What is a Wayfinder Coach?
(And why I became one)
If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that I often talk about Astrology, Human Design, and the Gene Keys as powerful tools for career clarity—especially for highly sensitive women navigating a major life or career transition. But there’s another part of my story that’s just as essential: I’m a Martha Beck Wayfinder Life Coach.
So what exactly is a Wayfinder Coach?
What is Wayfinding?
Wayfinding is an old navigation term. It refers to the ability to find your way—often without a map—by using your inner compass, your felt sense, and your observations of the environment around you.
It’s the perfect metaphor for what this coaching method is all about. Wayfinder Coaching is about helping people find their way back to themselves—especially when they feel lost, stuck, or like they’ve wandered far off their true path.
Martha Beck, who created this approach, is a best-selling author, sociologist, and Oprah-endorsed coach. She combines evidence-based tools from psychology with wisdom traditions, intuitive practices, and deep listening.
It’s coaching, yes. But it’s also a kind of inner reconnection.
Why I Chose This Path
Before I became a Wayfinder Coach, I spent years in a more traditional career. I ticked the boxes. I worked hard. I did what was expected. But I often felt disconnected—from myself, from my purpose, and from the quiet voice inside that was urging me toward something more meaningful.
When I found Martha’s work, something clicked.
It wasn’t just her philosophy that resonated—it was how she made space for softness and strength to coexist. For logic and intuition. For structure and surrender. I wanted to learn how to hold that kind of space for others.
So, in 2017, I signed up for her intensive coach training. And it was transformative.
What Makes Wayfinder Coaching Different
Wayfinder Coaching is not about pushing, fixing, or forcing. It’s about asking powerful questions, listening deeply, and supporting people as they remember who they are and what they truly want.
Here are a few of the things I learned—and now use in my work:
- How to spot inner resistance and gently explore the stories behind it.
- How to follow the body’s wisdom (what Martha calls “your internal navigation system”).
- How to identify thought patterns that keep people stuck—and how to loosen them.
- How to help someone return to calm, clarity, and truth, especially when they’re facing uncertainty or self-doubt.
- I use these tools alongside Astrology, Human Design, and the Gene Keys because together, they help paint a fuller picture of who you are and where you’re meant to go next.
What This Means For You
If you’re standing at a crossroads—feeling like you’ve done everything “right” and still feel unsatisfied—this kind of coaching might speak to you.
You don’t need to force your next move. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need a safe place to hear yourself think again. A space to reconnect with your true self—and begin to trust her guidance.
Wayfinder Coaching offers that space.
If you’re curious about what this could look like for you, I’d love to walk beside you as you find your way forward.
I Recently Did a Switcheroo
Recently, I did a Swictcheroo in the way that I approach my work with clients.
Previously, Coaching was my main work and I supplemented it with Astrology, Human Design and Gene Keys. These days I’ve flipped it and my mainstays are the three magical tools, which I support with Coaching.
What this means for you is that my main work is offering guidance through using the three magical tools, but where I may be different from others in this field … I also am trained to go beyond delivering information and can support transformation in an informed, trained manner.
My Other Qualification - My Deep, Quiet Sensitive Self
While I don’t have a certification in Sensitivity, I have spent a lifetime being sensitive, trying not to be sensitive, attempting to “fix” my sensitivity, to eventually recognizing it as a strength.
I deeply know the pain of being sensitive in a harsh world, especially when it comes to careers.
It’s taken me decades to appreciate my own self. It makes me feel so sad when I look back at my younger self and see her struggling to be like everyone else, trying time and time again to overcome her shyness, her quiet nature, and her sensitive ways.
Not so long ago, my goal was to begrudgingly accept myself. I felt proud of that goal until I realized that was a really low bar that reflected my lifelong struggle with being a highly sensitive person. Then and there, I decided to learn to love myself and my sensitive ways. I’ve made progress, but the journey continues!
Coaching Programs I Offer
All that said, I do still offer two pure coaching programs: The ‘Get Back In’ program and the ‘Stay’ Program.
These are two programs I wish I had access to at various points in my career. ‘Get Back In’ is just what it sounds like – guidance for when you’ve been out of the corporate world and have a gap (gasp!) in your resume. There can be very good reasons to have a gap, but the reality is that you’re no longer a cookie-cutter recruit, which might be making your job search more difficult. We address this and create strategies to get back in.
The ‘Stay’ Program is designed to help you stay in a job that’s lost it’s appeal, but you need to stay for any variety of reasons. Maybe you’re a couple of years away from retirement and you thought it would be easier, but it’s harder. Maybe you need the healthcare while you build your side-hustle. Maybe there are layoffs in your industry, so there’s a lot of uncertainty, but you need to stay while you look for something else. I built it because of a time in my career where I spent most of my energy stifling a scream, fully knowing I was over-reacting, and barely able to contain my frustration. If that sounds familiar, this program may be for you!
Conclusion
Coaching is still a big part of my work, but I truly believe in the transformational powers of astrology, human design, and the gene keys. They have been revelatory for me and my clients, and I hope they might be for you too.
This is part of my own work of coming out of hiding as a sensitive person. I’ve spent my whole life denying who I really am – someone who is interested in going deep to discover what’s been holding us back in our lives and in our careers.
Astrology tells me that I’m all about deep transformation. Human Design tells me I’m a guide and someone who likes to help. Gene Keys tells me my Life’s Work is to help myself and others transform patterns that hold them back in life.
Coaching can tie it all together. In another post, I’ll share my coaching framework, which also emphasizes how important it is to be your true self.
If you are curious about my coaching programs and whether they’re a fit for you, we can hop on an Ask Me Anything call. They’re 30 minutes and they’re free. Or, if you’d reather email, you can email me at kharbin500@gmail.com.
