Mastery Coaching

Ten years of private clients.

Among them a top-hundred poker player, two world-class musicians, a founder, a global partner at UBS, the COO of a stock exchange, and a former McKinsey partner who now coaches the chief executive of Coca-Cola.

Daily since 2014, across Japanese Zen, Theravada and Tibetan Buddhism. Over fifty days on Vipassana retreats, forty in complete darkness, another fifty in silent solitary, and around ten Japanese Zen retreats.

A year living in a Tibetan Buddhist centre while working the Goldman Sachs trading floor, where I ran a meditation group of a hundred and fifty.

Six years of daily practice, currently six hours a day, and over 10,000 hours with masters across China and Europe.

Three years at Shaolin Temple Europe under Shifu Shi Heng Zuan. A year in Wudang, where Yuan Shifu granted me permission to teach the Wudang arts and where I took silver at a Tai Chi world championship.

Also taught by Shifu Shi Heng Yi, Chen Geng, Shifu Yuan Xiu Gang, Shifu Chen Shiyu, Jake Pinnick, Xiao Yun, Liu Jin, Shifu Yan Lei and Iain Armstrong.

Since September 2024, one-on-one with Shifu Wu Nanfang, 31st-generation lineage holder of Gulun Kung Fu — the first Westerner he has taught this way.

I was the fat kid. I overcorrected into years of restrictive eating, which was its own sort of prison.

Somewhere in the middle I played rugby at international level and won a regional powerlifting title at twenty-seven. I qualified as a personal trainer and sports science nerdery.

These days: front and side splits, twenty-five minutes in an ice bath, and lean year-around with minimal effort.

Awake at four. Seven years without alcohol, drugs, meat, television or streaming. No social media.

I let go of eighty per cent of my possessions gone. I ask none of this of my clients — I’d have no business left if everyone had to shave their head — but I can help you take a few steps in whichever direction is actually yours.

I delivered, MindBodyWork Mastery, a six-month programme built for ASICS across their EMEA region — live talks, a video practice library and written exercises.

Its 50 places were fully booked in two hours and the programme received an average feedback rating of 9/10.

Wellness residencies in Selina coliving locations in Portugal, Austria and Ecuador; 5* detox resort The LifeCo; and Alt_ Chiang Mai.

Taught and hosted retreats in China, Thailand, South America and across Europe, including at Shaolin Temple Europe at the invitation of Shifu Shi Heng Yi.

Founded and built the school’s online home — the full syllabus documented, follow-along practice modules, exercise breakdowns, live calls and a flexibility programme.

The other thing I do outside Mastery Coaching.

Two years at Clifford Chance, a Magic Circle firm.

Four years on the Goldman Sachs commodities desk across Europe and New York, running up to thirty negotiations at a time.

This is the part I actually care about. I built the life I used to daydream about, deliberately, and not by finding a secret.

By taking full responsibility for it, and then making a long run of unglamorous and frankly frightening decisions — the resignation, the move, the conversations I had spent years avoiding.

I now wake up and spend nearly the whole day doing things I want to be doing, very little of it distracted.

While I don’t watch TV or movies, drink or otherwise engage in conventional social ‘fun’, my simple pleasures include the luxury of taking impromptu mid-week afternoon sauna days, weekend half-day deep nature binges and long trips with my partner – who happens to be the loveliest person in the world.