In Conversation with Vidyamala Burch & Miranda Hart

About This Event

An intimate evening with bestselling and award-winning authors Vidyamala Burch OBE and Miranda Hart, exploring what it really means to live with chronic pain and illness — and how, even with ongoing challenges, we can shape lives filled with humour, connection, and meaning.

Ticket Costs

Standard Rate: £19.50
Standard Rate + £10 Donation: £29.50
Standard Rate + £20 Donation: £39.50

🗓 When: Thursday 6th November, 18:30–20:30 UK time*
💻 Format: Online via Zoom
🎟 Tickets: £19.50 + optional donation
🎥 Recording: Sent to all ticket holders
❗️Please note: Once you have booked and paid we will email you with a short form which you will need to submit to complete your registration

*Times are for the UK (GMT) - Please click here for your timezone

All proceeds support the Breathworks Foundation (Charity number 1131851), helping us sustain affordable mindfulness programmes and free resources for people living with pain, illness, and stress. Our mission is to ensure that no one faces these challenges alone, and that everyone has access to mindfulness-based support and community.

About the event

Living with chronic pain or illness can be exhausting, isolating, and difficult to explain to others. This special live conversation brings together two women who have written candidly about what it means to live with illness — and, more importantly, how to live well in spite of it.

Together, they will open up an honest and intimate dialogue — acknowledging the weight of ongoing health challenges, while also shining a light on the insights, practices, and sources of support that can help us face difficulty, discover joy, and find strength in connection.

Meet the speakers

Vidyamala Burch OBE

Vidyamala is a mindfulness and compassion teacher, award-winning author, and co-founder of Breathworks. After sustaining a life-changing spinal injury as a teenager, mindfulness became a lifeline for managing her chronic pain.

Her discovery of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Full Catastrophe Living during one of her most challenging periods offered both practical guidance and hope, inspiring her to develop Mindfulness-Based Pain Management (MBPM).

Vidyamala’s contributions to wellbeing have been recognised with an OBE and an honorary membership from the British Pain Society. She has also been named one of the UK’s most influential disabled people for her innovative work in pain management and mindfulness.

She offers wise, practical guidance for living with greater ease, compassion and meaning.

🔗 https://www.vidyamala-burch.com

Miranda Hart

Miranda Hart is a writer, comedian and actor. She is best known for her much-loved and multi-award-winning sitcom Miranda, as well as her BAFTA-nominated role of Chummy in Call the Midwife. Notable films include Spy alongside Melissa McCarthy, and playing Miss Bates in the recent adaption of Emma.

Her first book, Is It Just Me?, was a Sunday Times No.1 bestseller, winning Non-Fiction Book of the Year in the Specsavers National Book Awards. Other books include Peggy & Me and the children’s novel The Girl With the Lost Smile.

I Haven't Been Entirely Honest with You was an instant Sunday Times bestseller and was nominated for Non-Fiction: Narrative Book of the Year at The British Book Awards 2025.

Follow Miranda on Instagram: @realmirandahart + @themirandashop

What to expect

This will be a relaxed and welcoming evening — cameras on or off, tea in hand, no participation required and no mindfulness experience needed.

Vidyamala and Miranda will each bring their own perspectives on living with illness, and together they’ll explore three themes that overlap in both their stories:

• Facing Difficulty – grief, surrender, and softening resistance
• Finding Joy – the place of play and light-heartedness
• Love & Connection – why self-compassion and belonging matter so much

There’ll also be a chance to pause with short, guided meditation practices from Vidyamala, and space for audience Q&A.

We know that extended time on screen can be difficult, so at the start of the event we’ll share some simple ways you can take care of yourself as you listen.

Tickets

There are three ticket options — simply choose the one that feels right for you. Every ticket directly supports the work of the Breathworks Foundation, helping us ensure that people living with pain, illness and stress don’t face it alone.

• Standard — £19.50
• Standard + £10 Donation — £29.50
• Standard + £20 Donation — £39.50

💙 Your contribution sustains our bursary scheme, reduced-rate places, and free resources — and helps us grow a community where mindfulness support is available to everyone who needs it.

Recording

All ticket holders will receive a recording of the event, so if you wish to access this conversation but can't attend live, please book a ticket as usual. We may also make an edited recording available for public purchase at a later date.

Please note: only Miranda and Vidyamala will be visible and audible on the recording.

About the Breathworks Foundation

The Breathworks Foundation is a UK charity with a mission to make mindfulness accessible to everyone living with pain, illness, and stress.

At the heart of our work is helping people develop practical, accessible tools and skills to live alongside their challenges — not by denying difficulty, but by finding ways to live well with it.

For over 20 years, we’ve offered evidence-based courses, bursary and reduced-rate places, and free resources through our online Community of Practice. We also believe no one should have to face illness or pain alone, which is why building community and connection is woven into everything we do.

By joining this event, you’re not only enriching your own life — you’re also helping us sustain affordable programmes and free resources so thousands of others can access the tools, practices, and community they need to live well with illness.

To learn more about the work we do, please click here.