Discovering Alignment and Self-Trust in Life – An Interview with Life Coach Alena Elchaninova

Alena Elchaninova is a London-based life coach, artist, and senior pricing and commercial strategy expert who bridges deep self-awareness with real-world accountability. She works with thoughtful, capable people who are doing their best to function and move forward, yet feel conflicted, stuck, or emotionally overwhelmed on the inside – not because they are failing, but because their inner world is asking for a more honest way of living.

Her work is rooted in a clear philosophy: nothing is broken, but much can be understood, integrated, and consciously chosen. Alena helps clients move from inner friction to clarity by working with self-awareness, inner narratives, emotional and body signals, and personal accountability – without bypassing difficult emotions or outsourcing power.

Rather than coaching people to fix themselves or perform better versions of who they are, she supports them in developing self-trust, honest boundaries, and practical ways of living that feel internally aligned and sustainable. Her approach blends depth with action, compassion with responsibility, and insight with forward movement.

Her clients are often emotionally intelligent, self-reflective people ready to stop living on autopilot and start living from truth – with clarity, agency, and inner alignment that translates into real-life change.

Alena Elchaninova, Life Coach

Who is Alena Elchaninova? Introduce yourself, your hobbies, your favourites, you at home and in business. Tell us something interesting about yourself.

I’m Alena – an ICF-certified life coach based in London, working at the intersection of self-awareness and practical life change. My work is grounded in one core idea: how we relate to ourselves internally shapes how we experience the world, the choices we make, and the lives we build. I’m interested in the meeting point between spirituality and material life – not as opposites, but as parts of the same human experience. At the heart of this work is bringing awareness to all parts of us, without excluding or bypassing what needs attention.

Professionally, I’m structured, strategic, and very comfortable holding complexity. Alongside my coaching practice, I’ve built a senior corporate career in pricing and commercial strategy. This has given me a grounded understanding of ambition, pressure, and performance – and taught me to trust intuition not as guesswork, but as refined pattern recognition developed through experience.

Aesthetics and beauty are central values in my personal life. I’m a multidisciplinary artist and photographer, and I bring that sensibility into everything I do – not only into my personal space, but into how I think, listen, and work with people. I’m naturally drawn to subtle details: tone, energy, light, what’s said and what’s left unsaid. I believe that learning to see beauty – in spaces, in moments, and in ourselves – is not superficial, but deeply grounding. Learning to see beauty in the parts of us that have been denied, suppressed, or ignored can transform our relationship with ourselves and others.

Something that often surprises people is that I don’t separate depth from practicality. I’m deeply intuitive and grounded at the same time. I work with inner narratives, attachment patterns, and emotional dynamics – and then help translate that awareness into clear, realistic next steps. That integration is at the heart of my work.

What led you to become a life coach, and how did you find your passion in this field?

I didn’t become a life coach because I believed people needed fixing. I became a coach because I saw how deeply our inner world shapes our everyday experience – our sense of peace, our decisions, and the way we relate to ourselves and others. Self-awareness, for me, is not a concept; it’s a practical foundation for living with more clarity and stability.

Coaching felt like the most respectful form of support. It honours autonomy and personal agency. It doesn’t take power away or tell people who to be – it helps them access their own wisdom, see their patterns clearly, and make choices that are aligned with who they are now. Change happens when we look honestly at our lives, when pressure drops, and when we stop fighting ourselves. Witnessing how quickly things can shift in that space continues to confirm for me that this work truly matters.

How do you define mastery in one's life, and what does it mean for your clients to achieve this level of personal growth?

Mastery in one’s life is self-leadership and self-agency. It’s the ability to stay present with what’s happening inside you – your thoughts, emotions, and body signals – and to respond consciously rather than automatically. It’s about having access to yourself, even under pressure, and making choices from awareness instead of habit. It’s not about control or perfection, but about being in relationship with yourself.

