My name is Ian and I wear different hats.

• Philosopher • Somatic Practitioner • Facilitator • Coach • Mediator • Curriculum Developer • Editor • Writer • Mental Health Educator • Tarot Practitioner • Engaged Bodhisattva-in-training • Peer Support Specialist

• Philosopher • Somatic Practitioner • Facilitator • Coach • Mediator • Curriculum Developer • Editor • Writer • Mental Health Educator • Tarot Practitioner • Engaged Bodhisattva-in-training • Peer Support Specialist

Principles I live by

  • Cultivating presence and the awareness to evaluate your perceptions, thoughts, beliefs and actions; how all of these aspects interdepend on the external world.

  • Putting the interests and needs of others before your own and at the same time not compromising your boundaries and capacity for compassion.

  • Accept responsibility not only for your contributions, but also your shortcomings and how you respond to situations, especially when shit happens.

  • See the bigger, holistic picture of things and embrace the connections within, without and beyond. Live in a place of learning, curiosity and wonder.

  • Life is short. Act for the wellbeing of seven generations and beyond. Live life with a whole heart-mind.

Lineages

I am learning how to honour the teachers, guides, frameworks, traditions that have influenced my life and my practice.

Embodied Philosophy and Spiritual Care

As a philosophical practitioner, I often draw from various frameworks and traditions to inform how should I live my life and care for others.

  • Buddhist Philosophy I-III by Jay Garfield in Wisdom Experience

  • Ecosattva Training from One Earth Sangha

  • Lama Rod’s Seven Homecomings

  • Midnight Path by Lotus Institute

  • Politics of Trauma by Staci Haines

  • Anger Lab by Reclaiming Our Own Transcendence (ROOT)

  • Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet from Plum Village

Facilitation

I am a facilitator by heart. Being in groups with a shared purpose to understand and care each other nourishes my whole being. I am grateful to these lineages that have shaped my practice:

Coaching and Psychotherapy

As a wellbeing practitioner, I share and educate people on skills to respond to their suffering with love and care. I do not provide psychotherapy treatment as part of my offerings. Rather, I draw from these psychotherapy frameworks to inform my practice:

  • Non-violent communication (NVC) and Internal Family Systems (IFS)-informed Conflict and Mediation Training by John Kinyon/Mediate Your Life (Ongoing)

  • DBT Skills

  • Motivational Interviewing from Psychwire

  • Emotional Focused Therapy (Attachment)

  • Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Instructor from QPR Institute

  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy from Beck Institute

  • Somatic Self-Compassion from Kristy Arbon

  • Mindful Self-Compassion from LOMSC

FAQs

What are you doing nowadays?

I’m a co-facilitator of the Spiral Journey Work that Reconnects Facilitation Development Programme for 2025/2026, where I’ll be guiding aspiring facilitators to hold ecological spaces of gratitude, grief and resilience.

Besides that, I am currently coordinating outreach and publicity efforts at an NGO focused on suicide prevention. This involves working with schools to educate youths about how to look out for one another.

I’m also running philosophical practice studio sessions internally at the Malaysian Philosophy Society and experimenting with politicised somatics as a form of relational inquiry.

It’s been great fun!