Cormac McCourt is a native New
Yorker who began to discover spirituality and the healer within at the age of
fifteen. With the nurturing of loving parents, Diana McCourt (social activist
and community organizer) and Malachy McCourt (actor and best-selling author),
he felt the support to explore the meaning of life and how one may achieve lasting
health and happiness. This exploration lead to profound personal growth and a
career in both the healing and creative arts.
While living in Portland, Oregon in 1990, Cormac and his best friend developed
a business selling their hand crafted and intricately designed beads, medallions
and wearable art made from polymer clay. When they arrived back in New York the
following year, their designs were a big hit with the young and hip as well as
the older and sophisticated crowds alike. (Cormac has recently re-launched the
business under the name of SoulCraft
Creations).
In the mean time Cormac was drawn to living a conscious and healthy lifestyle.
This included the practice of yoga, meditation, taiji, martial arts and
the use of natural whole foods. In 1995, while working as the produce department
manager at Integral
Yoga Natural Foods, Cormac decided to attend the Integral Yoga Teacher
Training Program at the Satchidananda
-Ashram in Yogaville, Virginia. For the next year, it was not unusual
to see Cormac dashing upstairs on Thursday afternoons, trading his apron for yoga
whites in order to teach the 4:30 yoga class at the adjacent Integral Yoga Institute.
In 1996 Cormac met Sri
Mahayogi Paramahamsa, a Self-Realized Yoga Master. Studying yoga asana
and meditation with Sri Mahayogi was a true blessing for Cormac. He felt that
these teachings were pure undiluted transmissions from the source of knowledge
itself. Consequently, Cormac's personal yoga practice and understanding deepened
immensely under the master's guidance.
Subsequent to the birth of his daughter, Adrianna Noreen McCourt, an unknown force
led Cormac to take the Reflexology Masters Program at The
Open Center of New York in 1997. Having never received reflexology himself
prior to the course, this was a leap of faith. Indeed, the best things that have
happened to Cormac were precisely due to this faith. Cormac found the Reflexology
course fascinating and went on to study Massage Therapy at the Swedish
Institute of Massage Therapy in the same year. From there he obtained
his New State Massage Therapy License and went on to get experience in the practice
at well known spas, health clubs and clinical settings.
Still not satisfying his thirst for knowledge and skills training, Cormac sought
out education in holistic nutrition. The Institute
of Integrative Nutrition was the answer to his prayers. There he received
the exact training he was looking for. He found their training in Integrative
Nutrition Counseling to be a perfect complement to his growing health practice.
Upon graduation from their certification course in 1999 he remained on staff as
a mentor and counselor for incoming students the following semester.
To this day Cormac continues his studies in the field of massage therapy, integrative
nutrition, yoga and the healing arts. Along with the SoulCraft
Creations business he currently maintains a private healing arts practice
in New York City.
BIOGRAPHY