Elizabeth English: Gentle mindfulness

In this conversation, we talk about freeing meditation from the pressures of what we believe it should be and welcoming every aspect of our inner experience. Dr. Elizabeth English began meditating as a student in 1983. Three decades later, she was appointed as Cambridge University’s first ever Mindfulness Practitioner. Her courses are the subject of research published in The Lancet showing significant benefit to students, and are now also offered more widely online. Elizabeth draws on four decades of personal meditation practice and her ordination within a Western Buddhist tradition, as well as her doctoral research at Oxford, where she studied Buddhist meditation texts. She is also a certified teacher of Focusing, Somatic Experiencing, and Nonviolent Communication. She spends much of her time singing and writing, both poetry and prose. Her first ‘gentle guide’ to meditation was published this year: Journeys to the Deep: A Gentle Guide to Mindfulness Meditation. She lives in Cambridge with her cocker spaniel, Cherub. For more information on her courses and her book, see her website. Published July 2022.