My Journey

My name is James Sandhu, and I’m truly grateful you’ve found your way here.

For much of my life, I’ve supported others through moments of challenge and change. I spent over 20 years serving in Canada’s foreign service, a career that, from the outside, appeared stable and successful. But despite the accomplishments, I carried a quiet, persistent feeling of unfulfilment. Something was missing. I was living without a clear sense of purpose.

In January 2023, after completing a work assignment overseas and returning home to London, I made the decision to pause. While I was proud of the work I had done, I felt completely drained—physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Looking back, I realised that for more than two decades, I had placed my professional responsibilities above everything else. My own well-being and personal life had been left behind. I didn’t have a clear plan forward. I simply had an honest need for space: to breathe, to reflect, and to ask myself a simple but powerful question:

When was the last time I truly showed up for myself?

That pause became a doorway, one that led me to reconnect with who I am beyond roles and responsibilities.

In 2023, I began to notice a quiet voice within me that had been waiting to be heard. It wasn’t forceful, but it carried a truth I could no longer ignore: I needed to invest in myself in ways I had neglected for far too long.

Listening to that voice, I gave myself permission to explore practices of renewal. Under the guidance of a yoga teacher, I learned to pay attention in new ways: through breathing, through gait, and through alignment. These simple yet powerful foundations taught me how to inhabit my body with awareness and ease, and in turn, to live with greater steadiness.

At the same time, I discovered Vedic meditation at the London Meditation Centre. Its natural, effortless approach gave me a daily rhythm of stillness that continues to anchor me today. Together, yoga and meditation became a steady practice that brought clarity, balance, and self-trust I hadn’t experienced before.

Taking a pause from my career became a true turning point. When I returned to full-time professional work in September 2025, I carried with me the practices and insights born from listening inward. They remain central to how I live and how I support others through my coaching, not as distant ideas but as lived experiences of choosing what feels most true and purposeful.

What I discovered during that period of pause and inner listening continues to shape how I show up in the world today. Coaching became the natural expression of that journey. It allows me to create a safe, supportive space where others can hear their own inner voice more clearly and begin to act from it with confidence.

I believe that each of us carries wisdom within us, though it can become clouded by expectation, fear, or fatigue. My role is not to provide the answers, but to walk alongside you as you uncover your own.

As Waldo Ralph Emerson once said, “Life’s a journey, not a destination.” Those words reflect the heart of my coaching: it is less about arriving at a single point and more about the growth, clarity, and alignment we find along the way.

For me, coaching is a way of being fully present with another person, listening deeply, honouring their experiences, and supporting them as they discover what feels most true for themselves.