PRIME SPACE

We often speak about ourselves in terms of different parts: the part that wants to move forward, the part that hesitates, the part that protects us, or the part that gets in our way.

But what if these parts are not who we are, but simply aspects of our experience?

In this episode of PRIME SPACE, Elias welcomes Stan Ajemian, PCC, to explore Internal Family Systems (IFS) and its relationship with the coaching mindset.

Together, they examine the distinction between our parts and our core Self, the idea that there are no bad parts, and how this perspective can help coaches cultivate greater curiosity, presence, and self-awareness.

The conversation also explores an important implication for coaching: rather than trying to fix or manage the client's parts, coaches can support clients in reconnecting with their own inherent wholeness and resourcefulness.

They also consider how a coach's own parts can influence the coaching relationship, and why the connection between two human beings remains central to the coaching experience.

An invitation to look beyond the stories, behaviors, and strategies that show up in a conversation, and reconnect with the whole person.

PRIME SPACE is produced by PRIME Coaching Academy, where these conversations continue through our ICF-accredited coach training programs.

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What makes a reflection powerful? And how can something as seemingly simple as reflecting a client's words open an entirely new perspective?

In this episode of PRIME SPACE, Elias Scultori, MCC, welcomes Joe Simmons, PCC, to explore the intersection between motivational interviewing and professional coaching.

Drawing on his experience as a coach, educator, mentor coach, and member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers, Joe introduces an approach that offers valuable lessons for professional coaches.

At the heart of the conversation is the distinction between simple and complex reflections. While simple reflections help establish understanding, complex reflections go further. They capture the meaning and essence of what a client is expressing, offering a perspective that can evoke awareness and move the conversation forward.

Together, Elias and Joe explore why reflections deserve more attention in coaching, why coaches should resist the impulse to immediately follow a reflection with a question, and how trusting the client's autonomy creates space for deeper exploration.

This conversation is an invitation to expand your coaching repertoire, refine your listening, and discover the reflective edge of your practice.

PRIME SPACE is produced by PRIME Coaching Academy, where these conversations continue through our ICF-accredited coach training programs.

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What does maturity really mean in coaching?

In this conversation, Elias Scultori, MCC, speaks with Rosângela Barcellos, MCC, about maturity as an internal journey—not a credential, a number of coaching hours, or a collection of competencies. They explore the inner conversations that can shape a coach’s behavior, including the impulse to interrupt a client, the fear of appearing incompetent, and the desire to prove that we are providing value.

Rosângela invites coaches to look beneath their visible behaviors and examine the beliefs, fears, and patterns that influence how they show up. Elias connects this work to self-awareness, embodiment, and the human-to-human nature of coaching. Together, they consider why coaches need support and reflection of their own, and how greater maturity can expand the space available for clients to discover their own answers.

The conversation closes with three invitations: reflect deeply on why you became a coach, consider the impact your work has in the world, and commit to the ongoing journey of maturity.

Because coaching development is not only about becoming a better coach. It is also an opportunity to become a more aware human being.

PRIME SPACE is produced by PRIME Coaching Academy, where these conversations continue through our ICF-accredited coach training programs.

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What does it really mean to “be with” a client? In this conversation, Elias Scultori, MCC, and Jayme Roderick, ACC, explore the inner work behind genuine coaching presence—and why it begins with our relationship with ourselves.

Jayme reflects on how a client’s overwhelm can activate our own, how the need to fix or perform can limit what becomes possible in a session, and how courage allows coaches to move toward the moments they might otherwise avoid. Together, they consider imperfection, silence, emotion, chaos, self-awareness, and the body’s signals as part of the coaching process.

The invitation is simple, but demanding: notice what is happening within you so you can meet the client more fully. Because every place we cannot yet be with in ourselves may become a limit in how we can be with another person.

Jayme Roderick, ACC, spent more than 25 years bringing stories to life on Broadway, off Broadway, and at Pixar before turning toward human transformation as an integration and empowerment coach, speaker, and workshop facilitator. Jayme is the founder and CEO of The Colorful Heart, LLC.

PRIME SPACE is produced by PRIME Coaching Academy, where these conversations continue through our ICF-accredited coach training programs.

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What makes a coaching conference valuable? The presentations and professional learning matter, of course. But sometimes the most meaningful moments happen after the formal program ends.

In this episode of PRIME SPACE, Elias Scultori reflects on Luminous 2026, the ICF South Florida conference held in Miami on October 9, where PRIME Coaching Academy was a sponsor. He acknowledges the people who made the event possible, shares highlights from the conference, and reflects on the open conversations about the challenges and future of the coaching profession.

The heart of the episode, however, is an unexpected dinner invitation. After a long day, Elias nearly chooses to return to his hotel and rest. Instead, he joins a small group of coaches for a conversation that moves beyond coaching into childhood, cultural backgrounds, travel, values, world affairs, and the many ways we see the world.

The experience becomes a reminder that diversity becomes meaningful when we are open to learning from it—and that we do not need to share the same experiences or conclusions to form meaningful connections.

Elias offers a simple invitation to coaches: participate in your professional community, especially through regional conferences. Go beyond the presentations. Stay for the conversations. You may find a new idea for your practice, but you may also rediscover why this profession matters.

The real light of our profession comes not only from what we know, but from what becomes possible when we bring our humanity into the room and choose to grow together.

PRIME SPACE is produced by PRIME Coaching Academy, where these conversations continue through our ICF-accredited coach training programs.

