The Newfield Ignite Podcast

Veronica Olalla Love, M.Ac., NCC®, PCC is the Chief Executive Officer for the Newfield Network's United States branch and is an international presenter for the Newfield Network programs. Why is the “observer” so important in the ontological approach? Why does including the body, emotion, and language lead to lasting changes when it comes to coaching or personal development? Why is it a powerful move, as a coach, to understand what your client truly cares about? In this conversation, Veronica shares why she was immersed in ontological learning from a young age, and how her experiences led to a true passion for this work. She also gives us an introduction to key understandings and distinctions that make ontological coaching so effective for personal development, leadership, and beyond.

Alexander Love is a coach, acupuncturist, and also the creator of the Newfield business development program. Why is it transformative to begin to see the observer that we are? How do we begin to understand what influences our worldview, and how do we shift that perspective so that we can go from being to becoming? In this conversation, Alexander brings his wide scope of experience to unpack the most important concepts in the style of coaching practiced by Newfield. Ontology, epistemology, and methodology, although rooted in philosophy are also deeply practical when it comes to coaching and personal transformation. Alexander also offers us a practice through which we can begin to see how we go about knowing the world, what we believe to be true, and how our current practices support or impede us in getting what we want or feeling fulfilled. When we begin to observe deeply, we can't help but begin to transform.

Marty Raphael, MCC NCOC, is an ontological business coach with over 10,000 hours of experience in the field. She is also the author of Spiritual Vampires and a mentor coach for Newfield Network. What is a generative definition of a leader, one that can help us find our way around the current crisis of leadership? In this conversation, Marty speaks from her extensive work with leaders and teams about what it takes to become a different observer, to begin to see new possibilities and change the status quo.  Marty's approach borrows from many sources, including ontological coaching. She discusses why looking at emotion, body, and the language are fundamental to coaching teams and organizations. Marty closes the conversation by offering a practice that we can all use in our lives. The Five Fingered Solution asks us to look at what conversations may be missing that would allow us to move forward more effectively and powerfully both in our relationships and in our work teams.

Where do you listen to others from—your head, heart or gut? How often do you check in with yourself as you are hearing someone's story? Do you allow yourself to speak from your intuition? What do you connect to when you don't know where to go next? How do you prepare yourself for a conversation? In this interview, Carol shares her fascinating insights for both coaches and non-coaches on these questions and more. Carol lets her passion for ontological coaching and learning flow as she offers us practices for accessing better conversations and deeper coaching.

Julio Olalla has been coaching and training coaches for over 30 years and is the founder and president of the Newfield Network. What happens when we look beyond our immediate concerns to the larger history that we are part of and that moves through us? What if this perspective made for more powerful coaching and more lasting shifts in our level of consciousness? In this conversation, Julio speaks from his own varied experience with many cultures and what he has learned: that often our woes are woven into us by our history. By coaching from this understanding, coaches are working beyond just coaching an individual, they are also contributing to the healing of humanity. Living in this understanding can provide a huge relief from “it's just me” and lead to a never before experienced freedom to step into new possibilities. Julio explores what shifts are occurring in the world of coaching and organizational development and concludes by sharing his insight and his hope for the future of human beings.

Thomas is an author, public speaker, and active voice in the conversation on the role of religion in the 21st century, he is also a facilitator at Pacific Integral.  What does emotional pain and wounding look like as we move up into higher stages of development? Is there an aspect of you that you could more fully include and integrate into the wholeness of who you are right now? Thomas speaks from his own experience to explore how, as we move into higher stages, we develop a capacity to be with painful parts of ourselves rather than seek to escape from them. This allows us to integrate all parts of ourselves in order to feel whole. As a special practice just for our listeners, Thomas walks us through a guided meditation to explore the gift of light that is within all of us, to help us find a place where we can be held no matter what is going on in our world.

Glenda Monasch is a Eurythmy trainer who works with this form in the context of therapy, pedagogy, and performance. Her childhood in South Africa and studies in Europe have shaped her life path in this expressive form that includes soul, breath, poetry, and movement. Is there a language that is common to all human beings? An original language that unites our inner world with our bodies and with the outside world? How can this non-verbal language help us reconnect with the world? With our true nature? In this conversation, Glenda explores the origins of eurythmy, a unique use of sound and movement inspired by ancient ways of being in the world. This practice has to do with rhythm, which she believes is the basis for all life. Through sounds and gestures, the practice allows people to articulate their ‘soul experience,' the relationship of their soul to the world. The sounds strengthen the soul. Body, breath, and sound together help re-initiate people to both their inner and outer worlds. Glenda shares touching personal stories of how impactful events in her life opened a path to Eurythmy and to the welcoming of play and discovery in the art of healing.

