Ian Rigg
My first meditation experience was to book myself onto an 8- day meditation retreat up at Purelands retreat centre at Samye Ling. I then began studying meditation more formally in 2004, under the tutelage of Rob Nairn. Over the years, I have been fortunate to learn from exceptional teachers and I credit much of my learning to Rob Nairn, Donal Creedon and Mingyur Rinpoche.
In 2013, I was awarded a Masters Degree in Studies in Mindfulness from the University of Aberdeen and upon graduation I was invited back to teach on the same programme. As part of the final year dissertation, I chose to study the effectiveness of the 8-week Mindfulness Based Living Course (MBLC) for health care staff in their place of work. This study then set the ground work for future work in the NHS.
I have a counselling and psychotherapy background and worked as a young person’s drug and alcohol counsellor for a number of years. I began teaching mindfulness in 2012, and over the years I have taught on all the Mindfulness Associations one year course offerings (mindfulness, compassion, insight and mindfulness for life).
In 2015, I set up a mindfulness initiative in the health service, to offer mindfulness and compassion based interventions to NHS staff as part of a health and well-being initiative. I continue in this role and I have now taught over 100 x 8-week mindfulness and compassion courses to thousands of staff. I have been researching the benefits of mindfulness and compassion based interventions for health care staff since using his MSc dissertation as a pilot study in 2012.
The cornerstones of my health and well-being are meditation, yoga, breath work and cold immersion. I have been training in martial arts since 1990, holding a 5th degree black belt in TaeKwon-Do. I teach two Vinyasa Yoga Flow styles (Budokon Yoga and Yogic Arts). I also teach breath work and cold immersion and I am a certified Wim Hof Method Instructor. For fun, I enjoy hiking in the fells of the Lake District in Cumbria.
I work with individuals and groups, face to face and online, in a variety of different settings. I have created an extensive course offering and you can find more about my work regular class schedule, upcoming workshops, courses and retreats by visiting: Ian-Rigg.com