The Authentic Inner Connection group coaching program is now closed for registration. If you are interested in joining the next group sign up for the waitlist.
Are you a high achieving professional who struggles to be authentic and feel connected in your personal relationships?
You are a successful professional by societal standards because you:
- Manage projects, teams, or your own business
- Have financial freedom
- Or are part of multiple social circles
In many ways you seem to have it all: money, position, and networks.
But you don’t have it all in the way it matters, because the social part of life is the most difficult for you. You can default to people pleasing instead of doing or saying what you really want. You struggle with the feelings of loneliness and inadequacy in your social interactions and connections.
You put on a facade outside of work. But you want to be just as competent in relationships as you are at work.
You excel in situations in which the rules of engagements are defined, such as work, because you are logical, strategic, diligent, and great at problem solving. However there are no clear rules of engagement in personal relationships. Relationships can be ambiguous and open ended, which requires vulnerability with the possibilities of rejection. It’s as if you have to put on a facade or be perfect to be accepted or liked.
You want to change how you are in relationships. You want to be authentic. You yearn for inner confidence, peace, and connection with others instead of giving in to what they want or giving up on yourself. You also want the strength to handle rejection, make mistakes, and deal with negativity biases.
You want new tools in your toolbox that can deal with the root cause (instead of the symptoms) of this struggle. You want to fill your own cup instead of constantly filling other people’s cups first, which leaves you thirsty and tired.
So maybe you have tried to fix this…
Since you’ve been trained to be a capable problem solver, you have already tried different things to ease this sense of disconnect and inauthenticity.
You’ve tried some sort of self work such as therapy to find the root causes of the issues and analyze your childhood, meditation to de-stress or center yourself, self help books to give you different knowledge and perspectives, or journaling to express yourself.
You’ve tried trying harder or not being so controlling in your personal relationships so things will get better and have more harmony and flow.
Or you’ve been trying to find distractions: another project, a new community, or a novel hobby that keeps you busy during your limited spare time.
While some of these probably gave you some relief, you’re still struggling with relationships and perhaps feel restless, unfulfilled, or frustrated.
You are focusing on what’s not working
The reason why you may still struggle is because all the things you tried focuses on what is not working on the outside and the ways to fix it.
You’ve been using the tools of logic, strategy, problem solving, and diligence for your relationships. I want to acknowledge that these are amazing tools for your professional life but when it comes to relationships, these are the wrong tools for the wrong job.
- Authenticity is NOT logical.
- Emotions CANNOT be strategized.
- Relationships are NOT problems to be solved.
- And being diligent DOES NOT mean things will necessarily get better.
Because of your capabilities and training, there is an unconscious pattern of focusing on the problems, causes, and conditions you see in personal relationships. You cannot see what is working and the inherent qualities in you that can make things work.
These inherent qualities are part of your inner connection – the willingness and capacity to connect authentically with yourself, all parts of yourself. As an adult you have lost touch with these qualities which serves as a compass to a life that feels less lonely and more fulfilling.
So what can you do about this?
You are meant to live in authenticity, wholeness, and connection – with yourself and others. Qualities such as wonder, openness, and play arise when you are inwardly connected and nourished. This in turn helps you connect with others in secure and loving ways with more understanding, trust, and ease.
To have authentic and trusting relationships, you need to re-discover and re-establish an inner connection. It’s never too late to connect with yourself and find what really works for you and in relationship with others. Then you can bring what works into your relationships, instead of focusing on or using what does not work.
First you need TO BE SEEN: really known and witnessed for all your parts, even the ones you are unable to articulate or are uncomfortable with.
EXPLORATION is needed to see what connects you to your inner self and what important qualities bubble up.
With this clarity, you then create the SMALLEST NEXT STEP to bring more of these qualities into your life.
REFLECTION is needed to see what works and also what doesn’t. This process will bring qualities such as wonder, play, connection, and meaning to your adult life and guide you to the life you want to live.
You need to be supported by guidance and structure by someone who has the capacity and skill to hold this tender space for you. I provide the infrastructure to explore and the clarity on what is working and what is not with a lot of support and compassion.
Why work with me?