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is a 17-year-old climate activist, hip hop artist, and powerful voice on the front lines of a global, youth-led, environmental movement called the Youth Guardians. What does it mean to truly connect with the things that really matter to us? For Xiuhtezcatl, it means that we find our reason to care for our planet and the motivation to take action. He invites us to be energized by all the solutions and innovations that are already out there rather than be weighed down by the problems themselves. In this conversation, Xiuhtezcatl talks about how the movement for environmental change is fueled by more than just hope and inspiration… he's seen the solutions that outweigh the problems; he sees that we are at a moment in time where change has moved beyond dreaming and into doing. Xiuhtezcatl says that by 2020, his young generation will be the biggest voting block in the United States, and speaks about the importance of a movement spearheaded by hundreds of thousands of youth spread among 30 different countries. From tree planting to carbon sequestration projects, he emphasizes all of the good that is already being done and invites you to join in on the momentum.

Kim Barta is an internationally recognized psychotherapist, life coach, and speaker with over 30 years of experience in the field. Kim co-created a Mind/Body Healing Center that has been successful for over 27 years on the Flathead Indian Reservation. During this time, Kim developed innovative solutions and enrichments for the human condition including: “Shadow to Spirit,” “The Evolution of Shadow Resolution,” and “Psychosocial Cartography” that are highly effective with depression, anxiety, trauma, anger, and addictions. What does it take for rapid healing of trauma, abuse, and addiction? Kim talks about how he came to his current treatment approach through a combination of positive psychology, spirituality, and shamanism. With deep emotion, Kim recalls the healing he witnessed in many of his clients and how the approach he uses allows him to live the traumatic experience with a client without becoming enmeshed. He speaks to the importance of finding the delicate balance between empathy and being an observer of what is taking place. In this conversation, Kim also discusses the STAGES model of human development created by Dr. Terri O'Fallon. Kim partners with Dr. Terri O'Fallon and has developed multiple functional uses of the STAGES model for psychotherapy, coaching, parenting, and personal growth. This model allows therapists and coaches to understand human development and how to work with clients based on their developmental level. You can learn more at: developmentallifedesign.com.

Is it possible that there are many aspects of our lives that we don't need to be so certain about? That questioning how we see the world can lead us to new worlds we never even imagined? In this interview, Chalmers shares how he went from personal development skeptic to the author of the core reference book used in coach training programs all over the country. He discusses some key distinctions that have helped him transform his life and those of his clients: The inherent subjectivity of being human: How looking at—versus through—the lens with which we see the world can empower us to make the changes we want. What do we use language for? Realizing the way we use and understand language can create our reality and transform our relationships. The key to learning: Being able to say, “I don't know.” Can we embrace this in our workplace, in our lives? The importance of company culture over company strategy: How conversations can enrich both the business and the individual. BIO: Chalmers Brothers is the author of Language and the Pursuit of Happiness, professional consultant, certified personal coach, and seminar leader. For over 20 years, he has helped teams and individuals bring about positive change in their lives.

What is ontological learning? Why is it so important in today's world? In this very personal conversation with Veronica, she not only shares the answers to these questions but also reveals how she became the CEO of Newfield Network, her stories of a unique childhood immersed in the world of personal transformation, and how using the ontological approach itself to run Newfield as a business gave her an invaluable skill set she could not have gained at business school… one that has made the company thrive. Veronica gives us a taste of all the realms ontological learning can reveal: The idea of ‘other' and observing how our definition is not as air-tight as we think. How it is possible to coordinate a future together even when we have very different perspectives. How to fully experience this wild crazy ride called life that we are on.

Brendan Kelly, acupuncturist, Chinese medicine practitioner, book author, and tai chi teacher. What if climate change — what is happening at the global level — is a reflection of our own internal and cultural imbalances? In this provocative conversation, Brendan uses the concept of Yin and Yang as a lens through which to see our current crisis. We live in a time of imbalance. Our over-emphasis on stimulation, newness, and constant growth is an excess of Yang. What we need is Yin: to slow down, to have less, and to value the old. Brendan invites us to see how our culture has devalued balance, and that only by regaining balance can we hope to heal psychological and ecological health. He asks if we can move from a doom-and-gloom view to seeing our times as a transition, as an opportunity to regain balance on all levels.  Bio: Brendan Kelly has been actively involved with local, regional, and national environmental issues for 25 years. The co-founder and co-owner of Jade Mountain Wellness, where he currently practices acupuncture and herbalism, he also teaches at Johnson State College and the Academy for Five Element Acupuncture. Kelly lectures nationally on a wide variety of topics, including Chinese medicine, Western herbal medicine, personal health, climate change, and other environmental issues.

