Having always played in bands, Pummell became an accomplished professional pianist who later went on to study sound engineering at Manchester School of Sound.

He sees a perfect harmony between his study of medicine and his love of music.

"Music and the work as I do as a therapist are both about listening and emotions and about getting to deeper levels of meaning, so in that way they are very allied," he says.

During his time as a session keyboardist and sound engineer, Pummell got to record with prominent artists, such as former Stoned Roses drummer Robbie Maddock and Simply Red's music director Barry Mraz.

At his db Studio in Shanghai, Pummell has recorded a number of artists ranging from folk and rock musicians to Chinese classical artists.

These have included gypsy guitarist Lulo Reinhardt, pipa (Chinese lute) virtuoso Zhang Yi and saxophonist Alec Haavik.

But he is also passing on his love of music to another generation, namely his 3-year-old son Charlie who has his own small drum kit set up in the studio.

The cutting-edge recording studio boasts powerful equipment that includes three Mac computers running sophisticated recording software that Pummell says was also used on Madonna's last album.

After more than 20 years discovering the intricate workings of the human mind, Pummell says he is still fascinated by what makes people tick.

Describing his work as being "painstaking" and needing "curiosity and patience," Pummell says the most rewarding part of his work in Shanghai is seeing his clients make progress in the variety of challenges they come to him with.

As part of his qualifications as a trained hypnotherapist with the International Association of Hypno-Analysts, a certification he received in 2001, he must himself have a therapist and receive regular counseling.

"You must be absolutely confident that you can be a positive guiding force in someone else's life and one has to put his/her own problems and own ego aside and become a vehicle for change," he says.