A central part of my work is supporting individuals, communities, and organizations through transformational change. The closest common description of this work is “coaching” but as Maria Broom said after the first session, “Don’t call this coaching Paulo, it is much more than that. It is a practical and uplifting mirror. It’s Catalytic Guidance!” Thanks to Maria, this is what we call this work.

Cohado Catalytic Guidance is a process that looks at where we are and where we are going using 7 levels of inquiry. I developed this system to support evolving and expanding our ways of planning and moving to be more connected and dimensional. Several years ago I was sitting with Don Coyhis, a Native American healer and elder, who said, “It is time to move beyond the old way of planning where we decide what we want and force the world to conform to this. We now need to look to the horizon and see what the universe is moving toward us and align our selves with that.” Don’s words made so much sense to me. It is actually the way I have lived since I was very young. Based upon what others were doing and saying, I just assumed it was the wrong way.

The 7 levels of the bones begin with Level Zero. Just as in using a number line, zero is the point of departure. It is where we are now. To the degree we practice, we can begin to see the patterns of what has been, and what is emerging or coming toward us from this point, and move to shift, align with, or reinforce the patterns we see. Zero is also our values, our vision, and the sense of spirit that guides our choices.

The next level is One. Level One is our uniqueness, our Soulprint. There has never been, and will never be another you. It is our capacities and our challenges. These are usually closely associated. We understand who we are, not in isolation, but in relation to others.

This brings us to Level Two, relationship. This is often human relationships, but also our relationship to our work, our geography, our use of our time, and other key factors and influences in our life.

There is something that naturally emerges when things come into relationship. For example, when we meet, there is me, there is you, and there is something that is influenced by us both, but is not of either of us ~ this is the “we”, the third element. Level Three is the most neglected, and at the same time, the most powerful force. It is creativity, birth, insight, inspiration… In his recent book, The Third Man Factor, John Geiger explores this phenomenon through a benevolent presence that manifests during extreme experiences. The Bones work assumes there are resources present to support connections and movement in the direction of our path.

Our work to create, align and access such structures is the forth level. Level Four is about structures. Not those that contain necessarily, but more structures that support movement the way the four chambers of our heart support the movement of our blood through our body, and the four seasons that move the resources of water and air across the planet. These structures can be budgets and money itself, the Cohado system, associations, and a limitless network of connections that can help to move us towards a powerful relationship to what we seek to manifest.

Level Five is all about using our selves, our resources, our relationships, inspiration and creativity, and structures to manifest our true work. Like the five fingers on our hands, it is about doing, creating our life in support of our purpose and potential, and what the universe needs from us to achieve its potential.

When we are in this dynamic alignment with what surrounds us, we support, and are supported by community. This is Level Six. Martin Luther King speaks of “Beloved Community”. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” Like the hexagonal structures of many molecules, the web of community, beginning with the smallest manifestation in family, and utimately encompassing all of humanity is the collective body we are each charged to support, just as each cell in our body supports the health of the whole. Too, the whole supports the functioning of each component. This image is the image that Chief Seattle called the “web of life”.

Through Cohado work, we are supported in aligning with our own true purpose, and in so doing, we support the whole of humanity in evolving to a beloved community in which the planet and each element is supported in a dance of actualization of what is possible. This work is done in series’ of 8 sessions that follow the model. It can be done face-to-face, and it can be as effectively accomplish remotely via Skype. If you are interested in exploring this work, contact Paulo through this platform or call 410.336.4279. The work is structured so that economics will never be a barrier to engaging the process.

What others have said about the Cohado work:

“I can’t tell you how much of an impact you have had for my life.” ~ Steven Tomen, former real estate executive, currently sailing around the world

“I am at a wonderful place where I am beginning to open to new opportunities to incorporate my love of literature, poetry and song and to perhaps a very different life pass.” ~ Denise Kumani Gantt, Writer/Interdisciplinary Artist

“The Cohado Catalytic Guidance work is very worthwhile. Treat yourself! Now’s the time to use all the ancient or new age tools available to us.” ~ Miss Maria Broom, Actress (The Wire), Dancer, Story Teller