Gary Edward Gedall

Born in Manchester UK, my father was a travelling jazz drummer at the time, my mother, a record shop owner. After my father had a car accident he took over the business(es); he was a great entrepreneur, but a lousy administrator, we went from rags to riches, and back to rags, several times in my early life.

At 9 years old, just after his first bankruptcy, I went to boarding school, where I played in the bi-annual plays, started writing poetry, wrote my first short story and passed my first ‘O’ level, (Mathematics) at 14.

At 15 I transferred to the local grammar school, (we were now living in Blackpool), continued to appear often on stage and finished my regular schooling.

I then went to Aston University, (now Aston Business School), to take a BSc in Management Sciences, all the time continuing to haunt the Arts Centre and appear in various plays. I also started writing plays, both mysteries and musicals.

After graduation I had various jobs and passed some-time both in the US, (where I managed to get thrown out of Universal studios), and Canada, (where I once again appeared on stage).

While in Canada, I got the germ of an idea that eventually cumulated as an SF film script, ‘The Dream Machine’, (a virtual reality story finished in 1986).

On returning to the UK I undertook various trainings and worked in many areas, including that of a computer network administrator and programmer, and as a professional psychic.

In 1992 I decided to go live and work in the Findhorn Foundation, a spiritual community in the north of Scotland. There I met a Swiss medical student, who had come to visit for a weekend.

In 1995, at the age of 38, I moved to Switzerland, speaking very little French, I enrolled in the University of Lausanne to begin studying to be a psychologist. In the final year of the 4 year program, (at the time the degree was a 4 year ‘licence’ – part way between a BSc and a Masters), I also became qualified as a hypnotherapist and started my internship.

I had managed to continue to act during the first three years, and to write short stories and poems.

In 2001, I finished my ‘Maîtrise’ (MSc +), subject of my memoir – ‘the clinical benefits on groups of auto-hypnosis’.

It was my sessions of hypnosis with my patients that finally pushed me to write and publish my first book, ‘Remember’. I was creating and repeating the same stories and hypnotic inductions, from patient to patient, it was then that I got the idea to start writing them down. After a while, it became logical to; compile the stories, transform the hypnotic inductions into a poetic form, add some personal and patient vignettes and a theoretical reflection.

My second book, ‘Adventures with the Master’ was also born out of a hypnotic induction. A patient asked me to help him confront a task that seemed impossibly difficult for him. Some-time later, my family was going round an outside sports / exercise track, (piste vita), my daughter started to complain that she couldn’t make it, so I told her the story. She agreed to continue to come the next week, but only if I continued with the story. So, by the end of the summer, the main characters and events were already created. It just took me another few years to find the time and the energy to write it all down and ‘fill in the gaps’.

I have now been working as a psychologist for 15 years, (state registered psychotherapist for 10 years), I work with Adults, Couples and Families in a transcultural setting, also run groups on finding and using inner resources and with horses.

I have completed the 3 year advanced Shamanic Formation of the FSS, (Foundation for Shamanic Studies), been trained in EMDR, started western riding at 50, and now am the proud possessor of a ‘brevet de cavalier’, a sort of horse driving license. I am now training for a DAS, (Diploma of Advanced Studies), for a title of Therapist with Horses, for which I have only to finish writing my final paper, to complete the training and receive my qualification.

I am currently involved with two ongoing writing projects; The Island of Serenity, (see www.islandofserenity.com), that I am completing the 6th volume of; set in an experience of Arthur's Camelot. And a series written, with my son, (11), Escape to Home, the 1st volume, 'Escape', is also on my bookshelf.