Living Inquiry

When the path becomes your life

Living Inquiry is an ongoing one-to-one relationship for people who want to explore what their spiritual understanding means in the reality of being human.

There is no philosophy you need to adopt here.

We begin with what is actually happening.

That might be a relationship you cannot make sense of, a pattern that keeps repeating, a spiritual question, a period of change, fear, anger, purpose, work, family, creativity, or simply the feeling that something in your life is asking to be looked at more honestly.

Sometimes we will question the stories you have come to believe about yourself.

Sometimes there may be meditation, self-inquiry, embodied practice or something practical to explore between our conversations.

At other times, what matters is simply staying with an experience long enough that you stop trying to solve it and begin to see what is actually there.

I am not interested in giving you another system for becoming a better version of yourself.

I am interested in what becomes possible when we meet your experience without immediately trying to escape, improve or spiritualise it.

Why mentorship?

Much of my own understanding came through teachers, but the relationship that affected me most deeply went far beyond attending someone's class.

For years I practised with my teacher, studied with him, helped him, worked in his garden, fixed things around his home, shared meals, supported retreats and spent time around the ordinary life of the teaching.

He came to know me.

Not simply the version of me that appeared for practice.

He saw where I was sincere and where I was hiding. Where I was finding my own understanding and where I was copying his. Where I wanted approval. Where I needed support, and eventually, where I needed him to stop supporting me.

When Bee and I completed our formal yoga training, we weren't simply handed a qualification and told that we were now teachers.

We taught real people. We made mistakes. We were observed and corrected. Over time, we stopped trying to reproduce someone else's way of teaching and began discovering our own.

Eventually my teacher stepped back almost completely.

I didn't particularly appreciate it at the time.

Years later, I understand why.

The relationship gradually returned me to my own authority. That remains important in how I work: mentorship should not create permanent dependence.

That experience has shaped how I understand mentorship.

Across many spiritual traditions, learning was never simply the transfer of information. Practice happened in relationship. A teacher gradually came to know the person in front of them, not only their philosophy.

Today we have almost unlimited access to spiritual information.

What is much harder to find is continuity.

A relationship in which somebody knows enough of your journey to notice what you may not notice yourself.

Living Inquiry is my attempt to offer something of that nature without pretending to reproduce an ancient teacher-student tradition or asking you to make me an authority over your life.

What our work looks like

One possible structure follows a twice-monthly rhythm.

90-minute Living Inquiry

This is our deeper conversation.

We slow things down and begin with whatever is most alive in your life. There is no curriculum to work through and no need to arrive with the right question.

Over time, we begin to recognise the patterns that recur, what matters to you, what may be difficult to approach and where spiritual understanding seems to separate from the way life is actually lived.

That continuity is an important part of the work. It allows us to return to something after you have lived with it, recognise patterns that are difficult to see from inside them, and follow an inquiry beyond the insight of a single conversation.

60-minute Integration

Around two weeks later, we meet again.

By then, you have gone back into your life.

Something we explored may have opened. A familiar pattern may have returned in a different form. Something else may have become uncomfortable, or you may have completely forgotten what seemed obvious during our previous conversation.

That is useful.

We look at what actually happened rather than what was supposed to happen. This is where understanding begins to meet experience, and where spiritual insight is tested within relationships, work, family, responsibility and the ordinary movement of life.

Between our sessions

You can send me voice notes or questions during my working week when something meaningful emerges.

This is not unlimited access or crisis support. It simply means our inquiry does not have to disappear the moment the meeting closes.

There may also be a meditation, question, personal practice or something practical to explore between sessions when that feels useful.

As a guide, mentorship typically begins at £225 per month, with the exact structure and exchange shaped around the needs and circumstances of each person.

A more immersive mentorship

For some people, this twice-monthly rhythm offers the right balance of depth, continuity and space to live what we uncover.

Others may be looking for a more involved relationship.

You may be developing as a yoga or meditation teacher, moving through a significant period in your spiritual life, or wanting sustained guidance across several areas of practice. Perhaps you are not only seeking somewhere to bring your questions, but a relationship through which your understanding, practice and way of sharing it can mature over time.

In this form, the mentorship can become closer to an apprenticeship.

We may meet weekly, sometimes for longer two-hour sessions, and work across personal practice, meditation, self-inquiry, yoga teaching, sequencing, philosophy, chanting, holding space, responding to students and discovering how your own understanding wants to be expressed.

Because I have time to know you and follow your development, we can work with details that would be difficult to address through occasional sessions. I can observe how you teach, help you recognise where you may be relying on inherited structures or borrowed language, explore the philosophy beneath what you are sharing, and support you in finding a way of teaching that is grounded in lived experience.

The work may also move beyond teaching. It can include the questions, relationships, responsibilities and internal movements that shape the person standing at the front of the room. How you teach cannot ultimately be separated from how you live, how honestly you meet yourself, or how deeply the practice has entered your own life.

This more immersive relationship is shaped individually rather than offered as a predetermined package. Its rhythm, areas of focus and exchange are agreed together according to the time, depth and level of involvement the work requires.

Who this is for

You don't need to call yourself spiritual.

You don't need a particular amount of experience.

And you certainly don't need to agree with everything I believe.

But you do need to be willing to look.

Living Inquiry may suit you if spiritual practice or inquiry has become genuinely important in your life and you want somewhere to explore it beyond books, courses and occasional conversations.

Perhaps you have reached a transition in your practice.

Perhaps you understand a great deal but find that the same patterns continue to appear.

You might be teaching or beginning to share your own work and trying to discover what is genuinely yours.

Or your spiritual life may simply have reached the point where it can no longer remain separate from your relationships, family, work and the decisions you make.

I won't tell you how your life should look.

I will question you when I think something deserves questioning. I will tell you what I see. I will bring my own experience and the traditions that have shaped me into the conversation where they are useful.

And I will also tell you when I don't know.

The purpose isn't for you to become more like me.

It is for you to become increasingly able to stand inside your own life.

Commitment

Living Inquiry begins with an initial commitment of three months.

For example, a foundational mentorship could include:

One 90-minute Living Inquiry session

One 60-minute Integration session

Voice-note support between sessions

The exchange for this example would be £225 per month.

Each mentorship is shaped individually. The frequency, commitment and exchange are agreed together before we begin, according to the depth and level of involvement required.

I work with no more than eight people at any one time, with fewer spaces available for more immersive arrangements. This allows me to know the people I work with rather than simply moving from one appointment to another.

At the end of the agreed period, we review the work together and speak openly about whether continuing feels appropriate.

There is no assumption that you should continue. We may find there is more to explore together. You may feel the relationship has served its purpose. Sometimes the appropriate next movement is to continue without me.

All three are valid.

Begin with a conversation

You don't need to decide whether you want mentorship from reading a website.

Come and talk to me.

Tell me where you are, what has brought you here and what you are looking for.

I'll explain how I work and we can get a sense of each other.

If I don't think I'm the right person for what you need, I'll tell you.

There is no pressure to make a decision during the call.