December 16, 2022
In this episode, Wendy speaks with mindful policy advocate and contemplative teacher Jamie Bristow. Jamie co-directs the Mindfulness Initiative in the UK, an organization that bridges contemplative practice and public policy, championing the inner dimension of social change. This conversation covers many topics, including:
- why he first started meditating and the surprise that came with it;
- his commitment to climate work;
- integrating advertising talent into policy work;
- mindfulness in the UK government;
- development of the Mindfulness Initiative;
- the nuts and bolts of mindful policy work;
- policy advances in health, criminal justice, and education;
- mindfulness as a foundational capacity (not just a skill);
- how the mind relates to the climate crisis;
- consequences of our failure to see the interconnectedness in the world;
- how mindfulness and compassion can help with reconnection;
- two modes of operating (holistic intuitive vs. verbal conceptual);
- and where to go from here.
Jamie Bristow is Co-director of The Mindfulness Initiative, a policy institute about mindfulness and compassion training that grew out of a program of mindfulness teaching for politicians in the British Parliament. After supporting UK politicians to establish the UK Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group and conduct a policy inquiry throughout 2014, Jamie took over as Director in 2015 to launch the seminal Mindful Nation UK report. He has since grown the Mindfulness Initiative into an influential policy institute, authoring and producing a series of publications and working with decision-makers around the world to integrate inner capacities and contemplative practice into politics and the public policy landscape. Jamie was formerly Business Development Director for Headspace and has a background in psychology, climate change campaign communications and advertising. He is also a teacher of Insight Meditation, a Buddhist tradition that’s associated with Gaia House, IMS and Spirit Rock retreat centers.
Resources
Personal website
Mindfulness Initiative
- Policy Report: Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out
- Paper: At the intersection of mind and climate change: integrating inner dimensions of climate change into policymaking and practice, Climate Change, 2022
- Article: New Framework Shows Why Mindfulness is a Foundational Capacity for Meeting the Challenges of our Time, Mind & Life Institute, Mind & Life Blog, 2021
- Policy Report: Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times