Personal Coaching
Working Together — I offer one-on-one coaching for people actively pursuing personal & relational growth.
Meditation and other formal practices are central to how we work, but personal transformation shows up everywhere: in your relationships, your work, how you handle difficulty, what you create, and how you move through the world. If you're ready to see your practice change all of it, we might be a good fit.
This is mid to long-term work. We'll meet regularly, anywhere from monthly to weekly depending on what makes sense, over several months to a year. Sessions are typically an hour, mostly over Zoom, sometimes in person when the stars align.
The Approach — I teach life-affirming, non-renunciative practice.
The principles come from Contemporary Vajrayana, but my coaching is open to any religious or non-religious worldview. You don't need to be Buddhist. You don't need to believe anything in particular. You just need to be willing to show up fully.
"Non-renunciative" means you don't have to give up money, romance, ambition, emotions, your hair, or anything else to do serious spiritual work. (Though you can give up your hair if you want. I'm not here to judge your barber choices.)
The view here is that bringing clear, natural awareness to all of life, including desire, grief, relationships, and worldly engagement, transforms your relationship with these things. They become sources of power and kindness rather than problems to solve.
The foundational practice I emphasize is called Opening Awareness. You don't need to have an Opening Awareness practice to work with me, but you should be genuinely open to it. We'll explore how it relates to whatever practice you're already doing, and we'll discover and develop other practices together as we go.
Who This Is For — Not for everyone.
You should have some kind of regular formal practice: sitting meditation, yoga, martial arts, whatever works for you. You should be curious about how practice shows up (or doesn't) in the rest of your life.
If you're only looking for stress reduction techniques or productivity hacks, I’m sure there are better options out there. If you're committed to a strictly renunciative path, this probably isn't the right fit either.
But if you're interested in practice that includes all of life (in all of its beauty and horror) and you're willing to do the work, let's talk.
What We Work On — The short answer: everything.
The longer answer: we work on whatever's alive in your practice and your life. That often includes things like:
Tweaking, debugging, and optimizing your practice
Navigating relationships (romantic, family, work, friendship)
Working with difficult emotions and patterns
Finding clarity in major life decisions
Integrating practice with creative work or business
Understanding what's happening in your formal practice
I've worked with people on all of this and more. Relationship work is something I particularly enjoy coaching. I've been married for over 10 years, and exploring how practice transforms intimate relationships is special to me.
What to Expect — Coaching with me is a mutual commitment.
I take your practice seriously, and I expect you to as well. We'll work together to figure out session frequency (at least monthly), duration, and what practices make sense for your life. Between sessions, you'll have things to practice and bring awareness to.
The relationship is collaborative. I'm not here to dispense wisdom from on high. In addition to being a coach, I’m a fellow practitioner who's been at this for a while and can help you see what you're working with more clearly. I'll probably say something stupid occasionally. You might too. That's fine. We're working with what's actually here.
About Me
I've been passionate about learning and personal development most of my life, but when I started meditating seriously in 2013, it changed my life in ways I could never have imagined. In 2018, I transitioned to a non-renunciative practice with the help of my friend, teacher, and co-founder, Charlie Awbery. I've been coaching individuals and groups in this approach for five years.
Before all this, I spent over a decade in digital operations, management, and design. I also started and ran a nonprofit, produced and hosted multiple podcasts, and even played a video game semi-professionally for a few years.
I mention all this because it matters. This practice works in regular life, with regular responsibilities and interests. I'm not a monk. I have a mortgage, a wife, a dog, and I sometimes forget to meditate.
My practice works with life, not against it.
Getting Started: The Pre-Coaching Process
If you're interested in working together, the first step is filling out the interest form below. This helps me understand what you're looking for and where you are in your practice.
From there, we'll have a handful of sessions to see if this is a mutual coaching fit. This pre-coaching process is where we figure out:
Whether I can actually be helpful to you
Whether my approach resonates with how you want to practice
Session frequency and format that works for both of us
Pricing that’s an investment in your practice and is based on your financial situation
Both of us need to feel confident about the coaching relationship before committing. The pre-coaching sessions give us time to figure that out without pressure.
Feel free to include any questions about coaching in your application. I'm happy to address them during our pre-coaching sessions.