Laura Bond, Director of the Arts and Ideas program at the University of North Carolina in Asheville and master trainer in the Alba Method (a somatic approach to inducing, expressing, and modulating emotions). Do you often feel driven by our emotions? What if there was a method to put you in the driver's seat? In this conversation, Laura Bond talks about how each of our emotions is very specifically embodied: anger, for example, has its own muscle patterns in the face and body which are quite different from that of joy.  When people learn how to do these patterns, they become able to physically shift their emotional state, they begin to feel different. “Suddenly you have more power, more control,” says Laura. Laura has found that the Alba Method, originally used to train actors, is actually universal, something that anyone can use, including coaches and practitioners. Being able to sense the physical expression of your emotional state, and then embody a different one is far from imitating life; it is understanding life. Bio: Laura Bond is a Full Professor at UNC-Asheville, and the Director of the Arts and Ideas Program. Laura is a master teacher in the Alba Method of physical emotion regulation. She has developed new methods to teach the Alba Method to the general public and helps performers, business professionals, therapists, and life coaches recognize how the method can be used in their practices. She is the author of TEAM for Actors: A Holistic Approach to Embodied Acting.  

John Kesler, proponent of individual and collective flourishing, Founder of the Integral Polarity Practice Institute, Founder of the nonprofit Salt Lake Global Civil Network, and “recovering” attorney. In a time of deeply divided politics, how can we find a way to include and transcend two opposite poles, two contending points of view? In this conversation, John Kesler presents his Integral Polarity Practice (IPP) as a practice that calls us to transcend the ego, access our compassion, and reach a higher self. IPP allows us to access a place where we see that opposite poles are actually different qualities of the same thing. When we become aware of polarities, both individually and collectively, and work with them, we can begin to see the relevance of each pole, see the dynamics between the poles, and learn to hold both poles simultaneously. This, in turn, enables us to stretch beyond our current patterns that no longer serve us. This powerful practice is relevant for our own self-development, for relationships, in organizations, in coaching, and in leadership. And, Kesler invites us to consider how it is also crucial in politics. Democracy is in danger when those in power are not aware of how to expand their perspective to include both poles. To be more collaborative and generous, to get things done, we need to access a level of maturity that can move beyond polarities. Bio: John has developed and shares widely an integrally informed awareness and life practice called Integral Polarity Practice (IPP). He was a founding teacher of the Integral Spiritual Center. Mr. Kesler founded and is president of the global Salt Lake Civil Network, a nonprofit which is dedicated to integrally informed approaches to local/global, and personal/collective transformation. He was a founding member of the Integral Institute and has had extensive experience in the in the areas of community flourishing and other areas of social and political activism and reform. John graduated from Columbia University Law School.  He has practiced law for over 40 years in America, Europe and Asia.

Alexander Love is an Acupuncturist, Coach, Speaker, & Curriculum Developer of Newfield Network's, “Heart, Soul & Praxis of Business Development Program.” What if running a business is an opportunity to show up passionately ...with love, care, and enthusiasm? In this conversation, Alexander shares the path that led him to redefine fundamental assumptions about what “business” “marketing” and “money” are or can be. Alexander invites us to consider business as the expression of our deepest heart desire, as the catalyst that will bring our voice out into the world. When a business owner acts from this place, he or she realizes that sales can be about clarity, about serving, about creating a new future and about helping others. Alexander ends with a simple exercise—for newbie and seasoned business owners alike—on how to find this place. BIO Alexander Love, M.Ac., Dipl. OM, NTS, is a coach, acupuncturist, and cultural luminary. He is the director, designer, and primary facilitator for the Newfield Network's business development program for coaches, “The Heart, Soul, & Praxis of Business Development.” Alexander is an inspirational leader who invites us to allow our pains and challenges to become a catalyst for creating a bright future.

