Writer and policy advisor working at the intersection of inner & outer transformation, resilience and sustainability

Unlocking Inner-led Change

Bio

Jamie Bristow is a writer linking inner and outer transformation, and a policy advisor on the application of inner development and contemplative practices in public life. His work includes influential reports such as Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out and The System Within: Addressing the inner dimension of sustainability and systems transformation. Jamie is currently developing his work in a new direction, supported by a two-year fellowship, and is initiating a yet-to-be-announced project with Professor Rebecca Henderson at Harvard University. He is a co-founder of the Life Itself Sensemaking Studio and an honorary associate of Bangor University. He continues to be a special advisor to the Inner Development Goals, having previously led the initiative’s public narrative and policy development. 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. Jamie's earlier roles included being the Business Development Director at Headspace, and his background encompasses psychology, climate change campaigning, and advertising. He is a committed, long-term Insight Meditation practitioner and is training to teach. His teachers have included Rob Burbea and Catherine Magee.

Key publications

A ‘deep dive’ on systems transformation published by the Club of Rome, a policy report addressing the inner dimensions of the climate crisis and a paper framing mindfulness as a foundational capacity for collective action.

The System Within: addressing the inner dimensions of sustainability and systems transformation

Jamie Bristow, Rosie Bell, Christine Wamsler, Tomas Bjorkman, Phoebe Tickell, Julia Kim, Otto Scharmer (2024)

Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out

Jamie Bristow, Rosie Bell, Christine Wamsler (2022)

Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times

Jamie Bristow, Rosie Bell, Dan Nixon (2020)

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Podcasts and Videos

Jamie currently has two podcasts in production, including a season of the Mind & Life Podcast as a guest host. He has talked widely about his work on sustainability, societal resilience and systems transformation.

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Current Projects

Psycho-social dimensions of societal resilience

Researching and engaging in advocacy to better integrate domains of resilience work in public policy.

LifeGuild.earth

Exploring a new kind of affiliative pattern between change agents.

Life Itself Sensemaking

Helping aligned organisations make sense of emerging systems and novel cultural landscapes.

More to be
announced soon…

Roles & Responsibilities

Current roles


Co-founder, Life Itself Sensemaking Studio

Co-initiator, lifeguild.earth

Senior Advisor, Inner Development Goals

Honorary Associate, Bangor University

Fellow, Mind & Life Institute

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

Recent positions


Inner Council,
Conscious Food Systems Alliance (UNDP)

Public Narrative & Policy Development Lead,
Inner Development Goals

Research Associate & Inner Work Advisor,
Climate Majority Project

Director, The Mindfulness Initiative

Changemaker, Sankalpa

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Although I can’t promise to respond to every email, I love to hear from people with reflections on my work and stories about how it’s being developed and applied.

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