After walking on various terrains, exploring numerous opportunities, interacting with diverse disciplines, and orchestrating different industries, Rasik Chopra reached his destination and realized that life coaching was his calling. His story evolved at every turn. ‘I think I’ve been making up my story as I’ve gone along, step by step. I grew up in a family of doctors, and being a Punjabi, the conventional wisdom was that I should become a doctor too. I grew up hero-worshipping my father; I still do. I think he’s brilliant at what he does. He’s a lovely human being, one of the funniest and kindest people I know. Growing up with him as my father, I thought I wanted to be a doctor too. But really, I just wanted to be like him. By the time I was old enough to realize that, I was probably in Class 12. I’d already picked biology as a subject, as was common here back in the day. My parents and family were appalled because I had led them to believe something else for so many years. Eventually, we agreed that if I could get into a decent college in the US, they would let me go and explore other options, as long as I took all my pre-med classes along the way. Four years later, the madness persisted. I still wanted to do something different, so I did. I got into a good college, studied abroad, took all my pre-med classes, and studied business as well. During the summers, I interned at Wall Street banks. During the academic year, I worked in labs and volunteered at the hospital. I was living these divergent lives. When I finally graduated, I told my family: I did everything you asked. I love helping people, but I want to do something else.’
Rasik is presenting his very first public talk soon, and we connected with him to understand the challenges, learnings and discoveries he has made through his journey thus far, and the tools one needs to ‘break open the brilliance inside’.
Rasik, your experiences so far have been extremely intriguing as well as brave. When did the realization of knowing what you want to do set in?
There was a lot of confusion. A voice inside me knew what I wanted, but I was too scared to listen. I majored in biology and economics, minored in theatre and psychology. I was on the rowing team and in the theatre club. I did everything I could get my hands on. I think psychology eventually led me here—I was always curious about human behaviour. Theatre, too, was something I deeply loved. I loved being on stage, talking to people, generating energy, feeling theirs, and working one-on-one in a room. But my greatest joy came from being in front of a group and getting them on their feet. I’d walk up to one person and ask, “What’s the change you want to make?” They’d tell me, and we’d work on it for twenty minutes. It felt like a private conversation, but thirty, forty, maybe fifty people would be watching, and everyone was in it together. When that person realized what they wanted, or how simple it was to make a change they’d been resisting, the room lit up. That’s what drives me. I sensed it in college, though I hadn’t fully figured it out. What pushed me toward business, honestly, was fear. I didn’t know what I wanted, and the voice inside was too faint, too quiet. So, I chose the one path where I could at least support myself and be independent. I got a job on Wall Street. I did well for many years. Once I had saved enough and felt I could take time to explore, I quit. I moved back to India in 2011. For two years, I did everything I had always wanted to do. I tried stand-up comedy, directed a documentary for Viacom, hosted an international travel show, wrote a book and a play. I was still doing some investment banking work—mostly helping airlines raise money to buy aircrafts. That year was the craziest of my life, in the best way. I was shooting for NDTV in Australia, flying to Punjab for the documentary, then heading to Abu Dhabi to advise Kingfisher Airlines. Meanwhile, my play was being staged in Delhi, so I would come back for that too. It felt like a dream. I couldn’t believe I was living it. Eventually, I found my way to what I truly wanted to do. In 2015, I started a hospital called Rosewalk. Most of my role was operational—running the hospital, managing investors, planning funding for the next phase. But the part I looked forward to every day was one hour spent with different teams. Whether it was nursing, customer service, or doctors, I’d sit with them, understand what they were going through, and help them figure out how to be the people they wanted to be, so they could serve our patients the way we envisioned. When I left Rosewalk, I had a moment of clarity. I realized this is what I want to do. I sold the hospital. At the time, I hadn’t even heard of coaching. I just knew I wanted to work with people. I didn’t know if that meant training teams in a corporate setting or going back to school to get a PhD in Psychology. Around then, Kapil Dev’s NGO, Khushi, was going through a transition. I happened to know the board well. They knew I had just exited Rosewalk, and they asked me to step in as their CEO was leaving. I agreed to help for a few months. Then COVID hit, and the program shut down overnight. They had 30 schools across the country. They told me I couldn’t leave—they needed someone to reinvent the entire program. I ended up spending a year doing that. My life has felt like a long chain of discoveries and explorations. When I finally felt ready to step away from Khushi, I connected with a coach. I told her I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. We talked at length. At one point, she said, “I’m not supposed to say this, because coaching is about helping people come to their realizations. But if I don’t tell you that what I’m doing for you right now is exactly what you’re meant to do, I would be failing at my job.” That was it. At that moment, something clicked. The light bulb went off.
You had already finished your education and been a part of the corporate world when you realised you want to be a life coach. What was the transitional process like?
