Jamie Bristow is an expert on inner development and contemplative practices in public life.
For eight years, he was Director of the Mindfulness Initiative and clerk to the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness.
In 2023, he joined the Inner Development Goals team to lead on public narrative & policy development.
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)
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)
Posts and podcasts
On the Inner Development Goals:
Tamarack Institute [Webinar] Intro to the Inner Development Goals: A Tool for Transforming Systems
Deep Transformation Network [Webinar] - How Can the Inner Development Goals Facilitate Deep Transformation?
On mindfulness in politics:
Inner Development Goals Summit 2023 [Event] - Mindfulness in Westminster
The Mindfulness Initiative [Webinar] - Mindfulness in Westminster online launch
MindfulNews [Podcast] Mindfulness in Parliament
UK Parliament [Webinar] The Psychology of Politics
On the climate crisis:
Global Compassion Coalition [Webinar] - The role of compassion in the climate crisis
Custodians of the Planet [Podcast] - Mindfulness and planetary health: Connecting with the self, each other and the world
Solutions House, NY Climate Week [Event] - Pathways to Planetary Health: Integrating Roadmaps for Systems Transformation
Women’s Climate Congress [webinar] - Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out
All That We Are with Amisha Ghadiali [Podcast] - Five Minutes After Midnight
Mind & Life [Podcast] - Policy, Practice and Planet
Climate Pioneers [Podcast] - On why our minds matter
Inner Green Deal [Podcast] - Mindfulness as a Vehicle for Climate Action
Mindful Leader [Post] - How can inner work help with climate action?
Science for the Anthropocene [Podcast] - Mindfulness and climate action, with Jamie Bristow
The Oxford Mindfulness Centre [Podcast/webinar] - Agency and connection with Jamie Bristow
The Decade [Podcast] - Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out
Alistair Langer [Podcast] - Catalysing Radical Systemic Change
EU Parliament [Webinar] Mindfulness event part 2: role mindfulness in addressing the climate challenge
On human agency:
Mind & Life Institute [Article] - New Framework Shows Why Mindfulness is a Foundational Capacity for Meeting the Challenges of Our Times
Present Moment: Mindfulness Practice and Science [Podcast] - Episode 165 :: Jamie Bristow :: Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times
The Alternative UK [Article] - We need to reclaim our agency: Mindfulness can help.
openDemocracy [Article] - Why should we care about mindfulness? Mindfulness is no cure-all, but it can help to build the capacities we need for successful, collective action.
On social change:
openDemocracy [Article] Time for new thinking about mindfulness and social change. Why paint inner development as a barrier to better systems? Amid crisis and complexity we need both.
Emerge [Podcast] Jamie Bristow - Mindfulness as Metamodern Psychotechnology
On contemplative practice:
Intro the Stream [Podcast] - Diving into the Jhanas (with Jamie Bristow)
Emerge [Podcast] Rob Burbea - Emptiness, Postmodernism, and Sacred Participation
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.