Marei Christensen
Go deeper than coaching usually goes.
I’m a licensed psychotherapist and coach, working online with leaders and creatives. I’ll tell you plainly what I see.
Book a discovery call“Marei has tremendous presence. She is extremely good at deciding when to focus on the cognitive, the feeling, or the body.”
Who I work with
I find the people who get the most out of working with me fall into one of three categories:
- Execs, team leaders and founders who are done performing a version of themselves at work, and willing to look at what that has cost.
- Facilitators and coaches who want honest feedback on how they work with clients, from someone who will give it.
- People who have outgrown their work and would rather choose what comes next than drift into it.
“I came to Marei running a team and second-guessing most of what I decided. I kept working on the problems I knew how to solve and avoiding the hard ones.
She told me honestly what she saw, and she stayed with me when it got intense. I stopped pushing away the parts of me I was ashamed of and started listening to what they knew.
I trust myself a lot more now. I have more freedom at work, I say the difficult thing sooner, and I’ve stopped working against myself.”
Hi, I’m Marei.
Many of the people I work with have learned to keep part of themselves out of work. The doubt stays out, and so does whatever they want that doesn’t fit the role. Keeping it out takes effort, and it comes back as second-guessing.
The aim is that you stand behind your choices. You stay present in conflict, you say difficult things directly, and your work no longer asks you to leave part of yourself behind.
If you want that, book a discovery call.
Marei
Leadership begins beneath performance.
Most of our conversations move between two things. One is the situation in front of you: a decision you keep circling, a conflict on your team, a role that no longer fits. The other is what happens in you when you meet it.
The two are not separate. The way you meet pressure, shame, uncertainty and conflict shapes how you lead.
We begin with what is actually happening in your body, your relationships and the responsibilities you carry. I tell you honestly what I see. There is room for whatever is going on in you, including when it is intense.
I pay particular attention to shame and to the places where you work against yourself without noticing. We don’t push those away. We look at what they are protecting.
A short example from a real client goes here: who came, what they were stuck on, what you said, what they did next.
My training is in psychotherapy, coaching and relational practice, and I use whichever fits the moment. Some sessions are practical: we prepare a conversation or think a decision through. Others go to what sits underneath it.
I also want you to leave able to do this on your own.
“Marei has tremendous presence. She is extremely good at deciding when to focus on the cognitive, the feeling, or the body.”
“I came in to work on a hard conversation with my co-founder. We had it two weeks later, and it went better than I thought it could.”
“I had been running the company for six years and had stopped noticing how much of myself I left at the door. Marei noticed in the first ten minutes. Our sessions moved between the practical, a board meeting I was dreading or a hire I kept putting off, and what sat underneath it. I make decisions faster now, and I don’t go back over them at night.”
About me
I grew up in Hamburg. For as long as I can remember I’ve had a sense that there must be more to life than functioning well. I felt it running outside, with my horse, when I danced, and I wondered why I so rarely felt it with friends.
At thirteen I started living with daily chronic pain. For years I couldn’t exercise, and I didn’t feel at home in my body. Twice, years apart, I suddenly dropped into it and felt the simple pleasure of being alive. After that I knew it was worth looking for.
The search took me to a Christian monastery in Colombia and then to Scandinavia. In 2018 I went to a weekend workshop and spent two days practicing presence with a room full of strangers. There I felt deep presence and peace with other people, what I’d missed with friends as a child. I’ve practiced it ever since.
What I care about most is being present with the person in front of me and with what’s actually there. Many of us spend our lives trying to be liked and get it right. I want to help you step out of that and into more of what’s true for you.
Background
- Six years coaching and running trainings for leaders
- Licensed in integral psychotherapy
- Studied with George Haas, Diane Musho Hamilton, Reb Anderson and Steve March
- Trained in Circling, and teach on the six-month Circling leader trainings
- Lead weekend events and week-long retreats in Circling and embodiment practices several times a year
- Trained in restorative justice
- Developed community-building practices and decentralized governance for Borderland and the Burning Man community
- Worked on international development projects for the Danish and German foreign ministries
- Bachelor’s degree in international studies
- Born in Germany, and have lived in Colombia, Denmark and Sweden
- Work in English, German, Danish and Swedish
Questions I get asked
What is a first conversation?
Answer to come: how long it is, what it costs, and what happens in it.
What does a session look like?
Answer to come.
What do we work on?
Answer to come.
How long do people work with you?
Answer to come.
What is your rate?
Answer to come.
Is what I tell you confidential?
Answer to come.
Where do we meet?
Online.
Ways to work with me
- One-to-one coaching
- A line about this to come.
- Leadership teams
- A line about this to come.
- Conflict mediation
- A line about this to come.
- Circling trainings and retreats
- A line about this to come.
Book a discovery call
A first conversation, online, to see whether working together is a good fit.
A free five-week email course
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Drawn from the foundations of Life as Teacher: safety, agency, embodiment, wholeness and relationality.