Vidyamala Burch
Co-Founder Breathworks CIC and Breathworks Foundation Charity
Vidyamala is the founder of Breathworks, a charity and social enterprise teaching meditation and mindfulness to people living with pain, illness and stress. There are over 500 accredited Breathworks teachers in more than 35 countries. Breathworks came about after Vidyamala experienced a spinal injury aged 17, which caused partial paraplegia with severe long-term pain.
Today, Vidyamala is an internationally renowned author and mindfulness teacher with her books, Living Well with Pain and Illness, Mindfulness for Health and Mindfulness for Women published in more than 14 languages. She is a regular speaker in the media and online.
In 2020, during the global pandemic, Vidyamala and Breathworks have upscaled their digital offerings with innovative online mindfulness courses and retreats. These have reached tens of thousands of people around the world. Vidyamala also partners with app developers offering mindfulness content.
Vidyamala is an Honorary Member of the British Pain Society in recognition of her ‘outstanding contribution to the alleviation of pain through personal endeavour and for her work for the Society’.
She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Mindfulness Initiative, a project working with legislators around the world, helping them to make meditation and mindfulness serious considerations for public policy.
Vidyamala is passionate about mindfulness and meditation being available to all, regardless of financial circumstances. The Breathworks Foundation Charity awards bursaries and scholarships to this end.
Useful links
“I look forward to the day when ‘mental training’ is seen as essential to a healthy culture as looking after our physical health and well-being.”