Gelong Thubten is a Buddhist monk, meditation teacher and author from the UK. He was educated at Oxford University and became an actor in London and New York. In his early 20’s he suffered from severe burnout and a life-threatening heart problem. This dramatic wake-up call led him to join Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Scotland, where he ordained as a monk. The term Gelong means ‘senior monk’. Thubten’s training over the past 25 years has included spending over six years in intensive meditation retreats, the longest of which lasted four years, and he has studied under some of the greatest Tibetan meditation masters.

Thubten is a world pioneer in mindfulness meditation teaching, with over 20 years’ experience working with schools, universities, hospitals, businesses, prisons and addiction centres. He trains staff at major corporations such as Google and Deloitte and is regarded today as one of the UK’s most influential meditation teachers. He teaches mindfulness to medical students and has lectured at Oxford University. He works with the United Nations to bring mindfulness to local governments, and he taught mindfulness to the lead actors on the set of Marvel’s movie ‘Doctor Strange’. In 2018 Thubten and the neuroscientist Ash Ranpura collaborated with Ruby Wax on the book ‘How to be Human: the Manual’. Thubten’s own bestselling book, ‘A Monk’s Guide to Happiness, Meditation in the 21st Century’, was published in June 2019.

Funds raised by Thubten’s work are donated to charity, to establish meditation centres which benefit local communities. Thubten has set up a number of outreach projects, bringing mindfulness to some of the most deprived areas in the UK.