20 December 2024

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As the year draws to a close, we reflect on what we've achieved and experienced together as a charity and community. Here we share five things worth celebrating in 2024...

1. Changing Lives Through Mindfulness

Since 2001, Breathworks has been dedicated to reducing suffering through mindfulness and compassion. We teach practical techniques that help people live fuller lives, even when facing challenges like chronic pain, illness, or stress.

To make this accessible, we offer a sliding price scale for our events and provide bursary places on a pay-what-you-can basis for those in need. These opportunities often reach people who benefit the most but are least able to self-fund.

In 2024, despite the challenges facing small charities, we’re thrilled to have provided over 350 bursary places—an increase from last year! Here’s just one of the lives we touched: 

➡️ Click here to learn more about our bursary funding. 

2. The Generosity of our Community 

Breathworks has weathered many storms over the past 23 years (including recessions and a global pandemic!), yet we stand strong thanks to our incredible community. Whether you’ve attended an event, donated, or fundraised, you’ve made it possible to:

• Help people discover mindfulness and find a new way forward
• Deliver high-quality training so others can share mindfulness
• Reach underserved communities with innovative projects
• Create a compassionate space for on-demand mindfulness

This year’s fundraising highlights included a 7-day sponsored silence, a 24-hour run, and a neuroscience workshop with Dr. Rick Hanson. We ended the year with a bang during the Big Give’s Christmas Challenge, raising over £4,500 thanks to your generosity!

Fundraising Highlights in 2024

We also wanted to take this opportunity to shine a light on our unsung heroes, our team of regular volunteers who who give their time, energy and unique qualities to support the running of Breathworks. A big THANK YOU to: 

• Mark Fletcher - Providing weekly tech support for Vidyamala’s Space to Breathe sessions and other live events.
  
  
• Priyanka Malhotra - Reviving our beloved online book club with thoughtful book selections
  
  
• Paula Doran, Stani Try, Katie Forster and Debbie Cane - Hosting groups within our Community of Practice, offering mindful support for parents and those with vestibular symptoms.
  
  
• Emma Maxwell - balancing university studies while supporting our research and marketing teams, creating engaging Instagram content and summarising complex mindfulness studies.

3. HEALS: The New Health-Management Course You've Been LOVING!

After running three successful pilots, our new HEALS course finally launched to the public this September. HEALS was developed by Breathworks Founder, Vidyamala Burch OBE, as an 11-week programme that applies mindfulness to areas known to benefit overall health, including nutrition, sleep, movement, and a sense of connection with the world around us. In a uniquely compassionate and accessible approach, this course focuses on small, achievable changes in behaviour which result in big changes to physical and mental health.

The response to our first public course was overwhelmingly positive, with all 40 places selling out in less than 48 hours. To meet unprecedented demand, we ran an additional course in October, with 90 people taking part in total this year. 

➡️ Bookings are now open for HEALS, 2025! Click here to browse dates and secure your place.

4. The Ripple Effect: Training to Share Mindfulness

When people experience the transformative benefits of mindfulness, many feel inspired to share these skills with others. In 2023, we refreshed our Training Programme to make this journey more accessible and flexible for everyone. A key part of this update was the introduction of our Mindfulness Facilitator Training—a new certification designed for those who want to lead simple practices and workshops without yet committing to the full pathway to becoming an accredited Breathworks Teacher.

This stepping-stone allows participants to deepen their own mindfulness practice while gaining the confidence and tools to support others. For those who choose to go further, the full Breathworks Teacher Training equips them to deliver our renowned 8-week courses.

We are thrilled to celebrate the achievements of 36 newly Certified Mindfulness Facilitators and 26 newly accredited Breathworks Mindfulness Teachers this year. These passionate individuals are already sharing mindfulness in their communities, helping to create a kinder, more mindful world.

5. Opportunities for Connection  

2024 truly felt like the year of connection, as the Breathworks team embraced opportunities to meet our community face-to-face at conferences and events across the UK. After spending so much time online, we were delighted to host three in-person retreats in Herefordshire, Manchester, and London, each offering participants the chance to deepen their mindfulness practice in a supportive and restorative environment.

One standout moment was our hybrid 7-day retreat at Adhisthana, where using a rather sophisticated tech setup, we brought together in-person and online retreatants for a shared experience focused on balancing our nervous systems. 

We also took time as a team to reflect and recharge during an incredible Team Day in Bangor. Together, we revisited our core values, explored how we can best serve the world, and identified exciting opportunities to reach even more people in the year ahead.

That's all from us this year - wishing you all a wonderful holiday period with your loved ones. If a Christmas day 'time out' meditation sounds tempting to you, join us on the 25 December for our free Christmas Practice Session. 

Happy holidays!

Love,

The Breathworks Team