An interview with John McLoughlin – If you want to change your life

How do I write about my interview with John McLoughlin? How do I do him justice?  His life has been colourful and his abilities to heal others so effective. He has been a part of The Hopsack family for 26 years.  His connection dates back beyond Finn & Kate’s father, Jimmy to their grandfather Cyril.  He still joins us in the shop every second Thursday to help people with emotional or physical problems.   

I’d heard fragments of his life story and heard rumours of his healing abilities. I’d been intrigued since I started working in The Hopsack, to find out more about this man. So, I was excited to be given the opportunity to chat with him.  And what I discovered in those two hours was fascinating.  It is impossible to squeeze into a blog post – at the very least it needs a book, maybe five… probably more.

You can join John in The Hopsack for the 'Good Vibes Only Please!' event on January 31st at 8pm.  He will explore the themes around the manifestation of negative energy in a space and teach some powerful methods to clear the residual effects these can have on the building and its inhabitants.

I felt it!

The interview took place just before my Christmas holidays and during the break I often found myself drifting back to our conversation and my experience.  Especially because, just before we got up to leave, I’d asked John for advice on a personal problem I was facing.  

John advised me to bring my attention to my body, focusing on my hands and feet. Then guided me to direct my thoughts inwardly, to myself, my awareness… and then something happened. “I feel it”, I said and a definite shift took place in me.  I suddenly felt deeply rooted, unshakably strong and solid.

He gives great advice that can guide you to a place of inner balance and hormony, allowing healing to happen.

John describes this process as simply observing the imbalance in the subtle energy bodies and this effortless interaction allows for balance to be made.

The answer was staring him in the feet

John was born in the Coombe.  As a child he had an intense spiritual connection with all living things, a strong intuitive connection to life's spiritual elements.

Like most of us, with the beginning of adolescence came change for John – losing himself in his teenage years, exploring, pushing the boundaries in every way.  But he, like most, settled down, got married and had a steady job.  But after years of unhealthy living, he found himself in his twenties both physically and emotionally unwell – overweight, with severe throat problems and an unhappy mind.  

Then, one day while taking a routine bus ride, he looked down and noticed a brown paper bag at his feet – a significant milestone.  One he vividly remembers. Although he wasn’t to know it at the time, it was a pivotal moment, one that would permanently change the rest of his life.  A point that would signal a return to the path he’d unknowingly left behind at childhood and “bring him home”.

Because, in the bag was a book – ‘You Are All Sanpaku’ by George Ohsawa.  It was about the philosophy of yin and yang.   Sanpaku is a Japanese term meaning ‘three whites’.  John was captivated.  “The sense of the word,” wrote the author “is a condition of the human eye which presents three white sides, or areas, around the iris.”  In the healthy individual, according to Ohsawa, the only eye white that should show is that on either side of the iris. But in the unhealthy person, the iris rises above the horizon of the lower eyelid to uncover a third ‘paku’ patch.  This is unhealthy.

John embraced the  principles of Macrobiotics whole-heartedly.  During this time he followed the ten-day brown rice diet recommended in the book.  For him, it worked – afterwards he felt clearer and younger. This is not a recommended diet for everyone.

John became increasingly enthusiastic about what we are as physical, mental, emotional and spiritual beings.  He became fascinated and inspired by colour and sound.  His intuitive side began to flourish again.  He felt so invigorated about how diet can change a person, he went to a health store to hang up a handwritten note “If you want to save your life – Free Talk!”.   And here he discovered his calling.  The room at The Buswell Hotel was packed.and with John’s inner stage presence finally set free, he set out on his new path of advising and healing others.

Although John went on to study acupuncture, Shiatsu and Chinese herbal medicine, he still draws mostly on those early instincts and natural senses when helping people. 

So we’re privileged and grateful to still be welcoming him in The Hopsack every fortnight.