Ethics in Coaching: A Living Practice of Authenticity

Ethics in coaching is often framed in terms of external standards—rules, guidelines, and protocols that tell us what is “right” or “wrong.” But from a lived and transpersonal perspective, ethics is not about applying a fixed framework to dynamic human encounters. Rather, it’s about presence, authenticity, and a commitment to inner work that allows us to meet each client as a whole, evolving person—moment by moment.

In this view, ethics is deeply relational and embodied. It requires us not only to know the codes, but to feel into what is happening in the space between us and another. Every coaching relationship is unique, and so every ethical decision must be rooted in an attunement to context, timing, and mutual resonance. This includes sensitive areas like touch—often considered taboo or off-limits in many professional coaching settings. Yet, when approached with care and consent, touch can be profoundly healing. The key is asking, never assuming: “Would you want a hug?” “Can I hold your hand just for this moment?”—always inviting, never imposing.

This kind of ethical awareness cannot be reduced to morality. Morality is culturally constructed, often rigid, and based on inherited ideas of right and wrong. Ethics, in contrast, is alive. It arises from within—from the coach’s own process of self-knowing and self-honesty. It is inextricably linked with authenticity: the willingness to show up as a full human being, flaws and all. Not pretending to have it all figured out, but being transparent when we don’t know, and grounded enough to navigate uncertainty without collapsing into it.

Holding space ethically also means acknowledging our own parts—especially the ones that get activated in the coaching room. There may be impulses to “fix,” to push, or to take over. When those show up, the ethical move isn’t to suppress or deny them, but to recognize them and seek support—through supervision, reflection, and inner work. This helps us expand our internal container, so we can hold both our experience and the client’s without entanglement or projection.

Ethical coaching is not about perfection—it’s about capacity. The capacity to stay present. To inquire. To regulate. To know when to step back. And to remain in authentic relationship with ourselves and the client throughout.

Finally, ethics is not a destination, but an emergent quality of the relational field. It’s not about knowing the truth, but about participating in a shared truth that reveals itself through dialogue, through presence, and through the courage to be real. Sometimes the space is soft and light; sometimes it’s raw and uncomfortable. Both are welcome. Because it’s in the dance between polarities—comfort and discomfort, knowing and not-knowing, self and other—that ethical practice is forged.

To be ethical, then, is to be authentic in relation—attuned, aware, and human. Always learning. Always listening. And always coming back to the question: Who am I being in this moment?