Meet our expert mindfulness associates located throughout the UK and beyond each bringing a broad experience across many sectors and industries.

Alessio Agostinis  

Alessio is a Chartered Psychologist, Associate Fellow, and founder of CTT International, offering professional bespoke psychological services, Court Opinion, mindfulness and cognitive based therapies and EMDR. 

He is also the Managing Director of Jersey International Mindfulness Centre Limited, a mindfulness specialist provider to corporates, legal, banking professionals  and high-performance athletes.

He has provided consultation and expertise on stress in the workplace to UK and local Government agencies and regularly presents at work, research conferences, leadership events and not-for-profit events, as well as contributing to various strategic and organisational change and development initiatives, including  in the UK, UAE, Canada and Italy.

Originally from Italy, Alessio is a trained classical pianist who has had stints as a chef and member of the Italian parachute regiment. He settled in the UK after finding love and these days lives in Jersey where he enjoys spending his time out at sea low-water fishing.

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Alison Purnell

Alison is an experienced Breathworks Mindfulness Teacher, Accredited since 2011 and a member of the UK Network of Mindfulness Teachers.

Alison works for Breathworks as a Senior Trainer, Supervisor and Mentor; involved in training and supporting mindfulness teachers and facilitating meditation retreats.

Alongside this, since 2013 Alison has been running a continuous program of Mindfulness for Health courses in the NHS - helping patients with chronic pain  transform their relationship to pain and suffering.

She has also helped to bring the Breathworks approach to staff in a number of NHS Trusts, including her own where she teaches the Mindfulness for Stress course as part of a workplace wellbeing initiative. She enjoys having such a broad variety of people to work with in this field.

Alison has a particular interest in the area of Compassion, and is also trained to teach the Mindfulness Based Compassionate Living , and Mindful Self Compassion courses.

Alison finds her own mindfulness practice invaluable in keeping her balance and perspective in life as an NHS Health Professional and Mother. She believes that we can all weave mindfulness and self/compassion into the busiest of working and family lives.

Alison holds a Bsc. in Psychology with Sociology, a Diploma in Counselling, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Therapy. She has specialised in Community Mental Health.

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Andrea Cygler

Andrea is originally from Manchester but is now based in Liverpool. She is an experienced and well-qualified wellbeing practitioner who has taught and practiced complementary health, therapeutic touch, meditation and relaxation techniques, stress management and resiliency training for 20 years, working with all ages and diversities, all over Merseyside and the North West.

Although she had tried different forms of meditation over the years it was only after an 8 week Mindfulness course that her practice become sustainable, enjoyable and truly beneficial. She has trained as a Mindfulness teacher and qualified with Breathworks in 2014 . She has also done some MBSR training with Mindflow and is a qualified Mindfulness in Schools Instructor (www.mindfulnessinschools.org). She teaches for Breathworks and also runs her own mindfulness courses and meditation sessions in Liverpool.

She does have a small private practice but her main focus is on group work and community projects and most of her work over the years has been within support services, adult learning services and the school environment.

She is committed to inspiring, enabling and supporting individuals in taking an active and integrative approach to their wellbeing, encouraging a deep understanding of the connection and relationship between body, mind and spirit and a mindfulness- based approach is now at the heart of all her work.

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Annika Wager

Annika is an experienced mindfulness trainer with a commitment to bringing mindfulness into workplaces. She completed her training in at Bangor University’s Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice in 2012 and has been teaching mindfulness in general population courses and in busy work places since then.

Annika’s clients have included staff in. schools, local businesses, local councils, police and ambulance services and she provides all aspects of mindfulness programmes from introductory sessions to full courses.

Coupled with her background in project management, further studies in coaching, psychology and, her experience in tailoring mindfulness for individual work place settings, she is an in ideal position to help implement sustainable mindfulness programmes in work places.

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Bodhilila Young
Bodhilila is an experienced mindfulness and meditation teacher who has been practising mindfulness for over 30 years.

She is the chair of the West London Buddhist Centre, and has been leading residential retreats since 1990, including retreats for the POC and LGBTQ+ communities. More recently she has led day, weekend and week-long retreats online with a focus on mindfulness and kindness practice.

