"The Other Within: Harnessing the Law of Correspondence in Transpersonal Coaching Through Embodied Ownership and Emotional Allowance" A Case Study Report

Case Study Report

"The Other Within: Harnessing the Law of Correspondence in Transpersonal Coaching Through Embodied Ownership and Emotional Allowance"

by Jessica Brockmann

---

ABSTRACT

This case study examines the application of the Law of Correspondence within transpersonal coaching and explores how embodying two key qualities in the client-coach relationship—ownership and emotional allowance—can foster a safe and transformative space. Data were collected from four transpersonal coaching clients and the coach through feedback forms, session notes, and personal reflections, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings suggest that individuals attract experiences that resonate with their inner state, and emphasize the significance of taking ownership of one’s personal experiences and embracing all emotions without judgment. The study discusses the mutual benefits of these practices within the client-coach relationship through the lens of the law of correspondence, highlighting their potential to support healing and personal growth.

INTRODUCTION

"What you see, what you perceive of the world, is what you carry within you. You can never take responsibility for what others perceive of you, but you must take responsibility for what you see in others because that is where you see the part that belongs to you." (De Stefano, 2021)

For centuries, humans have sought to uncover universal principles that govern existence, giving rise to various traditions and philosophies. Within the hermetic tradition, certain recurring patterns have been synthesized into the Hermetic Laws (Kybalion, 2022). Among these, the Law of Correspondence draws attention to the significant relationship between an individual’s inner world—encompassing their thoughts, beliefs, and emotions—and their external reality.

This case study focuses on the application of the Law of Correspondence within the client-coach relationship in the context of transpersonal coaching. Specifically, it examines how the relationship dynamics are affected and investigates how a coach can skillfully navigate such dynamics to foster mutual growth and transformation. Siegel (2020) proposes that healing often occurs in safe, supportive relationships, as the brain can regulate itself through interpersonal experiences. Hence, this report additionally examines two main qualities to embody within a coaching relationship to create a safe space in which transformation is catalyzed. Offering insights into their application and implications in a professional coaching context.

Transpersonal coaching is a practice that embraces a holistic and integrative approach to supporting client development. It offers the potential for profound transformation by addressing not only the psychological but also the spiritual dimensions of the individual (Dängeli, 2022).

METHOD

Between October and December 2024, I coached six pro bono clients: two former TCP students, one Alef Trust MSc student, and three peer referrals. All clients were women aged 25–65, diverse in nationality, culture, and familiarity with transpersonal concepts. Their motivations ranged from addressing practical life challenges to exploring the Self and processing separation and loss.

Sessions, scheduled via Calendly and conducted virtually on Zoom, lasted 60–80 minutes. Clients signed consent agreements outlining confidentiality, ethical considerations, and the nature of TCP. Pseudonyms were used in this report to maintain confidentiality.

Preparation included a centering practice with lighting three candles symbolizing the client, life, and myself, and a brief invocation for support of serving the whole. Each session began with a guided arrival practice to establish a shared space and ended with a closing practice to embody the experience. Clients were invited to address unmet needs or open questions before closure. Within this structure, I adapted the coaching session to the emerging experience. Being with what is included periods of open dialogue, explorative sequences and teachings, and processing. Interventions such as open awareness (Dängeli, 2022), imaginative journeys, or parts work (Schwartz, 2019) would be adapted accordingly.

Data was collected through feedback forms with open-ended questions, session notes and personal notes based on the ASE coaching skills checklist (Alef Trust, 2024), recorded after each session. Four feedback forms and all session notes were analyzed thematically. To identify codes and themes emerging from the data, a thematic analysis was used (Braun & Clarke, 2023), revealing three key themes: Correspondence, Ownership, and Allowance.

RESULTS

Correspondence - Meeting Myself in the Other

As a Coach, you attract what resonates with your being, drawing in familiar frequencies.

Dängeli (2022) suggests that coaches often encounter individuals who reflect conscious or unconscious aspects of themselves requiring integration. This aligns with the hermetic law of correspondence, expressed as "as within, so without" (Kybalion, 2022). Experiences mirror the self: complaints highlight personal limitations, falling in love reveals desired yet unrecognized qualities, and rejection reflects disowned or disliked traits (De Stefano, 2021).

