Harmony Dawn is a part of Andy James’ vision-dream, based on over 40 years of personal mind-body-spirit inquiry and practice and over 40 years of teaching. Around age 20, Andy’s life unexpectedly and dramatically turned to the Spiritual after nearly plunging his car into a Norwegian fjord and about the same time, discovering Buddhism. The crash pushed him to intensively inquire into the nature of life and death and Buddhism provided answers which had hitherto eluded him. He noted that most philosophical, political and religious belief systems result in a recurring cycle of action and reaction, like a pendulum swinging, effecting little Real Change, no matter how sincere our efforts. Buddhism provided him with a sudden and profound realisation how this cycle could be broken – through Non-attachment, which is not to be confused with detachment, avoidance, suppression, not-caring or not-feeling. Andy sought out and intensively practised under the direction of world-renowned teachers, namely Thai Vipassana- Mindfulness Meditation Master, Dhiravamsa, and Tai Chi Chuan Master, Miss Rose li. Later on, he would study with Professor Jerry Alan Johnson, Founder of the International Institute of Medical Qigong, and other esteemed Masters of the mind-body-spirit arts.

In 1984, at age 35, with a young family to support, he took another symbolic “plunge over a cliff”, giving up the financial security of a Chartered Accountant to be a teacher of Vipassana-Mindfulness meditation, Tai Chi Chuan, Qigong, the Enneagram of Personality and more. Andy realised that his audience would initially be small, since most people were unaware of these individual arts, much less how they constituted an integrated, comprehensive system of mind-body health and spiritual transformation.  He thought these skills necessary for the future since they recognised Interconnectedness and Oneness “internally” (within ourselves) as well as in the “external” world and between internal and external.  Years later, he built Harmony Dawn to physically manifest these principles.

In 2024, over 40 years later, Andy James thinks these skills are more necessary than ever since society, driven by “labour saving” technology, is now so complex, most people are overwhelmed, unable to cope and stressed.  Some simply turn off.  We seem to have lost the abilty to distinguish between Quality – the profound, essential and lasting – and Quantity, the superficial and fleeting allure of “success” and “recognition”.  This is important not only in making personal decisions, but collective ones like choosing political leaders and social and economic policies.  This is not good news for Humanity, which faces many serious global challenges including global warming and extreme climate change, massive displacement of populations, and unexamined implementation of powerful new technologies, which will probably bring what we think of as “sci fi” problems within the next decade.

Shifu James’ teaching organisation, the Tai Chi and Meditation Centre  has been extensively covered in Canada by local and national media over his over 30 years of teaching. His students have won gold medals in national Chinese internal martial arts competitions, both in Canada and the United States. His senior students and teachers are required to be Warriors, Healers and Sages, in line with the traditional evolution of the Chinese “Internal Martial Artist”. All of this takes consistent practice and Quality instruction, way beyond “trending” or being an “internet sensation”.