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Courses - Retreats - Regular - Podcasting - Research - Talks - Teacher Development - Supervision
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I am a British Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (BAMBA) registered mindfulness teacher whose work brings together secular mindfulness, contemplative wisdom, philosophy, and education to explore what it means to live with awareness, depth, and compassion.
Through teaching, writing, podcasting, and collaboration, my work supports individuals, professionals, and organisations to cultivate resilience, nurture wellbeing, and discover how mindfulness can transform the way we live, learn, work, and educate.
I offer retreats, regular sessions, one-to-one Mindfulness-Based Life Alignment Sessions (MBLA), as well as the 8-week Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and the 4-week Compassionate Mindful Resilience (CMR) programmes. I also offer mindfulness teacher training and one-to-one sessions to groups and individuals.
Upcoming …
News …
It was great to do a workshop at Durham University’s Institute for Medical Humanities for their two-day symposium entitled “Spirituality in Health: Interdisciplinary Dialogue and Practice”, which took place on 21st–22nd May 2026. My session entitled, ‘Architectures of Disconnection: Reclaiming Spirituality as the ‘Connective Tissue’ of Healthcare’ reframed spirituality, moving it away from the purely personal realm and positioning it as the functional "connective tissue" required to hold a fractured system together.
It was a delight to be a guest on Ted Meissner’s podcast, ‘Mindfulness Voyage’ recently. Ted is a certified MBSR Teacher, and has presented about mindfulness to various groups including Apple, UnitedHealth, Optum, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the National Black Nurses Association. Ted has been published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, Mindful, and The International Journal of Whole Person Care, and has held master classes for the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation. Here is the link.
I am looking forward to facilitating an outdoor mindfulness workshop at Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s next Big Wild Weekend on Saturday 20th June 2026, 11.00-12.00, which will be held at Northumbelandia in Northumberland. Their website outline the session as follows: ‘For anybody feeling stressed with daily life, mindfulness professional Michael Atkinson, will be on hand to gently guide people through a Mindfulness in Nature session, designed to calm the mind, soothe the body, and leave an individual feeling relaxed and refreshed.’
It is a delight to be reinvented to start a new series of ‘Morning Mindfulness’ sessions for the Chris Eggett show on Radio Tyneside. It’s been a few years since they were last on air, but I was lucky to recently bump into Chris (an ex-colleague at Newcastle University) who kindly asked me if I was interested to do them again. These will be short readings/teachings on mindfulness - a little like BBC4’s ‘Thought for the Day’ and will run three mornings a week. Will keep you posted when they start.
I am grateful to have been invited to be a member of the Professional Standards Advisory Board (PSAB) for the British Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (BAMBA).
This group will play a vital role in helping BAMBA strengthen and uphold the integrity, consistency, and inclusivity of its Professional Standards. I look forward to our first meeting later in April.
This July, I am honoured to be running a series of mindfulness workshops at the Association for the Study of Medical Education’s (ASME’s) Annual Scientific Meeting Conference in Birmingham. I have worked with ASME for many years and always look forward to meeting fellow colleagues in the medical education sector. Find out more here.
In a recent blog for the Royal College of Pathologists, Dr. Chris Tiplady and I define 'Unencountering': a mindfulness-based approach that helps physicians reset between consultations to remain fully present and attentive for every patient. Find it here.
My research on physician care, recently published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), has achieved an Altmetric score in the top 5% of all research, signalling high impact and widespread discussion across global media and policy channels. Find it here. Check out the recent commentary piece on my article in the German Hessian Medical Journal. Find the edition here. Find the translation to English here.
I am looking forward to interviewing Mie Fielding, an English avant-garde musician, sound and visual artist, ornithologist, author and photographer, this weekend coming for my ‘Inside Mindfulness’ podcast.
His work with sound art duo dumdum Score was featured by the legendary Bill Furlong in Audio Arts - now archived in the Tate Modern. He is an active environmental campaigner, fundraiser and RSPB species sponsor.
See his work here.
Clients and Associations
Over the years I have had the pleasure to work with a range of organisations and colleagues in the sector, all of which I am grateful to for the opportunities they have provided for my professional and personal growth.
Client Testimonials
“Michael has become my 'go-to' mindfulness teacher - the mindfulness teacher I recommend to friends, family, and acquaintances.” Andrew Brown"Michael is consistently warm, open and engaging. He has an astute ability to adapt to the needs of the group" Hilary Jupp"I greatly appreciate Michael's sensitivity and intuition which have led to me bring introduced to some wonderful meditations from which I derive comfort, peace of mind and optimism"Kathy AitkenContact
I’d love to hear from you. If you have any queries please complete this form and I will get back to you as soon as possible.