Valerie (Vimalasara) Mason-John's first encounter with mindfulness came as a teenager, when they were incarcerated for shoplifting and had to spend time in solitary confinement. What would have been a difficult struggle for many became a doorway for them to explore the depths of their mind — as their inner silence grew, so did a sense of peace and wellbeing they had never experienced before. Several years later as young adult immersed in their local party scene in England, they got glimpses of these blissful feelings again while moving their body ecstatically on the dance floor. Dancing became their connection with the deeper layers of being, years before they even attended her first meditation class.
Their first formal meditation practice was transcendental meditation, when a friend encouraged them to try it out. They became diligent with the practice, but once their teacher moved to another country, they decided to give mindfulness a chance. Despite having a thriving journalism career and being a passionate and powerful playwright, they discovered that meditation was their higher calling. Vimalasara went on to be ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Community, where they received their spiritual name, Vimalasara. They co-created the Mindfulness Based Addiction Recovery (MBAR) program, and Eight Step Recovery: Using The Buddha’s Teaching to Overcome Addiction. They are the author of eight best-selling books — with a new one in the works — and their TEDx Talk about bullying has been viewed about 375,000 times.
