A few years ago, my life took a sharp turn.
 

After decades of coaching martial arts, my calling, my lifework, I began experiencing CTE-like symptoms. My memory grew unreliable. Depression settled deep in my bones. Fatigue became chronic and all-consuming. On top of that, I was diagnosed with severe cervical degeneration in my neck. The pain, particularly the daily cervical headaches, became a constant presence. Whether the headaches stem from the CTE-like symptoms or the spinal condition, we still don’t know. What I do know is that I haven’t had a single pain-free day in over ten years.
 

In 2022, my neurologist and care team advised me to step back from the work that had shaped my life. Continuing would have worsened a degenerative condition.

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This news was shattering.

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Martial arts wasn’t merely how I earned a living; it was how I learned to live. It kept me alive, and, in time, became the way I helped others face life as it is. Then, just like that, it was gone.

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What followed was a long season of grief, confusion, and wandering. I tried other projects— some promising, some less so — but none held; none felt true. I was no longer interested in chasing the success markers we’re told will make us “happy.” I needed to begin again, not from ambition, but in search of wholeness.

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The Quiet Unfolding

So I stopped pushing. I walked the rugged coastline of the Isle of Man. I listened. I let the silence speak. And slowly, gradually, something began to take shape. Not a business, not a brand, but a way of living.
 

Coaching Philosophia emerged from the ruins, not as a strategy, but as a lived, transformative response. A way of reclaiming what matters and a return to what I now call 'natural wisdom.'
 

This isn’t philosophy as an academic exercise. It’s philosophy with mud on its boots: Rooted, embodied, human, lived. It's what helped me make sense of my pain, hold my losses, and walk forward with a quieter kind of strength.
 

Why I am Building a Community

We’re living through a moment of profound upheaval, personally, culturally, globally. Countless conversations with people and even my own two young adult sons confirm this.  Many of us are carrying grief, exhaustion, or quiet questions that we’ve never had space to name. The old maps no longer work, the pace of life is unsustainable, and something inside us knows it.
 

The Circle of Lived Wisdom Community is my response to this moment. It’s a sanctuary, not just for reflection, but for remembering. A space for people who are no longer satisfied with shallow fixes or surface-level success. A place to explore the deeper currents of a meaningful life, together. 

 

A Personal Invitation

I’ve come to believe that what we need now isn't more hustle, productivity, or optimisation. We need presence, we need real deep conversations, and more than anything, we need each other.
 

So this is a quiet invitation to support this work if you can. To join the community if it calls to you. To become part of something slower, truer, more human.

If something in this resonates with you, I’d love to hear from you, and if you're curious about being more involved, whether through support, collaboration, or simply sharing space in the community, I’m always happy to chat (feel free to send me an email).
 

I sincerely believe The Circle of Lived Wisdom is not just my project. It’s a movement,  shared remembering and a path back to what matters.

 

 

 

With gratitude,

Coach Rodney - Founder, Coaching Philosophia