For me, mastery means staying connected to all parts of yourself. The parts that feel confident and capable, and the parts that feel afraid, uncertain, or protective. It’s learning to relate to those inner movements with honesty and respect, rather than trying to suppress or override them. Mastery doesn’t mean getting rid of these parts; it means recognising where your inner power actually lives and choosing from that place.

When clients reach this place, the outer life often improves – relationships, work, confidence, direction. But the deeper change is internal. They stop abandoning themselves. They develop self-trust and become someone they can rely on, even when life is uncertain.

What is the biggest challenge your clients face, and how do you help them overcome it?

The biggest challenge my clients face is maintaining a conscious, trusting relationship with themselves. Many come feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected, but when we explore their inner world, it becomes clear that their lives are shaped by meaningful inner narratives, emotional patterns, and protective strategies that once helped them cope or succeed. Over time, some parts of the self get prioritised while others are ignored, and that internal imbalance creates tension, exhaustion, and a sense of misalignment.

My work centres on restoring a respectful relationship with the whole self. We bring awareness to thoughts, emotions, body signals, values, and different inner responses – not to judge or eliminate them, but to understand what they are protecting and whether they still serve the client’s life today. From this awareness, responsibility and inner power naturally return. Change then becomes practical and sustainable: clearer decisions, healthier boundaries, and a way of living that feels more honest, aligned, and self-led.

Can you share a transformative success story from your coaching experience that highlights your impact on a client's life?

One client came to me struggling with confidence and a persistent sense of guilt and shame. They were caught in constant comparison with others and tense relationships, pushing themselves to be “better” while betraying parts of themselves that needed rest, honesty, acknowledgement, and validation. They believed their life wasn’t enough, without realising that it was actually well aligned with their subconscious inner goals and the perspective of protective parts that had learned to help them survive and function.

Our work focused on building self-awareness, creating a safe space for all feelings and inner responses, and shifting the inner conversation from pressure and self-judgement to something more supportive and aligned. As they began to understand what different inner parts were protecting, the internal conflict eased. Values became clearer, decisions and actions became simpler, and tangible change started to happen without force. Their relationship with themselves shifted first – the inner war softened – and shortly after that their external life began to change as well: confidence grew, communication became clearer, new career opportunities emerged, and they felt more connected to their body, with more energy and everyday joy.

How do you blend your personal interests and hobbies into your professional coaching practice?

Art and aesthetics are integral to my coaching practice; they shape how I see and how I listen. As a photographer and artist, I naturally notice what’s subtle – what’s present but often overlooked. In coaching, this translates into listening beyond the surface of the story. I pay attention to small shifts in language, emotional tone, and energy, and I help clients notice the quiet but important details within themselves.

At the same time, my corporate background brings structure and practicality. I value depth and insight, and I focus on grounding that awareness in clear, realistic steps – small, repeatable changes that create momentum and can be integrated into everyday life.

I continue to develop my own practice to support clients more fully. I’m particularly interested in breathwork, as well as body-based somatic techniques that support inner alignment. I bring curiosity, presence, and embodiment into every session, using practices such as movement, reflective writing, and awareness exercises to help clients slow down enough to hear themselves while staying fully engaged with real life and responsibility.

What makes your approach to life coaching unique compared to others in the field?

My approach is rooted in a simple but often overlooked truth: you are not broken. There is nothing to fix – but there is a great deal to become aware of, understand, and integrate in order to move forward with greater inner alignment and personal truth.

I help clients understand who they already are: how their patterns formed, which narratives they live from, what those patterns once protected, and how to relate to themselves with honesty and respect. Emotions are not obstacles in my work; they are information. Inner conflict isn’t something to push through or overcome, but something to listen to and understand.

