About

About Kit Christina Keawwantha

I have always felt close to nature and was inspired from a young age to want to work towards conservation and environmentalism. So, at 17 years old, I left home and went to Aberdeen University to study, Zoology (Marine & Fisheries Biology). However, after studying for 4 years in the biological sciences, I realised that something fundamental was missing from the scientific approach. The mechanistic framework within which our modern, western scientific framework has evolved was keeping us separated from nature, and from ourselves. We already knew that our modern approach to living in the world was causing untold damage, to our environment and to our selves.

However, no matter what new scientific data was brought to light, society seemed unable to take meaningful action. I knew that more science was definitely not the answer, but I had no idea what the real answer might be.

So after graduating in 2001, I travelled to Asia in search of something different. I began my journey in South Korea, studying Qi Gong, the I-Ching, Daoism and meditation with local martial arts masters and teachers. This was where I started learning about the subtle energies of life and how to harness them and come into flow with them. From my friends and colleagues, I also began learning about traditional Asian approaches to nutrition, and the importance of eating in harmony with the seasons (as well as how to make kimchi!).

After 1 year in South Korea, I moved to Chengdu, China to further my studies in classical Chinese medical philosophy, herbalism, qi gong, and Daoist philosophy and meditation. Then, fate stepped in and in 2003, I found myself volunteering at The Tibetan Medical School, sponsored by Rokpa International, in Jyekundo, eastern Tibet. This opened the door to a magical, life-changing year of travel and study across the Tibetan plateau, learning about the profound effects of compassion, meditation and meditative prayer in personal and collective healing. During my year in Tibet, I was invited to observe the profoundly beautiful ritual of a sky burial, to visit remote monasteries and sacred sites, travel on horseback with nomadic yak herders, receive teachings and blessings from from friends, lamas and Rimpoches, visit the source of the Mekong River, and dance at horse festivals. I was also incredibly lucky enough to have been able to make an unplanned visit to Lake Manasarovar and complete the Mt. Kailash pilgrimage circuit before hitch-hiking to Lhasa to catch the bus back home to Jyekundo.

When my time on the Tibetan plateau came to an end, I made my way slowly overland through the south of China, Laos and Cambodia, loosely following the Mekong River before arriving in Thailand in 2004 to reconnect with old friends. In Thailand, I continued my study and practice of eastern philosophies, healing traditionas and meditation while working as a teacher, freelance writer, spa reviewer and even a television journalist, before realising that working with the healing arts was a passion I was being called to.

So, in 2009, I began working at a healing and detox retreat in Phuket as a Wellness Consultant while I studied Reiki Healing, continued my study of herbalism with a local Chinese-Thai herbalist, and enrolled in the Planetary Herbology course to formalise and expand my knowledge and practice of healing using herbs. After learning about the detox and cleansing industry, I began a year-long working apprenticeship with Dorinda Rose Berry at her holistic healing center in Phuket. Under the guidance and tutelage of Dorinda, my ability to work consciously and clearly with the subtle energies of the body developed in leaps and bounds, infused with the humility, honesty and integrity which I value as essential to how I work. From Dorinda and other visiting practitioners and teachers, I was also taught Crystal Healing (levels I, II, III), Intuitive Healing, Auric Balancing, Chakra Healing, Raindrop Therapy, Astrology (natal chart analysis), Mindfulness, Communicating with Nature and Spirit Guides, Angel & Tarot Card reading, as well as ethical practice and care guidelines.

After completing a year-long apprenticeship, I began working independently so I could focus on my new journey as a mother whilst continuing to offer healing sessions, classes and workshops at the growing number of healing centers and retreats in Phuket.

During my time working with 1000’s of clients, I began to understand that, at least part of the missing puzzle piece as to why people seemingly didn’t care about the state of the world, was because they were often so full of pain or stress themselves. I thought that, for people to want to heal nature, to heal the Earth, they first had to heal themselves. However, watching the wellness industry expand, and the insatiable hunger it seemed to create for exotic superfoods, rare elixirs, fad diets, and ‘spiritual’ one-upmanship, I realised that individual healing wasn’t enough; we had to heal as a community, as a society – locally and globally.

So, in 2017, based on a hunch, my husband and I decided to pack up and sell up and move to west Cork with our 2 young sons, aged 1 and 5 at the time. We arrived with 3 suitcases and a dream of creating a small, ecological herb farm and healing garden which could serve as a sanctuary for body, mind, heart and soul – for the local community as well as nature; a place for folks to reconnect to themselves, to each other and to Mother Earth.

Despite our plans to put down roots and establish our own patch of paradise is still yet to manifest, the little corner of west Cork which we landed in by synchronistic chance over 9 years ago is very much HOME. Moving from Thailand to Ireland has been a huge change for all of us, but a happy one. In 2020 I graduated from Galway University with an MSc in Agricultural Innovation which prompted me, alongside natural dyer, Malu Colorin, to co-found Fibershed Ireland, a social enterprise working to establish reciprocal and regenerative value chains for Irish-grown wool from field to garment.

My family and I currently live off-grid in our self-built tiny cabin where I harvest and forage herbs, draw, felt and paint the local flora and fauna, and offer energy healing sessions, mindfullness and meditation classes, holistic wellness consultations and natal astrology readings.

I still haven’t found the answer that will fix the world, but I will keep searching and keep exploring, and I know that together, we are getting closer to creating the solution collectively. Until then, I will keep working, in whatever small way, to help people see that can make a difference; personally, locally and globally.