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100 episodes later, what has PRIME SPACE taught us about coaching? 

For this milestone episode, Elias Scultori invites regular listeners from around the world to share the ideas and conversations that have had the greatest impact on their coaching. 

Their reflections touch on humility, not knowing, presence, partnership, purpose, curiosity, skill development, and the courage to resist shortcuts. 

Taken together, they point to something deeper: coaching is more than a collection of techniques or best practices. It is a way of relating to another human being. 

After 100 conversations, the journey continues.

PRIME SPACE is produced by PRIME Coaching Academy, where these conversations continue through our ICF-accredited coach training programs.

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With episode 100 just around the corner, Elias Scultori, MCC, sits down with Amy Donovan, MCC, to look back at the journey of PRIME Coaching Academy and PRIME SPACE—and to ask a larger question:

What are we building?

The conversation begins with the origins of PRIME Coaching Academy and the shared vision that brought Elias and Amy together: coach education that puts the power of coaching at the center.

From there, they explore what has emerged over the past few years—a community of coaches committed to learning, development, connection, and the continual refinement of their practice.

They talk about what it means to be a serious learner, why certification is not the ultimate goal, the relationship between coaching mindset and coaching skill, and what PRIME SPACE has become through 99 episodes of conversations with coaches from around the world.

But this episode isn't only about looking back.

Elias and Amy also look ahead to 2027 and the possibilities for expanding learning opportunities, supporting experienced coaches, and creating more ways for coaches to participate in community.

Because ultimately, the question isn't only what PRIME has built.

It's what we are building together—as coaches, as a community, and as a profession.

Episode 99 is a reflection, a conversation, and an invitation to participate.

PRIME SPACE is produced by PRIME Coaching Academy, where these conversations continue through our ICF-accredited coach training programs.

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Why Client-Generated Awareness Matters in Coaching...

In coaching, awareness is often treated as the desired outcome of a conversation. But who creates it matters. When a coach provides the insight, answer, solution, or interpretation, the client may receive something useful—but the source of the awareness remains outside of them.

In this episode, Elias explores why awareness needs to belong to the client. He looks at how coaches create the conditions for awareness to emerge, why no magical question or technique can manufacture insight, and why the real value of coaching may be less about what the coach knows and more about what the client discovers for themselves.

When clients generate their own awareness, they do more than find an answer. They are practicing their ability to think, question assumptions, recognize resources, make choices, and trust their own capacity.

And perhaps that is one of the most powerful things coaching can offer: not simply an answer for today, but the growing ability to find their own answers tomorrow.

PRIME SPACE is produced by PRIME Coaching Academy, where these conversations continue through our ICF-accredited coach training programs.

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What if the body could speak in a coaching conversation?

In this episode of PRIME SPACE, Elias Scultori, MCC, speaks with David Ridley-Parris, ACC, about somatic coaching and what becomes possible when coaches expand their attention beyond the verbal and conceptual.

David shares how his work with clients experiencing grief and loss led him to somatic coaching. He noticed that, at times, “their language hadn’t necessarily caught up to what their body already knew.” From there, the conversation explores how the body, the client’s environment, objects, movement, and physical space can become additional sources of awareness within a coaching conversation.

David explains the distinction between conceptual and embodied self-awareness, addresses the concern that somatic coaching may feel “too woo-woo,” and describes how he introduces somatic exploration as an invitation rather than something imposed on the client.

The conversation includes practical examples—from simply taking a few breaths or walking, to using body shapes, moving through physical space to explore decisions, and working with everyday objects as metaphors. All of David’s somatic coaching is conducted virtually, with clients exploring their own bodies and environments from their own space.

At its heart, this is a conversation about expanding the vocabulary of coaching beyond words—and considering what else might support a client in becoming more aware of what is happening for them.

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction
02:21 - Why David Came to Somatic Coaching
04:13 - What Is Somatic Coaching?
06:08 - Is Somatic Coaching Too “Woo-Woo”?
08:51 - Introducing Somatics Into Coaching
10:38 - Letting the Body Speak
11:29 - Exploring Decisions Through Movement
13:47 - Somatic Coaching on Zoom
14:01 - When Objects Become Metaphors
15:13 - Beyond Words
16:29 - David’s Invitation to Coaches
17:01 - Closing

About David Ridley-Parris

David Ridley-Parris, ACC, is a coach based in Portugal who works with clients around the world. With a background in HR and a coaching practice that includes grief and loss as well as executive clients, David explores how somatic approaches can expand the ways coaches support awareness and exploration.

PRIME SPACE is produced by PRIME Coaching Academy, where these conversations continue through our ICF-accredited coach training programs.

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It's a question more coaches are asking—and one worth taking seriously.

In this episode of PRIME SPACE, Elias Scultori, MCC, explores why coaching needs a professional organization, particularly as a self-regulated profession. Standards, ethics, accountability, professional identity, collective learning, and public trust all depend on our willingness to come together and take responsibility for the profession we are creating.

But coming together does not mean agreeing with everything an organization does.

Elias challenges coaches to consider a more difficult question: Is the ICF serving the profession? Are we preserving what is distinctive about coaching? And are we willing to question, challenge, and contribute to the benefit of sustainable and intentional growth of the profession?

The answer isn't to walk away. 
It's to engage.

Because the ICF is not the profession. 
We are the profession.

PRIME SPACE is produced by PRIME Coaching Academy, where these conversations continue through our ICF-accredited coach training programs.

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