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From Chaos to Coherence
65 Plays2 months ago
What does it take to remain steady when everything around us feels uncertain, loud, or chaotic?
In this powerful episode of PRIME SPACE, Elias Scultori, MCC, sits down with Patricia Risch, MCC, a coach, edgewalker, and global citizen, to explore the lived experience and coaching implications of moving from chaos to coherence.
Drawing from her time living through geopolitical crises in Pakistan and Jordan, Patricia shares how navigating global instability shaped her capacity for grounded presence, energetic coherence, and conscious choice. Together, Elias and Patricia unpack how coherence is not just a mindset but a practice, one that allows coaches and leaders to hold space without being hijacked by fear, reactivity, or overwhelm.
This conversation is especially relevant for coaches, leaders, and change-makers who work with clients facing uncertainty, emotional dysregulation, or complex systemic challenges. You’ll hear how coherence becomes a generative force that supports clarity, emotional regulation, leadership presence, and forward movement—even in the midst of chaos.
✨ Key themes
- The concept of the *edgewalker* in coaching and leadership
- Moving from reactivity to intentional choice
- Coherence as an energetic and embodied practice
- How coaches can stay grounded when clients arrive in chaos
- Coaching as a catalyst for the evolution of human consciousness
Episode Chapters
01:49 – Living in Global Chaos
Patricia reflects on experiencing embassy bombings, 9/11 abroad, and cultural liminality.
04:25 – Choosing Steadiness in Crisis
Detachment, awareness, and the power of internal anchoring.
05:42 – Coaching as Integration
How coach training helped Patricia bring meaning and coherence to her experiences.
08:47 – How Do We Move from Chaos to Coherence?
Values, recalibration, and intentional presence.
11:50 – “Do I Have Thoughts, or Do My Thoughts Have Me?”
Awareness, detachment, and choice in moments of crisis.
14:12 – The Core Message of Coaching
Movement, momentum, and evolution.
14:46 – Practical Guidance for Coaches
Pause, breathe, ground, listen, and create space.
15:25 – The Power of Choice
From global crises to everyday moments—coherence is always available.
Memorable Quotes
“Reactivity doesn’t have to be the choice.” — Patricia Risch, MCC
“Regardless of the chaos, there is always a choice.” — Elias Scultori, MCC
“Do I have thoughts, or do my thoughts have me?” — Patricia Risch, MCC
“To support our clients, we must first bring coherence within ourselves.” — Elias Scultori, MCC
Subscribe to PRIME SPACE for conversations at the edge of coaching, consciousness, and human potential.
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Transcript
Introduction to Patricia Rich and Her Coaching Journey
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to Prime Space, a Prime Coaching Academy podcast with your host, Elias Scultori. Coaches, I have another guest here today, and it's a very dear guest, Patricia Rich.
00:00:20
Speaker
And Patricia is an MCC coach. And hello, Patricia. Good morning, Elias. Hello, lo it's so good to have you here.
00:00:31
Speaker
I have to say ah why Patricia is a special guest for me. All my guests are special, but Patricia has a specialty around that, a specific specialty.
Patricia's Global Crisis Experiences and Transition to Coaching
00:00:42
Speaker
ah Patricia and I were together working in our MCC together, and we helped each other throughout that process. And it was such a joy to work with her ah and to get to know Patricia how Patricia sees the world. I'm going to read for you Patricia's bio so that you get a little glimpse of Patricia. Patricia just describes herself as an edge walker, crossing cultural boundaries, responding to global crisis, and exploring the energetic and quantum dimensions of coaching.
00:01:17
Speaker
She walks between the physical and non-physical, the seen and unseen, conventional and visionary, always oriented toward what is emerging.
00:01:30
Speaker
While living in Islamabad, Pakistan, She experienced the impact of Al-Qaeda's 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassy in East Africa, as well as the 9-11 attacks while living in Amman Jordan area.
00:01:49
Speaker
After this tumult, she relocated to Zurich, Switzerland, where she began coach training in
Navigating Chaos and Coherence in Coaching
00:01:56
Speaker
2003. o three Patricia coaches now U.S. government employees across all levels and agencies, as well as private sector and international clients. What most inspires her is the evolution of human consciousness.
00:02:12
Speaker
Patricia believes energy is the new edge in coaching. And that coaching is one of the most powerful contributions to this evolution. Her work is grounded in continuous learning and a deep respect for what unfolds in each moment.
00:02:30
Speaker
Wow, Patricia, I'm humbled when I read all of things. historical moments and you living in that moment. So thank you so much. I'm so excited about you you sharing your experience here with us. We start your bio by talking about Edge Walker.
