Spirit of Energy

Neuro-Energetic Coaching with Added Value

In this e-book, you will learn

the role energy plays in life
what Spirit of Energy® means
how Spirit of Energy is applied in coaching
the phases Spirit of Energy® goes through during a coaching session:
- Phase 1: Assignment and Status Assessment
- Phase 2: Stimulation and Transformation
- Phase 3: Discovery
- Phase 4: Re-Organization

We (the authors, Kornelia Becker-Oberender & Erwin Oberender, and publisher Stephan Landsiedel) hope you enjoy reading, and we wish you lots of fun experimenting with these ideas!

Spirit of Energy® is a concept that draws on nature and its laws for inspiration, using it as a “teacher” for developing holistic solutions. Coaching thrives on effectiveness. Our goal is sustainable change that can be integrated into the entire system—the entire personality—and positively influence the system’s ecology. Biochemist Frederic Vester praised nature as a successful enterprise that “hasn’t gone bankrupt even once in millions of years.”

“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.”

John Cage
Composer and pioneer of modern music

A Holistic Methodology

Spirit of Energy® is a potential-oriented, energetic coaching and consulting concept that combines teachings from Energy Psychology – AEP / EDxTM by Dr. Fred Gallo, traditional Chinese Energy Theory (thousands of years old), and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) at a new level.

The immediate effectiveness of this method is based on targeted activation strategies for all five “intelligence” dimensions of the human being—physical, mental, emotional, intuitive, and energetic. For instance, it uses tapping points to restore the flow of blocked energies. Influencing someone’s energetic constitution is crucial for maintaining or regaining physical and mental health, which in turn promotes well-being.

The goal of Spirit of Energy® coaching is to enable the coachee to actively make use of their intuition and emotions in all areas of life.

Two Nature-Based Fundamental Assumptions:

1. Every person basically has the inner ability to activate the entirety of their potential—often obscured by negative life experiences—and use it in separate process steps to live a fulfilling life: their “Spirit of Energy®.” Ultimately, tapping into that inherent reservoir of energy, which may often lie dormant, shapes a person’s long-term development or that of an organization, including successful implementation of change-management projects. Optimal use of energy leads to successful results and a joyful life.

2. This leads to the second basic assumption: Everything is energy. This idea is anchored in the teachings of Chinese energy theory, practiced successfully for 5,000 years, whose essence is the natural life cycle—constantly recurring, never repeating itself in the same form. Energy pervades everyone, permanently present and fueled by always-flowing sources. Energy is thus viewed as the foundation of all human activity. Seen in this light, issues of a mental, psychological, or physical nature arise on the energy level and can be influenced or corrected there (see further literature under Energy Psychology®).

As a result, change can be achieved through a program tailored to the individual, restructuring their lifestyle and daily situation. By harnessing this energetic “force field,” a person can bring deep emotional areas of the unconscious back into conscious awareness, enabling the integration of one’s deep internal powers with the various aspects of one’s being.

How Did We Come to Spirit of Energy®?

The era of analysis-driven rational approaches and cognitively oriented methods—plus every conceivable technical tool to facilitate decision-making—apparently has led us astray: WHO experts predict a dramatic rise in stress-related disorders in highly developed industrial countries in the coming years. According to them, we should expect long-term damage to the musculoskeletal system caused by persistent muscle tension, cardiovascular disorders linked to permanently elevated sympathetic tone, and a steep increase in mental illnesses tied to anxiety (e.g., anxiety disorders, depression, addiction, compulsive behaviors, burn-out syndromes).

The root cause isn’t necessarily the workload people face or lack of knowledge about possible solutions. Rather, it’s the declining ability of people in these countries to cope with psychological stresses. In spite of intelligence and reason, they often lack the skills to handle stress, reflect on themselves, or self-regulate. They have inadequate beliefs in their own capability and remain low in enthusiasm, frustration tolerance, and flexibility.

When are people satisfied and happy? When they have the opportunity to live their two fundamental needs: connectedness/closeness and growth/freedom/autonomy (see more in the companion book to the Spirit of Energy® card set).

