The Sublime Coherence Change Model

Introduction

This whitepaper introduces the Sublime Coherence Change Model, a contemporary framework for understanding and facilitating sustainable behavioural change. Rooted in Vedantic insight and integrated with modern behavioural science, the model asserts that genuine, lasting transformation requires coherence across seven fundamental layers of the human system. When these layers align, change becomes not only achievable but natural and self-reinforcing.

The challenge of behavioural change

Despite the abundance of behavioural tools, interventions often fail to create long-term transformation. Most approaches target only one or two layers, typically cognition or emotion, leaving deeper structures unchanged. This results in temporary improvements followed by relapse. The Sublime Coherence Change Model addresses this gap by offering a whole-system view that reveals why change fails and how it can reliably succeed.

Overview of the seven layers

The model describes seven interdependent layers that shape human behaviour. Each layer has its own mechanisms, dynamics, and language of change. Sustainable transformation arises when all layers move coherently towards the desired direction.

1. Physical. The physiological foundation including the five senses, the motor system, health, biochemical states and somatic patterns. Without bodily safety and regulation, behavioural change is heavily constrained.

2. Energetic - Emotional. Emotional responses and energetic states that influence motivation, attention, and readiness. Emotional dissonance undermines change regardless of cognitive clarity.

3. Cognitive. Mental models, thoughts, reasoning and planning. Cognition influences intention and understanding but cannot override deeper layers alone.

4. Ego – Identity. The internal narrative of who one is. Identity acts as the gatekeeper of behaviour: what is inconsistent with identity cannot become sustainable.

5. Pre-conceptual. Subconscious imprints, intuitive knowing, and innate discernment governing habitual responses. When this layer resonates with a desired change, behaviour shifts naturally and without force.

6. Essence. Core qualities, intrinsic motivations and authentic being. Change aligned with Essence feels deeply meaningful, fulfilling, energising, and self-sustaining.

7. Consciousness. The meta-level capacity for awareness, reflection, and perspective-taking. Pure being. Consciousness enables freedom from conditioning and intentional direction of the inner system.

Environment. Factors in the physical, social, systemic and economic environment that facilitate or block the desired change. The model recognises the environment as a continuous modulating field that interacts with each layer and determines whether internally coherent change can be expressed in the real world.

The principle of coherence

The central premise of the model is coherence. Change becomes truly sustainable only when each of the seven layers supports, rather than contradicts, the intended transformation. That happens when there is both alignment and coherence: called Sublime Coherence. Misalignment at any layer can disrupt momentum, create internal conflict, or inhibit implementation. Alignment means each layer is pointing in the same direction, sharing a common goal. Coherence, however, is deeper: it's when those layers actually work in harmony, supporting each other without internal conflict. It is not uniformity but congruence: all parts of the person move in the same direction. Thus, alignment sets the direction; coherence brings the flow - or the undisturbed ripple effect.

Figure 1a

Figure 1b

Figure 1: Schematic representation of the Sublime Coherence Change Model. a: The desired change is supported by the configuration of all layers. b: The desired change is blocked by the configuration of two layers.

Applications

The Sublime Coherence Change Model has broad applicability across individual development, group dynamics, organisational change and marketing strategy.

• Individuals can use the model to diagnose internal blockages and create alignment across their layers.

• Teams benefit by identifying and addressing misalignment between corresponding layers of each individual in the team, including motivations, narratives, and unstated emotional dynamics that hinder collaboration.

• Organisations can apply the model to cultural transformation, leadership development, and strategic change by ensuring that shifts are supported at the seven levels.

• Marketing experts can use the model to create personas and identify customer needs at each of the layers, towards frictionless market acceptance.  

  
  

This integrative approach provides a more reliable pathway to meaningful transformation than traditional single-layer interventions.

Figure 2: The model can be used to identify and correct misalignment and incoherence within human and organisational systems. Alignment is illustrated with arrows, pointing in the same direction when there is alignment. Coherence is illustrated as a continuous flow, absent of blockages.

Scientific foundations

Contemporary neuroscience and behavioural science increasingly support the idea that sustainable behavioural change is a multi-layered process involving physiological, emotional, cognitive and identity-related mechanisms. Research in neurobiology demonstrates that behaviour is deeply shaped by autonomic nervous system states; when the body is dysregulated, higher cognitive functions such as planning, reflection and decision-making are significantly impaired. Polyvagal Theory and affective neuroscience show that emotional and energetic activation patterns determine an individual’s readiness for change long before conscious intention becomes relevant.

Psychological research further indicates that cognition alone is insufficient to drive long-term behavioural transformation. Dual-process models (e.g., Kahneman’s System 1 & 2), habit-formation science and implicit learning studies highlight the influence of pre-conceptual and subconscious layers that operate beneath deliberate thought. These mechanisms strongly resemble the “pre-conceptual clarity” layer described in this model: intuitive, rapid, non-verbal forms of insight that guide behaviour before conceptual reasoning takes shape.

Identity theory within social psychology and behavioural science adds another crucial dimension: behaviours that conflict with one’s self-concept or personal narrative are rarely internalised. Sustainable change requires coherence between action and identity, a finding strongly supported by self-determination theory, narrative psychology and research on intrinsic motivation. Together, these fields converge toward a whole-system understanding of change, in which physiological safety, emotional alignment, cognitive clarity, identity coherence, intuitive insight, authentic being and reflective awareness must all be engaged for transformation to become stable and self-reinforcing – now represented in the Sublime Coherence Change Model.

Philosophical Foundation

The seven-layer model is inspired by the Kosha framework stemming from Advaita Vedanta, which describes the human being as composed of multiple, interwoven layers: from the physical body to subtler realms of energy, mind, intuition and consciousness. Rather than viewing these layers as abstract spirituality, the model interprets them as practical dimensions of human functioning that shape perception, behavior, and decision-making. By linking ancient insights to modern leadership and organisational contexts, the model offers a structured way to understand how inner development and outer effectiveness are inseparably connected.

Conclusion

The Sublime Coherence Change Model offers a comprehensive and integrative framework for achieving sustainable behavioural change. By recognising and working with the full complexity of the human system - acting in its environment, the model enables deeper, more authentic transformation and reduces the risk of superficial or temporary change. This whitepaper serves as an introduction and foundation for further development into tools, assessments, training programmes, and organisational methodologies.