What makes my approach distinctive is how deeply integrated it is. I work simultaneously with self-awareness, inner narratives, body signals, values, and practical choice. Relationships, work, money, identity, the nervous system, and purpose are not treated as separate areas – they are expressions of the same inner relationship. The work is deeply compassionate and highly accountable. We focus on what is within the client’s agency and translate awareness into real-life decisions, boundaries, and action. When that inner relationship shifts, life reorganises naturally around it.

What are the core values that guide your coaching philosophy and how do they shape your client relationships?

The core values that guide my work are:

• Self-awareness & truth – real change begins with honest self-contact. We look beneath surface symptoms to understand the deeper inner patterns at play.

• Respect & acceptance of what is – transformation doesn’t require force or inner war. It unfolds through presence, safety, acceptance, and conscious choice.

• Personal agency – clients are the authority in their own lives. What we experience externally often reflects our inner world, beliefs, and narratives – which is where agency lives. My role is to support clarity, not to direct.

• Compassion – meeting yourself as a complex human being, not as a problem to be fixed.

• Integration & action – insight matters only if it becomes lived. Awareness is translated into choices, actions, and ways of relating that can be practiced in everyday life.

How do you support clients in balancing their personal and professional lives while pursuing their goals?

I start by normalising something many people forget: balance isn’t primarily about time management – it’s about the relationship with oneself. We look at what’s actually driving the imbalance, whether that’s fear of failure, people-pleasing, identity tied to achievement, guilt, or other internal pressures. When these dynamics are named and explored, balance becomes something we can work with rather than something we endlessly strive for.

Because I’ve worked in senior corporate environments, I understand real constraints and pressure. We don’t force balance or apply rigid rules. Instead, we focus on what’s realistic: clarifying priorities, setting honest boundaries, managing energy, and making decisions aligned with values. As inner alignment improves, balance often follows naturally – and clients learn how to pursue success without self-abandonment.

What tools or techniques do you use in your coaching to help clients create lasting change?

I use a wide range of practical tools, always adapted to the individual client and their specific context. Some of the key ones are:

• Powerful questions and narrative work to explore the beliefs and meanings clients are living from.

• Parts, shadow, and inner-child reflection to understand inner dynamics and patterns.

• Somatic awareness and psychosomatic tools to notice how emotions and stress show up in the body.

• Energy awareness practices to support alignment, flow, and deeper self-connection.

• Mindfulness and presence-based practices to support regulation, clarity, and self-connection.

• Attachment-informed reflection to explore how clients relate to closeness, boundaries, safety, and self-worth in relationships.

• Stress-management and change-support techniques to help integrate insight into everyday life.

The exact tools are always tailored to the person and the moment. What matters most is not the technique itself, but how awareness is translated into action and lived change.

What advice would you give to someone hesitant about starting a coaching journey with you?

Start with an initial free session and use it to feel whether we are a good match to work together. Coaching is a partnership, and it’s important that you feel safe, respected, genuinely supported – and that you can see real results from the work.

I work deeply and I engage fully in the sessions. This is not passive work. You should begin to notice meaningful shifts early on – not just understanding more about yourself, but changing how you relate to yourself and the choices you make. Insight without movement isn’t enough.

Some people spend years in processes that bring awareness but little real change – I’ve experienced that myself, and it shaped how I work today. My approach is focused on depth and results. Choose your partner in transformation wisely: someone you trust, who challenges you honestly, and who is committed to real movement rather than endless exploration.

Where do you see your business going in the next five years, and what are your future plans for personal and professional growth?

Professionally, I plan to expand my private practice and develop signature offerings beyond one-to-one coaching. I want to create work that people don’t just consume, but actually live from. My focus is not awareness for its own sake, but self-work that leads to real, tangible change.

Personally, my growth is inseparable from my work. I’ll continue refining my practice, deepening my own self-awareness, and living what I teach – conscious choice, self-trust, and aligned action. My creative work remains part of this path. For me, art and coaching serve the same purpose: revealing what’s beneath the surface and bringing more truth, clarity, and beauty into how we live.

Follow me on LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!

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