Resilience—withstanding difficult circumstances—requires experiencing self-efficacy, creative agency, and the joy of discovery on all planes of human existence. This entails activating the body, the emotional and mental “centers,” as well as intuitive creativity—so that it becomes firmly embedded in the brain’s neural networks. This is a process of insight that each individual shapes under certain conditions. According to neuroscience, people need a space—a meta-level—where they can discover and form new connections.

“On a neurological level, creative solutions can only arise if a person manages to recall many different—and previously unlinked—pieces of knowledge and memory at once, and then links the relevant regional networks in new ways. […] However, you can’t force someone to develop their creative potential; you can only invite them, encourage them, perhaps inspire them.”

Gerald Hüther
Neurobiologist, Author of “The Power of Creativity”

Our approach is guided by this thinking and explores new, previously unconsidered avenues for reconnecting people with their innate, natural strengths, activating creativity, and unlocking potential through the energy that underlies it all. In companies, this creative approach goes beyond standard leadership “know-how” to build future-oriented leadership intuition—knowing how to follow it. Cultivating one’s “spirit” in every life situation and establishing “superhighways” in the brain to the coachee’s goals and visions, accompanied by feelings like joy, happiness, commitment, excitement, gratitude, strength, and love… the coaching not only supports the coachee in the moment but also day to day. They can discover their own possibilities and shape their life space, or in more poetic terms, constantly reinvent themselves.

Spirit of Energy® focuses on the core task of awakening the coachee’s self-efficacy and love of learning, while giving them a “tool for life” that ensures the sustainability of positive outcomes. “Tool for life” may sound poetic or unrealistic. After a brief overview of the individual process steps, we invite you to experience in a coaching context how Spirit of Energy® Coaching and its “tool” function—and see how they can enrich your practice as well.

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to gather wood, assign tasks, and divide the work, but rather teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
French writer and pilot

An Overview of Spirit of Energy® Coaching

Every coaching session is unique—an individual process. Yet each one is grounded in an energetic framework and a proven structure. The steps build on one another, and it’s often helpful (and intentional) if some phases are repeated. A distinctive element of Spirit of Energy® Coaching is creating the “space”—the meta-level—for the coachee, as we mentioned. To facilitate that, we developed 62 cards, each describing the qualities of specific tapping points. They also include metaphors related to these tapping points—like quotes, guiding thoughts (“energy formulas”), and colors.

While the coachee constructs a mental image of their thoughts (“thought field”), they “disrupt” or “irritate” the physical, emotional, and mental energy patterns of this field by holding or tapping the illustrated tapping point(s). In systems theory, a disruption is an external intervention into an existing system, prompting an internally driven transformation of that system.

These “energetic pattern interruptors” (learn more about the mechanism of tapping acupressure under Energy Psychology) open new experiential worlds. They help people adopt new attitudes, engaging the intelligence of their feelings, their intuition, and their rational mind. The coachee creates this stage for in-depth internal exploration, for seeing the subject from a new perspective, in effect “out of their own strength.” Each coachee produces a custom change profile and, in subsequent reflection with the coach, finds their own solutions. Coaching is more effective the more the coach, as a person, can “pull back,” playing the role of “compass” as the client enters a “conversational trance” with the “card expert” on the way to their goal.

The following figure illustrates the process flow:

The coaching is divided into four phases. Step by step, these phases help switch off the “autopilot” in the brain so that old limiting patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior can be identified, energetically disrupted, and revised—since merely continuing old patterns won’t bring about change or improvement. We apply modern insights from Energy Psychology to specifically dismantle sabotage programs as they emerge in the process.

1. Phase: Measurement and Assignment/Status Assessment

Clarify willingness to learn and change.
Establish rapport and explain the creative approach.
Initiate a future-focused perspective: set up a desired scenario.
Create the assignment and resolve sabotage traps.

2. Phase: Stimulation and Transformation

Build the “thought field” using VAKOG methods.
Ask the coachee to select a card, then start “disrupting” the current energy field by tapping that point.
The card acts as a learning platform. Using the information about qualities, blockages, and visions (Spirit of Energy), the coach guides a “clean” conversational trance, free of the coach’s interpretations, since the coachee uses the card’s material to explore ideas.
The coachee’s “inward immersion” activates internal searches, offering new solutions and generating new energy patterns system-wide. They “talk” with the “card expert.”

