There’s something curious about the way a name evolves.
Over time, names gather layers, shaped by experience, by changing contexts, and by the people who use them.
Recently, I’ve been pondering the meaning and purpose of Animas as a coaching school and this inevitably brought me back to its name.
What does Animas stand for?
I came up with the name many years ago and, at that time, I had a clear sense of what it represented.
When first created, Animas came from a fusion: anima, Latin for life or soul, and animus, often translated as courage or spirit.
Together, they were meant to suggest something like “living courageously,” though not in a grand or heroic sense. Rather, it pointed to the bravery it takes to face our current truths, to acknowledge what is, and to take responsibility for our part in changing what we want to change.
In the coaching space, courage isn’t about bold declarations. It’s about being willing to look inward, to stay present with discomfort, and to acknowledge our ability to create change where desired.
That idea is still relevant today but perhaps my own youthful naivety and absolute belief in the primacy of personal agency has mellowed over the years and my sense of what Animas means has evolved with this shift.
Meanings Have a Life of Their Own
As the work of Animas has developed, so too has the meaning of the name and it’s been interesting to notice how others have found significance in it that wasn’t consciously intended.
Some have drawn a connection to Jung’s anima and animus—the inner feminine and masculine energies that shape our inner world. They have seen in this parallels to the self-awareness and pragmatism that coaching represents.
Others have pointed to the Latin root of animas as “souls,” plural and thus the sense in which coaching touches the lives of many.
These interpretations weren’t part of the original thinking, but they’ve brought a richness that feels surprisingly aligned with what the school has come to stand for.
Coaching, particularly in its transformative form, often operates at this level, where language holds more than one meaning, and where understanding unfolds slowly, in layers.
Spirit in Everyday Life
So where have I got to with it?
Well, perhaps what’s most compelling now for me is the sense that Animas can be understood as spirit in motion. Not something lofty or esoteric, but something grounded – how we bring our inner life into the world, through our actions, our relationships, our choices.
With the rise of AI, (of which, by the way, I am a huge advocate – no Luddite here!), I have started to connect to Animas as something uniquely human – the animated, untameable, illogical, emotional, compassionate human with all its foibles and contradictions.
Animas feels to me now more like a celebration of the human, the all too human!
Still Becoming
And the name Animas isn’t static.
It is always becoming, just like the people who make up the community around it. Coaches, clients, students, facilitators—each bringing their own interpretation, their own meaning.
If anything, the evolution of the name has served as a reminder: that words can open up, not close down; that clarity doesn’t have to mean certainty; and that it’s okay for meaning to unfold gradually, in conversation, over time.
Sometimes, that’s all a name needs to do.
