What spiritual mentoring is — and isn't

The word 'spiritual' puts some people off. It can sound vague, otherworldly or associated with beliefs they don't hold.

The work I offer is not about religion, belief systems, or any particular tradition - though it is deeply informed by 25 years of serious Tibetan Buddhist practice, one of the most psychologically sophisticated frameworks for understanding the mind that exists anywhere in the world.

What it is about is the territory of direct inner experience - what happens when you sit still with yourself, what arises in awareness, how insight relates to how you actually live, what it means to move through difficulty with genuine equanimity rather than suppression or avoidance.

This is not therapy, though it shares some of therapy's qualities - presence, attention, care for the whole person. And it is not a course in meditation technique, though meditation is often part of it.

It is a sustained, private relationship with someone who takes the inner life as seriously as you do - and who has spent decades learning how to work with it.

Who seeks this kind of support

People come to spiritual mentoring from very different places. What they tend to share is a readiness to engage with their inner life at a level that goes beyond the surface.

Some are navigating significant spiritual experiences - openings, visions, states of consciousness that arose through meditation, plant medicine, grief or illness - and need support in integrating and understanding them without having them minimised or pathologised.

Some have a meditation practice that has hit a wall - or that has brought up material they don't know how to work with - and are looking for guidance from someone with both depth of practice and the psycho-somatic training to hold what arises.

Some are at a point of genuine transition - a life change, a loss, a period of deep questioning - and find that what they are navigating has dimensions that ordinary therapy doesn't quite touch.

And some simply feel a sense that there is something more - not in a vague or wishful way, but as a real pull toward depth and meaning - and want to explore that with someone who can meet it with care and understanding.

In each case, what is offered is the same: a grounded, attentive, experienced presence - and a genuine willingness to go wherever the work needs to go.

The meditation dimension

Meditation is often central to this work - though not always as a technique to be practised correctly, but as a living inquiry into the nature of experience itself.

I have been a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhist meditation for over 25 years. This is not a background detail - it is the foundation of how I understand the mind, how I work with awareness, and how I support others in developing a relationship with their own inner life that is both stable and genuinely open.

For those new to meditation, I offer simple, practical guidance rooted in real understanding - not generic instructions, but an approach adapted carefully to your particular mind, circumstances and needs.

For those with an established practice, I offer a space to go deeper: to work with what arises, to bring more of your life into relationship with the practice, and to develop the kind of integration that moves understanding from the cushion into every corner of daily experience.

The lineage behind the work

My understanding of how meditation practice can be genuinely transformative - not as a technique applied to life, but as a living thread woven through every part of it - has been shaped profoundly by my work with my main teacher, Rob Preece.

Since 2018, Rob has been both my teacher within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and my personal mentor. That dual relationship - formal practice lineage and direct mentoring guidance - has shaped not just what I know, but how I work, how I sit with people, and how I understand the relationship between inner practice and everyday life.

Rob is one of the most respected voices in the integration of Tibetan Buddhist practice and Western psychology. A practitioner within the Tibetan tradition since 1973, he spent the early 1980s in retreat in the Himalayas under the guidance of eminent Tibetan lamas, and has worked as a psychotherapist and spiritual mentor since 1987. He is the author of three deeply influential books — The Wisdom of Imperfection, The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra and Feeling Wisdom - each of which explores how the insights of contemplative practice can be brought into genuine, grounded contact with the psychological realities of everyday Western life.

What his teaching has given me is an understanding of practice that goes far beyond technique. It is an understanding of how the body holds experience, how psychological patterns weave through spiritual life, and how real transformation happens not through striving toward some idealised state, but through a sustained, honest and compassionate relationship with what is actually present.

That approach - embodied, psychologically aware, and refusing to separate the spiritual from the deeply human - is the foundation of everything I offer.

How we work

Sessions are private, one-to-one and conducted online. Each session is entirely responsive to what is arising for you.

The work is shaped by your experience, your questions, your practice and the particular territory you are navigating. It might involve meditation guidance, exploration of specific experiences or states, working with the emotional and psychological dimensions of inner life, or simply the sustained practice of sitting with honest inquiry in a held and supportive space.

I draw on 25 years of Tibetan Buddhist practice, transpersonal psychology coaching, trauma-informed awareness practices and a deep engagement with the contemplative traditions - not as a set of techniques to apply, but as a living understanding that informs how I am present with you.

Many people work with me over extended periods - returning as the work deepens, or as life brings new questions and challenges. For those wanting a more structured container, the three-month private mentorship offers a sustained and intentional engagement with clear support throughout.

I work with clients across the UK, USA and internationally, all online.

A note on lived experience

My understanding of this territory is not only academic or traditional. I have navigated severe physical trauma, chronic pain and the complete dismantling of the life I had built - and found, within that, a depth of practice and understanding I could not have reached any other way.

That experience means I am not easily unsettled by the more difficult dimensions of inner life - by grief, by loss of meaning, by the disorientation that can come with significant spiritual experience, or by the parts of human experience that resist easy resolution.

I bring that steadiness - earned, not performed - to every session.

If this feels relevant

If something in what you have read resonates - even if you are not sure exactly what you are looking for - I invite you to get in touch.

I offer a short initial conversation, free of charge, to explore whether working together feels right for both of us. There is no obligation, and I will always be honest with you about whether I think I can help.