About

A Journey of Learning and Renewal

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Backstories often sound like neat sequences of victories and milestones, but life rarely works that way. The path that leads us to who we become is usually uneven, filled with detours, defeats, and rediscoveries. Mine certainly was.

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I grew up in Birmingham, in a Punjabi-Sikh immigrant family. As a boy I was restless, curious, and often in trouble. School felt like a distraction from what I really wanted to be doing: exploring, playing sports, testing limits. I was, in short, a late bloomer.

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What I lacked in focus, I made up for in spirit. My family’s strength, particularly the men who embodied duty and resilience, gave me a foundation that would serve me later in life. My mother’s persistent — sometimes stern — encouragement to read and study slowly took root.

 

The stories my father told me about Sikh warriors and saints instilled in me a deep sense of courage, discipline, and moral independence — values that still shape my work today.

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An Awakening Through Books and Mentors

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A real turning point came when I was sixteen. An Irish teacher and family friend gave me two books: Animal Farm and A Clockwork Orange. For the first time, I didn’t just read — I understood. I felt as if a door had opened, and from that moment I began to read voraciously, collecting books and ideas that have stayed with me ever since.

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That awakening led me to seek out guidance and mentors. Thanks to one such mentor, I found my way to university — a feat that once seemed impossible. There, I discovered that many people, especially young men, simply need time, direction, and belief before they can flourish. I did better than I’d ever done in school, which reinforced a lesson I’ve carried into all my teaching and guiding: that patience, compassionate authority, and understanding can change the trajectory of a person’s life.

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Philosophy, Discipline, and the Body

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After university, my path took me far from home — to Kazakhstan, where I volunteered with Voluntary Service Overseas. Though the original project collapsed, something far more meaningful took its place: I met my first boxing master, Amangeldy Akhmetov. Training with him was a transformative experience — a year-long initiation into discipline, focus, and the art of controlled aggression. It taught me that mastery of the self begins with mastery of the body.

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That foundation eventually led me to teach boxing myself, and to pursue a diploma in sports massage therapy at the North London School of Sports Massage. I worked with both amateur and professional athletes, including the British Triathlon team. These experiences deepened my understanding of embodiment — the inseparable link between movement, mind, and meaning — and continue to inform my guiding and mentoring work today.

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Philosophy as a Way of Life

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I went on to study philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, where I immersed myself in ancient Greek thought, logic, and the philosophy of language. That early love for philosophy was nurtured by a college teacher who first showed me how ideas could shape lives.

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My postgraduate studies in cognitive semiotics at Aarhus University in Denmark became a turning point in how I understood philosophy itself. Cognitive semiotics — the study of how humans create meaning through language, cognition, and the body — offered a bridge between ancient wisdom and contemporary science. It confirmed what the Greeks already knew: that philosophy is not merely an intellectual pursuit, but a lived practice — embodied, emotional, and spiritual.

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I owe much to the guidance of Mark Johnson, whose correspondence during my research profoundly shaped my understanding of embodied cognition. Through this work, I came to see how philosophy, language, and behaviour intertwine — and how we can use that understanding to bring genuine transformation to the way we live and act.

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A Continuing Practice

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My professional and personal life now form one integrated practice — drawing from philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, and the physical disciplines of boxing and sport. These worlds may seem distinct, but at their core they share a single truth: that human transformation arises from the unity of mind, body, and spirit.

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Despite my experience, I still consider myself a student. I invest hours each week in deep reading and self-reflection, and I continue to seek guidance from mentors — from respected elders and teachers, to psychologists, priests, and business owners whose integrity and wisdom I admire. Without such people, I would lack the mirrors needed to see myself clearly.

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To guide others, one must also be guided. I believe that is what keeps our humanity — and our humility — alive.