An Introduction to Jungian Coaching

Avi Goren-Bar

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000465617
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Industrial & Organizational Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Based on the psychology of Carl Jung, this illuminating new book invites coaches to extend their toolbox with deep, creative, and efficient professional methods that derive from a new perspective on coaching. In using the unconscious archetypes as a practical active psychological database for change, the Jungian coach can contribute significant modification in the coachee's expected behavior. Jungian Coaching can be applied in evaluating the coachee, the team, and the corporation.

This book translates Jungian psychology into simple comprehensive concepts. Each chapter translates theoretical concepts and rationale to thepractice of coaching. Illustrated with practical examples from the corporate world and life coaching, it offers Jungian Coaching tools and techniques. By integrating the Gestalt psychology principle of the "here and now" into Jungian concepts, the author develops a new coaching tool that enables an activation of archetypes as a useful and empowering coaching experience.

A valuable introductory resource for all those involved in coaching relationships, this book can empower coachees and serve as a compass for personal growth. It will be of great interest to practicing coaches, executives, human resource managers, consultants, and psychotherapists.

Theory Part I Background information

Chapter 1 Introduction on the basics of Jungian psychology

DOI: 10.4324/9780429351518-1

“You live your life fully if you also live what you have never yet lived”.

Red Book, Liber Primus (pg. 233)

Jungian Psychology is named after Carl Gustav Jung, a follower of Sigmund Freud. In the heart of Jungian Psychology stands “Jung’s unconscious”. Both Freud and Jung agreed about the definition of the Id (the primitive and instinctual part of the mind which dwells in the unconscious and contains sexual and aggressive drives). However, Jung differs from Freud’s unconscious in that it is considered not solely a hidden “garage” keeping repressed unpleasant contents from early childhood which cause neuroses and other symptoms. Additionally, according to Jung, the unconscious is a psychic domain of libidinal spiritual and highly creative reservoir of potential which, once exposed, empowers a human being with ideas, innovative inventions, authentic behaviors and directs him or her into a developmental quest which Jung called individuation. In Jungian Psychology, what a person does, thinks, senses, and feels are considered the person’s “Ego”. The “Ego” dwells in the conscious mind and is overt, is witnessed by others, and can be easily stated by the person. However, the unconscious is hidden and is revealed to a person through his or her dreams, art, creativity, drugs, and surprising behavior. Jungian analysis and coaching are aimed at drawing out unconscious materials and applying them into the person’s daily life. This process happens through the “transcendent function”, which is a psychic instinctual talent which lifts unconscious material to the conscious level. The unconscious, being a creative treasure, contains psychic images that Jung called archetypes. The collection of archetypes functions as an “internal theater” and each archetypal image represents a character (just like the Greek Gods). The relationships between the “functioning ego” (the person) and its unconscious archetypal images (the “Heroes”) make our lives exciting and awesome, but yet sometimes frightening. The list of archetypes is long, intriguing, and includes, among many others, the Persona, Shadow, Anima & Animus, Hero, and Trickster. It is advisable to remember that the archetypes are bi-polar (meaning they possess opposing qualities), and once a person relates to them, their emotional impact is strong. In addition to the two levels of the human psyche (unconsciousness and consciousness) Jung realized a third level, global and collective, which he named: “collective unconscious”. With the Collective Unconscious Jung pointed out that humans are born with preliminary psychic innate knowledge about basic life experiences, for example, the instinct of death, motherhood, or cultural traditions. Jung emphasized the importance of dream analysis as he recognized the need to heed, and draw out practical advice, from the deep authentic wisdom of the unconscious. In the last century, Jungian psychology has spread out and impacted different domains of life. In Jungian Coaching, we apply the Jungian knowledge effectively into the coaching practice.

Chapter 2 Active imagination: Activation in the here and now

DOI: 10.4324/9780429351518-2

“I lived into the depths, and the depths began to speak”.