The data highlights how my journey of healing, shadow work, and inner transformation creates a frequency that unconsciously attracts resonant clients. Notably, none of the randomly selected clients knew me beforehand.

"It seems like every client is a valuable and sometimes challenging mirror of my own shadows. Reflecting emotions, beliefs, questions, and even physical challenges back to me, inviting me to look deeper within, while also urging me simultaneously to extend my ability to hold space for them." (see Appendix)

The following thematic areas, prominent in my shadow work and coaching sessions, demonstrate this:

Establishing a healthy sense of self (e.g., setting boundaries, embracing needs, trusting intuition)
Body/mind disconnection
Mental default mode: “I think (...)”
Existential Questions: Who Am I?
Emotional repression, and rejection: "should not feel...", "can not feel...", "do not want to feel...", "difficult to feel..."
Spiritual Bypassing
Physical manifestations of blocked energy (throat and solar plexus)

The data suggests two core qualities coaches can embody and guide their clients toward leveraging the law of correspondence: ownership and allowance.

Ownership - The Quality of Freedom

Owning one’s experience liberates individuals from circumstances and allows transformation to occur.

Rudd (2015) proposed that the significance of an event lies not in the event itself but in how individuals respond to it. Attitude can be conceptualized in two dimensions: perceiving oneself as a victim of circumstances or taking full responsibility for one’s situation. Through the use of open awareness techniques (Dängeli, 2022) and titrated somatic inquiry (Livine, 1997), clients were guided toward self-awareness, gradually uncovering their internal reactions to perceived triggers. This process enabled clients to turn inward and cultivate agency.

For instance, one client, Alice, reflected, "I became aware of myself and I experienced a new expanded state of awareness (...) I feel more relaxed now and less apprehensive to face challenging situations in daily life" (see Appendix). Over six sessions, Alice explored how her external experiences could serve as a guide to deeper inner exploration, reporting that she "feels more empowered" and that "the coaching has given me tools (...) to get in touch with my own personal experience".

Similarly, Emma shared, "The sessions (...) have also created the space for me to truly see and hear myself, to validate myself and to trust myself" (see Appendix). She emphasized the development of self-trust as integral to owning her experiences and taking agency. Emma further noted, "I am more able to bring myself back to the present moment, back to my truth and back into my heart space." Isabella’s experience highlighted a shift from victimization to responsibility, as she reflected on the nature of emotions: "This process prompted me to reflect on the root of my feelings and shifted my understanding of what emotion truly means" (see Appendix). This insight enabled her to embrace activities she had previously avoided due to a sense of shame. Mia expressed a newfound respect for her current state and the ability to relax into the present moment, stating, "Respecting my mind blockages and where I am currently (...) now being able to relax into the moment" (see Appendix).

The data shows that the quality of freedom emerges when the client recognizes that the source of her perceived reality resides within herself. By taking ownership of her emotions, beliefs, and patterns, these elements become transformable, fostering increased self-efficacy, self-trust, and relaxation.

Allowance - The Quality of Graciousness

Graciously allowing all emotions enables reconnection to blocked energy, catalyzing transformation at the physical, emotional, and mental level of the experiencing self.

Maté (2003) proposes that trauma occurs when an individual loses the ability to cope with overwhelming emotions and stress, resulting in an internal disconnection from the self. Hence, restoring connection to self can be achieved by gradually allowing one to feel all protector and exiled parts carrying a unique set of emotions, beliefs, and patterns (Schwartz, 2019). Welwood (2011) emphasizes that allowing whatever arises to be there as it is and gently inquiring into it leads naturally to a deeper truth. Suppressing or resisting any emotional state dishonors and distrusts the feeling, creating a barrier to acceptance (Rudd, 2015).

Alice reported gaining insight into her emotional and physical awareness, stating, "I have learned how to read my emotions and recognize and name physical feelings" (see Appendix). Similarly, Isabella reflected that sessions "helped unlock emotions that had been simmering beneath the surface. It gave me the space to acknowledge and express them fully" (see Appendix).

