Exclusive interview with Sir James Gray Robinson, Esq: World Leading Healer and Coach
Best Holistic Life Magazine: What moment or experience during your career as a trial attorney was the catalyst for your transition towards wellness and transformation work?
Sir James Gray Robinson: The only reason I became an attorney was to please my parents. My father was a famous trial attorney, and I was a third-generation lawyer. I intensely disliked the conflict, arguments, and stress of practicing law. My father told me many times that I was too “nice” to be a lawyer. Over the years, it became apparent to me that no matter how successful I was, I would not get the recognition and validation I craved from my father. He was my senior law partner and my brother was a partner in the firm as well. This only multiplied the stress inherent in a law practice. In the last year of my practice, several events occurred that led to my nervous breakdown. First, I won a large trial that I handled by myself (the firm didn’t offer any help) that earned a large contingency fee. Contrary to normal firm practice, I was not awarded a bonus for the win.
Secondly, I was sued by the ex-husband of a client who claimed I broke up his marriage. I didn’t even know these people before they filed for divorce. There was no basis in law or fact for the lawsuit, but the court made me go through an embarrassing two-week jury trial, in which the jury came back in 15 minutes, finding me innocent. Even though the plaintiff admitted on the stand that he was trying to extort money from me, the Court did not punish him. The judge told me later that the only reason he made me go through the trial was I was a lawyer. Finally, I regularly won awards for pro bono work (frowned upon by my partners).
When I put the awards out in the lobby, they were taken and hidden in a closet in the office. The firm didn’t want the public to know I donated free legal work for deserving victims of domestic violence. The fact that I was being treated this way by my father’s law firm and the tremendous stress of my litigation practice led me to have a nervous breakdown. I was in talk therapy, which was ineffective in helping me handle the stress. After I quit, I dedicated my life to finding out what caused my nervous breakdown and learning how to help other lawyers, professionals, entrepreneurs, and executives turn stress into success.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: When you realized you were experiencing burnout after 27 years in the legal field, what were your first steps toward healing and embracing mindfulness?
Sir James Gray Robinson: I wanted to learn about alternative medicine and energy healing. I trained under several internationally known healers who taught me about holistic healing, mindfulness, and how to manipulate quantum energy. I learned how to heal clients using mindfulness, energy, and neurolinguistic programming.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: With five near-death experiences shaping your journey, how have these events influenced your perspective on healing and spirituality?
Sir James Gray Robinson: When people have near-death experiences, they experience the separation of awareness and conscious thinking. I call it “touching the divine” or “meeting the soul”. When I experienced numerous out-of-body experiences, it changed the way I perceived reality and made me realize that I could create whatever reality I wanted. It also taught me that I was much more powerful than I had been led to believe and I could use this power to help others.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: How do you integrate your extensive training in neuroscience, neurobiology, and mind-body-spirit medicine into your current practices of coaching and healing?
Sir James Gray Robinson: I have observed that when I help people understand how their brains create their reality and not just observe it, I can teach them techniques of how to force the brain to create the life they want. Through various techniques I have learned through my many travels abroad and exposure to different healing modalities I show them how to change their beliefs, thoughts and behavior to thrive. What I offer that is truly unique is twenty years of training in esoteric, holistic and epigenetic techniques that go beyond mere life coaching or neurolinguistic programming. These techniques empower people to quickly and easily change their lives.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: Focusing on the legal community’s stress and burnout issues is a significant part of your work. How has your background as an attorney shaped your approach, and why this focus?
Sir James Gray Robinson: I am intimately familiar with all of the forces that come to bear on a practicing attorney. I am also intimately familiar with why attorneys don’t want to ask for help even though their life may be crashing down around their ears. I offer them confidentially, understanding, and effective methods to quickly heal their pain. I think having gone through burnout and nervous breakdowns gives me a unique perspective that allows me to connect with my client on a deeper level. I certainly understand their pain and suffering and pray that no attorney has to go through that pain and suffering.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: Could you share an impactful story from your practice where your guidance facilitated a client’s dramatic life transformation?