Red Book, Liber Primus (pg. 234)

Activation in the here and now stands as the core practice that Jungian Coaching offers the coachee. This technique enables the coachee to activate images, symbols, and archetypes with which he or she will work during the coaching process. This practice increases the coachee’s awareness of his or her latent assets. It evokes insights that are essential to coachee’s development. The Jungian Coaching method offers a dramatic, highly emotional experience that empowers the coachee. The psychological principles of “Awareness”, “Here“, and ”Now”, “Polarities” (experiencing and examining exaggerated behavior toward its extremes) and “Holistic” experience on its three experiential levels (thought, affect, and somatic sensation) are the basis of Gestalt therapy. Overlapping the Gestalt approach along with the Jungian psychology creates the magic impact of the Jungian Coaching method. I should comment here that the activation of the archetypes in the coaching session is conceived as a penetrating approach. In Jungian terms we will attribute to such an approach a “Masculine-oriented configuration” (see chapter 19), and such experience requires both trustworthy relationship between the coachee and the coach, skillful coach and strong Ego forces on behalf of the client.

First, let us overview the theoretical background behind the “active imagination” technique. Developed by Jung between 1913 and 1916 (while writing the Red book), “active imagination” is a meditation technique wherein the contents of one’s unconscious are translated into images, narrative, or personified as separate entities. It can serve as a bridge between the conscious “ego” and the unconscious and includes working with dreams and the creative self via imagination or fantasy. This approach is meant to ensure that the unconscious contents express themselves without the overbearing influence from the conscious mind.

What differentiates coaching from therapy is the autonomy of the coachee to find by himself or herself the authentic resources for solving a problem and empowering himself or herself to arrive at a decision. “Active imagination” seems an effective coaching method. Von Franz (1964), Jung’s preferred disciple, related to Jung’s “Active Imagination” and wrote: “Active Imagination is a certain way of meditation imaginatively, by which one may deliberately enter into contact with the unconscious and make a conscious connection with the psychic phenomena. Active Imagination is among the most important of Jung’s discoveries” (p. 219). Samuels (1985), a prominent British Jungian analyst and scholar, explains that:

Active imagination derives from Jung’s discovery that the unconscious has an independent symbol-producing capacity. Jung found that this could be used analytically and designated working with such material active imagination to distinguish it from passive fantasizing and also to emphasize that the client may have to make choices based on the outcome of his active imagination. (p. 12)

Later in his book Samuels relates to Weaver (1964), who was practicing Active Imagination, and he commented that:

the first step in active imagination is that the ego (the coachee) pays attention to psychic fragments and images. The (coachee’s) ego can initiate fantasy and be the conscious recorder of such fantasy. Fantasy can be enlarged by participation and intervention of the ego. The more the involvement in the drama the more the ego participates. (p. 202)

Let us deepen the theoretical background that stands behind the Jungian Coaching technique of the “Activation in the here and now”. Samuels (1985, p. 81) mentions Zinkin (1979) the Jungian that in his paper “The Collective and the Personal” he refers to Martin Buber’s “Principle of Dialogue” as the central distinguishing feature of personal relationships. Martin Buber was an Austrian Jewish and Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I–Thou relationship and the I–It relationship. In his book I & Thou (1923) Buber explains that, paradoxically, if one totally identifies in the here and now with the other (a person or an object), one gets to know him or herself much better. Based on Goren-Bar (2018, Chapter 4, pp. 161–211, and Goren-Bar 2019, pp. 104–119) and following Zinkin, we choose to activate, in Jungian Coaching, the archetype with which the coachee chooses to practice emotionally, bodily, and mentally. Kast, a leading Jungian analyst, (1992) states that “Jungian psychology offers the techniques necessary to make the creative potential of the unconscious accessible to consciousness and thereby transform possibility into actuality”.

The Jungian Coaching session prevails in a “coaching triangle space” created between the coach, the client, and the activated symbol in the here and now. By nature, the client brings up in a coaching meeting a dilemma. The coach assists the client in bringing up an image, symbol, or archetype that connects to the dilemma (chapter 3). Stone and Winkelman (1985) strengthen the practical application of Jung’s Active Imagination techniques outside the analytic milieu. In their book Embracing Our Selves: Voice Dialogue Manual, they state that “Voice Dialogue is really a blending of a number of other systems – Gestalt, Jungian, Transaction Analysis, Psychosynthesis and Psychodrama” (p. 39). They mention three principles for which Voice Dialogue stands for: “(1) Exploration of sub-personalities or energy systems (meaning in coaching expanding the personality potential) (2) Clarification of ego (in coaching, enabling the client to verify and choose between alternatives), and (3) Embracement of Awareness (in coaching, increase the client’s awareness to as many aspects involved in the dilemma)” (p. 38).