I am a life coach who help people who already have or don’t want a therapist to deepen their self connection and authenticity in a deliberate way with practical insights, communication tools, and exercises.
Clients have experienced a transformation with my coaching: a change in their life that permeates both inside and outside. Read what they have to say:
I, Nancy Li, can hold this space with and for you because I have walked this path and understand what it feels like to be a capable professional and feel disconnected in my interpersonal relationships. Here I was: a business consultant, part of multiple social circles, independent, and a leader of multiple non profit organizations. Something still felt empty.
So I became a seeker and found what works for me – a three legged stool of inner work that includes:
- Self awareness through silent meditation retreats
- Self connection through therapy via Internal Family Systems (IFS)
- Practical tools to communicate and connect with others through nonviolent communication (NVC)
Once I discovered and learned to sit upon this stool I experienced interpersonal transformations in my professional and personal life.
At work, I moved from feeling helpless to guiding the team through a tough transition by leading and facilitating team discussions of culture. This resulted in the team implementing a new “human first” culture where there was increased trust, communication, well being, and performance.
In my personal life, I shifted from thinking that other people don’t like or don’t care about me, I now know:
- How to be on my side, always. Even when I feel triggered or overwhelmed I don’t abandon myself and I hold tenderness for myself
- What information to share with whom base on the wise space – space that respects where our relationship is actually at instead of where I want it to be
- How to discern when others don’t have capacity for me – instead of saying they don’t care about me or I am not worthy of their care
- When to share appreciation and celebrate myself and others – I developed my celebration muscles by rejoicing over small thing so when the big things happen I can fully celebrate with joy 🙂
I have more ease, peace, trust, and acceptance with myself and in my relationships.
You can learn more about me here.
I invite you to join the Authentic Inner Connection group coaching - a distinct approach to increasing your inner connection in community with others that leads to more authenticity, ease, joy, acceptance. Then you bring what works to your personal relationship.
The biggest results I want to see you get are:
- Deeper authentic inner connection – this includes inner confidence, inner peace, inner connection, self love, and boundaries
- Ability to articulate and cultivate what is important to yourself and others
- Clarity in what you want in life and in relationship with solid authenticity
This 6 week group coaching sessions meets for 1 hour each week at Fridays 8 am EST starting April 12 till May 17, 2024 via Zoom. The session will focus on the following topics:
Week 1 (April 12, 2024): Welcome, Agreements, and Autonomy
This introductory session sets up agreements for all participants for the next 6 weeks so you can have a safe and secure space to be seen and heard.
You explore your inner connection through autonomy – how do you balance between the sense of self and being part of a collective (e.g.: family, class, school, company, team, club, or any other organization)?
Week 2 (April 19, 2024): Play
Play is an inherent quality that people sometimes forget because they are too busy with all the responsibilities of their professional and personal lives. Yet play can nourish the inner connection. What are some characteristics of adult play that can help you strengthen your authentic inner connection?
Week 3 (April 26, 2024): Connection
Often the word “connection” denotes a link to something outside ourselves. In this session you will focus on the inner connection – how you authentically see and connect with the different parts of you?
Week 4 (May 3, 2024): Meaning
Meaning is the story people tell to make sense of ourselves, other people, and the world. Humans are innate meaning makers and do it all the time. Explore what authentic and inauthentic stories you are telling and the meaning you are making.
Week 5 (May 10, 2024): Mourning
Note: you can only join this session if you have already attended at least 3 of the previous sessions. I understand that life can be busy and you may miss a session but it would not be within my integrity to have you in this session without the previous supportive practices and exercises.
We all want beautiful things in our lives but the analogy is this: if our cup is full of things from the past, others, society, culture, etc. put into it, then how can we have space for the beautiful things we want? Mourning is a way to pour some of the things out to make space for what we yearn for and who we truly are.
Week 6 (May 17, 2024): Celebration
Let’s take time to celebrate this journey by reflecting on where you were, where you are now, and giving yourself a gift.
