Ami Paradise
COACHING

We save the world by being alive ourselves.
Joseph Campbell
In every aspect of my life, building relationships and supporting others has been at the heart of what moves me.
In personal and professional arenas, I gave of myself fully and joyfully. Unfortunately, I was giving so much that I was drained and depleted. I had lost touch with how to nurture myself. It was subtle, until it was all I could see. I didn’t understand how to slow down, and I could barely sleep through the night. The only way I knew how to get a break for myself, to allow for rest and rejuvenation, was to take a leave from my life in New York City, for the desert.
The Sonoran Desert was a dream come true, spacious and quiet, a landscape so different from what I’d always known. For me, it was Calm. Breathing room and clarity. I slept better than I had in a year.
And yet, it wasn’t home. So how could I bring back the gifts I gained when I returned to my life in the city? How could I slow down and simplify when it seemed the rest of the world would still be racing around me?
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Thankfully, I figured it out. When I had children about a decade later, however, I once again found that I was giving all of myself to take care of them, running on a hamster wheel that was morning routine, rushing to daycare, racing to the subway for work, and turning around a few hours later to do it all in reverse through dinner and baths and bedtime.
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I didn’t know how to make room for myself or fully let in support so that I didn’t feel entirely responsible all the time. The parts of me that used to shine had gone dim.
When I turned to a life coach, I didn't quite know what I wanted but I knew something had to change.
My coach created a space where I could get clear on what was really important to me and notice thoughts and patterns I had that were getting in my way. She didn’t tell me what to do; she guided me to discover my own answers. She provided me with tools to move beyond the places I normally would have stopped myself and, in seeing me clearly, she helped me to be able to see my whole self, too. It’s possible this all may have happened eventually anyway. I’m not sure. But coaching helped me to move forward more quickly, with much more ease and joy.
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One of the greatest gifts of that experience was to realize that for most of my life, I had been heading towards becoming a coach myself. It is a path that is clear and true for me, as I support people to achieve balance between the many things they care about and their own well-being so they bring their full, luminous selves to all parts of their lives.
I am shining once again.
What about you?

My methodology and Approach
I am a professionally-trained coach through the Academy for Coaching Excellence (ACE), and credentialed by
the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
My coach training is rooted in ontology, the study of being.
The ontological coaching approach is grounded in principles found across spiritual and secular traditions while also drawing on the latest research in neuroscience to help you understand what is most important to you.
The framework I use looks at what it truly is to be human –
the values we live by, the heroic journey we are here to take, and, ultimately, the gift to others we want to be known for.
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