3. Phase: Discovery

The coachee now translates the intuitive, self-initiated change process—including nonverbal levels (physical, emotional, mental)—into real-world actions and “tests” it emotionally.
The coach sets up an “as-if framework” and invites the coachee, while continuing to tap, to talk step by step through their newly found solutions. “Try out mentally these new behaviors and actions.” This phase produces an intense sense of self-efficacy and frequently leads to a flow-like feeling on the way to the goal.

4. Phase: Re-Organization

Anchor the newly established “habits” in the coachee’s experience using the color, quote, tapping point, guiding thought, or picture from the selected card.
Introduce a follow-up concept: The coachee can use the cards as a tool to independently and consistently disrupt triggers of “old habits” as they arise in everyday life. An evening ritual of asking: “What have I done for my goal today? What have I learned? What quality of life have I gained?”

This phase deeply consolidates the coachee’s sense of self-efficacy.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”

Nelson Mandela
A famous quote from Nelson Mandela about fearing our own strength.

Practical Example

Initial Situation: Mr. T. is a manager in banking and wants to tackle the intense stress he feels regarding his undeveloped time management.

Phase 1: Measurement and Assignment / Status Assessment

After greetings and a brief explanation of Spirit of Energy® coaching by the coach, Mr. T. describes his concern. He is burdened by what he sees as unpredictable extra demands during his already busy schedule. As a result, his main tasks are repeatedly postponed. Often he can only complete them after official work hours—and then even gets called out for working overtime. He feels his boss thinks he is slow or unable to organize his schedule. It’s also been implied that, as a manager, he doesn’t delegate enough.

Asked what he specifically wants, he responds: “Well, I want, well what exactly? I have a lot of problem areas, now that you ask. I guess I need to delegate what others in the department can handle. I should take another look at my schedule; maybe I can tighten it up or rearrange it somehow.”

Change processes at a low energy level remain moderate.

The (learning) precondition at an energetic level determines the clarity and quality of the (learning) process that follows.

Coach: “How much energy are you currently ready and able to invest in these changes? Imagine you can measure your energy on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is no energy left at all, and 10 is full power for the change.”

Mr. T. rates himself at 5. Because you can’t achieve much with such low energy, the coach asks him to select a card to raise his energy. Mr. T. chooses the “Bladder 2” tapping point card. He was drawn to the color blue, even though he usually doesn’t like blue. While tapping the spot at the eyebrow, the coach reads him the card’s information. Mr. T. especially likes the part stating “This point brightens your mood and reinforces an ongoing cleansing process. Stagnations or isolation are broken, strengthening inner security, allowing the process to continue in a more relaxed way.” He then reassesses his energy at 10 and changes his wish.

Actually, he’s annoyed that he’s the one expected to change his work plan. He’s well structured, but constantly takes on tasks his disorganized colleagues can’t handle properly. So he ends up dealing with clients’ complaints, facing his boss’s displeasure, and withdrawing more and more. His real desire is clearer boundaries and a more forceful approach to colleagues and boss, although that seems to go against his nature.

He rates his stress over this desired change at 8 (0 = no stress, 10 = almost unbearable). Asked if he believes he can make the change now, he wavers: “Maybe not immediately right now, but probably soon.” The coach mentions a “sabotage card” and has Mr. T. tap the sabotage points while saying, “I fully love and accept myself even though I believe I can’t start this change now.” After four repeats, Mr. T. strongly objects, insisting that of course he came to create change and will start right now, sure that it will work.

Remaining stuck in a problem can result from negative core beliefs that sabotage any change. Typical sabotages: “I’m not good enough, I can’t do this, it’ll never happen that fast.” To set and achieve goals, or facilitate development, these “sabotage traps” must be released.

Phase 2: Stimulation and Transformation

The coach asks Mr. T. to recall a situation where he didn’t assert his boundaries, and they use VAKOG methods to bring it vividly to mind.

