Author, Lecturer and Therapist
I love helping people discover the beauty within them and connect to the beauty around them.
I believe we are not defined by how we look, where we live or the work we do and that in our essence we are without limitation.
Core Values
Expressing love for Life in all I do
Striving to be present
Endeavouring to always witness the essential unity of creation
Waking each day with the knowledge that I am not the same person who went to sleep the night before
- Favourite Painting – Black Square by Malevich
- Favourite Plant – Waterlily
- Favourite Mushroom – Reishi
- Favourite Food – Chinese vegetarian (especially with lots of mushrooms!)
- Hobbies – Cooking for others, travelling, drinking tea
Travelling extensively and working in Asia after studying biochemistry at university was a wonderful opportunity to experience different cultures and witness that people everywhere are essentially the same, regardless of their different appearances, cultures and ways of life.
Inspired I subsequently went on to study Chinese language and then to train in Chinese medicine, initially in London and later in Taipei and Shanghai. The harmony of the body that is the goal of Chinese medicine also mirroring and complementing the awe-inspiring beauty and balance of the body’s biochemistry with its myriad intricately regulated metabolic pathways.
Mushrooms first came into my life in the early 90’s while studying QiGong in Taipei when a friend asked me to help with his mushroom business, editing the English translations of their literature. Based on the knowledge gained doing this I then began using mushroom supplements more in my clinical practice on returning to the UK. Later, after setting up Pure Health Ltd in 1997 I was approached to distribute a range of mushroom supplements in the UK and before long was being asked to teach other practitioners about their health benefits.
However, as my experience grew so did my questions and through researching the answers I ended up writing my first book: Medicinal Mushrooms – A Clinical Guide. This was followed in 2013 by Medicinal Mushrooms – The Essential Guide while the need for mushroom supplements I could rely on for my patients led to the founding of MycoNutri Ltd in 2008. With the manufacture of products came the need to fully understand the different mushroom raw materials as well as their supply chains and this led to multiple visits to growers and manufacturers in China as well as growers in the USA.
Having now stepped back from the commercial side of the mushroom industry I currently focus more on exploring the huge potential of mushrooms to uplift and benefit us all in partnership with fellow enthusiasts and to share their inspiring stories and create a channel for communicating their knowledge in 2020 helped launch The Mushroom magazine with the motto ‘Connecting, Sharing, Nourishing’.
Cancer support being the main area in which mushrooms are used therapeutically means that many of those who have contacted me over the years have been struggling with death in one way or another and so in 2020 I also published a small booklet ‘Waves on the Ocean’ to offer another way for those in this position as well as others to think about life and death.
Caught up in being a wave we forget we are all part of the Ocean
Books
Waves On The Ocean
Waves on the Ocean was created by Martin Powell in order [...]
Medicinal Mushrooms – A Clinical Guide
Updated and expanded second edition of the leading reference [...]
Medicinal Mushrooms – An Essential Guide
Medicinal Mushrooms - The Essential Guide is a highly [...]
The Mushroom Magazine
Issue 4
Issue 1
Issue 2
Issu
Issue 3
Media
As well as working as a practitioner of Chinese medicine over the years I have worked as a consultant to a number of companies in the natural product industry, including:
- East West Herbs Ltd
- Sen Medicine Company Ltd
- China’s State Traditional Herbal Medicine Corporation
I have also been involved in creating:
Founded in 2010 to give practitioners and interested individuals access to reliable information about medicinal mushrooms and their health benefits Mycology Press is an independent publisher of mushroom books and other publications including The Mushroom magazine.
The Mushroom magazine provides all those interested in mushrooms from artists to herbalists, ecologists to engineers a round-up of the latest research together with inspiring articles, interviews and features in a beautifully presented biannual print and digital publication.
After initially using supplements made with 100% mycelial biomass I later realised that in most cases these had low levels of key main active components and in 2008 created the MycoNutri range of extract-based mushroom supplements for enhanced clinical efficacy.
Pure Mushrooms Inc. was set up in 2019 in order to supply fine mushroom raw materials to customers in the USA. It also coordinates manufacture of MycoNutri products in the USA with sales via its website www.puremushrooms.com and through distributor Acurea USA.
Nature’s Grace is a range of mushroom nutrition and adjunct products put together with Dr Kate James (www.drkatejames.co.uk) for the patients in her integrative medical clinic. A number of these products are now available online through www.naturesgrace.store.
