My grade 4 teacher said I was creative, but had a tendency to be disruptive.
She was right
I’m a Vancouver-based life coach and mindfulness teacher working with clients across North America.
When I was a young man.
When I was young, despite my achievements, I became dissatisfied and unhappy. I knew there had to be something else, but I did not know what it was... or how to find it.
They say when the student is ready, the teacher arrives.
I was twenty-six when I was introduced to my teacher in one of the great wisdom and meditation traditions.
I have been stumbling along that path ever since.
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.
Will this work? Can I really make a life out of this? The first two years were hard.
There were times it seemed hopeless.
But I believed in what I was doing, so I kept going.
Slowly, things began to shift.
My perseverance paid off.
The work found its people.
I think that experience has stayed with me.
I have that same resolve for the people I work with.
I do not give up on people. Or on good ideas.
When you move toward opportunities that scare you, something in you begins to change.
You call on courage. You build grit. You make something that could not have been made by staying safe.
In 2018, I was very suddenly diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and spent two years in treatment.
I know what it is to face difficult challenges. Life is mysterious. Spend your time wisely.
Live brave. Do good things.
If you’d like a fuller sense of how I work, you can read more about my process here.
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.”
Professional Training
I was trained by master coaches at CTI in California. For more than thirty years, CTI has been a gold standard in coach training and leadership development.
I serve on the board of People Before Patients, a non-profit movement working to reimagine health care in Canada.
I am a mindfulness guide at Nectara, a psychedelic integration and harm reduction community supporting journeyers, facilitators, retreat centers, and clinics.
Vancouver’s top life coach by Waterview Vancouver.
If you’d like to learn more about working together, start here.
Interesting things I’ve done.
I trained at the Vidal Sassoon Academy in London, England, and worked as a hairstylist for Suki’s International in the 1980s.
I later created several production companies and, as a writer and filmmaker, produced films for non-profits, foundations, and individuals.
In 2006, I wrote, directed, and produced the feature film aWake.
You can find films, podcasts, and other media on my media page.
That is me cutting Douglas Coupland’s hair in my backyard.
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.
Biscuit
Animals and gardens.
I was the human caregiver to Biscuit, the world’s greatest poodle, who died in June 2022 and is forever missed.
He changed my life and brought a great deal of joy wherever he went.
I now share my life 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.
Dolce
Biscotti
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.
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.”