The Authentic Inner Connection group coaching include:
- Emails:
- Pre session – approximately 15 minutes of pre work which can include watching/listening to videos, goal setting, or bringing writing supplies
- Post session – summary email of the session and a hand out of exercise suggestions for the week
- Recording of the session
- Question and answers – have questions? Email it to me and I will answer it in class or in a shared document
What others are saying about Authentic Inner Connection coaching:
“I was struggling with social relationships and reflecting on how being raised in an alcoholic home continues to affect my personal relationships today. I thought I needed to heal a wounded inner child, but she turned out to be a strong and heroic survivor!! Through my work with Nancy, I found that my inner child healed me — I was concerned that my social relationships were doomed to failure, but that turned out to not be the case. I have much more influence over my relationships than I thought I did, and now have more information with which to choose relationships wisely.”
- Ann E., Professor from Philadelphia, PA, USA
“I realized that I was disconnected internally because I was distracted – searching for instant satisfaction, rather than long term happiness and success. Like, on paper everything’s good but deep down there’s something missing. In the past I have felt connected before when I was meditating, eating really clean, and being excited about things.
I reconnected with little Isabella [my inner child] during our first session. I felt overwhelming feelings of compassion and tenderness for her and it was healing. It was a reconnection with somebody I hadn’t seen in a long time. You [Nancy] made me feel really safe. I think that you did a great job of providing a safe space where I feel comfortable receiving new perspectives, ideas, and feelings.
These sessions made me feel more motivated to do work on myself. I just restarted therapy and am taking the time to actually sit down and meditate.”
- Isabella A., Artist and Graphic Artist from Philadelphia, PA, USA
“There was a gap between the things people say about me and my inability to receive them. If there was a compliment, I would brush it off and I didn’t feel it on the inside. So it seemed like two different worlds at times and I wanted to bridge that gap.
There were doubts or general hesitancy [around the session] about being vulnerable. I felt like there was uncharted territory and maybe didn’t have the proper tools at times or willingness to venture off into the unknown.
Working with you [Nancy], reminded me of how beautiful it can be to just be alone, to spend time with myself and the many different types of people I’ve been throughout my life – to be contained within. The sessions were gentle reminders to be curious but also trust the path that I’m walking on.
The biggest results from the coaching include making space to spend time with myself, being comfortable with being somewhat uncomfortable and embrace things like mourning, and realizing that I don’t have to be so hard on myself – that I can also be gentle and and be that wind in my own sail by showing showing up for myself in certain ways.”
- Kashta D., Project Manager and Artist from Philadelphia, PA, USA
If you’re ready to connect with yourself and others with authenticity, enroll now.
There is early pay pricing which provides a discount from March 13 – 31, 2024
Early pay pricing: $375
Regular pay pricing: $425
Group size will be a maximum of 12. Twelve is the most people I can care for and support given the group coaching content and the container I will be holding to ensure people feel comfortable, seen and heard, and safe.
In a week, how often do theses thoughts pop up in your head: “I don’t really want to do this but I'll do it so they will like me” or “If I express what is really going on for me then they won’t accept me”?
None? Great then you are living in authentic alignment to what you value and want. I admire people who have this inner connection that guides them in what they really want to do, say, and spend time and attention on.
A few times? Then maybe something is off or missing but life is still bearable because it is still working for you in many ways.
Many times? Then please allow yourself to fully listen to this inner voice and consider taking this group coaching series so you can nourish your authentic inner connection so it can be a compass to what you value and want in life.
As one participant shared, “I now accept and appreciate myself much more deeply. I have much more influence over my relationships than I thought I did, and now have more information with which to choose relationships wisely.”
These sessions will not deplete you more but will actually help nourish you by strengthening your inner connection and what truly matters. You deserve to go beyond the frustration and weariness and enjoy your life in nourishing ways.
Cancellations and refunds:
Here’s what can happen – sometimes what we think is a good fit just doesn’t work out. It’s no one’s fault and it’s just not working.
Since this is only a 6 week series, you can cancel after attending the first session and discover it is not for you. In that case, you will get a refund minus $50 for administration fees.
If you choose to continue after the first session then I cannot refund you. I hope you can trust your sense of what does or does not work for you after the first session to guide this decision.
Still on the fence?
If you think maybe this group coaching series is what you need, but you’re not quite sure, please ask. I don’t want an unasked question or unexpressed concern to keep you from getting clarity for yourself, whether it’s a Yes or a No. Please reach out.