Ruth Phillips

Ruth Phillips is internationally recognised as a cellist, performance coach, and writer. Working at the intersection of music and mindfulness, she is a graduate of Mindfulness programmes with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield and draws on neuroscience, contemplative practice, somatic awareness, and four decades as a professional musician. Her coaching, mindfulness retreats for creatives, and The Breathing Bow community have become a refuge for performers seeking a more humane and heartfelt relationship with their art and craft.. With an approach described as “inspirational” and “innovative,” she has supported performers from leading chamber groups, conservatoires, festivals and orchestras in finding greater ease, confidence, and creative freedom both on and off stage. Cellist Steven Isserlis writes of her work: “I wish that more musical training started from those precepts.”

She is the author of the book Beauty at the Edge of Catastrophe, Cultivating Mindful Presence in Musical Performance. Jack Kornfield has called the book a “gift”, saying: “Dear musicians, you hold in your hands a beautiful offering that can enliven your embodied presence, and bring heart wisdom to your art.”