Graham
E. Nicholls - Founder and director

Graham
was born in London, England into a working class family, his father
was a refuse collector and his mother worked looking
after the sick and elderly. He grew up in a tower block on an inner
London estate or housing project. As a young child he started to
undergo spontaneous visionary experiences, which intensified from
twelve to fourteen years-old when he began to have the first of
hundreds of out-of-body experiences. These experiences radically
changed his perception on life. He began to actively explore this
area of understanding and started working with different spiritual
teachers and organisations. By sixteen
years-old, he began working for a prominent international esoteric
lecturer. Inspired
by his experiences and the new arena of ideas he was encountering
he started to learn and practice a range of new disciplines including
meditation.
At
sixteen he also added vegetarianism to his spiritual disciplines
having already committed himself to abstain from tobacco, alcohol
and illegal drugs at the age of just ten years old. At
aged nineteen he traveled to India for the first time and explored
the practice of yoga and came into contact with Jainism for the
first time, which left a lasting impression on him. Shortly after
returning he felt that he should do something creative with his
ideas.
He
decided to apply to art school and despite having no formal qualifications
he was accepted to Central St. Martins College in London, becoming
the first in his family to go to university. While still studying
he gave his first public lecture on a metaphysical topic at Oxford
Town Hall, England aged just twenty-two. The following year he was
given his first solo art exhibition, which took place in central
New York City, USA.
Graham's
artistic projects are actually multi-sensory environments that
use audio recordings to take the participants
on inner meditative journeys. Immersing them in a powerful and unique
experience. Many participants have described being deeply moved by
these hypnotic experiences. In May, 2004 he created a new kind of
immersive environment using Virtual Reality computer technology called The
Living Image, which was displayed at London’s
Science Museum.
The
project was designed to take the viewer into a psychological state
akin to meditation or trance. His creative work has received praise
in much of the press, including the BBC, the Telegraph and Time
Out as well as other magazines and websites.
In
his mid to late 20's Graham continued to have and explore spiritual
experiences and began to develop a practical philosophy. This philosophy
is based upon direct experiences with two energy forms or psychological
levels one of which became known to him as Shah, the other as Mai.
It was through these Shah and Mai levels that he started to become aware
of a major shift in his practices and relationships to others and the
world. It was like a growth of compassion, akin to classic descriptions
in many
of the worlds religions. At this time he also underwent the most
intense experiences of his adult life, some of which appeared to include
precognitive events. These events have given him a basis to explore
areas such as parapsychology in an attempt to rationally examine psi
phenomena.
He is currently working on a book
that explores his many experiences and the philosophy they
have inspired.
The book explores his experiences in a rational and fair
way and engages with the social and psychological factors within
himself, and the lives of others who undergo similar experiences.
This he hopes will help overcome the stigma and sometimes hostile
reactions that psi or 'psychic' phenomena can evoke in its critics.
The Shahmai Network is a first step
towards helping others to understand and explore their own psychical
and spiritual experiences in a balanced, rational and life-affirming
way.
Copyright
© 2006 Graham E. Nicholls, all rights reserved.