Bodhilila is a Breathworks Associate Teacher and qualified as a Breathworks teacher in 2015 and as a Breathworks supervisor in 2019. She is inspired by the Breathworks approach, in particular she loves how it combines a compassionate yet practical approach to mindfulness to empower people to make positive and creative changes in their lives.

Her other qualifications include a Diploma in Therapeutic Massage, a Diploma in Integrative Psychosynthesis Counselling and a PGCE. She worked for 15 years as a classical musician then as a massage therapist, counsellor, primary school teacher and nursery manager.

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Colette has extensive experience in the mindfulness field. She is a mindfulness teacher, trainer and supervisor and certified Mindful Self-Compassion teacher (MSc, The Centre for Mindful Self Compassion, in the process of teacher certification.

She delivers stress reduction and resilience training across a range of sectors including education, health and business.

Colette holds a doctorate from the University of Liverpool and is a trained integrative counsellor.

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Emma Tian Williamson 

Emma is a trained mindfulness teacher with a focus on mindfulness for stress, burn out and mindful movement.   

She was drawn to mindfulness after experiencing a period of burnout, and found that it gave her stability in times of fluctuation and grief. The power of awareness to transform our experience continues to inspire her. 

She teaches yoga and qigong around studios in East London where she lives, and also enjoys community work in the local area: teaching mindfulness sessions at St Joseph's Hospice and movement classes for over 55 year olds in Hackney.

A graduate of Breathworks first People of Colour Internship, she champions representation in the field and went on to host the organisation’s first People of Colour group.

For her, the balancing practice of mindfulness is an ‘antidote for modern life’. What she loves most about teaching is passing on the tools that have helped her to live a more resilient and happy life.

She enjoys keeping herself sustained by travel, books, podcasts and getting out into nature. 

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Debbie Cane

Debbie is a qualified Breathworks teacher with particular interest and skills in the use of mindfulness techniques in patients with chronic dizziness. She has designed and delivered bespoke courses and support groups (based around the Breathworks model) to this group.

She is also interested in the use of mindfulness techniques in clinical leadership, leading sessions on this, and the use of mindfulness to help support the well-being of students and all hospital staff.

Debbie is senior clinical scientist in the NHS specialising in the testing and treatment of vestibular (inner ear balance organ) disorders. She also lectures on these subjects at Manchester University.

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Fidelma Farley

Fidelma became accredited with Breathworks as a mindfulness trainer in 2008 and as an Associate Trainer in 2013. As well as teaching Breathworks Mindfulness for Health and Mindfulness for Stress courses and workshops for the general public and a variety of groups and organisations, including M.S. Ireland, the Irish Heart Foundation, staff at St. Vincent’s University Hospital and students at University College Dublin. She is a regular teacher of the Mindfulness for Health on-line course. She is a mentor for trainees as they go through their mindfulness teacher training with Breathworks. She also contributes to the teacher training programme, and she set up and ran the first Breathworks teacher training programme in Ireland in 2016.

Having worked as a university lecturer prior to becoming a mindfulness teacher, Fidelma is an excellent communicator and group facilitator. She became an accredited coach in 2016 and finds that her mindfulness and coaching practices inform each other in productive and meaningful ways.

Fidelma has a long-standing meditation and mindfulness practice, which continues to ground and sustain her. Her teaching is inspired by the desire to give others the opportunity to enhance their own health and happiness through mindfulness practices.

She has a particular interest in mindful eating and in the Kindly Awareness meditation practice, and has devised courses and workshops on these topics. She especially enjoys teaching mindfulness on a one-to-one basis, both in person and on-line. She lives in Co. Wicklow in Ireland with her husband and young son, enjoys walking and reading and is starting to discover the pleasures of gardening.

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Ginny Walll

Ginny is an experienced mindfulness teacher who has been teaching individuals and training teachers for over 20 years. 

Ginny came across Breathworks after going through a period of emotional pain and anxiety due to family circumstances. Already a long-time meditator, she found the Mindfulness for Health approach, in particular its combined emphasis on awareness and compassion, to be transformational and a real turning point in her practice and life. Her teaching today is very much grounded in her own experience of how these practices can make a real difference in coping with everyday life, work, personal challenges and relationships.

