"Healing can be seen as a process of becoming whole, integrated and balanced;  at peace with ourselves and our world.  It is essentially a natural process and all therapies and techniques that help it, aim to release this potential from within."

"One could say healing has three aspects: purification, making good again and transformation.  Purification is eradicating what should not be there.  Making good means mending, bringing back together that which should be together and strong.  Transformation shows that inherent in healing is the potential to bring about even better health and a better situation than before the problem."

Mary's Background

Before training in acupuncture, she studied Medicine at the University of Oxford, receiving a BA(Hons) MA in Physiological Sciences.  She studied Psychology for a further two years at Oxford, completing an MSc, by research, in Psychological Disorders.  She started teaching through giving tutorials for undergraduate students at Oxford. As a medical student, and later as a research assistant, she also followed interests in tropical medicine and health education in several African countries, and learnt much from the approach of traditional African medicine. 

She then went on to train in acupuncture at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in Reading, from 1997 – 2000, where she now teaches.  She is a member of the British Acupuncture Council and was one of the founding members of the Acupuncture in Childbirth Team, ACT Oxfordshire (acupuncture being very helpful during pregnancy, childbirth and the post-natal period).  In her clinical practice she treats a wide range of disorders, often including emotional issues and illnesses that are made worse by stress.

Always having been interested in cross-cultural sharing, she was originally drawn to acupuncture through studying Eastern philosophies.  This includes the lack of any ‘mind-body split’ and opens a way to treat ‘physical’ and ‘psychological’ problems together.  Health is seen as a state of natural harmony, within ourselves and in relation to our environment. The aim of acupuncture treatment is to restore this balance and harmony. 

A meditative body-based practice can also be very helpful in maintaining this equilibrium and overall health.  Mary's path led her through Tai Chi, Qi Gong and yoga to find kum nye in 2001, which she has practised and developed since then.  Kum nye yoga is Tibetan in origin and has its foundations in both Tibetan Buddhist and medical traditions. 

She is informed in all these practices by the teachings of the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, including Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, whose books she helps write and publish.  These teachings are the focus of many of the groups, events and retreats she helps organise.  

She would like to express her gratitude to the many teachers who have influenced her along the way.  They include: Dr. Pam McKinnon (Medicine), Prof Gordon Claridge, Dr Jane Mellanby (Psychology); Allegra Wint, Gaby Hock, Sandra Hill, Angie Hicks and, indirectly, JR Worsley (Acupuncture); Maarten Vermaase, Arnaud Maitland and, indirectly, Tarthang Tulku (Kum nye); Akong Rinpoche, Sonia Moriceau, Thrangu Rinpoche and Pema Chödrön (HH Dalai Lama, HH Karmapa, Chögyam Trungpa, indirectly) and Ringu Tulku Rinpoche (Dharma).

Mary Heneghan

BA(Hons), MA, MSc, Lic Ac, MBAcC

Member of the British Acupuncture Council