James Powell

At the age of 16 I read 'Heroes' by John Pilger, and as a consequence for a number of years afterwards took a keen academic interest in studying the causes of - and possible solutions to - conflict. By 2002 my interest had shifted from studying and resolving conflict in the exte al world to identifying and resolving conflicts in the inner world, particularly in my own troubled realms.

Consequently, I spent the next two years being intensively self-reflective, while simultaneously learning and reading about different 'cosmologies' - most notably those of Don Beck, Jiddu Krishnamurti and Ken Wilber. As useful as these investigations were, though, I felt I needed to move beyond the intellect, so as to also address the other aspects of my psyche - none more so than my emotions. As a result, since early 2005 I have consciously dedicated every day of my life to both attaining professional competency and mastery in Energy Medicine - a set of procedures that facilitate inner awareness and transformation - as well as to my own personal growth. The intention behind these pursuits has been, ultimately, both the achievement of self-mastery and the acquisition of tools and wisdom with which to serve others. I have been able to reach a high level of expertise in Energy Medicine particularly as a result of enrolment in The Four Winds Society's Healing the Light Body School - a two-year, intensive Shamanic Practitioner training program, from which I graduated in August 2006. My knowledge and skills have also been greatly nurtured by working with Medicine Men and Women in the Altai Republic, Ecuador, Peru and the Philippines.

Alongside these pursuits, in September 2007 I completed, after five years of study, a D.Phil. in Modern History at the University of Oxford. This doctoral degree was awarded for a hundred thousand-word thesis, "The Migration of Ideas: Irish America & the Irish Cultural Renaissance, 1891-1916", based largely upon eight months of archival research conducted in thirteen locations across the continental United States, as well as on several weeks of research in Dublin. I have thus also developed the ability to professionally acquire and communicate knowledge, which I have now chosen to do from within the emergent field of Energy Medicine - as well as in the wider arenas of Health and Personal Growth.