Emma described the sessions as offering "a quiet, safe, and gentle place to rest, take some weight off my shoulders, and just 'be'—allowing whatever needs to present itself in that being to become known" (see Appendix). She noted that the sessions "feel like a giant hug," fostering the conditions necessary for allowing. Similarly, Alice and Isabella highlighted the importance of qualities such as "unconditionality," "gentleness," "flexibility," "resourcefulness," and "undivided attention" in supporting the process of allowing (see Appendix). Mia shared, "I felt more acceptance in not having the answers right away" (see Appendix), emphasizing the value of allowing and surrendering to the experience, which enabled her to uncover new perspectives beneath the surface.

DISCUSSION

The coaching relationship—defined as a "process of intersubjective responses between people" (Dängeli, 2022) influenced by the law of correspondence — can become mutually beneficial when both coach and client own their subjective experience with graciousness. The more coaches allow, accept and embrace in themselves, the more they radiate toward their clients.

Porges (2011) notes that safety starts in our biology as a felt sense of our moment-to-moment physical expression, which Siegel (2020) further links to the ability to process unconscious material within the "window of tolerance." Maté (2003) additionally emphasizes the importance of a safe environment and self-compassion for addressing repressed emotions. I argue, based on the data and my personal experience, that ownership fosters self-efficacy and self-trust, resulting in a perceived sense of safety and self-compassion for both coaches and clients. This sense of safety enables both - on different levels - to allow, accept, and embrace surfacing unconscious material with greater graciousness. A self-reinforcing process, advancing healing and awakening.

Moreover, when approached consciously and skillfully by the coach, transference and countertransference—emerging as a natural outcome of the law of correspondence—can become valuable tools for understanding the dynamics of the client-coach relationship and facilitating mutual healing and growth. Welwood (2011) affirms this principle, stating that "(...) the ability to see and feel what another person is going through is what we could call "accurate empathy."" Practices such as open awareness support the necessary expansion of awareness as it "reframes one’s current experience of self, placing phenomena within one’s expanded awareness, as opposed to these being perceived as separate from oneself" (Dängeli, 2022). It also highlights the value of supervision practices in coaching to strengthen the coach's capacities. Building on this, the coaching process could be described as a bi-directional process in which both, coach and client engage in "transjective" knowing (Vervaeke, 2024). Transjective knowing is described by Vervaeke (2024) as "a mode of knowing that's participatory rather than observational." According to this concept, inner truth arises not from detachment but through engagement and relationship, making it an ongoing process of developing deeper connection with oneself, the other, and reality.

This case study has provided a deeper understanding of how the law of correspondence influences the coach-client relationship and how it can be mutually addressed. However, a case study has limitations, including a small sample size and restricted timeframe, making the findings non-generalizable. Additionally, the Law of Correspondence, often seen as a spiritual concept, is under-researched, particularly in coaching applications, offering opportunities for further study. Acknowledging the subjectivity of my data interpretation and its presentation, I encourage readers to conduct their own investigations and contribute their perspectives to foster a gradual convergence of understanding and truth (Shapiro, 2024).

CONCLUSION

This report examined the experiences of a transpersonal coach and four pro bono clients who participated in coaching sessions over a three-month period. It investigated the role of the law of correspondence in shaping the coach-client relationship and how coaches can effectively utilize this principle. The case study states that by embodying qualities such as freedom and graciousness, coaches create a safe, supportive, and non-judgmental space where mutual expansion and growth can occur. In this environment, all expressions of life experienced through clients and coaches are personally owned and allowed, leading to a release of repressed energy and fostering mutual deeper self-awareness.

REFERENCES

Alef Trust. (2024). Coaching skills checklist to monitor self-performance [PDF]. https://aleftrust.instructure.com/courses/328/files/search?preview=27704&search_term=Coaching%20skills%20checklist%20to%20monitor%20self-performance

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2023). Thematic analysis: A practical guide [PDF]. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/382853995_Thematic_Analysis_A_Practical_Guide

Dängeli, J. (2022). The Transpersonal Coaching Handbook.

De Stefano, M. (2021, January 2). Correspondencia [Interview]. Yo Soy. https://yosoy.red/yosoy20202022/2021/01/02/correspondencia/

Levine, P. A. (1997). Waking the tiger: Healing trauma. North Atlantic Books.

