Breathworks Foundations Board of Trustees

The Breathworks Foundation has a Board of Trustees who share a love of mindfulness and a deep appreciation of its positive effects. They meet quarterly to guide the work of The Foundation and the team, as well as approve fund allocations.

Robert Jones, Chair of Trustees

Robert brings decades of strategic leadership and commercial expertise to his role as Chair of the Board. Having served as Managing Director of Windhorse Trading for 23 years, he oversaw the organisation’s growth into a £12 million enterprise, recognised for several years as one of the UK’s fastest-growing companies.

Beyond his commercial success, Robert is a seasoned charity trustee, and specialises in the governance of "hybrid" structures—where charitable missions are supported by trading arms—making him uniquely qualified to steer the Breathworks Group.  As Chair, Robert is dedicated to ensuring robust governance and sustainable growth to maximise Breathworks’ social impact.

Prof. Dominic Houlder

Dominic is one of Europe’s leading experts on strategy execution in B2B and professional services firms. He helps the leaders of major firms to connect with their clients, their colleagues and themselves in different and compelling ways.

Dominic brings a unique mix of theory, practical experience, and spiritual insight to his work. He is Adjunct Professor in Strategic and Entrepreneurial Management at London Business School where he has been based since 1994. Previously, he worked for the Boston Consulting Group and held senior leadership positions in the corporate world. His clients have ranged from Deutsche Bank and Saatchi & Saatchi to British Airways and the UK Ministry of Defence.

A committed Buddhist practitioner for more than 30 years and back in 2001 he co-authored ‘Mindfulness and Money, the Buddhist Heart of Abundance’ just as mindfulness was being spoken about. In 2019 he authored 'What Philosophy Can Teach You About Being a Better Leader'.

Dominic also serves as a Trustee of the Clore Social Leadership Foundation, a Governor and Council Member of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and as a Trustee of the Karuna Trust as well as being a crofter on the Isle of Skye.

Menka Sanghvi

Menka's work is focused on creative ways to share mindfulness and compassion practices with more people. She is a senior advisor at The Mindfulness Initiative, lead author of The Fieldbook for Mindfulness Innovators, host of the Digital Habit Lab podcast, and creator of the newsletter Just Looking. She has joined Breathworks to strategically support the charity's efforts around accessibility and inclusion.

Previously Menka led innovation projects for the United Nations, Oxfam, Save the Children and corporates seeking a positive social impact. Her background is multidisciplinary, including degrees in physics from Cambridge University, extensive training in design thinking with IDEO, a lifelong study of contemplative traditions, and a passion for mindful photography. You can find out more about her work here.

Jess Pailthorpe (Dayadarsini)

Jess has worked with people experiencing pain, illness and distress for 20 years, both through her work as a Craniosacral therapist and also her role sharing Mindfulness in her local Hospice and other settings. She has deep confidence in the Breathworks approach and has a vision to see the work expand, grow and evolve.  Her 'grass roots' experience of teaching Breathworks courses and approaches across many settings informs her role as a Trustee.  Jess has been a practising Buddhist for 20 years and this underpins her work and life. 

Karim Rushdy

Over the past 20 years Karim has opened and run restaurants in China, been a partner in a pan-Asian think tank and facilitated purposeful leadership programmes in 15 countries. Today, he works with a ground-breaking EdTech platform dedicated to redesigning society and solving humanity's greatest challenges.

Ten years ago, Karim discovered the healing potential of mindfulness and meditation when they transformed his relationship with chronic pain and gave him a fresh perspective on life. Having experienced first-hand how awareness and self-compassion support wellbeing, Karim feels incredibly privileged to serve as a Trustee and support Breathworks in helping others living with pain, illness and stress cultivate their innate capacity to heal and reclaim their lives.

Karim is currently pursuing a master’s in teaching mindfulness-based courses at Bangor University. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife Rebecca and his two greatest mindfulness teachers, their daughters Na'ima and Amina.

Ruth Cheesley

Ruth has a background in web and digital technologies, having created and grown a full-service digital agency over seven years.  She also has a long history of building and growing communities within the voluntary and corporate sectors and brings these skills to help Breathworks continue to grow and deliver on its mission.

Ruth lives with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome which results in hypermobility, fatigue and pain.  She has found the techniques that Breathworks teaches to be transformative in allowing her to live her life to the full and manage her health in a positive way.  Having largely recovered from a health crash, she is now exploring sport and fitness, is a keen runner, and as ambassador for This Girl Can, encouraging girls and women to lead more active, healthier lives. 

Vidyamala Burch, Founder and Board Adviser

Vidyamala Burch is a mindfulness and compassion teacher, speaker, coach and award-winning author.
 
She developed her evidence-based Mindfulness-based Pain & Illness Management (MBPM) approach in 2001 when she founded Breathworks, which has reached over 100,000 people around the world and is recognised by health boards globally.

Vidyamala has an OBE for her services to wellbeing and pain management and is an honorary membership to the British Pain Association.

Through her work, she hopes to empower those living with pain or difficulty to reclaim their lives.