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As my career progressed, I realised that children were because of my background in education and history
struggling to achieve in schools. Rather than it being to engaging with meditation and mindfulness, and I have
do with the academic instructions they were receiving been working for the DLCC for 3.5 years. I was brought
or systematic issues, it was as much to do with their in to run a new area of work for the centre focusing on
ability to manage their social and emotional self within creating an ethics and compassion programme for UK
the educational setting. When I got back to the UK, I was schools, in collaboration with Social, Emotional, and
particularly interested in a secular form of meditation. Ethical (SEE) Learning programme developed by Emory
And it was around that time that Jon Kabat-Zinn was University in Atlanta, USA. Alongside them, we have
developing mindfulness mainly for adults. I thought, been developing materials for compassion education
wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had something like which are available for schools because I think we
this for children. I was connected with some of the are lacking some of the life-changing educational
founding members of ‘Mindfulness in Schools’ project. experiences that the children could go through to
Mindfulness is quite a common phrase in this country gain values and ethical element as well as social
now and it has become quite a regular intervention in and emotional skills. His Holiness has seeded many
helping children develop emotion regulation skills. programmes around the world and we can draw the
lessons from compassion training at Stanford, MIT and
How do you come to know about HH The Dalai Emory University and condense them into accessible,
Lama and eventually became the executive director engaging and fun activities so that the children can use
of the centre? them as a foundation to develop internal awareness,

resilience towards life challenges, and flourish.
He was a very influential person when I was growing up.
The first time I heard about the Dalai Lama was actually What is the purpose of the Dalai Lama Centre for
watching Martin Scorsese’s film in the 1990s. I became Compassion? What are the major activities of the
very interested in Buddhism when I was in my late teens. centre?
His books were really accessible, useful and instructive
especially to Westerners, and they were incredibly The centre was founded in 2016. The initial 3-4 years
popular. That was my introduction to him. Also, he used of work was focusing on research related to ethics
to travel a lot. Once or twice a year, he would be offering such as funding research about compassion. That was
teachings in the UK, and I remember going to see him a particular area of interest with His Holiness The
at Hyde Park, London when I was 20. It was hugely Dalai Lama at the time. He was interested in a deeper
inspiring to hear someone talking in terms of kindness exploration of universal human ethics. The centre
at the time of bludgeoning global conflicts. It has shaped engaged many philosophers and ethicists around the
the way I thought about what happiness means in life world to do some interesting work around compassion
and the approach to life I want to have. We can foster and related values. Some of these wonderful resources
greater peace within ourselves through service to others. are on DLCC UK website and YouTube channels if people
The opportunity to engage with that in my working life are interested. Compassion is the primary area where
has been a massive gift. To work for a project directly His Holiness is interested in now, and the reason for that
under the patronage of His Holiness is something special is drawn from all the work he has seeded around the
because I get to work with people who are connected to world over the last 20 years, especially at Stanford and
him and have similar ethos, which is altruism. Mind Life Institute, also Richard Davidson’s and other
neuroscientists’ work, showing for example that adult
After ten years at Oxford, I have reached a point in compassion training can be incredibly impactful in terms
my career where I have done a lot of things and I was of making a difference to people’s wellbeing. This is very
looking for something new. It so happened that I was timely because there has been a lot of concerns regarding
aware of the centre because I had been there for a talk, community segregation and individuals’ wellbeing. What
but I had not engaged with them at a deeper level. The mindfulness has achieved is wonderful but probably
centre shifted its focus 3 years ago and I was employed quite narrow. For me, compassion training not only offers