My grade 4 teacher said I was creative, but had a tendency to be disruptive.
She was right
Coach and thinking partner for more than twenty years ·
Trained at CTI · Based in Vancouver
For most of my life…listening and offering alternative perspectives has been my super power.
Before anyone called it life coaching.
In my twenties I trained at the prestigious Vidal Sassoon Academy in London and spent years as a hairstylist. People sit down in the chair and, within minutes, they tell you things. Not small things. All sorts of things… deeply moving and honest things that reveal what excites, motivates, scares, and attracts them.
I didn't know it then, but I was training for my future work as a life coach.
Later I spent years as a filmmaker, writer, and storyteller. You learn to read people. To find what's true before anything else can work.
What you learn across all of it is this: most people are not short on intelligence or effort. Most people have never had a safe space where they could think out loud without someone judging them, rushing them, or reaching for a bandaid.
When the student is ready the teacher arrives.
I was twenty-six when I was introduced to a teaching in one of the great wisdom and meditation traditions. That was a life changing moment. I have been walking that path ever since… stumbling, learning, returning.
It is the ground everything else grows from.
The challenge of new beginnings.
I began my coaching practice many years ago, when personal coaching was still in its infancy. When I told people I was a coach, they often looked at me blankly. I had a mortgage... and a big question. The first two years were very very difficult. But I believed in what I was doing, so I kept going.
I have that same resolve for the people I work with. I do not give up on people. Or good ideas.
In 2018, I was suddenly diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, which has a way of clarifying things. Overnight. That experience did not give me easy answers. I think it did make me a stronger person. A better coach. A kinder, more awake human being, who understands the absolute preciousness and fragility of life.
Clients speak.
“David’s coaching work produces subtle yet powerful results. He is intuitive, thought provoking and challenges you to stand in your own power. With just a few simple words, David had a profound effect on me when I shared a work related issue I was dealing with.”
What I have learned, across all of it.
I listen to people until the truth falls out of them. I ask the questions they cannot ask themselves. I pay as much attention to what is not being said as to what is.
Trained by master coaches at CTI in California
Mindfulness guide at Nectara
Producer, director and editor of the feature film aWake (2006) You can find films, podcasts, and other media on my media page.
Ten years as volunteer president of the Kitsilano Community Garden
Founder of Woo Talks, an evening of storytelling and relationship building held at Sai Woo in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown.
I was the founder, creator, and curator of Woo Talks, an evening of storytelling and relationship building held at the elegant Sai Woo in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown.
That is me cutting Author Douglas Coupland’s hair in my backyard.
My person and animals
I was the human caregiver to Biscuit, the world’s greatest poodle, who died at 17 years old in June 2022 and is forever missed. He changed my life and brought a great deal of joy wherever he went.
My human person and I now share our lives with Dolce, an Italian Greyhound rescued from Korea, and Biscotti, a poodle rescued from Mexico.
Living with a dog is a little like living with a Zen master.. There are many lessons…few are understood.
I love to grow food and flowers, and for ten years I served as volunteer president of the Kitsilano Community Garden, the oldest community garden in Vancouver. Currently, tending my home garden is a meaningful part of everyday life.
Clients speak.
“I was in a negative place where nothing was the way I wanted it to be. After just a couple of sessions with David, who has incredible listening skills, compassion, respect and the knowledge to know when to ask you to dig deeper, I felt a significant shift in the way I perceived my world. Today I am living a life I thought was impossible for me. This process transformed me.”