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    I create curious, courageous, compassionate spaces for vulnerable, transformational dialogue and growth.

    My passion for living in connection with all living beings combined with a plant-based, outdoor-active lifestyle guides everything I do.

  • What I Bring to a Coaching Relationship

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    Personally

    • Lived in 7 different countries, on 3 continents.
    • Half a dozen of major life transitions.
    • 10+ years of competitive swimming.
    • Climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. Lived with nomads in Mongolia.
    • Love for animals. And those that protect them.
    • Cared for many shelter or injured wild four-legged friends.
    • Passion for trauma-informed, connected living that nurtures the mind, body, heart and spirit.
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    Professionally

    • 10+ years in various roles in the medical device industry.
    • Global program & team leadership, coaching and mentoring.
    • Career preparation and counseling as a university teacher.
    • 100+ hours of co-active coaching training & certification.
    • 100+ hours of practice - corporate and non-profit clients.
    • 'Positive Intelligence' program graduate.
    • 100+ hours of coachee experience with modalities such as compassionate inquiry, ACT, body work, or non-western medicine.
  • GABOR MATE

    "Trauma is the invisible force that shapes our lives. It shapes the way we live, the way we love and the way we make sense of the world. We may not be responsible for the world that created our minds but we can take responsibility for our mind with which we create our world."

    JANE GOODALL

    "Only when our

    clever brain and human heart

    work together in harmony

    can we achieve our full potential."

    JAMES BALDWIN

     

    "Not everything that is faced can be changed,

    but nothing can be changed until it is faced."

    MARK TWAIN

    "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So [...] sail away from the safe harbour. [...] Explore. Dream. Discover."

  • What is Coaching?

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    What is Coaching?

    I follow the ICF code of ethics.

    The International Coach Federation (ICF) defines coaching as "partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential [...] and to improve their outlook on work and life, while improving their leadership skills."

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    What is Co-Active Coaching?

    Each engagement is unique. “Being together…in action.”

    Co-Active Coaching helps clients to get out of their comfort zones and grow along the way. It’s a way to understand one's own journey, help design one's life based on one's true inner purpose and self, and be who you want to be.

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    How common is Co-Active?

    The Co-Active Professional Coach Training is widely recognized as the most rigorous professional coach training and certification program in the industry. The Co-Active Training Institute (CTI) is the largest and most established professional coach training organization in the world.

  • RAINER MARIA RILKE

    THE WALK 

    My eyes already touch the sunny hill.

    going far beyond the road I have begun,

    So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp;

    it has an inner light, even from a distance-
    and changes us, even if we do not reach it,

    into something else, which, hardly sensing it, we already are;

    a gesture waves us on answering our own wave…

    but what we feel is the wind in our faces. 

  • My Own Coaching Journey

     

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    2020: Becoming a Coach.

    Realizing it is time to replant and find a new pot.

    PART I: Being Coached.

    In the first half of the year, I had the opportunity to work with an inspiring Co-Active Coach. While it initially felt like I was 'getting fixed', it eventually triggered an overdue shift from an "outside-in" way of living to an inward-oriented exploration. This helped to clarify what matters most to me, to articulate what I truly want even though it seemed impossible to achieve, to identify my personal life transformation plan, and to have the discipline, courage and drive to pursue specific small and big actions to get there.

     

    PART II: Receiving Coaching Training.

    Realizing that anything is possible when you have a champion by your side who sees strengths and potential more than failures and weaknesses, I decided that I want to be that champion for others. I completed the CTI Co-Active Coaching and Positive Psychology curricula to further learn about my Self and to acquire techniques to help others experience the same.

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    2021: Growing as a Coach.

    Letting go of the old pot.

    Applying coaching techniques also in my role as a corporate leader, I came to appreciate coaching as an invaluable skill for every leader who truly puts their people, human connection and (mental) health first. Coaching practices are tremendously empowering and energizing.

    While being busy transforming my own life I also continued my coaching education. I dove into trauma-informed leadership practices, firmly believing that trauma awareness can tremendously benefit the corporate world and enable individuals to live more of their potential. I also explored body work (chiropractic, shiatsu, ayurveda) as a way to maintain holistic balance and wellbeing. It is fascinating how much our upbringing and life experiences impacts how we look at the world and our ability to live free from fears and limiting beliefs and experience joy and lightness.. It also gets in the way of taking care of ourselves, others, and certainly the world around us, today and in the future.

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    2022: Disrupting the old system.

    Experimenting with different soil.

    2022 was an important year for me. An unexpected curveball gave me the opportunity to learn to engage with my feelings at a deeper level and to truly "grow through what we go through", and also heal past wounds. My default coping mechanisms used to be fight or flight responses, which were useful in the moment but did not help me build capacity for more resilience, growth, and self-agency. These responses also left me feeling lonely and alienated from one of the things I care about the most: deep connection to others.

    Throughout the year, my mind learned to be more self-compassionate, my heart communicated its feelings more clearly, my body understood that being with difficult emotions can be safe and result in more aliveness, and my spirit began to appreciate the space it was finally given in my life.

