MEET YOUR COACH

I’m Alexandra Schoenborn - Certified Professional Life Coach and Zen Buddhist practitioner.

Before finding life coaching and Zen Buddhism, I felt trapped by my ADHD brain. For as long as I can remember, I was full of big ideas and exciting goals that I dreamed of accomplishing, but I couldn’t get myself to actually start. I would pore over self-help books, videos, and pdfs, but nothing seemed to work.

I began to work with a life coach, who helped me see that change was possible. Simultaneously, I deepened my practice of Zen Buddhism, eventually living full-time in a temple for a year. Seeing a connection between what was working for me in coaching and the benefits of my Zen practice, I became a Certified Professional Life Coach so that I could use what I’d learned to help others just like me struggling with ADHD.

Joriki is a Zen term used to describe the stabilizing energy that arises from a state of deep concentration. My life coaching practice, Joriki Coaching, uses Zen principles to help clients with ADHD to find the focus and calm they need to get unstuck and take ownership over their lives

MY COACHING METHOD

As a Zen Buddhist practitioner and a Certified Professional Life Coach, I have found many parallels between mindfulness and the coaching solutions that truly work for ADHD-related challenges like executive dysfunction, emotional disregulation, and difficulty focusing.

I take what I have learned in my Zen practice and apply it through a secular lens so I can help clients with ADHD (regardless of their spiritual beliefs or lack thereof) to get organized and stay focused.

MY APPROACH

Collaboration

Your self-knowledge is the most important information in a coaching session. I use active listening and insightful questions to bring out your knowledge and apply it to any difficulties that you bring to our session.

Curiosity

Together we approach your problems with an exploratory mindset that builds on progress and avoids “all or nothing” thinking.

Compassion

Opening up about your deepest struggles requires a tremendous amount of vulnerability and courage. I do my best to create a warm and compassionate environment so that you feel supported throughout your coaching journey.

Presence

My Zen background helps me stay fully present for my clients in each session, fostering an environment in which clients also become fully present and cultivate an awareness that is essential to the coaching process.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Life coaching is a collaborative process between coach and client. In a coaching relationship, the coach guides their client to explore their issues through inquiry, working with the client to generate solutions based on the client’s own knowledge and lived experience. 

  • Therapy draws on the knowledge of a licensed mental health professional to help a person identify and change troubling thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Therapists are qualified to treat and diagnose mental illnesses and are uniquely trained to support your mental health.

    Life coaching is a goal-oriented practice that uses the client’s own knowledge and experience to guide the sessions. Life coaching is practical, future-oriented, and collaborative. Life coaches are trained to help clients overcome barriers through guided inquiry. They are not qualified to diagnose or treat mental health issues.

  • In a typical session, we will discuss any issues that you wish to work through, narrowing down our focus to one area if necessary. I will ask you to provide me with details about how the issue shows up in your life so we can understand what factors will be important to your success. I will guide you through a plan to overcome that particular issue and we will agree on action items to implement before our next session.

  • The optimal number of sessions varies based on the issue you would like to work on with me. Many of my clients notice a difference after the first session, but multiple sessions are ideal for us to be able to troubleshoot any difficulties that come up along the way. The ideal number of sessions will also vary based on the scope of the issue(s) you wish to address.

  • I typically meet with my clients weekly and I strongly recommend this frequency in the initial phase of working together. However, biweekly and monthly sessions are also an option, though this frequency tends to work best for clients I have been working with for a while. If you feel you need extra support, you may also wish to schedule multiple sessions per week.

  • I charge $120 USD per online session (50 min). This rate is discounted if you purchase a package of sessions:

    • 5 sessions: 10% discount = $108/session

    • 10 sessions: 15% discount = $102/session

    • 15 sessions: 20% discount = $96/session

    *In person sessions (must be in Brooklyn or Manhattan area): $180/session

    • 5 sessions: 10% discount = $162/session

    • 10 sessions: 15% discount = $153/session

    • 15 sessions: 20% discount = $144/session