The idea of nourishing the human spirit in order to uncover more meaning in one’s life is one that many aspire to, however it is often not until some tragic event occurs or someone’s life completely unravels, that they are compelled to act. Even seemingly successful people who appear to have it all figured out can often feel a lack of true fulfillment in their day-to-day existence. Many such people are increasingly drawn to the practice of hiring a mentor or a life coach to help gain more clarity and peace of mind, and to travel a more authentic path. Former DJ, Christopher Dines is an author and mindfulness coach who has been helping people in this way for sixteen years.
Life is unpredictable and challenges present themselves in abundance. There are times when such challenges result in so much stress that people turn to destructive habits which become a major hurdle in their journey to success. For instance, a beautiful relationship can be ruined due to alcohol addiction, or a person in a business can become bankrupt due to unreasonable desires. When people experience bad times, they should know that there is often a solution at hand. Christopher Dines also succumbed to alcohol and drug addiction which almost destroyed his DJ’ing career, but he got professional help and sobered up over 17 years ago.
Christopher Dines was born in London, England. He is mixed-race, of Anglo-Irish and Kenyan heritage. The British author and former house DJ left high school at the age of fifteen to work in the dance music industry.
After leaving high school in 1999, Dines DJ’ed on London’s 103.6 Flex FM and secured gigs in the West End of London. He also promoted two British national pop bands, The Genius Cru and DJ Deekline. He was DJ’ing every weekend and networking with record labels and nightclub owners during the weekdays. Dines DJ’ed at Garage City at Bar Rumba, City Loud at Turnmills, Club Axis in Malta, Hippodrome, Ministry of Sound, and hundreds of parties in London. Unfortunately, he got accustomed to using drugs and drinking heavily during his career. The party lifestyle and untreated drug addiction caused him a great deal of personal and professional problems, leading him to become a full-blown cocaine and alcoholic in his late teens. After having his stomach pumped twice and narrowly missing death on several occasions, Christopher refrained from using drugs and alcohol at the age of 21 in August 2004. He took a three month break from DJ’ing in September 2004 and started DJ’ing again at the Mint Bar in Koh Samui in January 2005. It was his first DJ gig sober which relaunched his career in Western Europe and Asia. Dines DJ’ed at Defected in the House at Pacha, London Fashion Week, Q-Bar in Bangkok, and toured Hong Kong twice that same year and visited Los Angeles for the first time to network in the underground deep house scene. He visited Marques Wyatt’s party, Deep, in Hollywood in 2005, and returned to London with fresh ideas. Dines then co-founded a deep house record label, SuCasa Beats, in 2005.
He retired from the music industry in 2006 and started working as a mindfulness teacher. Christopher wanted to help other drug addicts and alcoholics have a chance at long-term recovery. He has published eight books and has facilitated self-compassion workshops throughout England and America. His most recent publication Super Self-Care has been translated into Vietnamese.
