About.

My name is Keith Smith and I’ve been studying and practicing holistic health for a little over 4 years now. This journey began in the summer of 2020 when I made the difficult decision to retire from basketball at the age of 22.

My love for basketball began in Seattle where I grew up playing for the legendary Seattle Rotary Style AAU program. I then went on to win a state championship at the also legendary Rainier Beach High School where I got to play against some of the best talent in the nation (most of that talent residing in my own neighborhood). During my sophomore year of high school I tore my meniscus, and would go on to re-tear it 3 more times in the same knee before I graduated. With 4 surgeries under my belt I was still very fortunate to earn many scholarship offers and decided to attend the University of Oregon out of high school. I was a member of the 2016-17 Oregon team that made it to the Final Four, which is an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life. After my sophomore year at Oregon I transferred to Pepperdine University where I would graduate and unfortunately where I decided to hang it up.

When I first tore my knee a common theme I heard from doctors is “there’s not much we can do”. I tore my meniscus in a place where doctors told me it was impossible for it to heal on its own, so the most they could do was surgically cut out the torn part and put me through rehab. What was explained to me over and over was that my cartilage would wear away slowly but surely, and that I’d have to manage this injury for the rest of my career and life afterwards. Even with this feedback I still did everything I could to try and heal it. Injection therapies, unconventional mobility & strength programs, acupuncture, yoga, craniopathy, chiropractic alignment, I even went vegan for a stretch. You name it I tried it, but nothing seemed to relieve the pain I was going through. By the time I got to my senior year of college at Pepperdine, doctors and trainers didn’t understand how I was still playing because my cartilage had wore down to the point where I couldn’t bend my knee past 90 degrees most days. They told me my knee was in the condition of a 75 year old, and the path I was on I’d need a knee replacement someday. The only thing that was honestly getting me through was taking anti-inflammatory/pain killing drugs on a daily basis. And after almost 6 years of dealing with the injury I was no longer having fun with the game and could no longer endure the chronic pain I was experiencing.

Turns out the very season I decided to retire, the covid-19 pandemic began. For most people the lock down was terrible but for me it was actually exactly what I needed to process everything. The summer of 2020 a good friend introduced me to a holistic coach. I was hesitant at first, but after finally giving it a try I was sold. During my first coaching session my coach predicted what knee I’d injured and from our discussion my knee began to bend further than it had in years prior. What we talked about was some of the emotional trauma from my childhood that was connected to my knee injury, something I’d never considered. He guided me in how to release those emotional blockages, and from that moment forward I was a sponge. Curious about everything going on in my life, and feeling freer and freer after every call. The biggest thing I’ve taken away is learning how to give my pain purpose. Learning how to get to the root of my problems and get beyond them, and realizing I had the answers to those problems all along.

Four years later, holistic coaching has changed my life. My physical health is the best it’s ever been, I’m more self aware than ever, and feel free to be myself through unlearning who I thought I was. I don’t think I’d have experienced any of these breakthroughs without holistic coaching, especially in my mid-twenties. This coaching is what I needed a decade ago and didn’t have access to. The positive impact it’s had on my life is why I’m now a holistic coach. I am very grateful for all the adversity I went through which now allows me the opportunity to share these services with others.