As former Head of Training, Ginny was responsible for designing and developing Breathworks’ Teacher Training Programme, its learning materials and e-learning resources. Today, she continues to teach Breathworks courses to groups, alongside working with individuals and mentees. She has been extensively involved in adapting the Breathworks programme for the needs of different communities - including younger demographics, the LGBTQI+ community and people whose first language is not English or who have lower literacy levels. She enjoys working in a variety of contexts from community centres and festivals to workplaces and schools.

One of the things Ginny loves most about teaching mindfulness is seeing the ways it can transform people’s lives for the better. Having experienced how it can spread positive ripples out into the world, she loves to witness how it can help people flourish through reducing suffering and promoting resilience and creativity.

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Julia Lofts

Julia is an Accredited Breathworks Mindfulness Teacher and Psychotherapist (MBACP Accred). She specialises in working with people who suffer with chronic pain and illness, as well as long-term stress and disordered eating.

She chose to train with Breathworks Mindfulness while searching for some relief to her ongoing battle with back pain and migraines and found this approach of tremendous, life-changing benefit.

Julia runs two Mindfulness Meditation Groups and regular Mindfulness for Health and Mindfulness for Stress courses in East Sussex and Kent, and also works extensively with individuals and couples, where a more personalised approach can be offered.

She creates a welcoming, supportive and encouraging environment where anyone new to mindfulness can explore, learn and develop. She’s also available for corporate and business training for ethical organisations.

Julia is a registered Mindfulness Teacher with the UK Network for Mindfulness-Based Teacher Training Organisations and the Mental Health Foundation.

"I am constantly inspired by new discoveries and the richness that mindfulness brings to our lives and feel truly privileged to have been a part of some amazing life journeys that have been shared with me by others -  to whom I have been fortunate enough to pass on my learning.” - Julia

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Karen Liebenguth

Karen is an accredited mindfulness teacher, certified coach and MBTI facilitator. 

Karen offers tailored mindfulness programs for the workplace as well as retreat days in nature. 

She specialises in ‘coaching while walking’ in natural settings tapping into the beneficial impact nature has on our psychological, emotional and physical wellbeing.

Karen set up Green Space Coaching & Mindfulness in 2008 to foster personal and professional development, self-leadership and mental resilience.

Karen is an accredited and associate mindfulness trainer with Breathworks UK and a member of the Association of Coaching.

Karen has worked with Kew Gardens, The Royal Town Planning Institute, Trades Union Congress (TUC), K Benchmark, Adam & Eve Communications, Here East and others. 

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Louise Hankinson

Louise is a clinical psychologist, who has worked extensively in primary and secondary mental health care services, and now works in a busy NHS hospital, supporting patients living with chronic health problems and going through complex surgery.

For the past 10 years, Louise has developed an interest, and strong expertise in, mindfulness and acceptance based approaches.  She is a qualified mindfulness practitioner and Associate with Breathworks, who deliver mindfulness training and courses.  She has experience delivering mindfulness courses and individually, to people living with chronic pain and illness, stress, and also to people in the workplace.  Louise is also experienced in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and also Compassion Focused Therapy, and has delivers training in this to other professionals.  She has also delivered ‘ACT in the Workplace’ groups to staff in NHS and educational settings.

For the past 3 years Louise has joined with her sister Rachael, to form InTwoMinds.  Together they have run courses for teachers, using both ACT and mindfulness.  The aim is that participants find ways of incorporating these skills into both their own lives, and into the wider school programme.  They also give talks to parents and educational groups, run inset days, and lead sessions with children in the classroom.

Louise has 3 children, who remain her priority - even more so as they begin to flee the nest.  She enjoys year round outdoor swimming, taking her dog on long walks, singing in a community choir, and making things for people.

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MJ Stevens

MJ has been accredited with Breathworks as a mindfulness trainer for six years, where he has taught many of the MfS and MfH courses locally in Manchester. He has been a practising Buddhist for many and worked at the Manchester Buddhist Centre since 1997. He has taught many meditation and Buddhism courses and has a regular meditation practice.