In this conversation, Bernard Lietaer reveals how our relationship with money has become unconscious. We have forgotten that we designed and created the idea of money. It seems money is managing us rather than us using it to serve our needs. “Money is an agreement,” says Bernard. “What is interesting about this definition is that one can change it once it stops working for us.” Bernard reviews alternatives to the current system that we seem tied to, one he calls “patriarchal” because it is a single currency system, created top-down, that promotes short-term rather than long-term thinking. He also discusses places he has seen both acceptance and resistance to these alternative systems. Bernard ends the conversation by speculating on what it will take for a money revolution. What will it take to raise global consciousness around the nature of money, our behavior patterns around it, and the existence of other possibilities? BIO Bernard Lietaer, author of The Future of Money, is an international expert in the design and implementation of currency systems.  He has studied and worked in the field of money for more than 30 years in an unusually broad range of capacities including as a Central Banker, a fund manager, a university professor, and a consultant to governments in numerous countries, multinational corporations, and community organizations. He co-designed and implemented the convergence mechanism to the single European currency system (the Euro) and served as president of the Electronic Payment System at the National Bank of Belgium (the Belgian Central Bank). He co-founded and managed GaiaCorp, a top performing currency fund whose profits funded investments in environmental projects. A former professor of International Finance at the University of Louvain, he has also taught at Sonoma State University and Naropa University.  He is currently a Research Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Resources of the University of California at Berkeley.  He is also a member of the Club of Rome, a Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences, the World Business Academy, and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. Bernard Lietaer has written numerous books and articles about money systems, including Of Human Wealth (2011), Monnaies Régionales (2008), and The Mystery of Money (2000).

In this interview, Lonny Jarrett integrates the wisdom of Chinese Medicine, Jungian analysis, and integral theory to explore human spiritual development and the ways in which we can access the deeper answers we seek. Lonny discusses why models of spiritual development are important: They help to identify where a client, patient, or coachee may get stuck, where they tend to regress in times of stress, and where the gaps are between their values and actions. Closing this gap is crucial for our continued evolution. "Evolution means entering the unknown," says Lonny. It comes when we question our fundamental beliefs, appreciate feeling disoriented, and have confidence in the process. When we are able to experience a "crack" in our limited worldview, we can see through to something bigger than ourselves. At first, we may see this bigger thing as "it" or "other," but we soon come to understand that it is part of us, an aspect of our self that was previously hidden. Lonny ends the conversation by talking about the key to getting people to come together: Deep listening. A practitioner who is able to access this transcendental aspect of self, and listen to it, has the power to activate a new dimension of being in their client, patient or coachee. It enables the client to move from listening to their thoughts and feelings to listening to their soul and intuition. BIO Lonny S. Jarrett, M. Ac., author of Nourishing Destiny, The Inner Tradition of Chinese Medicine, has been a student of Chinese medicine since 1980. He holds a master's degree in neurobiology and a fourth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Lonny maintains his clinical practice in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

What is a human being? What does it mean to integrate the desire to live a meaningful life with the pragmatics of action? In this interview, Bob Dunham reveals a cultural challenge: the flood of “how to” and “5 secrets to success” content that promises to change our lives but does not, and cannot, produce the big shifts we seek. Bob says that breakthrough can only come when we shift the context. To do this, we must ask questions that go beyond the “how.”  By asking the “what” questions, we reveal blind spots and see we have the “incredible power to design a life.”  In this conversation, Bob speaks about his research on the fundamental skills of leadership, leadership as an art, and how leadership and learning are embodied. He ends by speaking about our ability to engage, moment by moment, with the fundamental question: What do I want to contribute to the world? BIO Bob Dunham is the founder of the Institute for Generative Leadership (IGL) and has trained hundreds of graduates in the three-year Coaching Excellence in Organizations (CEO) program. IGL partners with Newfield Network - the leading school of ontological coaching - and also offers the discipline of Generative Leadership and management in the Generative Leadership Program™ (GLP). Bob's experience as a corporate executive and COO of startups informs over thirty years of coaching, consulting, and results-based practices for effective leadership and coaching in organizations. Bob works to establish leadership, management, and coaching in organizations as mature professions.

In this interview, Terri O'Fallon, researcher, teacher and coach, reveals some of the universal human developmental patterns she has discovered. She has been a teacher for 53 years and has, therefore, witnessed first-hand the progression of human unfolding. In this conversation, Terri speaks to how human awareness and consciousness unfolds over time and how having an understanding of this developmental map enables us to cultivate more compassion for our fellow humans. Terri's model is intricately linked to the work of contemporary philosopher Ken Wilber and also Dr. Susanne Cook Grueter's work on human development.   Lastly, Terri speaks to the importance of establishing a strong foundation of human development in our early years so as to have healthy later stages of development as well as the why healing our early childhood wounds enables us to be much more resilient and healthy adults. Join us for an exciting journey! BIO Terri O'Fallon is a researcher, teacher, coach, spiritual director and designer of transformative containers. She recently completed research on the Integral Stages developmental model, identifying three later adult developmental levels and a series of patterns that repeat throughout the human life-scape. She and Kim Barta co-teach practical approaches for the application of this model for coaches, psychotherapists, parents, and other mentoring positions. Terri is a founding partner of Pacific Integral, which creates a variety of programs including “Generating Transformative Change”.  Terri holds Masters degrees in Special Education, and in Spiritual direction and an Integral PhD in Transformative Learning and Change.

