Changes are afoot in my work. While my individual counselling practice is still thriving, I've been expanding into new areas. This also means letting go of some present activities - as of October I'll no longer be a weekly contributor to the Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life blog at counselling resource.com.

Here in Glasgow the main development is the opening of my Reiki practice, based at The Southside Therapy and Counselling Centre, the same place as my counselling practice. Reiki is a Japanese method of instigating healing using the universal life force Qi, which also forms the basis for Chinese medicine. I gained the first and second degrees of Reiki in the 1990s but only practiced informally during that time, with family, friends and friends of friends. The healing results started to become so marked, though, that I decided to put some effort into developing the potential further and became a Reiki Master in 2018. My approach draws explicitly on the Japanese Buddhist roots of the practice and I use chanting (at least if the person I am helping doesn't mind!).

The next development is the discovery/invention of the Creative Regeneration process. I've held workshops this year  in Glasgow and also at terrealuma, the healing refuge I am co-founding, and I'm now expanding those workshops into an online offering. Creative Regeneration is for anyone who feels the need, who's stressed, burned out, in any form of crisis or just wanting to feel more powerful and joyful. The process starts with meditation, drawing on Buddhist and Taoist understandings and practices to clear the mind and stir the energy. Moving into a body-sense of what's going on in your life (my take on Gendlin's focusing procedure), we then continue into free writing and finish with intuitive painting. At all stages, the intention is to set aside all inner and outer critics and judges and take part in the natural act of creation.

Working with this process has certainly led me to do much more visual artwork and I've also been developing singing and musical collaborations. It all comes into together with the birth of terrealuma - a wild and secluded place where people will be able to go to heal and regenerate, using wild herbs, and permaculture technologies to provide really nourishing food, in simple and beautiful living conditions which co-operate with nature as far as possible. In this environment creative regeneration hopefully can further extend and deepen its reach.

We're shortly going to embark on crowdfunding in order to fund an access road to get ourselves, volunteers, building materials and future guests into our remote, secluded land. The launch should coincide with our first music release, complete with video. There's a lot going on. Watch this space!