Travellers’ Art Exhibition, Co-active coaching, Maria Arredondo and Suhair Fakhoury

‘Everything starts from within’ is a message on which both Maria Arredondo and Suhair Fakhoury have built the strong foundation of their lives.  These two extraordinary women have not only found their true calling, they also live it and now wish to share their experiences with those that are serious in unleashing their potential. Their scope of talents and methods of expressing themselves (Maria is a tango dancer and Suhair a budding artist)  may be different, but here is a success story of how they got together in their vision and their passion to coach others to discover who they truly are, and unlocking their inner drive to succeed.

After their successful two day co-active workshop at the end of March 2013, called ‘Unleash your potential…empower yourself,’ I wanted the two extraordinary ladies to share some insights into their own life. Maria, by then, had already departed from Dubai, but Abu Dhabi based Suhair help coordinate the answers. Thank you, ladies, for sharing your stories.

I was keen to know the relation between co-active coaching and neuroscience. Here is a great article to get you started, by The Coaches.

Co-incidentally, while preparing this article, Suhair informed me that she is exhibiting some of her artwork alongside a few other artists in May and June this year. The first art exhibition called ‘TRAVELERS – An Art Exhibition’ has opened today at the Bodytree Studio  in Abu Dhabi and will run until June 29, 2013. In her words, “The oil paintings that I will be exhibiting were created under the caring guidance and tutelage of Jörg Madlener to whom I am eternally grateful.” Yes, gratitude is key to one’s success, if you haven’t already experienced that.

Painting by Suhair – I am so drawn into this tumultous painting, for I feel some sort of ‘serene’ qualities coming through in the midst of this turbulence

Maria Arredondo, Founder of PivotMundi

Maria Arredondo, founder of PivotMundi, is both a professional co-active coach and a professional tango dancer. She says about herself: “I combine the beauty and depth of tango to business and leadership skills, and I work with passionate women entrepreneurs who want to succeed from their hearts.”

Maria Arredondo

In her eyes, tango is both a metaphor and a real physical experience. The metaphor is about relationships and the real “tango experience” enables the learning around leadership skills, improvisation, and creating from self and others.

Readers, how cool is that? Do you see that you can blend your creativity into the work you are doing, even if they seem ‘unrelated?’

Tango Away with Maria through her co-active coaching programs

Suhair Fakhoury, artist and co-active leadership program learner

Suhair Fakhoury is an ex-management consultant and project manager currently undertaking the CTI co-active leadership program (CTI stands for the Coaches Training Institute).  She recently responded to a life-long inner voice that consistently called her to paint. Painting has proven to be a powerful doorway into a deeper and richer self-expression. It allows her to portray her evolving attitude towards life and the circumstances it presents through her artwork.

Abu Dhabi based Suhair is an avid life learner. Visit BodyTree Studio Abu Dhabi to see her wonderful oil paintings, opening today.

Interview HotSpot:

What was the outcome of the workshop? What did people learn and how did it help them?

Our workshop was very successful in bringing awareness of self and one’s personal values and providing daily tools to help them do so. We were successful in creating an inviting and comfortable environment that allowed participants to open up to us and other workshop participants.

Q: What ‘tactics’ related to expressive arts therapy did you use in your workshop that helped the participants to work from within?

We used different ways like guided visualisation exercises, artwork and journaling where participants were able to become more self-aware of their values and desires. The active listening, the curiosity and the intuition from our side tapped into the natural resources of the participants so that they could create something authentic for themselves.

Another of Suhair’s oil paintings!

Q: What is co-active coaching and how does it help with working from within?

Co-active coaching is a non-directive, dynamic and holistic coaching method that balances self-awareness, relationship intelligence and courageous action so people can be deeply fulfilled, they can connect to others easier and be successful in what matters most to them.

Q:What got both of you into co-active leadership?

Getting into co-active leadership was the deep desire to take action and pursue our true purpose in life. Enrolling in the co-active leadership program has empowered us to recognize our capacity to lead others into becoming leaders themselves.

—

All photos are courtesy Maria and Suhair. Used with permission. Thank you.