Greetings to you, I am Ella, the face behind Vibrantly Tranquil
Who am I?
This is actually the question that pushed me to seek. In my teens and early 20s I was so far from my True Self, I was very lost. I drank alcohol in excessive and dangerous amounts, and I see now that I did it as I desperately wanted connection. I was seeking it in the wrong way with the wrong people, unconsciously being driven by the question Who am I?, trying to fit in somewhere. The search for connection led only to greater disconnection as I got further from my True Self, being a different person with each different group, whatever I thought they wanted me to be.
It was a resonance with Buddhism that began to pull me through the fog a little, and bought the question Who am I? into my consciousness. Whilst I have never been religious I have always had an interest in theology, I was, and still am, interested in the ways it connects people, and how can also be so divisive at the same time. Buddhism has always resonated deeply, the teachings just seem to make sense in a way I now know to be the way you just know Truth. Buddhism led me both to meditation and living with integrity, which became key parts of who I am and truly instrumental on my journey. It has also led me to dear teachers and teachings of Truth. I would not call myself a Buddhist, but I’m definitely Budd-ish.
The Power of Coaching
It was being coached myself that finally accelerated me on my path to living my Soul’s Purpose. I was 30 (funnily enough my Human Design says that my first 30 years will be a phase of trial and error before being able to better choose where I place my energy) and had just begun working in Coaching and Leadership Development, fortunately for a company who give all new starters a coach. I actually didn’t have the right chemistry with the first coach I was given (which is why it’s essential to have a Chemistry Call with anyone you are thinking of working with in this capacity) but I got lucky with my next coach, very lucky. I actually picked him after being on a training he ran, and I had the extreme good fortune of working with him for the next 5 years, through many challenging times, and most importantly through a huge phase of Self discovery.
Guy was not only my coach, he was also my greatest supporter, and ended up being a mentor and friend too. It was he who inspired me to want to become a coach and facilitator myself, as I began working in coaching as a Project Manager. He had trained as an Integral Development Coach, and after I explored many possible coach training options I found that this was what called to me too.
My Soul’s Purpose
Discovering my Self and my Soul’s Purpose has had many strands (and is ever evolving!) – working with Guy, meditation, retreats, teachers, plant medicines and psychedelics, sober festivals and dancing, the sweat lodge, making true Soul Connections, the transformative nature of my training to be a coach with Thirdspace (link to website https://www.wearethirdspace.org), and many books – to name a few!
I was also a bit obsessed with taking psychometric tests and any quiz I could find. No surprise when I discovered Human Design and that it is my Design to need help seeing my gifts! Most really helped me to remember some part of myself and reclaim the gifts that I found. No framework has been as impactful as Human Design and Gene Keys, which is why they are forming a big part of my coaching. The Truth within these systems resonates deep and wide, and I am excited to share them with you.
All of this has helped me to peel back the layers of conditioning and learned habits, to get to know my True Self, and my Soul’s Purpose. What I have found is that I am quite sure my Purpose is to talk about purpose a lot! It is my honour to help others to peel back their layers and get to know and love their True Self. Only through knowing our True Self can we find and live our Soul’s Purpose. And only through individuals transforming themselves into the luminous expressions of Essence that they are can the Earth heal. The world needs the unique expression of life that we each are, and it is my utter joy to help you to bring your beautiful whole self to the world.
Shedding my Skin
I have had many versions of “me” throughout my life. It’s a long journey of many sheddings, from the 20 year old out partying every night of the week, to the person writing this who only goes to sober festivals and dances. All I have written on this page is part of my journey of evolution, each shedding at least one skin, some many more. What I have struggled with most in the process of my evolution has been the fixed mindset of others. Most people want you to stay the same, most people can’t handle your growth. Becoming my True Self has meant I’ve needed to let go of many friendships along the way, friends who only wanted the old party Ella. But I have also found many new friendships, this time Soul Connections that are enduring. I won’t pretend it’s easy becoming who you are in your Essence, but I can tell you that the benefits of living your Truth and your Soul’s Purpose will outweigh the difficulty, and I am here to hold your hand.
Becoming Vibrantly Tranquil
Vibrantly Tranquil was found in meditation, during a transformative meditation retreat with some dear teachers of mine, Zohar Lavie and Nathan Glyde, at the beautiful Gaia House in Devon, UK. Silent meditation retreats have been invaluable in my journey to find my True Self, the quiet and silent companionship of my fellow retreatants above all, allowing me to drop the personality constructs and feel into my Essence. I spent all the time I could meditating outside in the gardens as this is where I could most strongly feel the connection to Mother Earth and all creation. It was my teacher Nathan who mentioned the words Vibrantly and Tranquil together during one of the teaching sessions, and they resonated deeply. I recognised this as the place I’d reached in meditations where I felt more alive than ever before, connected deeply to myself and to the whole web of life around me. It was a place of both earthiness and celestial luminosity. The words became a bit of a slogan for me to remind me of my path of Essence.
And then it was during my year of training to become a certified coach that I found that they resonated so deeply that they were guiding my work as well as my way of being. As I made ever stronger connections to my Essence I found I was honing in on the particular kind of coaching work I wanted to do in the world – being a guide for others who wish to embark on such a Self discovery journey as I have been on the past 15 or so years. What else to call my work but that which represents to me coming home to my True Essence.
And so it is that meditation comes into my practice as a coach. It is a big part of who I am and my path and I will no doubt try to share with you my passion for it.
What else is there to say?
All that I have shared here is deeply personal to me. The reason for my sharing is that I believe that my being completely open and honest will firstly help you to know whether I am the coach for you, and secondly to set the tone of the coaching which is deep. Integral Development coaching takes the whole of you into account, nothing is out of bounds. It’s up to you to bring to the coaching what is needed for your transformation, even if it feels icky or sticky or dark or shameful, for as with most things in life you will get out what you put in.To end on a lighter note, when I am not coaching or facilitating or being a mother I enjoy traveling to new places, meditating, journaling, swimming, resistance training, gardening, reading, dancing, singing and drumming.