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The Barefoot Doctor, whose civil name is Stephen Russell (and is not a registered Doctor), is a British advocate of Taoism.

He has spent much of his life translating and teaching the practice of ancient Chinese Taoism, its medicine, philosophy, meditation practices and martial arts and ‘magic’ system, or ‘wu wei’. He has studied under leading Western practitioners such as R. D. Laing in addition to leading doctors of Chinese medicine.

He has authored ten books, wrote a weekly column in The Observer for five years, runs an online clinic, community and school and is currently running a musical healing event called the Travelling Medicine Show. His books set out to provide introductions to the world of taoism, written in an approachable style. The text aims to teach the reader spiritual self-defence, medicine and magic in order to cope with the challenges of everyday life, including fashion and travel.

Celebrity clients have included Madonna and Naomi Campbell.^{[citation needed]}

Russell was a regular guest on London Live radio as well as Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast. He is also author of a number of works including "Barefoot Doctor’s Handbook for the Urban Warrior, A Spiritual Survival Guide". Subsequent books included 'Return of the Urban Warrior', released by Harper Collins.

Many of his ideas and exercises are based on Taoist (ancient oriental) techniques, which he aims to make applicable to modern life.

Russell was featured in a series for BBC UK Style named "Barefoot Doctor ". It aired from the 3rd May 2003.

Russell now dedicates his time to running a Taoist-based portal website and online spiritual community.^{[citation needed]}

His practice has elicited a fair amount of skepticism, as evidenced by the transcript from an online meeting between him and readers of Guardian discussion forums^[1]

The satirical Private Eye magazine claimed that the Observer had asked their staff to pad the forum with less combative posts, quoting an internal memo^{[citation needed]}:

The Barefoot Doctor is online on Tuesday to answer questions of healing and health. Safe to say, he isn't proving wildly popular and the questions are just a tad aggressive. [...] If some of you could take time out to ask a rather more benign question, then you'll probably feel better for it.

In January 2007, it was revealed that he had been having sexual relations with a number of ex-patients. According to an article in the Guardian, he confessed to this behaviour after a number of women on his forum accused him of "sexually predatory behaviour".^[2]

• Russell, S. (1998) Barefoot Doctor's Handbook for the Urban Warrior London: Piatkus
• Russell, S. (2005) Manifesto London: Element Books
• Russell, S. (1999) Barefoot Doctor's Guide to the Tao: A Spiritual Handbook for the Urban Warrior London: Three Rivers Press
• Russell, S. ( ) Dear Barefoot: The Wisdom of the Barefoot Doctor Atlantic Books: London
• Russell, S. (2004) Instant Enlightenment Element Books: London
• Russell, S. ( ) Handbook for Heroes: A Spiritual Guide to Fame & Fortune London: Londonbridge
• Russell, S. (2001) Barefoot Doctor's Handbook for Modern Lovers: A Spiritual Guide to Truly Amazing Love and Sex London: Broadway

1. ^ Guardian online chat: live online appearance
2. ^ The Observer: Crackdown on therapists who abuse vulnerable

• Barefoot Doctor The Barefoot Doctor's Website