About Me
Looking back, my path to coaching makes a lot of sense. Two strands of my life eventually found their way to each other, and perhaps the only question is: why didn’t it happen sooner?
In my previous worklife I spent two decades as an English language teacher and teacher trainer, which conveniently involved several of my favourite things: interacting with and helping people, problem-solving, and the various ways we use language – and its effects when we do. And I have to say, I really enjoyed it, but … something seemed to be missing, though I wasn’t quite sure what.
In my previous worklife I spent two decades as an English language teacher and teacher trainer, which conveniently involved several of my favourite things: interacting with and helping people, problem-solving, and the various ways we use language – and its effects when we do. And I have to say, I really enjoyed it, but … something seemed to be missing, though I wasn’t quite sure what.
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Now, while at university I’d been introduced to Buddhism, and from the first page it made enormous sense to me. It’s not that I was particularly unhappy at that time, but I wasn’t really enjoying my (easy, privileged) life so much either. So a set of ideas and practices focused on the goal of becoming happier sounded like just what I needed. And it was!
So I’ve been a Buddhist since then, and have been to a variety of monasteries, retreat centres and teachers, usually for weeks at a time. For two two-year periods I left “normal” life in the West to follow a (primarily Buddhist) spiritual path full-time. In recent years I've typically spent a month at a Zen centre in South India and made two visits to Thai Forest Tradition monasteries in the UK and Portugal. |
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But although Buddhism is my “home”, I’ve also looked elsewhere for ways to increase my happiness by changing who I am on the inside, and eventually one day a friend said to me, “You should be a life coach!”
“What does a life coach do?” I asked. “I don’t know,” she said, “but you should be one.”
And so I found out, and she was right!
Because it was clear that coaching involved all the fun things I’d been doing in my old job, but with the huge plus that what I was helping people with was something much bigger – and dearer to my own heart – than grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.
What I was doing was helping people change their lives, often radically.
Only a couple of months after finding out what a life coach was I began my training, and I started my first coaching business in Melbourne, Australia, in 2008.
After many happy years coaching there, I relocated to Lyon in France in October 2018, and with a new home came a new focus: aiming to serve those, who, like me, see “happiness comes from within” not just as a quotation, but as a path to follow.
And in January 2024 I started the next chapter of my life, moving to Guadeloupe in the French Caribbean.
Welcome to coaching!
“What does a life coach do?” I asked. “I don’t know,” she said, “but you should be one.”
And so I found out, and she was right!
Because it was clear that coaching involved all the fun things I’d been doing in my old job, but with the huge plus that what I was helping people with was something much bigger – and dearer to my own heart – than grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.
What I was doing was helping people change their lives, often radically.
Only a couple of months after finding out what a life coach was I began my training, and I started my first coaching business in Melbourne, Australia, in 2008.
After many happy years coaching there, I relocated to Lyon in France in October 2018, and with a new home came a new focus: aiming to serve those, who, like me, see “happiness comes from within” not just as a quotation, but as a path to follow.
And in January 2024 I started the next chapter of my life, moving to Guadeloupe in the French Caribbean.
Welcome to coaching!
To find out more, or to book a free consultation:
email [email protected]
email [email protected]