Bio

Jamie Bristow is a prominent expert on the application of inner development and contemplative practices in public life. His work includes influential policy reports such as Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out, and he currently leads on public narrative and policy development for the Inner Development Goals, emphasising the inner skills and qualities needed for a sustainable transition. For eight years, from 2015 to 2023, Jamie played an instrumental role in the UK's All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness, acting as its clerk and serving as Director of the associated policy institute, The Mindfulness Initiative. During this time he worked with legislators around the world to make mindfulness and compassion training serious matters of public policy and catalysts for a healthier political process. He now retains a part-time position with The Mindfulness Initiative leading on sustainability policy. Jamie's earlier roles included being the Business Development Director at Headspace, and his rich background encompasses psychology, climate change campaigning, and advertising.

Positions & Responsibilities

Public Narrative & Policy Development, Inner Development Goals

Policy Expert and former Director, The Mindfulness Initiative

Inner Work Advisor, Climate Majority Project

Honorary Associate, Bangor University

Guest Lecturer, MSt in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, University of Oxford

Inner Council, Conscious Food Systems Alliance (UNDP)

Changemaker, Sankalpa

Publications

Mindfulness in Westminster: reflections from UK Politicians (2023)

Mindfulness in politics: qualitative study on mindfulness training in the UK Parliament (2023)

Mindfulness and ‘bigger than self’ issues: protocol for a scoping review (2023)

Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out (2022)

At the Intersection of Mind and Climate Change: Integrating Inner Dimensions of Climate Change into Policymaking and Practice (2022)

Theoretical foundations report: Research and evidence for the potential of consciousness approaches and practices to unlock sustainability and systems transformation (2022)

Exiting the Anthropocene: Achieving personal and planetary health in the 21st century (2022)

Responding to 'Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times’: A Compilation of Essays (editor) (2021)

Implementing Mindfulness in Schools: An Evidence-Based Guide (editor) (2021)

Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times (2020)

Mindfulness in Politics and Public Policy (2018)

Fieldbook for Mindfulness Innovators (2018)

Building the Case for Mindfulness in the Workplace (editor & co-author) (2016)

Mindful Nation UK (researcher / writer) (2015)

Current projects

My work with The Mindfulness Initiative continues to explore how we can become more resilient and responsive to the climate crisis.

With the Inner Development Goals, I am most excited about expanding my work on reports like Reconnection and Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times to make the policy case for inner development more broadly as an enabler of a sustainable transition. I will also be leading a similar project for the Club of Rome.

I am supervising a research project at Bangor University, which will result in an academic literature review of ‘mindfulness and bigger-than-self concerns’.

I am consulting for the The Garrison Institute on a project that I co-initiated, mapping contemplative social/systems change approaches.

I also volunteer for a new initiative called The Climate Majority Project to catalyse a moderate and culturally mainstream flank to the radical climate campaigns that have been active in the UK over recent years. The theory of change for this new project includes the importance of inner work, and I will be advising this strand.