My Approach to Companioning Sessions

In a culture obsessed with self-help hacks, quick fixes, and spiritual shortcuts, companioning sessions offers something quieter and far more enduring.

It offers care: grounded, steady support for whatever you’re carrying, honouring both your tenderness and your strength.

It offers a relationship built on deep listening, trust, and the slow unfolding of inner clarity, so that any steps forward emerge at your own pace and in your own way.

But what is a companioning session? Why is it called that? And what makes it different from coaching or therapy?

This is my attempt to answer those questions, not in theory, but through the lens of how I practice it, grounded in tradition, formed by my own journey, and shaped by the people I walk alongside.

A Short History of Companioning

The word “companion” comes from the idea of sharing bread with someone—sitting side by side, not above or below. It suggests walking together, not leading from the front or pushing from behind.

Across traditions and cultures, people have always sought out someone to sit with them in the in‑between spaces of life: the friend who listens without trying to fix, the elder who asks a kind question at the right moment, the person who simply stays when things feel confusing or tender. These encounters are rarely about advice or expertise. They are about presence, honesty, and the courage to tell the truth about where you are.

Companioning Sessions grow out of this simple lineage of shared humanity. Instead of aiming to teach, diagnose, or direct, they prioritize three things: being heard, being mirrored, and being gently supported as you move forward in your own way.

What ties all of this together is a space where your inner life is taken seriously—and where your real, ordinary, messy life is welcome just as it is.

Not a Coach, Not a Guru, But a Companion

Human beings don’t grow in isolation. Our nervous systems, our sense of self, and our capacity for change are all shaped in relationship. When you sit with someone calm, attentive, and genuinely on your side, your body often responds before your mind does. Your breath deepens. Your thoughts slow. You can hear yourself more clearly.

Companioning Sessions are not therapy, and they are not a substitute for clinical care when that is needed. But much like a good therapeutic relationship, they create conditions where inner movement is possible: attuned presence, emotional safety, and a sense that you don’t have to carry everything alone.

In that kind of space, the session becomes a mirror, not one that points out flaws, but one that helps you see what is true.

Grounded in Ethics, Open to All

As outlined by Spiritual Directors International (SDI), I practice under a set of guiding principles that shape everything I do:

• Non-directive and open-ended: I support you in discovering your own truth, rather than prescribing beliefs or behaviours.

• Interspiritual hospitality: I welcome seekers from all backgrounds. You don’t need to be religious, but a longing for the sacred, or a desire to explore it, is essential.

• Confidential and respectful: Everything shared is held in confidence and care. Your story is honoured, not analyzed.

• Rooted in contemplative tradition: This work is not abstract, it draws deeply from spiritual lineages and lived practice.

My own formation spans Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Though I am a baptized Christian and now find myself deeply shaped by that tradition, I honour the ways truth flows through many rivers. If you come from a different faith (or none at all), I will meet you with reverence, not assumption.

What Happens in a Session?

Sessions are simple and spacious by design. We might begin with a brief check‑in or a moment of quiet. From there, you are invited to bring whatever feels important right now: a tangled situation at work, a pattern you keep noticing in relationships, a crossroads around money, body, purpose, grief, or desire.

There is no set curriculum. There is only attention, curiosity, and care.

I may ask questions. I may gently mirror something back or offer a possible reframe. Sometimes we might look at practical next steps; sometimes we might stay with the feeling underneath. What I will not do is prescribe a path, tell you who to be, or push you toward a version of yourself that doesn’t feel real.

Some people come for a single session when something big is happening. Others come more regularly as an anchor, especially when they are making changes, rebuilding material foundations, or trying to integrate different parts of themselves.

Who Is This For?

Companioning Sessions are for people who recognize themselves in at least one of these places:

• You feel caught between different versions of yourself (spiritual, ambitious, artistic, practical) and want a place to talk it through without being told to choose.

• You are trying to build or rebuild material stability while still caring about meaning, depth, and integrity.

• You’ve done inner work before (therapy, spiritual practice, coaching) but now want a gentler, less labelled space to keep listening to your own life.

• You feel a lot, think a lot, and would like to be mirrored by someone who can hold both your longing and your skepticism.

• You simply want a consistent, confidential space where you don’t have to perform and where your real experience is allowed to unfold at its own pace.

• You are the type of person who benefits from talking things out.

You do not need to be “ready,” fixed, or clear. You do not need a five‑year plan. You just need a willingness to show up as you are and a curiosity about what might become possible when you are not doing it alone.

A Practice of Becoming More Yourself

At its heart, this work is not about turning you into someone new. It is about making more room for who you already are, your desires, your doubts, your body, your needs, your quiet knowing.

Sometimes that looks like setting boundaries or naming a truth you’ve been avoiding. Sometimes it looks like grief. Sometimes it looks like laughter and relief because someone finally understands the nuance of what you’re trying to hold.

If the idea of being companioned in this way resonates with you, you’re welcome to explore the offerings on this site, read a little more, and, if it feels right, book a session. There is no pedestal here, no perfect persona, just a human being meeting you as you are, and walking with you for a little while.

Live like dust, lit by fire,

Nicholas

Interested in giving it a try?

Email nicholas.fournie@gmail.com today!