While Mr. T. remains mentally focused on this “thought field,” he intuitively chooses a card as his “advising mentor.” He picks the Liver Meridian tapping point card, explaining that the clover leaves caught his eye this time. The coach asks him to tap the two points on the card, then asks whether he’d like to use the photo, the tapping point’s info, the quotes, or formulas as his new “thought seeds” for working through his issue. This time, he wants to hear about the blocked energies first. He’s amazed to find that the blocks listed strongly mirror his current feelings. He’s angry, frustrated, tense (he’s receiving therapy for that), and withdrawing more and more—as he’d already described. After the coach explains the notion of (passive) aggression in more detail, Mr. T. sees further parallels in himself.

Now curious about the accuracy, he opts to learn about the “qualities.” Summarized, they are: showcasing your own potentials, endurance, patience, and liberating suppressed emotions. The coach bolsters his solution-finding process with reflective prompts and constructive questions. During this, Mr. T. lowers his stress from 3 to 0.

The coach, without initial assumptions, interpretation, or labeling, opens an associative thinking space. The card’s details are interpreted and processed by the coachee. They discover new approaches and form solution ideas. Sidebar: Interpretations by definition have no inherent “correctness,” as Freud pointed out. The validity of an interpretation lies in whether it resonates with the person—whether it lets them recognize themselves in new ways. Typical signs are remarks like, “I never would have thought of that,” or new memories triggered, or an association that resonates with the content of the interpretation. Even outrage or other signs of “being affected” may be an indicator that the interpretation has met with some real resonance for the coachee.

Phase 3: Discovery

Asked, “How do these insights match your issue?” Mr. T. says that with those qualities, handling his issue will be easier. He explains which abilities he already has and which skills—like showcasing his own potentials—he still needs to develop.

The coach now asks Mr. T. to imagine, as of now, having and using these qualities. “How might I picture your behavior toward your colleagues and your manager? Describe how you move about at work now.”

Mr. T.’s subsequent description eliminates his stress entirely. He places his belief in actively implementing it right now at 10. He can’t wait to start saying “No.” Above all, he’ll practice economical, mindful, moderate use of his resources. That means being patient, always polite, but holding his boundaries and looking out for himself. If there’s still time, then he can take on extra tasks. He believes that will cut back on overtime, forcing colleagues to plan their own time better. He now refuses to be “always available,” and he’ll be consistent. That also solves the stress with his manager.

Because the card’s content—images, quotes, etc.—is “neutral” and not interpreted by the coach, it fosters the coachee’s (often subconscious) sense of self-efficacy. Plus, they chose the card themselves and decided which part of the information to use. They see an entirely new perspective and can feel “I made it happen.”

Sidebar: Various brain areas are involved in learning. While the cortex, neocortex, and hippocampus handle facts and processing, deeper structures are vital for the majority of the learning. The amygdala—our emotional memory—processes the emotional significance of a situation, creating new biochemical connections in the brain. A learning scenario that lets the learner shape their own success—giving them an “I can do it” feeling—automatically ensures solid storage of that experience in the brain.

Phase 4: Re-Organization

The follow-up concept: Mr. T. taps his points daily while saying the quote from the card. The coach provides him with a mini-version of the card to keep. Each evening, he asks himself, “What have I done for my goal today? What did I learn? What did I gain in life quality?”

Spirit of Energy® can be continued at any time as a self-coaching method. By using the cards, the coachee always has 24-hour “support.” Any reappearing stress can be dealt with immediately. A daily “journey” to one’s visions and energy-raising practices boosts confidence and proactivity.

Kornelia Becker-Oberender works as a therapist and coach in private practice. She is a graduate educator (Dipl. Pädagogin), social pedagogue (Dipl. Sozialpädagogin), licensed psychotherapist (Heilpraktikerin für Psychotherapie), systemic counselor, NLP Master DVNLP, yoga teacher (BDY/EYU/KHYF), and author of multiple books. She is one of the few authorized instructors in Energy Psychology® (EDxTMTM) and the founder/trainer of Spirit of Energy®.

Erwin Oberender is a consultant and coach in private practice, a kinesiologist, NLP Master DVNLP, yoga teacher (KHYF), PSU assistant, and author. He is also a certified trainer of Energy Psychology® (EDxTMTM) and co-founder/trainer of Spirit of Energy®. Together, they run the Institute for Education and Development (IBE-Gieleroth).

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