

Michael Atkinson
Mindfulness Teacher
Email: michael@mamindfulness.co.uk
Phone: 07577 439412
Address: Based in Durham, UK
Other Professional Roles
Co-Chair of the Mindfulness in Medical Education Special Interest Group for the Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME)
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Senior Lecturer in Medical Education, MBChB and Master of Medical Education, School of Medicine, University of Sunderland, UK
A Bit About Me
I started my journey in mindfulness in the late 1990's after going through a challenging period of my life. I enrolled on a six-week meditation course and within a few months my life was dramatically transformed. I did not need to be convinced that mindfulness meditation and the ancient wisdom that underpins it was indeed very powerful. I have practiced it ever since and it continues to surprise and motivate me in ways that I couldn't have initially imagined.
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Teaching mindfulness is the most rewarding of all the professional roles I have done and is surely my vocation in life. Helping others to find mindfulness and watching it transform their lives is a privilege that I am profoundly grateful for, and one that I continue to find thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring.
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The timeline below highlights both my mindfulness experience but also my related experience as a teacher and teacher educator as well as my relevant education background.
Experience
2016 - Current
2019 - Current
2012 - Current
I began my professional mindfulness teaching journey after embarking on teacher training with Suryacitta (Mindfulness Unleashed) in Leicester in 2016, and then further subsequent teacher training with Karen Atkinson and her team at MindfulnessUK, training in both Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in 2019 and Compassionate Mindfulness Resilience in 2024. In 2024 I became registered as a mindfulness teacher with the British Association for Mindfulness-Based Approaches (BAMBA) and also became a member of MindfulnessUK.
I joined the Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME) as Chair of their Mindfulness in Medical Education Special Interest Group (MiME) in 2019 and now share the role as Co-Chair with my colleague, Vidarshi Karunaratne. In this role I help lead on a number of events and articles, helping to raise the profile, and advance the scholarship of, mindfulness in medical education. I have been fortunate to chair sessions with Dr Ron Epstein of the University of Rochester in the United States and author of the book 'Attending'; Dr Kathryn Mannix, TED speaker and author of 'Listen' and 'With the End in Mind', and Karen Atkinson of MindfulnessUK and author of 'Compassionate Mindful Enquiry' .
In 2012 I gained a teaching position at Newcastle University on the Master of Medical Education (Teacher Education for Healthcare Professionals), and subsequently developed a role as a mindfulness teacher, delivering regular sessions and the MBSR course to staff and students across the university. I also helped design and led on a module for 3rd year Psychology undergraduates on Transpersonal Psychology, Mindfulness and Psychological Wellbeing. In 2022 I joined the University of Sunderland as a Senior Lecturer in Medical Education where I help deliver the Master of Medical Education, and lecture on mindfulness to 1st year undergraduates. Beyond my university role, I also review mindfulness, wellbeing and education related articles for journals such as Mindfulness, Healthcare, Societies, Advances in Health Sciences Education, Trends in Higher Education, and International Medical Education. Within the medical education context I have presented at many conferences and workshops on the theme of mindfulness and have worked with the likes of Dr Zoe Williams (ITV's Good Morning Britain) and featured regularly with a 'Morning Mindfulness' slot with Radio Tyneside. I am currently writing a proposal to start a PhD on a mindfulness related theme.
1997 - 2015
2007 - 2011
1999 - 2007
I now teach mindfulness in a secular format but I did start my training in meditation within a Buddhist context. I was involved in the Triratna Sangha (formerly Friends of the Western Buddhist Order) for 15 years but was reading about Buddhism for a few years prior to this. I did many retreats during this time including a spell of going for ordination, and I fell in love with solitary retreats which I still try to do from time to time. I found and still find Buddhist teachings inspiring, but I never really saw myself as a Buddhist, but rather a person practicing within a Buddhist context with an open mind to other traditions and philosophies. I think that is why I gravitated toward a secular approach to mindfulness.
During this period of my life, I entered the profession of Teacher Education at the University of Sunderland as a Teaching Fellow, in the Post Compulsory Teacher Education department (as part of a new national Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training). Here, I developed many of the fundamental skills for developing teachers' expertise and completed my Masters in Advancing Pedagogy.
Between 1999 and 2001 I was attending philosophy evening classes at the then Centre for Lifelong Learning at Newcastle University. From 2001 - 2004, I completed a first degree in Philosophy at Newcastle University, gaining a First Class degree with Honours. I subsequently went on to do my teacher training at the University of Sunderland in Post-Compulsory Education and Training (where I was also running a few meditation sessions for my fellow students). During my placements I taught philosophy and psychology in schools and colleges. After graduation, I taught philosophy and critical thinking at A-level and Access level (HEFC) at Newcastle College. I also trained as a facilitator of philosophical enquiry with Oxford Brookes University around this time. I still bring my understanding and training in philosophy into my mindfulness teaching, and find it invaluable for communicating difficult concepts and facilitating enquiry.