Sir James Gray Robinson: The American Bar Association has asked me to write a book about attorney wellness, which is being printed and will be available soon. It is called “A Comprehensive Guide to Wellness in Law,” and it contains numerous case studies of how attorneys and their staff were able to transform their lives. Every time a lawyer comes to me, it is usually as a last resort. It is highly gratifying to help lawyers overcome health issues, addiction issues, and marriage or family issues, not to mention turning around their legal careers.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: Among the nine books you’ve authored, which one would you recommend to newcomers to your work and why?
Sir James Gray Robinson: That is like asking me which one of my children is my favorite! The Comprehensive Guide to Wellness in Law will be the most important book on emotional and mental wellness for professionals published in a long time.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: As three documentaries featuring your work are set to release in 2024, what key messages do you hope viewers will take from “Beyond Physical Matter?”
Sir James Gray Robinson: My hope is that people will see this movie and be empowered to take responsibility for their health and wellbeing and understand how powerful their minds can be. Science is proving what alternative medicine practitioners have known for a long time: energy is the key to health and longevity. We can take control of our lives and create the life we want using our minds and energy that is readily available.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: Following your recent knighthood and the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award, how do you intend to further your mission to heal the planet?
Sir James Gray Robinson: I will be receiving an international humanitarian award in London in November from the “Men with Hearts” organization. I continue to make documentaries, including “Beyond the Mastermind Secret” and “Beyond Physical Life.” I am also involved in writing books and making movies on “Beyond Parenting,” “Beyond Nutrition,” “Beyond Business,” and other topics that are challenging society today. I have also just formed a production company to make feature films, docuseries, and TV shows. I continue to speak to the American Bar Association, private groups, and corporations to raise their consciousness about how to live a thrilling, fulfilling and successful life.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: You advocate for high-level professionals to ‘hack’ their brains to transform stress into success. Could you share a technique or tip that anyone could apply to start this transformation?
Sir James Gray Robinson: SMILE. Even though this sounds simplistic, when we smile, we activate cranial nerves connected to the Vagus nerve. When the Vagus nerve is activated, we relax, digest, love, imagine, communicate, and connect. When we smile, we make other people smile as well. It is contagious, neurobiological, and effective. Turn that frown upside down.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: For those in high-stress jobs battling anxiety and depression, what initial steps towards healing do you recommend?
Sir James Gray Robinson: Call me.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: How do you foresee the fields of neuroscience and neuroplasticity evolving and their potential impact on wellness and healing practices?
Sir James Gray Robinson: The brain is responsible for how we experience life. It is incredibly resilient and flexible. It is also at the root of all physical, emotional, and mental issues. A large part of the problems society is experiencing today is the result of improper programming we have been subjected to as children, adolescents and adults. Fortunately, neuroplasticity allows us to change that programming to achieve healthier and more enjoyable lives. Teaching people how to change their beliefs, heal their traumas and wounds, and assume a positive mindset will go a long way toward healing any medical condition.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: Balancing your roles as a mentor, spiritual leader, and business consultant while maintaining your wellness is no small feat. How do you manage this?
Sir James Gray Robinson: I get up really early, mainly because I am so excited to experience what the world has to offer. I have also assembled an incredible team that helps me manage everything from marketing to management and planning. It is highly important for people to associate with others who will support them (at least emotionally) and connect with them.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: What guidance would you give to young lawyers or law students to help them avoid burnout and maintain their wellbeing?
Sir James Gray Robinson: Gather a group of like-minded people to help you become successful. These are called “mastermind” groups and there are thousands of them online. They also have to discover ways to balance the stress of a law practice, many of which I teach. They have to understand that they have a mind, a body, and a soul that must be healthy and nourished. Some of the techniques I teach only take a few minutes a day, but they can have a profound impact on their health. They have to pay as much attention to their emotional and spiritual life as they do their career.
Best Holistic Life Magazine: Looking forward, what legacy do you hope to create through your work, and how do you envision it impacting future generations of professionals and healers?
Sir James Gray Robinson: I have been advocating some drastic changes to the practice of law, some of which are starting to occur. I hope to change not only the nature of law but also society’s awareness of itself.
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