About us 

Be Mindful Now cic trading as Mindfulness Unleashed was set up in 2013 to help people reduce the level of mild dissatisfaction with their lives along with mental and emotional dis-ease. Suryacitta is the author of five books published world-wide on mindfulness meditation, compassion and happiness and has over 30 years experience of practice and teaching. Gaynor is an international coach and mindfulness teacher. They run meditation retreats and mindfulness courses in Leicester, the UK and Europe. They also specialise in workshops for anxiety, resilience and the menopause. 
 
On their courses and retreats you will learn: 
How to establish a very simple meditation practice that actually works (should you wish to) 
Simple direct effective tools and techniques for everyday life 
How to work with anxiety and panic attacks 
How to live more in the present rather than past and future 
How your own mind can create distress and confusion and how to overcome it 
How stress builds up and how see the warning signs and how to reduce the stress 
 
We also work with many people who at some point in their lives begin to experience a mid-life dissatisfaction or a loss of direction and purpose. We show you in very simple way what is going on and how to accept and to gain a new perspective on your life.  
 
We also run workshops and courses for businesses throughout the Midlands and the UK. We work with companies including Capital One, Advent, the Bank of Ireland, Precision Recruitment, University of Leicester and more. 
 
We are based in Leicestershire and and run our mindfulness and Compassion events in London, Birmingham and all over UK and now in Europe and Australia. 
 

Our Mindfulness Teachers 

Suryacitta Malcolm Smith
 

Suryacitta Malcolm Smith 

“Suryacitta,“ cosmic man! Beautiful jewels, gems and facets of wisdom. Fearless learning into the edges was inspiring.” Dennis 
 
Suryacitta Malcolm Smith, is one of the most experienced mindfulness teachers in the UK, starting his practice in 1989. He is the author of five books, ‘finding contentment through mindfulness’ published in 2011 and Mindfulness and Compassion – Embracing life with Loving Kindness, 2015. Both published by Ivy Press, and A Mindful life, Who’s this in the shower with me, how to get out of your head and start living. 
He has taught mindfulness and compassion meditation to 1000s of people in the UK and abroad. From 2001 to 2005 he lived in a meditation retreat centre, dedicated to intensive practice and teaching. He is known as the teacher’s teacher having taught many of the teachers in Leicestershire, the UK and Europe. He is renowned for his absolute down-to-earth approach, and for his simplicity, clarity and humour in teaching, being free of mindfulness jargon and cliches. 
 
 
He co-designed the MSc in Mindfulness and Compassion at Coventry University where he also lectured until the course was withdrawn during covid. He is an expert practitioner and spends his time teaching others what he has learnt. Suryacitta teaches and speaks around the world. If you would like to invite him to teach or speak just drop us a line. Suryacitta also teaches mindfulness to sports people to enhance performance. 
 
“You have a rare gift of communicating in a way that challenges and explains in such a simple way.” Laurie 
Gaynor Quilter
 

Gaynor Quilter 

Gaynor Quilter, co-founder of Mindfulness Unleashed has worked in charities for over 30 years, principally with young people. She was CEO of Alone in London and Apex Works. She was Director at Young Minds, Parentline Plus and Macintyre Care.  
 
For over 10 years in the early part of her career Gaynor developed her experience and insights by working directly with young homeless people at Centrepoint and Youth Aid, as well as with ex-offenders at Intake Hostel. She spent two years in development education charities, including theatre for development projects in Northern Nigeria. Gaynor has held volunteer governance roles in a number of organisations. She is currently a founder and Chair of Reaching People Consortia, a membership organisation of 33 voluntary organisations providing services to vulnerable people. 
 
She teaches mindfulness practices to a wider range of people; is a mindfulness coach and advises on mindful change management projects mainly within the Charitable sector. Gaynor’s interests lie in the alignment between values, culture and behaviours. 
 
Gaynor has been practising mindfulness for over 16 years. She came to the practice after the death of her Mum, she found that mindfulness allowed her to stay in her body rather than living in her planning and doing mind. She found it the most helpful way of working with her pain and loss. Her daily practice helps support her to stay balanced and purposeful. Gaynor has a degree in Peace Studies, is a qualified mediator and coach. She attended mindfulness teacher training at Bangor University. 
Olivia Hodson
 

Olivia Hodson 

Olivia Hodson: Be Mindful Now community interest company- director and volunteer: 
 
Olivia began practicing meditation a few years ago and has found it a key practice for staying calm. She uses Voice Dialogue too as she knows this helps talking to her anxious, worried and scared parts, as well as discovering her happier parts. Over the years she has seen these change and evolve, giving her a greater degree of perspective and control over her thinking mind. 
 
She has been a student on Suryacitta’s courses and has more recently volunteered by supporting his classes. We are very lucky to have her helping as a volunteer and we hope that one day she’ll be able to share with others how her experience, knowledge and insight of how mindfulness has helped her. 
 
She likes to spend her time with family and very close friends. Her passion is watching Leicester City Football Club, which she has been doing since the age of eight. Her aunt, Gaynor believes she should be a radio football commentator as she has incredible observational ability and her descriptions of the action on and off the pitch are superb. 
 
Bankei
 

Bankei  

In every moment Bankei just is. He teaches us to be in our senses. He is playful but knows when to rest. In spite of being blind his beautiful blue eyes are always shining. He brings those who meet him the gift of contentment. As long as you have thrown the ball for him enough times! 

