After graduating with a double first in history from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, I spent several years in lifestyle journalism. I was deputy editor of FHM, a contributing editor of Arena and a regular columnist for Time Out, and wrote for the Guardian, Independent On Sunday, Elle, the Observer, and Empire, among many others.

After some soul-searching in the early 2000s, my work changed direction. Informed by experiences of depression and anxiety, I started writing about health and well-being. In 2004, I studied for a post-graduate certificate in the Fundamentals of Counselling and Psychotherapy at the Centre For Counselling and Psychotherapy Education (CCPE), and began working with the Mental Health Foundation, researching and writing a report on the use of exercise as a treatment for depression. Up and Running?: Exercise Therapy And The Treatment of Mild-to-Moderate Depression In Primary Care (2005) formed the basis of a year-long campaign which transformed GPs' attitudes to exercise therapy, leading to a four-fold increase in referrals for the treatment. Over the following years, I also wrote for the Foundation on subjects such as anger, fear, dementia, psychotherapy and public mental health. 

In 2006, I spent a year deepening my study and practice of meditation, living and working at Dechen Choling, a Buddhist retreat centre in France. On my return to the UK, I began writing regularly for the Guardian's comment is free pages, and became increasingly interested in mindfulness-based approaches to well-being. I proposed, developed and wrote the Mental Health Foundation's Be Mindful Report, which looks at how mindfulness is an effective treatment for depression and other health issues.

My first book The Mindful Manifesto:How Doing Less And Noticing More Can Treat Illness, Relieve Stress and Help Us Cope With the 21st Century takes this further, examining how mindfulness can help us as individuals and as a society. It is co-authored with Dr Jonty Heaversedge, and is published by Hay House. The book was launched at the Royal Society of Arts and its release was covered by several national newspapers.

Having already trained as a meditation instructor in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, in 2010 I completed the mindfulness teacher development retreat run by the Centre For Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University, and began teaching mindfulness to groups and individuals in London (at the School of Life) and in Sussex (at Mindfulness Sussex).

I live near Haywards Heath with my wife, Victoria.