Greetings, Fellow Traveller. My name is Joseph Nutman, and I've been on a bit of a journey to arrive here and write this for you, as I am sure you have been on your own to get here reading it. That's part of the reason why I named this offering fellowtraveller.uk – because we are all wandering our own road in life, and sometimes our paths cross – often at times when we need help with directions.

I first realised I was a seeker on a journey whilst wandering the fields of Hertfordshire on summer breaks from school in my mid-teens, chatting with a couple of close friends about life and what we hoped for it. It was a time when I was excited by the work of the Beat poets I'd discovered in the library at school and the way they talked about living and spirituality – it was through them that the concept of meditation came to me. From that point onwards a sense of curiosity for expansive experience and learning was born – beginning with researching traditional Buddhist teachings as well as Nichiren Daishonen, Zen koans, and basic meditation techniques and chanting. Despite having an insightful few years seeking in this direction I found this wasn't to be my way of life, but it got me on the road and I still have a lot of respect and affection for Buddhism to this day.

Like many, I spent my late teens to late twenties seeking what I was looking for in an active social life, and on a personal level through my own creative exploits in music and playing in various bands. Meditation and spirituality was sporadic during my life at this time, though I kept adjacent to it through working at a few local New Age shops. The main focus here was breadth of experience of life – big conversations, late nights, dancing, and road trips; mimicking those poets I read about as a boy.

At the cusp of my thirties I realised my time as a social butterfly was not bringing me what I needed, and – what's more – it had taken a toll on my body. I was overweight, out of shape, unfit, and pre-diabetic – more a social caterpillar at this point! I decided it was time to sort out my vessel.

I turned to fitness and well-being with obsessive focus. I was too embarrassed to go to a gym; so I bought weights, running shoes, and books about exercise to teach myself how to get in shape in the living room of my flat. I can remember the first time I went for a run and getting to the end of the street (about 100 metres) and breaking down sobbing because I was in such bad shape.

I persevered and turned my body around to such a degree in the space of a year that my friends asked me how I did it. I showed them a little of what I'd learned, and it turned out I had a natural affinity for helping others, my friends got results. When one of them said that I should become a personal trainer it was a light bulb moment. I signed up for courses that would qualify me as a fitness coach. As soon as I qualified, I spent my first 6 months working as a trainer leading exercise in a mental health setting, helping mental health service users get their own well-being benefits from exercise – it was a challenging and highly rewarding way to cut one's teeth as a coach.

The fitness career route brought me back again to an interest in mindfulness, meditation, and mindset coaching through the work of Mark Devine, and Joe DeSena; whose teachings taught a mixture of stoicism, work ethic, visualisation techniques, and meditation practice. That played a big part in me forging a long career in the industry, and – against all odds – some amateur athletic success of my own, qualifying twice for the OCRWC (Obstacle Course Racing World Championships). I passed down my lessons in mindset and fitness training to help transform the lives of my client base; whether they happened to be podium athletes, first responders, or – more often than not – the average person looking to get a bit healthier.

It was hitting midlife just after the pandemic, at the peak of my fitness career as a premises owner with a burgeoning client base, that I realised there was something missing from my life – a deep sense of meaning and purpose. I realised that life as a fitness coach did not fit me any more, I'd peaked, and after much soul-searching decided to walk away from the industry in order to find a new path.

Meditation played an important part in grounding me in this turbulent time of transition, moving away from the likes of the warrior mindset meditations of my early thirties to go into deeper spiritual territory, exploring the work of many amazing teachers on the Insight Timer app. I also followed deeper creative impulses that led me to becoming a published and prize shortlisted poet, appearing in print multiple times and being offered the opportunity to release my first poetry collection with the Sunday Mornings at the River independent press (due out in 2027). This dovetailed with a period of deep inner work to heal old wounds and to know myself better; following the teachings of the likes of Robert Bly, C.G Jung, Joseph Campbell, Bill Plotkin, James Hillman, Robert A. Johnson, Robert Moore & Douglas Gillette, and Richard Rohr into new territory.

In 2023 I decided to combine my coaching experience with my meditation practice and become a meditation teacher, qualifying as a certified teacher with the British School of Meditation. Since then I have espoused the benefits of meditation far and wide in both one-to-one sessions, group work, and – most recently – online on Insight Timer.

Driven by the vision of creating a safe space in which to guide others to find their own deeper and more aligned way of living, I also studied and attained qualifications in Counselling in order to gain valuable skills to aid me in this. Having experienced the benefit of card reading as a means for self exploration and intuitive guidance over many years myself, I took my self-guided study in this area to the next level by becoming a certified card reader through the esteemed publisher Hay House through their in-depth course on the oracle and Tarot card reading.

My work on myself has helped me gain clarity of how best use my gifts and experience, and has led me to set up fellowtraveller.uk to endeavour to help others on their own journey through life by providing compassionate and insightful experiences through meditation, coaching, counsel, card reading, connection with nature, and creativity to support and enlighten in practical ways; and lay the way for the individual to empower and educate themselves on the road ahead.