In 2010 he qualified as an Alexander Technique teacher. This technique is well known for posture and about bringing our awareness to our habits both helpful and unhelpful ones. With greater awareness, or mindfulness of our day-to-day activity, we see how our bodies affect our thoughts and vice versa. So he enjoys using his AT skills combined with the Breathworks material, especially with its emphasis on mindful movement and Mindfulness in Daily Action.

Mj has worked with the NHS, it's Graduate Leadership Academy, staff at various trusts and a variety of healthcare professionals. Other clients have included the Royal Northern College of Music, Nando’s management team, Havas Lynx, Autotrader Companies and Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.

As part of the senior training team Mj is frequently involved in the BW training retreats, supervision of practice courses and one-to-one supervision.

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Singhashri Gazmuri

Singhashri has been a devoted mindfulness practitioner for 20 years, teaching in formal and informal settings for over 10 years, and training and supervising mindfulness teachers over the past 7 years. Her professional background includes youth work, organisational leadership and development, particularly in the charity and higher education sectors, and teaching and training programme development. Between 2012 and 2019 she held a number of roles at Breathworks including training manager, head of programmes and head of innovations. She currently works as a senior associate.

Singhashri delights in the opportunity to use her experience and skills to help grow and develop Breathworks. Her favourite part of the job is supporting students in the training programme and accredited teachers to bring more and more of themselves into their mindfulness practice and teaching. She was also a key contributor to the early stages of developing the workplace programme.

Singhashri is also on the executive committee of the British Association of Mindfulness-based Approaches, the UK's leading organisation in ensuring high quality standards in mindfulness teaching, training and supervision. 

She believes that all people, given the right conditions and supports, can learn to thrive.

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Soo Strong

Soo is a Breathworks Associate Teacher, Mentor and Coach. She incorporates her qualifications in Somatics, Reiki and Neuro Linguistic Programming into her teaching which focuses on shifting challenges in mindset for more expansiveness, development and joy.  

Soo has 35 years of experience working across self-development, education, mental health and community spaces.  

She is a passionate advocate for supporting and embracing change, and conducts her work through a trauma sensitive lens that enables choice with compassion and respect. 

Soo’s approach wholeheartedly embraces the power of mind and body integration to allow for long-term change. She supports her clients in tuning into their own inner strength and wisdom, to allow for healing to take place and joy and resilience to flourish.  

In her free time, Soo loves to read, swim and find deep and meaningful connections with those around her. Soo writes poetry to drop in deeper to her experience, and has had a poem published in Poems for Ukraine. 

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Sophie Matthews

Sophie has worked as a mindfulness teacher since 2015. She currently leads mindfulness courses, workshops and retreat days in London and Kent. Living with a painful, chronic health condition, she has found mindfulness to be indispensable to her life.

Sophie is an Associate Teacher and Supervisor for Breathworks, and teaches both Mindfulness for Stress and Mindfulness for Health courses. She is also a Breathworks trainer for mindfulness in the workplace and for health professionals. Sophie is also teaches MBSR, MBCT and MBCT for Life and is qualified to teach the Mindfulness for Schools Foundations Programme and the Nurturing Parents: Mindfulness Based Wellbeing for Parents Programme.

Sophie has had a personal mindfulness practice for the past 9 years. She is currently completing a Masters in Teaching Mindfulness Based Approaches at the University of Bangor by writing an MA thesis on Mindfulness for Parents of Teenagers, something that has become very relevant in her own life. 

Sophie is a member of the UK Network of Mindfulness Teachers and adheres to their standards of good practice.

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Stanter Kandola

Stanter was diagnosed with severe Rheumatoid arthritis in her teens and was told that she would end up in a wheelchair.  Instead, she embarked upon a journey of self-discovery and is now a freelance mindfulness teacher and coach, delivering mindfulness workshops and courses across Yorkshire and is founder of ‘Open Mind’

For the last 29 years, Stanter has embraced a holistic approach to her health and wellbeing, exploring different ideas and techniques from established teachers such as Tara Brach and Ken Wilber, incorporating their teachings into her daily life.  She also discovered the practice of mindfulness.

