Enlightenment, and help to guide us from our ego (fear and the unconscious) to our soul (love and consciousness).
The most difficult thing to do is to hear your own soul. Very few people ever do. The sole purpose of your soul is its own evolution. The soul seeks to feel itself and therefore to know itself in its own experience. Stop judging your Self. Learn what is your soul’s desire and go with that. It seeks the highest feeling of unconditional love. The highest feeling is a return to unity and oneness with all that is. This is simplicity and the magnitude of the soul’s journey. Can you hear it calling?
Sending you love, light, and blessings.
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Olly Alexander Branford MD, MBBS, MA(Cantab), PhD
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“Transformative life coaching uniquely creates and holds the space for you to see your self afresh, with clarity, and step into new ways of BEing, which will transform how you perceive and intuitively create your world. My work is to guide you to raise your own conscious awareness to the level that you want to achieve.” Olly Alexander Branford
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I am very pleased to meet you. Thank you for reading this far. I very much look forward to connecting with the highest version of you, to seeing your highest possibility, and to our conversations. Please do contact me via my website for a free connection call and a free experience of coaching. I am here to serve you.
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Olly Alexander Branford MD, MBBS, MA(Cantab), PhD
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I have a Bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences from Trinity College, Cambridge; a Master's Degree in Philosophy from Trinity College, Cambridge; a PhD Doctorate in Scientific Research from University College London (UCL); a Medical Degree (MD/MBBS) from The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London and have been a doctor and reconstructive trauma and cancer surgeon in London for 20 years. I have published over 50 peer reviewed scientific journal articles, have been an associate editor and frequent scientific faculty member, and am the author of several scientific books. I have been awarded my Diploma in Transformative Life Coaching in London, which has International Coaching Federation (ICF) Accreditation, as well as the UK Association for Coaching (AC), and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). I have been on my own transformative journey full time for four years and I am ready to be your guide to you finding out who you really are and how the world works.