Who's living your life? People Pleaser? The Perfectionist? The Judge? The Guilty One?  Mindfulness Unleashed 24/7 - Online Membership Community. Live monthly drop ins, new monthly materials, access to extensive library of mediations and talks. 

Short video of Surycitta teaching in Australia 

Vision and Values 

Our mission: Is to improve the health and well-being of participants on our courses. This is achieved through greater self-awareness, broader emotional resilience, acknowledged changes in relationships and an increase in compassion for themselves and other. 
 
Our vision: Is that participants understand mindfulness and develop a personal practice that will benefit them, their family, friends, work colleagues and the wider world in which they live, work and contribute. 
 
The Values and the behaviours that support participants to be more present and achieve their own vision of a mindful life. 
 
Kindness and Compassion: Being as non-judgemental as we can and learning to live in the present moment. 
 
Curiosity: Encouraging participants to notice and be interested in their own experience in the here and now. 
 
Self-Awareness: Encouraging participants to be aware of their own drivers and habits, other people and the world around them. 
 
Simplicity: We keep the teaching and practice simple, leading to understanding and personal transformation. 
 
Transformation: Participants have a vision of how their life can be. The transformation comes in the commitment to maintaining a practice. Ideally daily. 
 
Open to all: We believe that mindfulness should be open to all who wish to practice. We don’t ask lots of questions before a course, we respect that participants have their own vision of how learning to practice mindfulness and compassion will support them. 
 
All participants can ring us and share their concerns in advance and we can advise on suitability. By doing it this way we find that participants remain in control and all our many differences are respected, rather than judgements made. 
 
Whatever arises in the mindfulness space is boundaried. We don’t turn people away, but we do signpost if a different therapeutic intervention is needed. 

Be Mindful Now - Community Interest Company 

We are a not for profit company. We choose not to be a charity based on the often-onerous administrative governance issues involved in maintaining a Board of Trustees. Our priority is impact through practice. We are lucky through our networks to have a fabulous Advisory Board of people from a range of professions and backgrounds that assist us and keep us on our toes! We also have committed volunteers. 
 
As a Community Interest Company -We have a dual approach to giving back. 
 
We do this by making available reduced and free places on all our eight session mindfulness and compassion courses. 
We make donations to UK charities that the Directors have a personal commitment and connection too. In the past we have donated to Leicester Samaritans; Breast Cancer Awareness UK, Prostrate Cancer, Bowel Cancer UK, Action Homeless and The British Heart Foundation. 

Meet our Advisory Board 

 

John Cooper 

John is our go-to person for all things websites. 
 
Always ready to help, working with the team, he ensures all the website updates are completed as soon as possible. 
 
John is also the owner of it'seeze Leicester Website Design who provide bespoke mobile-friendly and secure websites to business owners across Leicestershire. 
 

Priscilla Bianchi 

Priscilla Bianchi is a Guatemalan educator, designer, textile artist, and entrepreneur. She is a Preschool teacher; has a college degree in Human Resources Administration and another degree in Visual Arts. She has taught young children, teens, and adults for over 40 years at home and internationally. 
 
For the past 16 years, she has been the Academic Principal of one of Guatemala's top private, bilingual (English-Spanish) schools. In 2013, she came upon Suryacitta´s "Happiness and How It Happens" book, which transformed her life. Since then, Priscilla takes classes regularly from Suryacitta and Gaynor and continues learning on her path for peace, calm, love, and spirituality. 
Roger Woolman
 

Roger Woolman 

Roger Woolman has over 30 years of experience in finance, banking, and technology. 
 
He initially worked in accountancy practice advising owner-managed businesses before moving into financial services, working with and in investment banks and hedge funds. He has founded and exited businesses in financial technology and publishing. 
 
Roger is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. 
 
Roger has been studying with Suryacitta since 2017. 

Our philosophy and wider impact 

Our philosophy is that we are already happy, but this might not be our experience at present. Our view is that mindfulness does not involve years and years of struggling with self-development. In fact, self-development can sometimes get in the way, because self-development is all about the self, all about the ego, all about me, which is often the root cause of our suffering and problems. 
 
The way to be happy is not achieved by acquiring anything outside of ourselves, or by developing this quality or that quality. Nor is it achieved by trying to be a special type of person, or being a “good” person, but by looking at the story of who we think we are. 
 
We are happy when we stop believing and identifying with the image we have of ourselves in our own heads. 
 
Happiness is for everybody, not just for the select few. We don’t need to live in a special place, we don’t need to put on special clothes or recite sacred words in sacred places. It is available to each and every one of us, if we are willing to look at ourselves with honesty and with courage. 
We share mindfulness practices with those who attend our courses and retreats.  
 
Participants leave with an appreciation of being in the moment and of building a practice that supports them to stay present and enjoy life more. 
 
We have taught mindfulness to 1000s of people. 
218 people benefited from our courses and retreats in 2013-14 
265 people benefited from our courses and retreats in 2014-15 
340 people benefited from our courses and retreats in 2015-16 
548 people benefited from our courses and retreats in 2016-17 
628 people benefited from our courses and retreats in 2017-18 
702 people benefited from our courses and retreats in 2018-19 
644 people benefited from our courses and retreats in 2019-20 
346 people benefited from our courses and retreats in 2020-21 
692 people benefited from our courses and retreats in 2021-22 
 
The participant's testimonials on the website tell of the impact our courses and retreats have on their own lives as well as the wider impact their practice has on their family, friend’s and colleagues lives. 
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