Yonten comes from a farming background in the mountains of rural Northern Ireland. As a sensitive child, he struggled with reading, writing and speaking but developed a deep fascination with religion and nature. He often spent hours walking alone in forests, around lakes, in the mountains and among the stone circles in his local landscape. 

His professional life began as a teacher and a social worker, but was cut short by serious illness in his late twenties. During this period, the heightened awareness he had experienced in childhood became stronger and more consistent making it difficult for him to navigate the everyday world.

During a long period of well-meaning intervention initially from his family and later from various medical clinicians, he received multiple, conflicting diagnostic labels including transient-like schizophrenia, complex trauma, social anxiety, dyslexia, neurodivergence and borderline personality disorder.

In 2008 without any clear indication of where his problems lay and with no real solutions to help him live sustainably he turned to Tibetan Buddhism. Opting for simplicity, he took and followed Buddhist precepts for five years. Upon completing this commitment he then encountered the older shamanic cultures of the world and began to learn from their welcoming representatives. 

A long and difficult period of mentorship and practice in these ancient traditions followed, alongside considerable consultation and support from with non-diagnostic mental health professionals. This work Yonten gained access to a holistic map of the Self - a map that recognised altered states of consciousness as signals of rapid inner growth rather than a problem to be fixed. Eventually his experiences became more gentle and manageable, transforming into a new and valuable set of skills he could put to use in his everyday life.

Yonten now offers classes, workshops and retreats for people interested in expanding their own awareness and experiencing altered states so that they can integrate insights gained  into their everyday life.

He still wanders off into nature alone with the full intention of getting lost to find something new and is rarely, if ever, disappointed.