Giggling Gurus Coaching, Teaching, and Wholeness.
Giggling Gurus is for people navigating change, recovery, and big questions of meaning—and for clinicians, coaches, teachers, leaders, and everyday humans who feel drawn toward deeper, more integrated ways of growing. It’s for those who sense that something essential gets lost when growth turns into another thing to optimize, perform, or collect. Here, we slow down. We listen. We meet life as it is—messy, meaningful, and alive.
At Giggling Gurus, wisdom doesn’t sit on a pedestal—it walks alongside you, laughs easily, and knows how to meet you right where you are. This is a relational approach that works with life as it unfolds, not against it.
The work is depth-oriented coaching and teaching focused on integration, healing, and wholeness—rooted in lived experience and embodied practice rather than escape or spiritual bypass. It supports a way of being that values presence, relationship, and honest engagement over striving, effort, or performance.
My approach draws from a wide range of contemplative and psychological traditions—Indigenous knowledge, Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, depth psychology, and modern spiritual psychology—woven together in a grounded, human, and practical way. Rather than asking you to adopt a single system or belief, the work unfolds relationally and collaboratively, honoring the culture, wisdom, and path that resonate most for you.
Whether your journey is shaped by mindfulness, myth and meaning, ancestral healing, recovery, embodiment, or spiritual inquiry, our work is customized to meet you where you are now—and to support where you feel quietly (or boldly) called to grow next.
And about the giggle—it points to something subtle but powerful. That softening moment when awareness relaxes its grip. Many traditions call it non-forcing: the small, honest smile that appears when we stop struggling with ourselves. It’s the recognition that healing doesn’t come through domination or perfection, but through presence, curiosity, and trusting what is already alive within you.
Held in this spirit, Giggling Gurus offers a grounded, gently playful space for one-on-one work, group workshops, and public speaking, supporting people navigating anxiety, addiction recovery, grief, attachment patterns, identity shifts, and major life transitions—especially those who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or who are quietly doing their best to just be with life.
Healing doesn’t begin by fixing what’s broken—it begins by listening to what’s been unheard.
My name is Spencer - an empowerment coach, teacher, workshop facilitator and PhD student in East–West Psychology, Philosophy, and Religion—but more importantly, I meet you from lived, embodied experience.
I grew up in a small town, where identity was shaped early by performance, perseverance, and belonging. As an all-state athlete, I learned discipline, resilience, and how to push through discomfort. I went on to play college football and completed my undergraduate degree in History, carrying with me a deep respect for story—how personal lives, cultures, and lineages shape who we become.
For a long time, I believed strength meant enduring quietly and moving forward at all costs. Beneath the surface, though, I was navigating addiction, anxiety, loss, and a growing sense of disconnection from myself and from life. What ultimately changed me wasn’t learning how to fix what felt broken, but discovering how to listen—to the parts of myself that had been pushed aside, shaped by pain, ancestry, longing, and unspoken experience, and simply wanted to be met with care.
Through my own healing journey, I came to understand that real transformation doesn’t emerge through force or perfection. It unfolds through presence, relationship, and compassion—by reconnecting with what is alive within us, and with the communities and worlds we belong to. This way of healing is gentle but powerful, grounded in lived experience, and rooted in the understanding that wholeness is not something we earn, but something we remember together—through presence, relationship, and care..
Who am I?
I carry both European and Indigenous ancestry. On my father’s side, my roots are with the Stó:lō, Squamish, and Coast Salish peoples of what is now called British Columbia. In recent years, I have been in a relationship with the lands and communities where many of my family members continue to live and work, engaging in an ongoing process of connection, learning, and healing with my ancestors.
On my mother’s side, I am of Austrian and German descent. Tabor, Austria, is the birthplace of my great-grandparents.
This lineage shapes how I understand healing—not as an individual achievement, but as something relational, communal, and intergenerational. My work lives in the conversation between Indigenous ways of knowing, rooted in land and relationship, and Western depth psychology, which has historically centered the individual mind.