    I understood that being all of me in this world starts with being connected to and loving my Self but also includes engaging with others and allowing them to see me holistically. Choosing attend-and-befriend over fight, flight or freeze opened up the possibility for disrupting old patterns and replacing them with those that truly serve me.

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    2023: Nurturing and honoring what's emerging.

    Imaging the new pot.

    I decided, after almost 20 vegetarian years, to become fully vegan, and to further move toward, and actively promote, a plant-based, cruelty-free, wildlife-friendly lifestyle. I also decided to take a bit of a break between chapters to enable a healthy transition - personally and professionally. To declutter my life, mind and soul and create space for something different - a lighter, peaceful, more purposeful, joyful presence every day.

     

    The ability to enjoy the Now and to experience aliveness requires living a life in accordance with one's values and full acceptance of all we are - every day, all day. Authenticity means not only knowing and being true to yourself but also being genuine, real and visible as such to the outside world with consistency, vulnerability and integrity. In that state, mindful, attuned living through healthy, balanced daily choices regarding, for instance, one's diet, activities or connection with nature and people becomes a natural source of energy and grounding rather than something that needs to be managed or handled.

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    2024: Moving into Group Coaching.

    Spreading new roots.

    Living with less, sharing with people and animals in need, doing work that plays to one's uniqueness, feeding one's body, mind and soul with food that is nurturing, and living in a place that gives you the space to be: We landed in Berlin, in one of the centers of plant-based, outdoor-active adventure living. A place of diversity, full of contrasts, polarizations and triggers. A place to be and to grow.

    More specifically, I landed at ESMT Berlin, where I transitioned into group coaching.

  • Voices

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    My Clientele

    Transformational leaders who want to increase their impact through enhanced courage and vulnerability.

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    Corporate

    Internal Coaching to accelerate career growth and foster engagement.

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    Academia

    Career coaching for the next generation with focus on the new zeitgeist.

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    Non-Profit

    Pro-Bono Coaching for female athletes who aspire to be future leaders.

    "Sarah is approachable, empathetic, and an excellent coach. She is an attentive listener who you can easily open up to due to her kindness and understanding nature, and she has a way of taking what you share and helping you see other aspects of yourself and what you need. Sarah was critical in helping me get realigned in what I want to pursue with my life and my career, and I feel like I know myself better after working with her and have put major life changes in place that she helped me to realize that I needed."

    Program Manager - Medtronic

    Unlocked - For years, I was looking for something, unsure what it was. With help from Sarah I found the mystery key. By asking the right questions, she was able to slow me down, get me out of my head and to unlock underlying emotions which I was not aware of. Sarah guided me to where I am now, enlightened, awakened, transformed. She unleashed the power inside of me to find my true self again. Sarah is truly present during the sessions, shares useful exercises and focuses on what matters. Grateful for her coaching expertise and the impact it had and still has on my life.

    Business Process Improvement Analyst - Medtronic

    "Sarah's support truly helped me with my job transition. Sarah always has great questions and has helped me to take a step back and look at every difficult situation with a different perspective based on where and who I am, what options I have, but also what I need and what I can do to get what I need."

    Strategic Clinical Account Manager - Medtronic

    " I have enjoyed and valued every step of the process. [...] I have always looked forward to the sessions as they are challenging in the most positive way. They helped to discover and apply my true best self, to find out who I am and what I want from my career - and to have the courage to act upon it with confidence and take the next promotional step in my career. "

    Distinguished Engineer - Medtronic

    " Sarah provided an experience that required me to be introspective [...] and taught me techniques to help myself. [..] I connected most with visualization. One where I particularly gained insight was how I deal with stress and we visualized a fire alarm, first an annoying light and then a very noisy alert. Completing this visualization has helped me understand the difference and ensure stress never gets to be a noisy alert."

    Sr. Clinical Operations Manager - Medtronic

    "Working with Sarah helped me bring into focus my passions and interests without caving into the anxiousness and impatience that comes with job searching during the pandemic. Sarah knows just the right questions to ask to help you solidify what might otherwise be unclear dreams, anxious rambling and aspirations into achievable, measurable goals!"

    Sales Associate - Dallas Mavericks

    "Sarah is professional yet personable, which made it easy to let my guard down and have open, honest conversations. [...] I am truly thankful for having had the opportunity to work with Sarah. She helped me in more ways than I could've imagined when it came to not only my career path but with life challenges. Her caring nature, paired with her ability to listen and guide helped me overcome some massive hurdles and be genuinely excited for what the future holds for me and my career."

    Business Development Manager - Heroic Productions

    "Prior to my coaching sessions, it was incredibly frustrating to navigate my workday without a ‘beacon'. Clarifying what I value in my career, identifying the gaps between my current and ideal state, and formulating a plan to address those gaps was very empowering.[...] One thing that was very unique was Sarah's emphasis on recognizing when my self-limiting thoughts are in the driver's seat."

    Engineer - Medtronic