Sunset over a rocky Pacific coastline, white surf breaking beneath the cliffs

Eric Lanigan

You are going to die.

Are you doing what you want to do?

If not, and you want help, (I hate email).

Vibe Check Me

How I Meet You

You and I are ancient particles that got animated for a brief flash, dropped into the middle of a span of time so vast it doesn't really make sense.

You woke up in a specific body and family, at some random point in history. You didn't pick any of it, and you couldn't help but be shaped by it.

So, no judgment from me. The shitty things you do, the way you keep love out even when you want it - that's pain nobody ever helped you feel. You're a human.

I just want to drop in with you and feel through it, and help you make the whole thing worthwhile. This is the flash.

Sunlight breaking through a redwood grove onto the green forest floor

My Story

I am not a classically trained coach.
My training was stranger than that.
Here's how I got here.

I was day trading futures in 2008. I had recently finished a week-long retreat with Peter Senge. He was brilliant and caring - and, at the time, by far the happiest adult I'd ever encountered. He introduced me to meditation, which at first sounded like the dumbest possible thing anyone could do. Why would you sit still doing nothing? What a waste of time. Shortly after, my day trading mentor encouraged me to meditate so I could keep my cool and stick to my trading plan even when I was taking losses. So I went to a local group meditation.

A couple weeks later, I walked through a door into the windy, wet Pacific Northwest autumn and suddenly everything felt clear and lucid and alive. A moment of tremendous, unconditional joy. It lasted 30 seconds, and I spent the rest of the day wondering what happened. It felt 10x better than any successful trade, and had no apparent cause.

I quit trading four months later. I sold a small produce business to my business partner and spent the next two years following a breadcrumb trail through more than 30 multi-day personal growth trainings and meditation retreats.

A well-known woman I met on the path told me she found her life purpose through ayahuasca. I had never done a drug, other than alcohol, so that seemed like a good place to start. A few months later, I traveled to Ecuador with my mom and did an ayahuasca sit. And while that may have had an impact, it was someone I met there who really changed my life.

His name was Tim Mohr, and he became my longtime mentor. He was a German horse whisperer and a deeply committed meditator, living in northeastern British Columbia with his wife and two kids. You won't find him online. Before we met, he fasted for 40 days and regularly meditated for eight hours at a stretch. During my time with him, he showed me how to hold a non-demanding space, first for horses and then for humans - one where you don't have to perform, or be anything at all, to be loved. I had never been met like that. After horses he turned to storm sailing in the Northern Pacific as his meditation. Now he lives in the Peruvian Rainforest with his whole family - grandkids and all.

Tim in a ball cap holding the face of a grey mare whose eyes are closed as she leans into him.
Tim and Nayella - the horse I trained with.

I lived with Tim and his family for six months, and we've exchanged thousands of hours of calls and audio notes since. More than anything, Tim showed me what it was like to give freely from love. For all the time he spent with me, he never charged me anything, and that, no doubt, is why I gift so much of what I make into the world.

After those two years, I started coaching. The style that emerged was direct yet soft, and it's kept deepening - into emotions, into trauma, and eventually into the same wild aliveness that found me that autumn day.

For seven years, I ran a course called "The Big Shift," which taught people how to move from shoulds to wants by using their emotions as signals. It reached 1,200 people from 64 countries.

For most of the last fifteen years, I called myself an executive coach and found myself supporting people in strategic decision-making, negotiations, and leadership - helping them get what they wanted without losing themselves.

Then I ended my marriage. That story isn't only mine to tell, so I'll just tell you what it cost: I lost all the faith I had in myself, and I couldn't bring myself to coach. And in the middle of the deepest emotional pain of my life, I found that all of my pain was care. Every ache, felt all the way through, was my own love pointing at what mattered most to me. Seeing that let me reclaim it - all of it - as mine. I came back able to meet people at depths I couldn't have touched before, because I'd had to meet my own.

What I care most about now is having conversations that change lives - in sessions, and through Enjoy Existing, the book and tools I'm building for exactly this. A friend once joked that half the people I worked with quit their jobs to do what they wanted to do. I checked - it's about a third. A third of the people I've sat with have changed the shape of their lives after our conversations.

Reflections

Within five months, I was promoted to Head of All Accounts, which came with a 40% raise plus bonuses.

I've been involved with different self-improvement programs since I was 18, everything from Landmark Education, therapy, group therapy, 12-step, tons of self-improvement books, and other workshops. Eric's coaching experience is different and brings something completely new to my toolbox. He coached me in a way that showed me how to think and go about my day differently. By listening within, to my physical sensations and emotions, I'm now able to live my life in a clearer, more fulfilling way. I've always been focused on approval from others (i.e. boss, wife, friends, family) as well as money and prestige.
Anonymous - Lead Account Manager, Tech Startup

There's a whole new experience to living when you're able to set down all that is inauthentic to you.

Through Eric's course 'The Big Shift' and his coaching, I learned how to listen to my feelings as signals for what I wanted. It was transformative in cutting away all the confusion and distractions. Eric is brilliant at bringing your true self to the surface. He never pushed me in ways that made me uncomfortable, and he always asked probing questions that helped surface more of 'me' and what I truly cared about. There's a whole new experience to living when you're able to set down all that is inauthentic to you.
Ignaz Forstmeier - Co-Founder, Personio, Member at Founders Pledge

He pointed out that what I was really feeling was loneliness.

Before working with Eric I was always on the move, joining committees, volunteering - thinking it'd make me feel part of something bigger. But really, it just piled on more work. Most of it I did alone, with endless Zoom meetings. That's when I began to focus on projects that were actually fulfilling, where I could grow and feel more alive. I always had this issue with how people saw me. I felt misunderstood and didn't even know what I was aiming for.
Molly Larrison - Technical Writer, Engineering Education, Google

He is the best person to share your thoughts with and will challenge your way of thinking at every step, all while being patient and supportive.

I was at a very low point in my life when I found Eric. Lack of confidence and depression filled my life and I had concluded that things would stay this way. Through our work together I realigned myself by taking responsibility for my life and questioning my perceptions. He is the best person to share your thoughts with and will challenge your way of thinking at every step, all while being patient and supportive. I highly recommend coaching with Eric. It's his mission to make a world where people are freed to express themselves and their unique visions through action.
Abhijeet G - Aerospace Engineer, Entrepreneur

I've had specific tangible financial benefits from Eric's coaching.

I was reluctant and skeptical about coaching at first. After a few sessions with Eric it became clear that the time and investment were well spent, and I began seeing tangible results. His preparation for our sessions makes it valuable and productive. I've had specific tangible financial benefits from Eric's coaching. His help in preparing for negotiations with clients and employees, in which he helped me see perspective and positioning that I would not have seen otherwise, has resulted in demonstrably better results than I would have had without him.
Peter Cannistra - Principal, Way Forward Consulting

1 / 5

I work well with people who

  • can feel their emotions in their body
  • feel a calling and want to answer it more fully
  • slow down, not speed up, when they remember they're going to die
  • want to take their love and joy back from the carrots they've dangled for themselves - so they can enjoy existing now, whatever the circumstances

Can't feel much in your body yet? That's where I started too - this book will meet you there.

A dirt path winding through golden grass and oak trees

How this starts

Sessions are $150-500, sliding scale - the top is my old executive coaching rate. You pick what's right for you. I trust you, and I'd rather talk than have money be the reason we don't.

I'll text back as soon as I can to find a time to talk and see if we're a fit.

If not, I'll point you toward someone who might be. Either way, the call is free.

Questions are welcome too - texting me doesn't commit you to anything.

Outside the US? WhatsApp and Signal work from anywhere.