Jim “PathFinder” Ewing is an award-winning journalist and author.

Long known as a workshop leader and inspirational speaker in the fields of mind-body medicine and eco-spirituality, he is the author of seven books on mindfulness and alternative health, including his latest, “Redefining Manhood: A Guide for Men and Those Who Love Them” (2015).

His books have been published in English, French, German, Russian and Japanese.

He has taught throughout the United States and served as guest faculty at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Massachusetts.

Though nominally retired, and no longer practicing mind-body medicine, he also occasionally gives talks at various sites, often on agriculture-related topics. A former organic farmer, he owned ShooFly Farm in Mississippi for seven years, resulting in his book, “Conscious Food: Sustainable Growing, Spiritual Eating.”

 

He has served (and serves) in leadership positions with many groups and nonprofits involving food systems and the environment — including Rainbow Natural Grocery Co-op, Mississippi Wildlife Federation, Mississippi Ducks Unlimited, Mississippi Urban Forest Council, as president of the Mississippi Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, as Gulf States outreach coordinator for the National Center for Appropriate Technology which operates the USDA's National Sustainable Agriculture Assistance Program (ATTRA), regionally as a board member and executive committee member of the USDA Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SSARE) program, and nationally for the Certified Naturally Grown board of directors.

 

His background as a writer and editor at The Clarion-Ledger, the state’s largest newspaper, at the Jackson Free Press, and before that, USA TODAY and Jackson Daily News in Jackson, Miss., spans more than three decades.

 

Among his awards, he is a three-time winner of the J. Oliver Emmerich Award (the Mississippi Press Association’s highest honor for commentary); winner of the Mississippi Wildlife Federation’s Conservation Writer of the Year award; and has won national Best of Gannett, regional Associated Press Media Editors, and state press association honors.

 

He is a 2013 winner of Gaining Ground Sustainability Institute of Mississippi’s Sustainable Works Award for his leadership in promoting organics, environmental stewardship and sustainable living for the past 30 years. According to Gerald Barber, former chairman of the board, National Wildlife Federation: “Jim Ewing brought the environmental movement home to Mississippi. Thanks to Jim, an honest straight shooter on the side of doing right, the environment is no longer a four-letter word.”

 

His writing also appears regularly on The Clarion-Ledger’s Book Page as a book reviewer.

He is a member of the National Book Critics circle and his reviews have run in publications in the United States and abroad.