Austin's Biography

My path is long and varied but it seems to have always been leading me to the practice of meditation, reflection, Chinese medicine and acupuncture.

I was born in London in the 60s, my father a stunt man and my mother a writer. My father was frequently working in Spain at the time and my mother could write from anywhere, so at the age of 3 weeks I was placed lovingly in a wicker bag and flown to Dénia. I spent the next few years in Spain having, by all accounts, a wonderful time. We returned to London when I was 5 and since then I have been exploring varied paths. I started school in Shepherd's Bush until my mother decided that I was too easily influenced by the boisterous nature of city life. So we moved to the country and I was packed off to various boarding schools and private schools, culminating in a brief spell at Marlborough and then Hull.

The first few years of my working life were spent as a freelance camera assistant working on feature films, television and commercials. I then decided that I wanted to relax a little and experience different cultures so I travelled around Europe for a few years working here and there doing anything and everything, that I did not consider immoral, to pay my way. I met many interesting and colourful characters and thus my path to self-reflection and ultimately Chinese medicine first started to became apparent.

On returning to England in the mid 80s I developed an interest in technology and the burgeoning market in personal computing. I thought the power of technology was going to imminently revolutionise the world and abolish hunger and cruelty [I was still young and idealistic]. I quickly discovered a talent for writing computer code and made a small living programming and writing for computer magazines.

At some point I forgot to follow my own path and became seduced by the corporate glitz of technology and security; I was fooled by the notion that I wanted fast cars and expensive shiny toys [strangely, I am still enchanted by shiny new toys]. I developed a career working for corporate organisations as an engineer in the field of communications and closed circuit television; this led to me becoming a project manager working on complex contracts.

My hippy roots never really faded, I again wanted to explore ways of living a more satisfying life, and as fate would have it, I stumbled upon a path to the holistic community at Atsitsa Bay on the Greek island of Skyros [www.skyros.com]. Here I took some respite, rediscovered the spirit of life and realised that I needed change to nourish my soul. I met many inspiring people on Skyros, not just teachers and practitioners but the staff and residents who projected a harmonious world attitude and understood that there has to be give and take in roughly equal balance [Yin and Yang]. I met my life partner on the island and we are now exploring together on similar paths.

I decided to start a new career as an antiques dealer while I considered my values and took stock. At about this time I experienced health issues that brought me into intensive contact with the NHS and the certitude of Western medicine. Through research and general philosophical interest I discovered classical Chinese medicine and acupuncture. I ended up studying full time for a science degree in acupuncture at Lincoln University and was pleased to graduate with first class honours. I no longer trade in antiques and I work full time as a practitioner and lifelong student of Chinese medicine.

My path is clearer now; the practice of traditional Chinese medicine affords me rich personal growth, this along with the pleasure of seeing peoples’ well-being improved and often transformed by the practice of Chinese medicine makes me think that I will stay on this path, perhaps exploring the odd tributary here and there.