Jamie Bristow is a writer and policy advisor working at the intersection of inner and outer transformation and sustainability.
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 writer linking inner and outer transformation, and a policy expert 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. 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, and is an associate of Life Itself, The Climate Majority Project and Bangor University. 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 rich background encompasses psychology, climate change campaigning, and advertising. He is a committed, long-term Insight Meditation practitioner and his teachers have included Rob Burbea.
Positions & Responsibilities
Public Narrative & Policy Development Lead, Inner Development Goals
Research Fellow & Member, Life Itself
Research Associate & Inner Work Advisor, Climate Majority Project
Honorary Associate, Bangor University
Fellow, Mind & Life
Advisor and former Director, The Mindfulness Initiative
Guest Lecturer, MSt in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, University of Oxford
Inner Council, Conscious Food Systems Alliance (UNDP)
Changemaker, Sankalpa
Publications
Transformative Skills Guide: Expanding the Definition of Climate Literacy (Consultation Draft) (2024)
The System Within: Addressing the inner dimensions of sustainability and systems transformation (2024)
Inner Development Goals: from inner growth to outer change (2024)
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 sustainability and systems transformation:
The Club of Rome - The System Within Deep Dive Launch [Webinar]
LSE Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment - The unseen inner dimension of systems change and sustainability [Web Article]
DeSmog - The Missing Inner Dimension of System Change [Web Article]
Club of Rome - The System Within [Web Article]
On the climate crisis:
DeSmog - Between Optimism and Despair: The Messy Middle Paths Through Climate Breakdown [Web Article]
Your Brain On Climate [Podcast] - Mindfulness, with Jamie Bristow
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 co-authors and I will be promoting our paper recently published by the Club of Rome for the Earth4All project, The System Within: Addressing the inner dimensions of sustainability and systems transformation.
I am working on an Open Society Foundation-funded research report for the Climate Majority Project about the conditions for inclining climate concern towards engagement rather than denial and disavowal.
With the Inner Development Goals, I am contributing to a report with the US Government agency the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) looking at inner qualities and skills as enablers of a sustainable transition.
I am supervising a research project at Bangor University, which will result in an academic literature review of ‘mindfulness and bigger-than-self concerns’.
As a member and research associate of Life Itself, I’m working on a narrative frame for describing the potential of a brighter future for humanity after a deep mindset shift precipitated by systems failure.