What would happen if we allowed ourselves to shift from a constant state of striving and achieving, and instead entered into a place of deep satisfaction? In this interview, Alexander Love invites us into an intimate space of inquiry and invites us to experience the deep satisfaction that exists when we drop into a great field of love. From this direct experience of the ocean of love, we explore what new possibilities can arise in our coaching practice, our lives, and the world at large. What happens when our own agony and humanity's agony is met with profound love and compassion? What becomes possible when we widen our hearts to embrace paradox? Join us in a deeply enriching, experiential journey that takes us beyond our day-to-day assumptions about transformation, change, and being human. BIO Alexander Love, M.Ac., Dipl. OM, is a coach, acupuncturist, and cultural luminary. He is the director, designer, and primary facilitator for the Newfield Network's business development program for coaches, “The Heart, Soul, & Praxis of Business Development.” Alexander is an inspirational leader who invites us to allow our pains and challenges to become a catalyst for creating a bright future. For more on Alexander Love.

How can we transform a challenge into a portal for revelation? In this podcast, Anna Chitty shares powerful distinctions and practices that we can utilize both in our coaching and in our lives. Anna gently guides us through an exploration of five essential skills: presence, field dynamics, listening, recognition, and conversation. Then, she explores how to recognize different nervous system states—and why they matter. This is a unique opportunity to experience these beautiful practices based on deep wisdom. BIO Anna Chitty has been passionate about, and directed programs in, mind, body, and healthcare since 1982. For the last 20 years, she has been co-founder of the Colorado School of Energy Studies in Boulder Colorado and has been the director and lead teacher of the two-year Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Training program. She also teaches many other advanced trainings, including a Polarity Life Coach training and a training called Body into Being, with Dr. Raymond Castellino. She brings her skills from Somatic Experiencing, Pre and Perinatal work, Attachment and Bonding, and the Diamond Approach into all that she does. She has a private practice in Boulder.

In this podcast Charles Eisenstein, author and speaker, reminds us that our worlds are created through stories, that every aspect of society is running on story. He highlights that our world is undergoing a radical shift in its dominant stories, a narrative change of great significance—and potential. What is our story about money? About self? About society? How mindful and aware are we of the stories that fuel our reality? What is the pain of the dissolution of old stories, the breaking down of our knowledge and our certainty? Charles then relays his own journey regarding authoring and publishing his work, and offers an intimate look at the touchstones in his life that keep him anchored to his cares. Lastly, Charles moves into exploring the importance of not knowing, surrendering and resting, and how these are essential aspects of life, of coaching and can be gateways to dropping into source and strength. BIO Charles Eisenstein a speaker and writer focusing on themes of human culture and identity. He is the author of several books, most recently Sacred Economics and The More Beautiful World our Hearts Know is Possible. His background includes a degree in mathematics and philosophy from Yale, a decade in Taiwan as a translator, and stints as a college instructor, a yoga teacher, and a construction worker. He currently writes and speaks full-time. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina with his wife and four children. For more on Charles Eisenstein.    

In our very first Newfield Ignite podcast Julio Olalla, founder of the Newfield Network and one of the founding fathers of coaching, invites us to reflect on the importance of seeing beyond ourselves—of truly paying attention to a view that encompasses all of humanity and the planet. Julio encourages us to move into a realm of care in the largest and most expansive way. He reveals how this expansive care requires us to question both our own blindness and our collective assumptions. This is a powerful invitation to fully step up as coaches and to examine where are we, individually and collectively, are headed. Julio explores the origin of coaching, why coaching emerged and how understanding this provides an essential context that enables powerful coaching. Julio examines the difference between knowledge and wisdom, and why this distinction matters. He speaks about what is most important for coaches to be focused on in today's world and addresses why coaching demands the cultivation of courage.

Welcome to Newfield Ignite! Please listen to Episode 0 and begin our collective journey of transformation in order to make this world a more beautiful place!