The Jungian Coaching technique (based on the idea of Active Imagination) is similar to the Voice Dialogue. In the coaching setting, the coachee is invited to locate an empty chair on which a presentation of an image or an archetype or symbol is situated and a dialogue between the coachee and the activated archetype ensues.

The dialogue does not need to be verbal necessarily, but often it turns into an embodiment, dance, sculpture or a dramatic psychodrama.

Figure 2.1 A Coachee - Artifact dialogue in presence of the observing coach. Author's archive.

In Jungian Coaching the coachee practices with Jungian Coaching Cards, games, art, and body work – all aimed at enabling the client to activate the archetypes that were chosen by him or her as empowering assets for their personal growth and change. It will be helpful to quote a few important comments brought up by Stone and Winkelman (1985) to stress the importance of an aware ego in the coaching process. “What occurs in active imagination, as in Gestalt work, is that the Ego is often taken over by the Protector/Controller (as a mechanism of defense)”. This means that at times, the coachee might display resistance to surrender to an irrational dialogue. Such dialogue usually challenges the “decent” logical argumentation that is typical of the client’s ordinary language. The more the client is a “thinking oriented” person, the more intuitively he or she will hesitate to try and activate an image. However, by letting go of his or her resistance, the client allows the image an autonomous presence and increases his or her awareness in the coaching milieu. Stone and Winkelman (1985) claim that the client hides behind the Protector/Controller and refuses or rejects the possibility to freely dialogue with the image. He or she usually argues with the coach with rationalizations. They emphasize that “without the Awareness level of an independent outside observer (I propose here the Coach), the system is a closed system and the subpersonalities may well remain under the domination of the Protector/Controller. Once an Awareness level is established (by help of the coach), and the Ego (the Coachee) is clearly differentiated from the Protector/Controller, the method of “Active Imagination” greatly enriches and extends the Dialogue work” (p. 41).

At the place where Stone and Winkelman offer “sub-personalities”, Jungian Coaching offers a reservoir of archetypal images and symbols required to connect to and dialogue with, rendering to interpreting the issues dealt in the coaching process. Stone and Winkelman see the Voice Dialogue as an “altered state of Consciousness” and “a tangible way of expanding the Awareness level and clearly differentiating it from the other components of consciousness”. They explain that:

After the facilitator (coach) has finished working with whichever voices have been facilitated during a session (archetypes, symbols, images), the subject (the coachee) moves the chair back to the original Ego place and is asked to stand behind the chair. This is the position of the Awareness level. (p. 56)

Chapter 3 Symbolic thought: Seeing beyond the obvious

DOI: 10.4324/9780429351518-3

“He who possesses the world but not its image, possesses half the world, since his soul is poor and had nothing. The wealth of the soul exists in images”.

Red Book, Liber Primus (pg. 232)

The Jungian coach thinks symbolically and encourages the coachee to look at his or her dilemmas through a symbolic approach.

“Coming from the Greek word: sym = meaning together, common, simultaneous, and the word: bolon = that which has been thrown, hence, throwing together the things which have something in common” (Samuels, 1985, p. 94). We crucially need to consider Symbolic Thought as the main cognitive-emotional Jungian Coaching way of relating to the coachee and his or her dilemmas. When a client sticks to a concrete dilemma, the Jungian coach wishes to shift him or her into a symbolic understanding of that issue. For this he or she is required to generalize the issue, and for that he or she needs distance from the concrete. When you think symbolically you can dissociate from the concrete actual information, in order to plan and control the action.

In his Collected Works, On the Nature of the Psyche, Jung (1954) writes: “The psychological mechanism that transforms energy is the symbol” (p. 45). He adds: “I have called a symbol that converts energy a “libido analogue”, by this I mean an idea that I can give equivalent expression to the libido and canalize it into a form different from the original one” (p. 48). This clarification is highly important to the Jungian Coaching practice as this is exactly what we do in our coaching engagement; we hear the client’s story and we transform it to the symbolic level. In Man and His Symbols (1964), Jung, as editor, not only contributed an article but also recruited his leading team J. Henderson, M.L Von Franz, A. Jaffe, and J. Jacobi, to contribute their knowledge on the psychology of symbols and their significance for comprehending the human psyche. Jung stated that we should learn as much as we can about symbolism; then forget it all when we analyze our client’s dream By stating that once you have learned as much as you...