Irina Costea

Transformational Coaching, Mentor Coaching, Neuroscience based coaching, Emotional Regulation, Mindfulness practices & Nervous system regulation, Career Development Coaching, Leadership Developement

Irina is a dreamer, neuroscience passionate, who lives and breathes coaching.

She is a Transformational & NeuroMindfulness Coach, a NeuroMindfulness Master Practitioner, and a PCC ICF accredited coach.
Her studies and professional experience cover also a part of HR, meaning that she has a bachelor's & master's degree in Human Resources Management, and she was an IT Recruiter for one of the top travel booking platforms in the world.

My story with coaching started 2 years ago when I was deep in a suicidal postpartum depression. I was on the edge, in the hospital with my son who suffered a head injury after a fall in our home, I felt suffocated, hopeless, and powerless. I realized that my son will be ok after the hit, but for sure I was not.
The moment in which for a split second I believed that my son was going to die, was my wake-up call. I had to do something, and this was my starting point.
I started by searching for meaning, and I discovered Martin Seligman and Positive Psychology. I graduated from a 20-week course on Foundations of Positive Psychology, and I became fascinated with emotional resilience.
After a life with chronic anxiety, I discovered that the power was in my hands.
Hiring a coach was my next step, and after 2 sessions I decided that I wanted to enroll in a coaching school.
I got a 7500$ scholarship at CoachVille, one of the first coaching schools in the world, and this is where everything changed. It changed my mindset, and my approach to fears, opportunities, and life itself. It basically saved my life.
In the last 2 years, I have almost 1000 hours of 1:1 coaching sessions, I built this thriving coaching business, and I am preparing to launch a coaching school (part of the CoachVille family) in my home country, Romania.

Having a child made me look a lot towards myself, towards my needs and wants.
Realizing that I should put my oxygen mask first in order to be able to help others, including my child, was a life-changing revelation.
Even if we hear about this all the time, it is essential that we take care of ourselves first: YOU CAN NOT pour from an empty cup.
Turning my attention inwards helped me discover my mission, which eventually led to me starting my coaching career.
But before it was good, it was pretty bad: having no purpose in life throughout my career was a very isolating experience, and then the suicidal postpartum depression was a huge milestone.

I don’t really believe in work-life balance. I believe in having the tools to navigate what life throws at you and being able to return to a calm state when things are settled, to not remain emotionally activated.
We do not have a brain for work, a brain for kids, a brain for our own needs, a brain for our family, and so on. We have a brain for all of these parts of our lives.
For me being “balanced” means that I can be in the present moment. While coaching I am 100% with my clients, while being with my family means being 100% there and while I am with myself being there for myself is 100%, connected.
Of course, it is not always possible, but I am always trying.
Mindfulness practices help me train my brain to be in the now while learning from my past and having intentions for the future: meditation, breathing practices, mindful walks, yoga. All of these train your mind to be focused and present, not wandering.

As a coach, my mission is to help people understand that they don’t need to be fixed, they are not broken. I want as many people to understand themselves better, to understand the processes that lie behind the transformation and reconnect with their authenticity. When you know who you are, what got you here, what are your character strengths, what are your growth opportunities, you know what’s in your toolbox. Knowing who you are is like starting in life from a pole position (thanks, Paul Olteanu for this great metaphor).
As a teacher, my mission is to train and build a community of coaches that pass this spirit of play further, that pass the wisdom of transformation.
So for me, being a mentor means giving people this freedom of choice, of knowledge and tools that one can use in order to reconnect with oneself.

You are doing the best with what you have, every day of your life. Be kind to yourself as you are to others. Return that kindness to yourself and your life would change. Meet yourself where you are, every single day, while observing and not judging.
Change judgment with curiosity and start loving yourself more. The only duty that you have is the one of taking care of yourself and being yourself.

• The 5 Steps Of Transformational And NeuroMindfulness® Coaching Process