00:02:51
Speaker
What does that mean to you? Well, I think it was said, Elias, in what he read, but it' it was a term that came to me when i was in Switzerland. the The previous events of living in Pakistan and Jordan were experiences where i walked between the seen and the unseen, physical and non-physical, walking between cultures, languages.
00:03:22
Speaker
The experience
Lessons from Global Crises: Steadiness and Choice
00:03:23
Speaker
in the chaos that I experienced during the embassy bombings, living in in Pakistan when After the embassy bombings, the US retaliated across Pakistani airspace with the intention of targeting bin Laden.
00:03:45
Speaker
We were Americans living in Pakistan and there was fear of over retaliation. I witnessed the stories, the narratives, the assumptions, the fear, the political unrest.
00:04:03
Speaker
and the collective confusion. And there was something within me. There was a steadiness and a calm that I experienced.
00:04:15
Speaker
It was a detachment, but it wasn't that I wasn't aware of what was going on. But i realized that there was another option. There was another choice.
00:04:27
Speaker
That reactivity didn't need to be a choice. So I anchored myself in myself to be there for my family, myself, community, faculty.
Cultural Adaptation and Starting Anew in Switzerland
00:04:42
Speaker
what It was a quality of being that then i experienced in Jordan, living there during 9-11. And again, i was acutely aware of being a guest, as we are as expats in other countries.
00:05:00
Speaker
and a U.S. passport holder. The weight of the global attention was over the Middle East where we lived. You know, we all have witnessed that. We all have experienced. I'm sure you were in New York at that time, Elias.
00:05:18
Speaker
And um I was experiencing it from abroad. So there was a paradox of distance and proximity.
00:05:29
Speaker
I felt the need or the the pull or the drive to remain steady. When I moved to Switzerland is actually when I began coach training and kind of all this came together. And, you know, I realized, wow, the liminal space between a culture, it was a huge transition in identity.
Transforming Team Energy and Leadership through Coaching
00:05:51
Speaker
I was grateful to begin coach training because I, was able to pull everything together. I remember clearly when I was in New York and 9-11 happened and I was seeing the towers ah catching fire and I remember very clearly thinking to myself, wow, I am right now witnessing ah historical moment.
00:06:18
Speaker
also to notice the chaos that was in the moment, but also how the community, I remember very clearly how the community chose to come together and to remain steady and to help each other and do what needed to be done in that moment. So there was ah a little glimpse, not as intense as you, but there was a little glimpse of that chaos.
00:06:43
Speaker
You were present to global chaos, right? And you were able in that moment to make that choice to find the energy of coherence within you. How do you think that that influenced you to move into coaching and even now when you're coaching your leaders?
00:07:04
Speaker
When I arrived in Switzerland, I knew there was more to this. I knew there was more to the state of being and I wanted to work with people in this domain because I realized the coherency is an energy.
From Chaos to Coherence: Global and Personal Coaching
00:07:22
Speaker
It's generative and it impacts the people around us, right? When we coach, we see, we've all witnessed how even in a family, one person changes and, you know, pulls the whole family along.
00:07:38
Speaker
Leaders as well, you know, a leader's energy and, how they lead with emotional regulation, clarity and communication with authenticity.
00:07:51
Speaker
The team mirrors that energy. Coaching just helped me to maybe expand. Maybe it was more expansive and it helped me to dive into more of this, not only helping people, the greater good and moving evolution, because it all is about evolution, on some level I think it was just an intention of what I wanted to do.
00:08:16
Speaker
What I love about your experience is because, yes, these are global chaotic moments. It seems that he gave you the sensitivity to understand this idea, this movement from chaos to coherence, from scatteredness to focus, from noise to sound, right? Regardless of the scale, there is a sensitivity in you about this dichotomy. Yeah.
00:08:49
Speaker
And it's a practice. You know, coherency is a practice. How do we move from chaos to coherence? Well, it's choice and it's a practice and how we practice, how we choose to practice coherency.
00:09:05
Speaker
It's an internal state of being where we are aligned with our values, our principles. And are we all there all the time? Of course not.
00:09:16
Speaker
But we need to be able to recalibrate to that state of being when we are thrown off. How do we practice it? Whatever it means to you. There is an insane amount of information that's coming to us.
00:09:33
Speaker
We do not have the space process it. And this is what I believe about coaching, because we are providing the space for our clients to make that choice.
00:09:48
Speaker
To think.
