Transpersonal educational leadership: an integrative model of spiritual alignment, energy coherence, and mystical awareness
Frontiers in Education March 16, 2026 Okyanus Işık Seda Yılmaz
Educational leadership suffers from a crisis of meaning because dominant managerial and technocratic approaches ignore leaders' inner lives. This conceptual paper proposes the Holistic Transpersonal Educational Leadership Model (HTELM), which integrates spiritual alignment, energy coherence, and mystical awareness as the basis for authentic leadership. Drawing on transpersonal psychology, Sufi contemplative philosophy, and holistic education theory, HTELM incorporates Sufi principles—niyyah (intention), dhikr (remembrance), and ihsan (presence)—into leadership practice. The model argues that effective leadership arises from inner coherence between ethical intention, emotional resonance, and expanded awareness, shifting leadership from managerial control to conscious presence. HTELM suggests that coherence-based leadership provides a psychophysiological and ethical foundation for educational transformation, linking inner development to systemic change.