An experienced and qualified manager, adept at coaching and training delivery, Stanter holds a BA in Social Anthropology (School of African and Oriental Studies University of London, 1997) and is a fully Accredited Breathworks Mindfulness teacher (2014).  In 2017 she trained with the ‘Mindfulness in Schools Project’ qualifying to deliver their ten-week Dot B programme to children. Stanter played a leading part in developing a pain clinic in West Yorkshire, which was nominated for an outstanding performance award at national level.

Stanter has delivered mindfulness sessions – either one-to-one bespoke sessions or group workshops – to local government; NHS staff; fostering services; Neurological Centre, Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Survivors services.  She is experienced in working with complex clients suffering from long-term health and mental health conditions, and trauma including Manchester Bombing victims. 

Stanter has defied her original prognosis.  She has walked on hot coals, lived on the River Ganges, meditated in the desert and by the ocean. She lives life to the full.

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Steve Smith

Steve is a freelance Mindfulness Teacher and Teacher Trainer.

Steve's first experience of mindfulness and meditation came over twenty five years ago.  He is now a qualified Mindfulness in Schools (MiSP)  teacher, one of the core teacher training team at Breathworks and has a Post Graduate Certificate in Mindfulness-based Approaches from Bangor University.

With over thirty years’ experience as a trainer, instructor and facilitator, Steve has worked extensively in the field of personal development, counselling, delivering individual coaching, group courses and workshops in the public and private sector in both the UK and abroad.

Steve has taught mindfulness in a number of organisations, including Enterprise Car Hire, Winchester University and Stannah.  He also delivers Mindfulness within public and private education including the King Edwards School.

In his spare time Steve enjoys living in the New Forest and writing/performing music.

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Taravandana Lupson

Taravandana brings a wealth of experience and skills founded upon a combination of 35 years of experience within the NHS as a clinician (allied health professional), senior manager and organisational development lead in a range of NHS organisations including acute, strategic health authority and clinical networks.  She has led on a number of regional and local consultancy assignments and since 2008 has run her own business. She has been practising and teaching Mindfulness for 30 years and is an Accredited Mindfulness Trainer

Taravandana has practised and taught Mindfulness within the Buddhist tradition since 1988 including through leading retreats. She is passionate to pass on the benefits she has personally experienced with others especially those who work in stressful jobs doing their best to make the world a better place. Her clients The Kings Fund, NHS Senior leaders and clinicians, front line staff and teams

Taravandana has proven ability in a range of developmental approaches including mindfulness and resilience, coaching, mentoring, action learning, facilitation, change management, leadership and organisational development.

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Tina Stallard

Tina is an experienced and fully accredited mindfulness teacher.  She trained with Breathworks and has carried out additional training with Bangor University and the Oxford Mindfulness Centre.  She is also a qualified yoga teacher.  She has a deeply rooted meditation practice and attends meditation retreats and courses regularly. 

Tina’s teaching is based on strong communication skills from her former career as a television journalist and filmmaker at the BBC, and also at City University as a lecturer in broadcast journalism.  Her work as a journalist has given her a deep insight into the stresses and challenges people can face both in the workplace and at home, and how mindfulness can help. 

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Vishvapani Blomfield

Vishvapani has extensive experience of bringing mindfulness into workplaces and helping teams embed mindful approaches in their lives and work. He has trained in several mindfulness curricula and is a leader in bringing mindfulness to Criminal Justice settings and public policy. Over the last decade he has led more than 120 mindfulness courses.

Vishvapani has worked with leading business schools (London, Said and Cardiff), and senior management teams in the public and private sectors. Clients include G4S, Wales Probation and Prison services, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, the UK’s Department for Communities, Insolvency Service, social service departments, counselling services, healthcare teams and schools. As Wales Director of the Mindfulness Initiative he works with the Welsh Government on binging mindfulness into public policy.

Vishvapani has a First Class degree in English Literature from Cambridge University and an MA in Drama from London University. He’s an engaging speaker, an author and a regular contributor to Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He lives in Cardiff with his family and several chickens.