The Science of Coherence Coaching
This is the science of transformational change.
Coherence Coaching is an evidence-based, experience-driven technique rooted in the neuroscience of memory reconsolidation.
What is Memory Reconsolidation?
Dr. Tori Olds explains it in a way that’s easy to understand, whether you have a scientific background or not.
How our brains learn
Our brains have two types of learning systems, explicit and implicit. These learnings develop differently and are held in different parts of our brain.
We gain explicit learnings in a cognitive, conscious way. For example, memorizing the multiplication table in math is an explicit learning, stored in our thinking mind.
On the other hand, implicit learnings are learned by being felt.They are not in our thinking minds. It is our bodies learning them through a felt sense of the experience we are going through. Think of how you learned to feel the balance in your body when riding a bike. You know how to do it, but you can’t necessarily articulate how you learned it.
Since implicit learnings are not learned through the thinking mind they cannot be accessed through the thinking mind. They are simply not there. The only way you can connect to them is by feeling them.
How implicit learnings become mental models unconsciously guiding our lives
When we learn something implicitly in the presence of strong emotion it becomes a mental model, or schema, for our perception of reality.
Mental models are emotional learnings acquired specifically in the time and context in which they were experienced. They are learned during moments of strong emotion and are reflective of how we learned to survive, stay safe, and maintain connection. They are nonverbal and unconscious, yet they drive our beliefs about ourselves, how we relate to others, and how we go through our lives.
Whether we are at a different age or in a different place now does not matter. These mental models are encoded in our limbic system. They feel true because they are real. They continue to communicate based on what they know. Their communication is nonverbal and visceral. The language they use is the felt sense.
What “experience-driven” means, and why it’s necessary for transformational change
In order to connect with unconscious, nonverbal mental models we have to meet them where they are, and that is not our thinking minds. They can only be found in a felt experience. That is where they live. It’s important to note that this must be done in a gentle embodied way, so that we are able to stay emotionally attuned and have the ability to connect with what we find.
Inside of this felt experience we are in the home of the mental model. We have been here before, without consciously registering it. We are seeing it for the first time with our conscious awareness. Now, we can bring our mental model out and give it a voice. It is no longer nonverbal, and it is no longer unconscious. The portal to transformation is open, and we have stepped through it.
How real change happens
Finding a mental model and bringing it into awareness is a crucial step. It is a powerful experience that feels like a major breakthrough, which is why a lot of methods stop here. What is essential at this stage in the process is to take it one step further and fully disconfirm and update the old mental model, which is what is necessary for real change.
This key step is accomplished in Coherence Coaching through a series of targeted techniques. The focus is on the brain to hold multiple experiences at the same time and juxtapose their very different versions of reality. This is intentionally guided so that the thinking mind and the felt sense are in these experiences simultaneously.
The disconfirmation and updating of the old mental model feels like its power instantly dissolves. The drive of the pattern or behavior is completely gone. There is nothing that can reactivate it. There is no effort or further work needed to maintain this change.
We don’t forget the old mental model. It simply has no power or control over us anymore.
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Ecker, B., Ticic, R., Hulley, L. (2024) Unlocking the Emotional Brain: Memory Reconsolidation and the Psychotherapy of Transformational Change
Coherence Psychology Institute
Dr. Tori Olds YouTube Channel
What this process feels like in our sessions
I want you to know that the approach and techniques used in Coherence Coaching are evidence-based and rooted in neuroscience, which is why I wrote the content on this page. Memory reconsolidation is a fascinating process that our brains have the innate capacity to do under the right circumstances.
Having that said, our sessions don’t feel like a science experiment. Our sessions feel like having a wise friend walking alongside you on your journey, offering guidance that is gentle, challenging, and above all, kind.
This work is not easy. First, it takes your willingness to do it. What it also takes is someone who knows how to effectively navigate with you through this process. It requires both scientific knowledge and emotional attunement on the part of the coach.
I take great responsibility in this work. If you have questions about the session experience, how the process of Coherence Coaching unfolds, or how we work together, let’s connect.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Our sessions begin with identifying a certain pattern or behavior that you would like to shift. As we get started I am seeking to understand: what happens, and when do you notice it happening? To answer these questions we look at a specific example of a time and place when you experienced the pattern or behavior we are addressing. We dive into this experience together to begin our discovery process. The goal is to speak from the experience rather than about it.
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Coherence Coaching is more focused in scope than psychotherapy. It is most appropriate for people who are generally stable. It is not appropriate for situations of crisis. In Coherence Coaching, we target a particular pattern or behavior that you would like to shift. Our work is non-pathologizing, meaning it does not diagnose patterns or behaviors as disorders. They are viewed as coherent responses to lived experiences.
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Traditional approaches were developed prior to the scientific discovery of memory reconsolidation, during a time when the behavioral health field believed that mental models cannot be changed once learned. The best hope was to manage them. That is the purpose of counteractive techniques. Examples include positive thinking, relaxation techniques, or reframing thoughts. Temporary and partial management is exactly what these techniques are intended to do. The best outcome, if successful, is incremental change, with continued, constant effort to sustain.
Coherence Coaching operates on the reality that permanent change is possible. Management is not the goal. Unlearning the old mental model is the goal, so that ongoing management is not needed. The scientifically proven techniques of Coherence Coaching dive in to the source of what is driving your patterns or behaviors, rather than staying at the surface level and fighting them as they inevitably come up. Transforming the root is what leads to liberating relief that no longer requires any effort to sustain. What success means in Coherence Coaching is permanent change.
Let’s Work Together
