Kevin Conklin’s impressive credentials reflect his deep commitment to helping individuals connect with their inner selves and create a more joyful and fulfilling future. His qualifications include:
- Holding certification as a Professional Coach accredited by ICF ACC
- Earning the title of Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner, certified by IPEC
- Achieving certification as a Primordial Sound Meditation Instructor through the Chopra Center
- Gaining expertise as a Psychic Medium after over 15 years of dedicated study under world-renowned masters
- Attaining Usui Reiki Level III Practitioner status
- Holding a 2nd Dan Blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do
- Boasting a distinguished 25+ year career in executive leadership
With this wealth of experience and expertise, Kevin offers a range of services tailored to individual needs, including coaching, intuitive readings, remote healing, and mindfulness instruction.
Find out more about this fabulous individual in this MysticMag interview.
How do you define spiritual coaching and what distinguishes it from other coaching approaches?
Thanks for asking. It’s an important question because people often equate spiritual coaching with religion. But in the context of my practice, spirituality pertains to your inner spirit. So it is spirit in the same vein as the holistic concept of mind, body, and spirit. Of course, it is founded on the belief there is something greater than the sum of our biological parts. Some level of ourselves that is connected to something bigger that serves as an inner compass. If we are unaware of or have become disconnected from that compass, we can find ourselves lost, stuck, or unhappy with our lives.
Spiritual coaching is an extension of life coaching. Both deal more with quality-of-life issues as opposed to career, sales, or leadership coaching. In life coaching, we strive to create awareness in the client as to habits, actions, motivations, and thoughts that underly their complaint. We ask open-ended questions that lead to self-discovery of solutions to their current situation.
Spiritual coaching takes this a level deeper. A spiritual coach focuses on helping the client connect with their authentic selves. This requires that the coach connects with their own spirit. In this space, there is no judgment or agenda, only compassion, and curiosity. The conversation is at the level of spirit. It helps the client discover the misalignment between their lives and what their spirit wants. Then we help them adapt their lives to be in alignment with that inner spirit.
How do you incorporate mindfulness training into your spiritual coaching practice?
When someone reaches out to a coach, they are often suffering from a combination of external expectations, stress, and confused thoughts. The coach’s role is to lead them through a process of self-discovery. We want to create awareness as to thoughts, beliefs, and behavior patterns that are causing their pain. Mindfulness aids the self-discovery process and ongoing wellness. I offer all of my clients free access to mindfulness training in the form of video resources. These videos show someone how to develop and maintain a regular practice of daily, 5-minute mindfulness exercises.
I do this because mindfulness is such a powerful tool. It facilitates the client’s healing. But more importantly, it provides them with a resource that delivers happiness for the rest of their lives.
Mindfulness does three important things for my clients. First, it helps quiet the mind. Second, it shows the client that thoughts only have the power you give them. Third, it teaches them how to choose which thoughts they wish to follow.
Slowing the mind gives the client the space for self-discovery and a deeper awareness of their condition. Once they’ve discovered the beliefs and thought patterns causing their pain, mindfulness is the tool they need to gain power over them. Finally, mindfulness gives you a lifelong tool to minimize stress, focus on constructive thoughts, and find happiness
Can you provide an example of how you have helped clients navigate their spiritual development journey?
There are many. That’s why I love spiritual coaching. But perhaps we can talk about one in particular that I’ll refer to with the fictional name of Will. Will lost an executive position in his mid-50s. After a few years of searching for a similar role, he decided to pursue a career in coaching. When Will came to me, he was struggling to build his coaching business while also pursuing a dwindling set of career opportunities. He felt the need to choose because he wasn’t making progress on either option. In our first few sessions, two things were apparent. His mind was racing and his thoughts were heavily influenced by third-party input. Will did not know his own mind on the issues. Our sessions would start with a mindfulness-centering exercise. I encourage his original thoughts on matters. Gradually he became aware that he had a tremendous opportunity to finally do what HE wanted to do with his life. But he was so preoccupied with the opinions of others he had no idea what that was.
Will decided to go on a spiritual pilgrimage to find his answers. He is now happily coaching community leaders in central London.
How do you establish a strong rapport and trust with your clients in the coaching relationship?
Rapport and trust flow in an interesting way, from following the precepts of mindfulness. Mindfulness is a sustained, self-directed focus of attention with an attitude of curiosity and non-judgment.
In a client session, my attention is fully focused on the client. I am listening, watching, and sensing their communication and energy shifts. I dismiss stray thoughts and maintain a sense of deep curiosity. This leads to deep, open-ended questions that create client awareness.
That focus on the client and the authenticity that flows from being connected to my own spirit fosters strong rapport and trust. This type of coaching can not be done if the coach isn’t in the right space.
What strategies do you employ to help clients overcome obstacles and stay motivated during their personal development journey?
Each client engagement has a natural story arch. The client sets a goal as to where they want to be at the end of the story. But clients don’t all move forward at the same speed. They have periods of growth intermingled with setbacks. I honor that aspect of a personal development journey. Each session moves from where on that road the client is now to where they want to get to today. The overall engagement goal forms the guardrails. On top of that, I deploy industry-proven techniques to help people overcome internal and external obstacles on the road to their growth.
How do you ensure ethical and professional practice in spiritual coaching, especially when dealing with sensitive topics related to spiritual beliefs and personal growth?
A good coach knows they are not there to judge or give advice. What I believe or have experienced is most likely not useful to my client. So you learn to rely on good coaching practices and open-ended questions to create results. A professional practice is all about the client. The only things I bring to the table are my abilities to connect, build rapport and trust, and elicit self-awareness. Besides this, any business must honor its commitments. I adhere to the Code of Ethics of the International Coaching Federation.
However, I find the biggest guarantee that my practice is professional and ethical is my adherence to the principle that I am here to serve the client. If in every action related to a client, I am of service, I have no worries.
