Stephen Russell: The Barefoot Doctor

Stephen Russell, also known as the Barefoot Doctor, is a practitioner and teacher of Taoism, its medicine, philosophy, meditation practices and martial arts and “magic” system, or wu wei.

Russell’s training comprised studying Aikido at 11, a Japanese martial art relying on the practitioner using the opponent’s strength against them without having to use their own. He also learned to meditate and do basic energy healing as part of the training. In his teens he switched to studying Tai Chi, one of the three Taoist ‘internal martial arts’, so called because they rely on following a set of internal principles while in the midst of movement or action. In his early twenties, he studied human consciousness with psychiatrist R D Laing for three years.

In 1979 he lived for four years with the Taos tribe in New Mexico, where he studied shamanism. During this time, he also trained in the two other Taoist internal martial arts, Hsing I and Pa Kua, as well as Taoist meditation and acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion and massage techniques.

He returned to London in 1983 where he set up and ran an acupuncture practice for 17 years, as well as facilitating self-help workshops based on using all these techniques as a self-help system. He also ran a series of music-based events he developed to raise consciousness in a group setting. These were originally called Drum-Offs as they relied on each audience member bringing a percussion instrument. He also taught baby massage with obstetrician Yehudi Gordon for five years during this time. Additionally he released two albums of relaxation music with Polygram International in 1986 and 1987, called First Orbit and Sundancer respectively.

Russell ran his own private healing practice until 2001. From 2001 until 2003 he created and sold a range of fragrant body products. These were called Barefoot Doctor’s Chi/Qi and Barefoot Doctor’s Damn Sexy which was on sale at 360 Boots branches across the UK as well as Bon Marche in Paris, Henry Bendell on 5th Avenue in New York and at Fred Siegel in LA

He has written twelve books, including Barefoot Doctor’s Handbook for the Urban Warrior, A Spiritual Survival Guide and Pure: A Path to Peace, Power and Prosperity, as well as numerous spoken word CDs and DVDs including Meditate and Tai Chi Short Form. Russell was a weekly columnist for The Observer^[2] for five years.

Alan Davidson is the founder of ThroughYourBody.com and the author Body Brilliance: Mastering Your Five Vital Intelligences, the #1 bestselling Health & Wellness book and winner of two National Book-of-the-Year awards.

Alan is also the author of the Free report “Body Breakthroughs for Life Breakthroughs: How to Peak Your Physical, Emotional, Mental, Moral, and Spiritual IQs for a Sensational Life” available at www.throughyourbody.com

Love Your Way,

www.ThroughYourBody.com

1103 Peveto St.
Houston, TX 77019
713-942-0923