Lineage & Perspective
My work is shaped by a living weave of Indigenous knowledge, contemplative traditions, depth psychology, and spiritual philosophy. Rather than following a single lineage or system, I draw from teachers and traditions that emphasize wholeness, presence, and the ongoing journey of becoming—always grounded in lived experience rather than belief.
From Indigenous thinkers such as Eduardo Duran, Gregory Cajete, and Leroy Little Bear, I’ve learned that healing is fundamentally relational—inseparable from land, ancestry, community, story, and responsibility to the whole. These perspectives continually remind me that well-being is not an individual achievement, but a collective and ecological process.
Depth and East–West psychology inform how I understand the inner world, particularly through Carl Jung, whose work illuminates symbol, shadow, and individuation, and Sri Aurobindo, whose integrative vision embraces both human life and spiritual unfolding. The clarity and freedom-oriented inquiry of Jiddu Krishnamurti continues to anchor this work in direct experience rather than doctrine.
Contemplative traditions such as Buddhism and Daoism are present through the influence of Thich Nhat Hanh and Alan Watts, alongside modern teachers like Ram Dass, Eckhart Tolle, and Wayne Dyer, who helped translate timeless wisdom into language accessible to everyday life.
My understanding of myth, meaning, and transformation has also been shaped by Joseph Campbell, whose work highlights universal patterns of human becoming, and Stanislav Grof, whose contributions expanded how we understand trauma, consciousness, and spiritual emergence. Teachings from Don Miguel Ruiz further inform this work, offering grounded practices for awareness, integrity, and personal freedom.
Together, these influences support an approach that is embodied rather than abstract, experiential rather than dogmatic—honoring ancient wisdom while remaining practical, compassionate, and responsive to the unique path each person walks.
These influences aren’t beliefs I ask you to adopt. They’re resources we can draw from together, in service of your healing, clarity, and becoming.
Influences
🌿 One-on-One Coaching and Teaching
Personalized, relational support tailored to where you are right now. Our work meets you in your lived experience—integrating psychological insight, contemplative practice, and embodied awareness in a way that aligns with your values, culture, and chosen wisdom path.
🔥 Workshops & Group Experiences
Experiential, grounded offerings for communities, organizations, and retreat spaces. These sessions blend presence, storytelling, reflection, and practice—creating spaces for healing, connection, and shared meaning.
🎤 Speaking & Teaching Engagements
Engaging talks for conferences, recovery spaces, universities, schools, and community gatherings. Topics include healing and wholeness, addiction recovery, Indigenous wisdom, consciousness, and integrative approaches to transformation—offered with depth, clarity, and warmth.
Work With ME
This work is for people who are ready to meet themselves—and their path—with more honesty, gentleness, and curiosity, especially during times of change, recovery, or deep questioning.
You may be letting go of substances or coping patterns that once helped you survive but no longer reflect who you’re becoming. You may be untangling yourself from relationships that blurred your boundaries, or moving through grief, loss, and life transitions that call for new ways of understanding yourself and the world.
Many people arrive here not because they lack insight or training, but because they sense a deeper call for integration.
This space also welcomes those who carry responsibility for others—clinicians, coaches, educators, community leaders, and helpers—who sense that the ways they were trained to support growth may be incomplete without attention to embodiment, history, culture, and lived experience. It is especially for those drawn toward forms of healing and empowerment that are relational, respectful, and rooted in place, including work with Indigenous youth, families, and communities.
It is also for students, scholars, and practitioners exploring Indigenous wisdom, contemplative traditions, depth psychology, and East–West approaches—those seeking mentorship, guidance, or accompaniment as they integrate theory with lived experience, navigate complex ideas, or find their own voice within these traditions.
Above all, this work is for anyone who senses that healing, learning, and becoming are not about striving to be someone else, but about remembering, reclaiming, and gently returning to what is already alive and meaningful within.
If you find yourself reflected in any of this, you don’t need certainty or a plan. This work begins exactly where you are.
Who This Is For
We can begin with a simple conversation to see whether working together feels supportive.
Curiosity is enough.