Maté, G. (2003). When the body says no: Exploring the stress-disease connection. Wiley.

Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W.W. Norton & Company.

Rudd, R. (2015). The gene keys: Embracing your higher purpose. Gene Keys Publishing.

Schwartz, R. C. (2019). Internal family systems therapy (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Shapiro, D. (2024, January 28). The convergence of truth [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nns4Lvs1CG8

Siegel, D. J. (2020). The developing mind: Toward a neurobiology of interpersonal experience (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.

The Three Initiates. (2022). The Kybalion: A study of the hermetic philosophy of ancient Egypt and Greece (Aurinia edition). Aurinia.

Vervaeke, J. (2024, December). Lectern Letters: December 2024 (II). Lectern Letters.

Welwood, J. (2011). Human nature, Buddha nature [Interview]. Absentofi. https://absentofi.org/2011/09/john-welwood-human-nature-buddha-nature/

APPENDICES

Themes and Corresponding Codes extracted from the feedback forms received in December 2024:

Graciousness - Allowing

"(...) the sessions have provided me with a quite, safe and gentle place to rest, take some weight of my shoulders and just "be" - allowing whatever needs to present itself in that Being to become known." (Emma)

"(...) the sessions had great impact on me, mainly in terms of processing the emotions and feelings I am currently experiencing during separating from my husband" (Emma)

"(...) helped unlock emotions that had been simmering beneath the surface. It gave me the space to acknowledge and express them fully." (Isabella)

"The coaching has given me tools (...) to get in touch with my own personal experience" (Isabella)

"I have learned how to read my emotions and recognise and name physical feelings" (Alice)

"(...) the sessions allowed my imagination, feelings and emotions to flow very naturally and without barriers" (Alice)

"I felt more acceptance in not having the answers right away" (Mia)

Freedom - Owning

"The Sessions (...) have also created the space for me to truly see and hear myself, to validate myself and to trust myself" (Emma)

"I am more able to bring myself back to the present moment, back to my truth and back into my heart space." (Emma)

"I have learned to honour myself more and to understand that my needs are just as important as anyone else's" (Emma)

"Respecting my mind blockages and where I am currently. (...) relax into the moment." (Mia)

"I learned to become conscious of being conscious" (Alice)

"I became aware of myself and I experienced a new expanded state of awareness (...) feeling more relaxed now and less apprehensive to face challenging situations in daily life" (Alice)

"I feel more empowered" (Alice)

"This process prompted me to reflect on the root of my feelings and shifted my understanding of what emotion truly means" (Isabella)

"These Sessions have taught me to embrace activities I once found uncomfortable - like dancing - which I now approach with a renewed perspective." (Isabella)

Being in the Session - Client Perspective

"unconditional support, there were no wrong answers", "softness", "gentleness", "resourcefulness", "adaptability", "without judgment", "kind", "soothing", "(...) sessions feel like a giant hug", "(...) leaving me feeling seen, heard and understood", "lovingly encouraging", "(...) allows the flow of the session to dictate the length of the Session", "never felt rushed or taking up too much time or space", "undivided attention", "fully invested", "facilitates transformative experiences", "addresses root causes"

Themes and Corresponding Codes extracted from the session notes and personal notes from October 2024 until December 2024:

Correspondence

"People Pleaser", "responsibility", "exhaustion", "fear/anxiety", "disconnection (of mind and body)", "incoherence/out of alignment", "anger", "guilt", "insecurity/lack of self-esteem", "physical manifestations of eczema (myself), breast cancer (my mother)", "spiritual bypassing", "embracing my own needs", "Uncertainty - searching for structure/need for control", "frustration - not knowing the answer/solution", ""I think" - I can go there easily, has been my preferred place to be", "Who am I and why am I here?", "Chest, Diaphragm, Solar Plexus, Throat - my own focal points"

Being in the Session - Coach Perspective

"present", "aware", "deep listening", "compassionate", "trusting intuitive impulses", "honouring sacred moments of transition/change/release", "Being with what is/exploring from there: dialogue, cognitive reasoning/urge to understand, explorative sequences, processing", "acknowledging inner resonance", "allowing all of me equally"

Back to overview