I did all the studying. I got certified as a life coach, a hypnotherapist, a neurolinguist. Ever since that conversation with the coach, I’ve been learning at full speed; constantly studying and growing. I’ve been able to integrate that knowledge into both my life and my practice. Most of the work I do now happens at the subconscious level. The people I work with are high achievers and high performers. It’s not that they don’t know what they want. In fact, very few people come to me saying, “I don’t know what to do.” Most of them say, “I know exactly what to do—I just don’t know how to get myself to do it.”
What has been your biggest learning, challenge, inspiration & discovery?
The big thing is that I grew up with a father who, even in the eighties, understood that medicine is not just about prescribing drugs or performing surgery. Back then, he was already bringing yoga practitioners into his medical practice. So, I grew up with a deeply holistic understanding of what it means to be well; physically, emotionally, and mentally. Without question, my biggest learning has been that we always know the answers deep down, but we’re often too afraid to see them. The real challenge was learning to listen to my own voice; to have the courage to hear it, and to follow through. The greatest inspiration through this journey has been my father. The greatest discovery has been myself.
And what surprised you the most?
What’s surprised me most is not just that I’ve been able to make these changes so quickly, but that I’ve managed to systemize the process and help others do the same. I don’t teach anything that’s just theoretical or from books. I’ve learned how to shift my state, my thoughts, and my feelings in real time. What continues to amaze me is how pliable and flexible the mind truly is. People often ask if I ever have bad days or moments when I feel low. And I tell them: of course I do. The difference now is that I know how to shift my state in minutes, not hours, days, or weeks.
“'Too often, people feel like they have to play the hand they’ve been dealt. They believe they are only as good as their circumstances or the abilities they’ve been given. But nearly everyone I’ve met is more than that.'”
What are the tools you give to people seeking answers?
Our minds naturally think in questions. The ones I hear most often are: Why am I stuck? Why can’t I get out of this situation? Why can’t I make the change I want? The first thing I say is this: your subconscious is incredibly creative, but it only responds to the questions you give it. If you ask, “Why am I stuck?” you’ll get an answer that reinforces that. But if you ask, “How can I be more powerful?” or “How can I feel more capable?” your mind will start working in that direction. Most people stay stuck because they’re asking the wrong questions. But once you start asking better ones, things begin to shift. In a relatively short span, I’ve done things that completely changed how I approach this work. While it might sound bold, there’s a saying: learn the rules, then break them. I did just that. I studied the tools, learned the frameworks, and understood what’s considered right or wrong. But I don’t follow rules blindly; I trust what I’ve learned through experience. I use my own life as stories and metaphors within my work. But, at the core of it, my work is about asking the right questions. Most people already have the answers; they just haven’t asked the right questions yet, which I help them do. Once they arrive at those answers, I help them turn insight into action, something they can live and embody.
What has been your biggest joy through life coaching?
To me, it's about being able to speak to people, share truths with them, help them see their truths, and witness that incredible moment when their faces light up as they realize they’re capable of more. That’s what joy means to me: anything that helps people move forward and get to where they want to be. When I was directing plays or films, or even working with teams to help them figure things out, I always saw that process as creative. I don’t see it as helping people, though I know that’s what it is. And I do enjoy helping people. That’s also why I think therapy was never the right path for me. Therapy, psychiatry, psychotherapy—they’re inherently about reducing how much sadness someone feels. They’re not about creating more joy. Even the medication is called an antidepressant. With all due respect to the many great therapists and psychiatrists I’ve known, although people with the best intentions, I’ve always felt that therapy isn’t the most effective way to help people achieve what they truly want. When I work with people, it feels more like a performance. Someone walks in and starts talking about their problem, and yes, I need to understand what’s going on. But once I do, I might suddenly ask, “What’s your favourite flavour of ice cream? Do you like it with nuts?” And they’ll look at me like I’m mad. But my job is to break them out of the mental campaign they’re stuck in. We rehearse who they want to be. We stand on tables, we shout, jump, scream, and sing. We whine. I’ll actually have them pretend to be a baby and say the thing they’re struggling with in a whining baby voice. We explore how they say these things to themselves. Then we say it again, but in a different voice, in an empowered voice, in a different posture, in a different state.
For me, it feels like I’m on stage performing with someone. It feels like I’m activating them. I’m building something with them. The problem is, most people are stuck in the same old patterns, creating the same old life, not realizing they could be doing more of what they want. Too often, people feel like they have to play the hand they’ve been dealt. They believe they are only as good as their circumstances, or the abilities they’ve been given. But nearly everyone I’ve met is more than that. You are the person you choose to be. My job is to disrupt that mental script; to shake it up. Because no matter what you think you’ve been given or where you started, the truth is always this: you can have more, and you can do more.
Words Shruti Kapur Malhotra
11.07.2025