The Breathworks Foundation

Mindfulness and compassion for pain, stress and illness - helping people reclaim their lives

The Breathworks Foundation was established in 2009 to ensure that mindfulness and compassion training is available to everyone, regardless of circumstances. It brings to life the vision of Vidyamala Burch, Breathworks Co-Founder, who passionately believes that no person or community should be excluded from Breathworks training programmes and courses simply through financial or personal hardship. This is based on her experience of living with severe pain and disability all her adult life.  

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  • Intro

    Vidyamala and The Foundation are keenly aware that it is very often the people who are most in need of mindfulness training who are the least able to pay for and access it. It is this desire and commitment to reach all people who are suffering that drives our work through bursaries, research and partnerships, enabling individuals to take their rightful place in humanity.

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  • The Breathworks Foundation

    Bursaries from the Aryamati Bursary Fund enable people to access mindfulness courses and teacher training. We also develop partnerships to make mindfulness accessible to the wider community Read more

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  • Apply for Funding

    Apply for funding to attend our mindfulness courses or teacher training Read more

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  • Research

    Part of our mission is to undertake and publish research into mindfulness-based activities Read more

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  • Give2Live

    Help Vidyamala fulfil her dream of making mindfulness courses available to all, regardless of the ability to pay Read more

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  • Our Impact

    320

    people financially supported with bursaries in our first decade, largely through the generosity of The Aryamati Bursary Fund

    64

    Foundation bursaries awarded in 2019, enabling 40 people to learn mindfulness and 24 people to train to teach

    203

    people introduced to mindfulness through partnerships with St Michael's Hospice, Maggie's Cancer Care Centre and Take Back Your Life project

Appeals

  • Support The Foundation with AmazonSmile

    Shop on Amazon with this link and support The Foundation - at no extra cost! Read more

  • 20 Lengths in 20 Days

    My challenge will be to swim 20 lengths of my local pool over 20 days. Swimming 20 lengths is like a gentle walk for an Olympic swimmer, but for me it is significant. Read more

Foundation Blogs

  • Mindfulness on the NHS Frontline

    Chris Bu, NHS Psychiatry Trainee Doctor and Breathworks teacher in training, shares what it's like to be working on the frontline and how he is finding his mindfulness practice so helpful: learning how best to look after his own wellbeing so he can look after others effectively too. Read more

  • The Joys of Online Mindfulness

    Ginny, our Head of Training and online development lead, has just finished teaching the first 8-week Breathworks Mindfulness for Health course in a fully online format and she has written a very moving blog about the joy this gave her. Read more