About Kokoro

I learned a long time ago that I do not have an interest in social media. I have no interest in being a YouTuber. I am drawn to humility and not needing attention so I will not do Ted Talks. I might make money from that but I am free of the need for money or fame. I just want a good life. I am a simple coach and teacher and I am drawn to this for one reason.

Everybody hurts in some way. Everybody (or at least the people I seek, are challenged). I do what I do to lift suffering and to free people from the BS that life can force them to become. This can mean carrying extra weight and all that goes with it and it also can mean something bigger. Keeping people from falling into mental illness like anxiety or depression and all the impact that has on those people and everyone who loves them.

I spent a very concentrated time of my life visiting people in hospitals, psych units and going to funerals. I was the life line in a few cases since I spent hours with them in the hospitals. I watched people suffer. I was an empathetic person before that, but now I am changed.

Our current mental health mentality is a break then fix mentality. I want to provide a framework we have a way to stay in the light. We can stop causing ourselves harm based on self-worth, health, purpose and just having someone to be with as you try to move forward.

I did not come about this interest in self-development, health, mental and amotional wellness and coaching by luck but rather misfortune. In my life, I have had my share of struggles. I grew up poor with no role models, so I taught myself everything and then started learning how to change, learn and grow. I have had my issues with things that pull people from their goodness. I understand. I had this and I have created myself and have had times I never should have experienced or have the love of the people I do.

An awareness of human suffering and a desire for freedom for all people from the things that reduce lives and create a downward cycle are what is at the core of what I am. Since hurt people hurt people and people who feel good do good, I focus on what I can do.

Stemming from ownership of a fitness studio, I had great success helping people achieve goals. Unfortunately, many times, we would see the same person who was successful, revert back to prior behaviors but with more depression over what they lost. Resilliency fades and they lose the hope they had of being free and feeling better. Then they are more negative then when they first worked with me.

I felt I needed to understand the mechanisms people experience with change. My skillset was lacking so I went to schol for psychology and kept seeing articles in my fitness world about coaching. So I attended training and certified. Once I realized that this new profession of health and wellness coaching could help me address the sustainable behaviors and mindsets people needed to have inorder to maintain healthy lives, I was set. I had tools.

I spent my time coaching rather than personal training and over that time witnessed a process that people would need to move through before they achieved new thinking and freedom from prior burdens. Since coaching is about the client finding their path and not being told what to do by the coach, I saw clients stuck at the same obstacles for prolonged periods of time. I asked, what if they were able to address these challenges in a positive psychlogy way using tools and approaches to grow stronger before they seek to achieve their goals. So, with this in mind, I wrote Foundations.

I am not an entrepreneur and Kokoro is not how I earn a living. It is a sideline that I use to experience and give what I can by walking with people in their lives and as a result, I feel the deep connection to others. Ultimately it is rewarding to be with others as they walk on their journey. I am humbled by this and it is my honor.

My credentials in health, fitness, coaching, martial arts, and fitness.

  • Gym owner, chief trainer, speaker, mental fitness instructor.

  • ACSM - Certified Personal Trainer

  • ACSM - Exercise is Medicine Credentialed

  • Wellcoaches - Certified Health Coach

  • Wellcoaches - Certified Wellness Coach

  • ACLM - Lifestyle Medicine

  • Exercise Etc - Senior Fitness Specialist

  • WELCOA – Seven Benchmarks of Workplace Wellness

  • ACE – Behavior Modification Specialist

  • ACE - Fitness Management Certification

  • Shotokan Karate Blackbelt

  • MMA Focused Kickboxing Coach

  • ALICE - Active Shooter for Business

  • SAFE - Situational Awareness For Everyone - Teacher

  • Six Sigma Lean Yellow Belt

  • Working on authoring a book

Ken Silva - Kokoro Coach and Teacher