What is the difference between a spiritual coach vs a life coach?

When starting your journey of self-discovery, it’s often difficult to know what type of help you need. The world is bursting with self-help books, wellness programs, life strategy and mental health professionals that promise to solve whatever problems you need solving.

Know the Differences

How do you know if you need a spiritual coach or a life coach? Is there any actual difference? Although these are two distinct fields, there will always be some cross pollination of ideas and approaches. Hence, it’s beneficial to know the key differences of both so as not to confuse them as one broad discipline, which often happens.

So, what are some of the main differences in the practices of a spiritual coach and a life coach?

Life Coach

Firstly, let’s look at the definition of a life coach. Without a doubt the most recognised life coach in the mainstream today is Tony Robbins. His definition of what a life coach is can be found on his website.

“The life coach definition is someone professionally trained to help you maximize your full potential and reach your desired results. They are like a supportive friend and a trusted adviser rolled into one. They’re someone who will push you to identify your goals, hold you accountable and provide encouragement throughout your journey to become a better version of yourself.”

Life coaches are goal oriented. They identify a goal then lay out strategies on how to achieve that goal. Their methods often use time as a measuring tool, giving their client a period to achieve their goals, while encouraging and mentoring them along the way.

Life coaching is also quite segmented. You will find that many life coaches focus on helping people in specialised areas. Some of these areas include:

• Addiction coaching
• Business coaching
• Career coaching
• Dating and relationship coaching
• Diet and fitness coaching
• Divorce coaching
• Family life coaching
• Financial coaching
• Health and wellness coaching
• Life skills coaching
• Mental health coaching
• Sports coaching
• Spirituality coaching

As you can see, there are many different branches of life coaching that can be targeted to your specific needs. Some life coaches may decide to branch into spirituality coaching which some would consider just another segment of life coaching. Yet, this isn’t the case.

Whichever specialisation a life coach does choose, they are all rooted in the physical realm and the ‘here and now’.

In essence, life coaches are more focused on achieving external happiness, focusing on current situations and physical goals. Their goal-oriented methods are designed to achieve better outcomes in your financial life, relationships or any area you wish to improve. It’s about building strategies to get that promotion at work, help you with your marriage or simply kicking bad habits out the door for good. Life coaches tend to treat the symptoms not the cause.

Spiritual Coach

Alternatively, a spiritual coach, will want to know what you want to achieve spiritually not physically. They believe that there is more to the world than only physical and external gratification. It’s not just about what’s happening to you here and now but what is happening everywhere, sometimes even delving into the afterlife.

If someone engages a spiritual coach, they are often looking to connect to something much bigger than themselves. A sense of purpose or a deeper understanding for the meaning of life or learning how to express a dormant energy within that they don’t understand.

Spiritual coaches work on very different principles to life coaches. In many cases the beginning, middle and the end of each journey are nothing alike in both disciplines.

Spiritual coaches use tools such as numerology, astrology, the law of vibrations and chakra’s, among other methods, to help align your mind, body and spirit on a more internal level. These are not systems familiar to life coaches.

Life coaching may be seen as a structured set of steps created to reach a certain goal in a given amount of time, whereas spiritual coaching is more open minded and flexible in its approach, with little emphasis on time restrictions.

A spiritual coach works on an intrinsic level. They aim to achieve a sense of inner peace within yourself and gain a better understanding of who you are and where your passions truly lie. This too can lead to a better financial life or more harmony in your marriage and whatever other areas you want to improve but these are not goals of spirituality.

A spiritual coach explores the profound connection between people and the universe helping you gain a deeper understanding of the world and how we are all connected.

The belief behind spiritual coaching is to help you discover your true purpose and to manifest what you want in life but do it from within, without external rewards as the primary motivation.

Once your mind, body and spirit are aligned, you are better prepared to deal with any external challenges. You will have the innate ability to negotiate your way through difficulties because you are operating on a divine level of understanding, not just using a set of tips and tricks to traverse specific challenges in the present.

All Roads Should Lead to Happiness

Regardless of whether your journey is internally or externally travelled, it’s important to understand that the result should always be your happiness. If happiness to you is achieved by succeeding at a new career, purchasing a new home or building a better relationship with your partner, these can be achieved through a specialised life coach. However, they can also be achieved through spiritual coaching from a more comprehensive and holistic way.

A spiritual coach is interested in the all-encompassing bigger picture, not only the immediate rewards. As the name suggests, a spiritual coach coaches you to allow spirit into your thoughts, body, decisions and intentions.

A spiritual journey aims to gain inner peace and harmony. Once you have achieved this on your journey it in turn will give you the tools to overcome any challenges and achieve any goals through an intuitive mindset. Thus, a spiritual coach works on a more unconscious level whereas a life coach will work on a conscious level.

When you should choose a spiritual coach over a life coach.

• When you want to have a deeper understanding of who you are and how you fit in the universe.
• When you seek long term self-awareness over short term fixes.
• When you realise that your purpose in life has greater value than what you do every day.
• When you are ready to discover your true desires and how to eliminate the barriers that stand in your way of them.
• When you are ready to work on yourself from the inside out. Reprogramming yourself to operate from your subconscious mind instead of the conflicting ego of your conscious mind.
• When you desire to be a part of something bigger than yourself and learn about the laws of the universe, rather than just the laws of the world you physically live in.