I first became aware of the Dao while travelling through Asia with my first born, in my early twenties, when I discovered my own connection to the flow of the universal force. Anything that I needed for my baby would come — whether a sunhat or medicine — from what I can only describe as a feeling originating within my belly, a tingling sensation of aliveness, which I later discovered is the Lower Dan Tien, or 'Water Wheel'. At the time I was already a trained Yoga teacher, but this added an extra dimension: the cultivation of the cosmic flow within my own body.

I moved to Bliss Barn, Norfolk in 2019 — an old flint-and-brick barn from the 1600s that had once kept cows and, after that, carrots and local produce. There was no water or electrics when I first lived here. My next born arrived in the barn, and during the birth I had an awakening: I realised I wanted to practise Chinese Medicine, and to turn a part of the barn into a clinic.

By this point I had been fully integrating Taoist practices into my life for ten years, and decided to undertake a degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Five Element Acupuncture at The College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in Reading. The training took three and a half years, and now I hone it back home in Norfolk. The whole concept of lifestyle and balance had to be incorporated into a living, breathing eco clinic — in our gardens we produce and grow food, live frugally, and recycle everything.

Bien biao — the root and branches of health. This medicine hones at the root, and it can have profound effects on a person's mental and spiritual wellbeing when diagnosis is correct.