#103: Bob Singha – Coaching Is Not Learning; It Is Remembering

Every village and every community throughout human history has relied upon people who can facilitate conversations, allowing sacred truths to be passed along generations. In a modern world gripped by a process of massive transformation, this vital, ancient work now falls to coaches.

That is the view of Bob Singha, a master coach who has spent 28 years helping people connect the day-to-day reality of their lives with the eternal teachings of their ancestral heritage. In conversation with Alex Swallow, Bob reflects on his evolution as a coach and as an elder, which he sees as a process of remembering rather than one of learning.

Across decades of work with young people around the world, facing lives blighted by trauma and violence, Bob has found that communities everywhere face similar problems, and that the solutions to them lie in the deep wisdom of our ancestral memories.

Using stories as medicine and as conveyors of wisdom, Bob helps people to remember something about themselves.

In this conversation, Bob and Alex acknowledge the call being sounded for coaches who don’t feel at home in the standard business models that commodify and separate us. They also illustrate the remarkable role coaches can play in connecting communities with the intelligence that gave birth to them.

In this episode, Bob and Alex also talk about:

  • How studying something as if you’re going to teach it leads to accelerated learning

  • Our connection with the sages, the rishis, the sadhus and fakirs who throughout history have integrated spiritual wisdom and worldly responsibilities

  • The power of the question: what are the whispers of your ancestors saying in this moment?

  • The relationship between the way we play games and the way we live our lives

  • A hilarious story that revealed to Bob at a young age the importance of language, and how we can use it to speak to both the temporary and the eternal.

For more information about Bob, visit https://www.bobsingha.com/

For more information about host Alex Swallow, visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexswallow/

Read more about The Coach's Journey at www.thecoachsjourney.com.

Music by My Good Man William: listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KmeQUcTbeE31uFynHQLQg

To support the Coach's Journey, visit www.patreon.com/thecoachsjourney and to join the Coach's Journey Community visit www.thecoachsjourney.com/community.

THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT THAT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN:

- Timothy Gallwey https://theinnergame.com/

- John Whitmore https://www.performanceconsultants.com/about-us/sir-john-whitmore/

- Tony Robbins https://www.tonyrobbins.com/

- Stephen Covey on interdependence https://challengingcoaching.co.uk/stephen-covey-interdependence-the-deeper-facts/

- Spark Inside https://www.sparkinside.org/

- The Coaching Inn https://thecoachinginn.podbean.com/

- It Takes A Village https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llpz6bADkZU

- Gladeana McMahon http://gladeanamcmahon.com/

- Anthony Eldridge Rogers https://uk.linkedin.com/in/anthonyeldridgerogers

BIOGRAPHY FROM BOB

Bob Singha is a master coach, programme designer, and pioneer of community-rooted leadership, with over 28 years of experience. He blends strategic leadership, lived experience, and relational depth to create transformational spaces that bridge evidence with ancestral wisdom.

Bob has designed and led innovative community coaching programmes, recognised as models of best practice by funders, government bodies, and grassroots partners. He is the founder of the Community Coaching Academy – an accredited pathway for those who want to coach not just individuals, but entire communities.

Bob’s work has been recognised by the Royal Society of Arts for groundbreaking work with young people, awarded by the Violent Crime Prevention Board for leading social change by pioneering the community coaching model, and recently commended by the Mayor of London for nurturing youth leadership.

Known for his impactful, human, and deeply relational approach, Bob’s work invites us to remember coaching not as a luxury product, but as a communal, transformational practice.

Stephen CreekComment