You can either be in love or a riot.” This line has stuck with life coach Rasik Chopra since primary school. Chopra, with his life choices, has simply said yes to love. Born and raised in a family of doctors, the 47-year-old has navigated through life on his own terms. From working as an investment banker in the US to hosting his own TV show and giving stand-up comedy a shot, he is now a life coach. A man of many talents, Chopra wears them easy.
“As a young adult, it took me some time to gather the courage to tell my family I wasn’t interested in medicine. Then I worked as an investment banker and made decent money. It was a safe choice. It was almost after a decade of living abroad that I began to pursue dreams I held in my heart. I feel people who loved me could see that I wanted to experiment and not stick to conventional career choices,” says Chopra.
But switching careers didn’t come easy. Chopra believes that starting something from scratch and committing to it full-time takes hard work and resilience. Again, the decision to become a life coach didn’t happen overnight. Chopra spent a decade in therapy, and that’s where he realised the importance of mental healing
“I have spent years in therapy. There’s always this sense of urgency in the room. A therapist would give you an allocated time, and you’d be expected to think, process, and open up accordingly. At the end of the session, you could be feeling a barrage of emotions. You could be crying, feeling miserable, but you’re expected to stop right there. They might have the best of intentions, but that’s the structure of their industry. So, they say, Time’s up!” Chopra recalls.
Chopra’s process of easing people into a conversation is not mechanical. Unlike conventional therapy, his sessions don’t have a set pattern. The sessions with his clients can go as long as three hours. “I have clients who live overseas. The time zones are completely different. If I give them a formula-based solution, it won’t help. I want them to feel heard. It can’t be based on an algorithm. At the end of the day, my goal is to take people where they need to get to,” he adds.
The roots of the importance of wellbeing go back to Chopra’s childhood. His father, a doctor, had the wisdom to look beyond allopathy for ‘complete healing.’
“Wellness is a common term these days, but it was not the same in the eighties. My father was one of the first doctors who brought yoga practitioners for hospital visits. His idea was that healing is more than taking medicine. I grew up seeing him,” Chopra says.
When Chopra encountered health problems, he was able to tackle them without using traditional health practices. And it was a book by Dr John Sarno, Professor of Clinical Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University, that helped him understand the power of the human mind. “I’ve learnt how as human beings we are capable of so much more. People come to me complaining of the intensity of pain they’re feeling. Using the methods that I’ve learnt over the years, I try to shift their focus, and they feel the intensity of pain has gone down. I just try to make them understand how it can’t be a permanent fix, but it will help them cope better,” he says.
Chopra says mental health in India needs serious conversations. According to the Ministry of Family Welfare and Health 2025 report, 70 per cent to 92 per cent of people with mental health issues do not receive proper treatment due to lack of awareness, stigma, and shortage of professionals. The Indian Journal of Psychiatry says that India has 0.75 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, whereas the WHO recommends at least 3 per 100,000.
Chopra believes the reason behind the lack of mental wellbeing awareness is not just the shortage of therapists but also the approach of psychotherapy. He stresses it has a fundamental flaw. “The prescription medicine is called anti-depressant and not pro-happy. That’s where the problem starts. I feel therapy can help reduce the symptoms if you have been diagnosed with ADHD, PTSD, schizophrenia or bipolarity. I don’t believe therapy is good at creating a meaningful positive outlook. It isn’t structured like that. They don’t have the tools,” he says.
Chopra’s method of coaching his clients is more about adding moments of joy rather than focusing only on reducing pain. “To me it is simply health, not mental health,” he adds. What is happiness? Watching the sunset, eating a bowl of pasta, owning a bungalow in Malibu or getting a chiselled body? It is different things to different people. For Chopra, it is about ‘meeting your balance’ and making his clients meet theirs.