Maintaining Coherence in Coaching Amidst Chaos
00:09:49
Speaker
January 2nd, 2025 was absolutely insane. And do I stay? Do I go? My family, my future, the civil service people feeling undervalued. That's chaos.
00:10:03
Speaker
Different than global, but it was chaos. And the world, you know, we were all in chaos and there still is chaos. using the January 25 example that you just gave over here, your client comes to the session in chaos.
00:10:20
Speaker
What supports you as a coach to stand in the space of coherence and not get into the circle of doom with a client?
00:10:33
Speaker
That is a great question. There's no other choice we say hold the space but what it is it's coherency It's just to stay grounded and anchored and centered.
00:10:46
Speaker
I remember driving in a bus in in Pakistan to the airport and that the streets were quiet. I remember saying, well I'd feel a little better if there were missiles overhead.
00:10:59
Speaker
they They need to speak. They need to share where they're at and what's going on in the turmoil and whatever it means to them. And on the continuum of managers or GS-16 leaders, you'd have a manager show up that was very steady or a leader.
00:11:21
Speaker
It was very steady, very very coherent, and they were just processing the movement from fear to forward movement because they're in fear. Their team's in fear.
00:11:35
Speaker
What are the possibilities to to go to future? forward movement and there are leaders that were, you know, dysregulated and concerned about their own future as a coach.
00:11:50
Speaker
You don't identify and you don't get grabbed. I wasn't grabbed by the political events. The political events were there. It's just like, do do I have thoughts or do my thoughts have me?
00:12:05
Speaker
Did I experience the global crisis or did that, did the global crisis half me It seems to me it's ah it's a sense of detachment. It's a skill to detach from what is happening, what is happening to me and me identifying with what is happening.
00:12:25
Speaker
Because you experienced such an enormous amount of chaos, somehow you were able to notice the distinction between what was happening inside of you and what was happening outside of you.
00:12:37
Speaker
And that gave you the choice to hold to that coherence that was in internal inside of you. Regardless of the level of chaos, if it is the bombing of an embassy or if it's that the milk spilled as we were boiling the milk or whatever it is, the the level of chaos, we have a choice in that moment.
00:13:03
Speaker
And for us to be able to support our clients, we need to bring a level of coherence within us so that they can also see that there is a choice for them and be able to separate the situation from what is happening inside of them or what is available to them.
The Role of Awareness and Intentional Choice in Coaching
00:13:23
Speaker
In order to move them to a new future possibility.
00:13:29
Speaker
One of the questions I have here for you, Patricia, what becomes possible when coherence is intentional? I mean, it's huge. A new future becomes possible.
00:13:45
Speaker
How to move them out of wherever they are, ah situation, problem, to maybe a higher and higher intelligence. This is the generative impact of coaching.
00:13:57
Speaker
It's the evolution evolution of consciousness. and Amy talks about that.
00:14:03
Speaker
With all that said, what is the core message of coaching for you? Movement. It's momentum.
00:14:16
Speaker
Moving clients from what's holding them back or hesitation. Because the movement is the evolution. The movement is growth. The movement is forward action.
00:14:28
Speaker
I have one more question for you, Patricia. What would you say to coaches when they are in the middle of a coaching conversation and they are experiencing the client's chaos?
00:14:43
Speaker
What do we do?
00:14:46
Speaker
Pause, breathe, ground, listen, create space. Let them process it.
00:14:59
Speaker
How do I encounter coherence in that moment? First step is to be aware of that self-awareness that I, as a coach, I am being hijacked by their chaos.
00:15:13
Speaker
And then to recalibrate Another thing that comes up for me is remember that we have a choice regardless of the chaos. And here is you having these extreme experience of chaos and you made a choice right there.
00:15:35
Speaker
And I love these examples because if you were able to make a choice in the middle of an embassy bombing, We as ah as a country, if we were able to make a choice when 9-11 happened and we were able to stay still and help each other, that moment when we are with our clients and there is the chaos of our clients or that moment that the milk spilled right in front of us in our own lives,
00:16:07
Speaker
There is a choice and we can make a choice. Are we going to the energy of chaos or are we going to the energy of coherence? So true.
00:16:18
Speaker
And there's an awareness that has to happen to make the choice. We have to be aware that we have a choice.
00:16:27
Speaker
Patricia, it's a a joy to partner with you and it's a joy to have these conversations with you every time we come together. i always learn from you and I am inspired by the energy that you put in the world. So thank you so much for the work that you do. Thank you so much for the opportunity to have this conversation with you, Obederson.
00:16:50
Speaker
coaches thank you so much for listening to this podcast and i will see you next time take good care