I was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. My time at school was hard with years of bullying, loneliness and anxiety. Although you wouldn't know it, because I was great at keeping it to myself.

Perhaps it was the bullying, or maybe my dharma or karma :-) but I’ve been into ‘spiritual stuff’ for as long as I can remember. As a child I found reading difficult and the first book I actually enjoyed reading was the spiritual classic - Awareness by Anthony De Mello. This got me hooked and I've been studying 'the mind' and 'the Self' ever since.

I've always had a passion for helping others. Initially, this was probably because when I was helpful, the kids at school didn't bully me. As I got older, and healed my own early-life traumas, my intentions behind why I do this work have changed, but what remains is my continued desire to make a positive difference.

My university degree was in International Management, which allowed me to study a year in Australia. Within two years of graduating, I started searching for more meaningful work and came across Life Coaching. I then trained in other modalities, left my consulting job, and started full-time in this field in my mid-twenties.

Some people tried to talk me out of doing this work. I was told I was 'too young to do this kind of work', or 'I'd worked so hard to become a consultant, why throw it all away?'. However, the universe gave me a big push one day when the contract for my consulting job was up for renewal. I was given until the end of the day to sign it, or not return the next day. Well, I didn't sign it and in 2025, I'm celebrating 20 years of doing the work I love.

In 2005, I self-published my first book, New Beginnings. Soon after, I was invited to work as ‘the mind guy’ on health detox retreats in Spain; where ‘Mind Detox’ was born.

I worked with the 'detoxers' on the possible mind-based causes of their health conditions or life problems. Time after time, in session after session, we would find a 'root cause event', then explore why it had been a problem for them, and spend the rest of the session getting peace with the past event(s). Amazingly, we would often see chronic health conditions clear up, along with their life circumstances improve, too.

Mind Detox quickly became known internationally after I was a therapist on three TV documentaries - showing people with health conditions going through the detox retreats and having great improvements.

For the next few years, I ran residential retreatsin the UK, Turkey, and Thailand, and started teaching Mind Detox Practitioner courses in different countries, including: UK, Turkey, Norway, Canada, USA, Mexico, and Australia.

After travelling extensively - living out of a suitcase for years - I moved my clinic and academy courses online, and in 2016, I opened the ‘virtual doors’ of my Calm Clan community.

In 2008 I trained as a Meditation Teacher.

During my training, I meditated day and night for six months - sometimes up to 16 hours per day. I also took vows of commitment to the spiritual path and 'guru'. I ended up being a 'monk' for fourteen years.

For the final five years that I was involved, I lived in the 'spiritual community' up a mountain in Spain… Until it turned very culty and I got out in 2021.

My cult wasn’t your typical ‘kool-aid sex scandal financial extortion’ kind of cult. It was more like your ‘love and light new age spiritual enlightenment let’s pretend we are all one big happy family (until anyone dares to question anything or leave) while being abused, controlled and gaslit by the guru’ kind of cult.

They say 'nobody joins a cult, they join something good', and that was true for me. I gained a lot from 'the teaching', I loved being part of a group of like-minded people, and the mission was aligned with my values - 'bringing more peace to the world'.

In the last year or so, I went from being blinded by the love and light in my ‘spiritual community’, to doing mental gymnastics to explain away all of the shady sh*t I started seeing, to trying to change it from the inside, until I realised that the guru wanted things this way and was never going to change. Things came to a head when I found out about physical abuse that had gone on, and I got out - along with my wife and over 200 other 'monks' that had been involved.

Once I saw what was really going on, and after spending the last years in an intense healing journey, I want to raise awareness and help others to steer clear of all kinds of toxic spirituality, cultish scenarios, and abusive relationships.

In the spirit of turning lemons into lemonade, these days I'm an advocate for non-toxic spirituality and engaging all forms of self-help, therapy, meditation and spirituality in healthy and empowering ways.

The complete list of my published books: New Beginnings, Wisdom Without Waffle, and Peace for Life (Self-Published), Life Detox and Life-Changing Weight Loss (Piatkus Little, Brown), Heal the Hidden Cause, Thunk (Findhorn Press), Mind Calm, Body Calm, Calm Cure (Hay House Publishing), and Mind Detox (Inner Traditions). I'm currently working on my 13th book, which is inspired by my time in the cult - highlighting what happens when love and light turns dark - and sharing 'refreshingly honest spiritual discovery'.

The Mind Detox method was 'where it all began' for me creating techniques. After being a Meditation Teacher for a few years, I wanted to offer a more modern-way to meditate (with no jargon, strict sitting positions, culty rituals etc.) and so I created Mind Calm in 2012.

Due to my background in the mind-body connection and after researching the healing benefits of meditation, I created Body Calm in 2015. Followed by Calm Cure in 2017, which isn't a meditation technique, but instead, a method for calming our conditioned conflict and applying my 'peace with' philosophy to all aspects of life.

In 2024 I started sharing Soul Calm, which includes two fully Sanskrit meditations for Healing and Knowing Thyself. Collectively, all of my techniques are known as Calmology.

I love how time disappears and I learn so much when working with my clients. Even if I've got a lot on, or I'm feeling a bit tired that day, when I'm working with someone... 'they are the only thing that matters' at that moment, and it feels like I get plugged into something greater than 'me'. In these moment, I learn too because intuitions and new ideas come to me that can either help my client, or myself, or that I can share in my next book, course or community meeting. As long as I am willing to keep learning, it's self-sustaining.

I've done hundreds upon hundreds of client sessions, however, when I'm working with someone to discover their unconscious causes, I still find it fascinating, energising, and sometimes even enlightening!

I love listening beyond the words... By this, I mean that when I'm working with someone, they are often sharing what's going on for them, but I'm 'hearing' what they are not saying i.e. the underlying causes, unresolved stuff or unhealthy beliefs etc. that need to 'be in play' for them to have their current problem. I've been told that this is a gift of mine, and so it's great to be able to use a gift to help others.

I also love creating a safe and trusting 'space' for people to be honest and talk about whatever they need to. I'm often told that they've never told anyone else what they are telling me, and it feels like a real privilege to be 'that person' for someone.

I love hearing from my clients that something we've worked on, which in some cases has been a problem for decades, is resolved and no longer an issue. I love hearing that people I've worked with are connecting more deeply with their loved ones, are free of a health issue, or are feeling more confident, resilient or at peace. For example, last week, a client couldn't sleep and was super anxious about a family event that was coming up. We had a session about it, and she reported back the next day that she'd had 'the best nights sleep ever' and then really enjoyed the event.

I love qualifying others in my Calmology techniques, and knowing that someone somewhere (that I don't even know) is benefiting from my techniques and from working with someone I've trained. I also love hearing the feedback that my graduates get from their happy clients. I only have so many hours in the day, so the ability to make a difference to people's lives that I may never meet, is priceless and a big reason why I started training others in my methods.

I love making sense of 'the mind' and diving into deep spiritual ideas and possibilities. I would do this work for free (and often do if people genuinely can't afford it), and for me, that's a big sign that I'm 'on purpose' and doing what I'm here to do.

P.S. If what I've shared here resonates with you, then check out my Calmologist, Mind Calm Coach or Mind Detox Practitioner courses.