Buddhist Therapist in London, UK and worldwide online
Looking for a psychotherapist who understands both modern psychology and Buddhist philosophy? If Buddhism, meditation or mindfulness play an important role in your life, it’s important to have support that honours your spiritual journey. Buddhist Therapist and Life Coach Karin Peeters helps you find the path most true to you.
Qualified Therapist registered at BACP
20+ years of Buddhist practice
Trusted by 840+ clients since 2008
Studied in India and Nepal for 3.5 years
Compassion-based practices to cultivate kindness, mindfulness and inner wisdom
Integrating Buddhist philosophy with modern psychotherapy
Feeling lost, stuck, unclear about your direction or navigating a significant life transition? Wishing to move forward with clarity and confidence? You may find yourself asking:
How to find a therapist who understands your world view, personal values and spiritual aspirations?
How to create greater inner peace despite (or even because of) what’s happening in your life?
How to find meaning in life's challenges?
How to make conscious, aligned choices from a place of love and wisdom that reflects who you truly are and the life you want to live?
This is where I can help. I’m Karin Peeters. By integrating evidence-based psychotherapy with compassion-based practices from the timeless wisdom of Buddhist philosophy, I help you understand yourself more deeply, improve your mental, emotional and relational wellbeing, and cultivate warm-heartedness, a calm mind, clarity and purpose.
Life is precious.
Live it true.
Can you help me?
My work is particularly suited to thoughtful, self-aware people who are curious about personal growth, self-exploration and wish to live a meaningful life filled with kindness and greater inner freedom. You might or might not identify with religion, but appreciate Eastern wisdom. My Coaching & Therapy clients share a desire for depth, purpose and authenticity.
I offer a compassionate and evidence-informed way of supporting people with stress & anxiety, depression, life transitions (reaching a milestone age, or significant life changes like miscarriage, infertility, divorce, break-up, bereavement or a health scare), relationship challenges, emotional challenges, fulfilment in work and a search for greater meaning.
Who is this not for?
I do not offer treatment of an acute mental health crisis. You may benefit from seeing an in-person therapist to receive the practical and emotional holding and safeguarding that goes beyond an online therapeutic relationship.
Vitalis Coaching & Therapy
Where modern Western Psychology meets the timeless wisdom of Buddhism
Hi, I’m Karin Peeters - Buddhist Therapist
Down-to-earth practicality with deep spirituality
I’m a qualified, experienced Psychotherapist and certified Life & Career Coach. My work integrates evidence-based modern psychology enriched with twenty years of authentic Buddhist study, meditation and lived practice. During a 3.5 year spiritual sabbatical in India and Nepal I studied contemplative Buddhist philosophy within a monastic environment.
I’ve got a deep personal commitment to living a meaningful life, with an open, kind and radically compassionate heart for all beings, with a yearning to know and realise the nature of mind and abide in inner freedom, clarity, spaciousness, wisdom and love that I believe is the essence of us all.
Established in 2008: 840+ clients and 14,750+ client hours
Registered Member of British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
Qualified Transpersonal Psychotherapist
EMDR Trauma Therapy certification
Experience at NHS Trust and HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs
As featured in
"Our own life has to be our message."
— Thich Nhat Hanh —
How does Buddhism inform my unique therapeutic approach?
Interestingly, you might actually not notice much about my connection with Buddhism during our sessions, except for my way of being as a person. I don't teach Buddhist philosophy, use spiritual jargon or tell you to sit on a meditation cushion at home. Most of my work is completely secular, unless you specifically ask for an active integration of Dharma (Sanskrit for the teachings of the Buddha) practices as part of our work.
What can you expect from the sessions?
For me, Buddhism isn't an additional self-help technique added onto conventional therapy. And I do not see mindfulness as just a stress reduction technique, but as a profound method to remember to attune oneself to a life of high integrity, develop a focused concentration, and ultimately to become familiar with the nature of mind.
I genuinely aspire to have the teachings of the Buddha in my heart, for me it’s a foundational inner moral compass that is at the core of who I aspire to be as a human being. It's a lived ethical framework that has profoundly shaped how I understand our mind, heart, suffering, compassion and potential for transformation.
My Buddhist practice has opened my heart and brought out my innate warmth, calm presence and compassionate nature. It’s also developed a deep humility in me about our shared human nature and the suffering we all experience. You'll find qualities such as compassion, generosity, patience, loving-kindness, integrity and acceptance woven throughout our sessions.
Helping my clients connect with their innate qualities and the goodness within themselves is what makes my therapeutic work unique and profoundly meaningful.
Karin Peeters - Buddhist Therapist & Mindfulness Meditation Coach
Karin Peeters attending teachings by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche at Asura Cave - Pharping - Nepal
Karin Peeters attending teachings by HH Dalai Lama at Mahabodhi Temple - Bodhgaya - India
In pursuit of happiness
Watch this short video to learn what years of living, studying, and meditating in India and Nepal taught me about happiness.
What is your professional education, background and experience?
Professional qualifications and therapeutic training
Every person is unique, and I don't believe one therapeutic model fits everyone. Instead, I integrate a range of evidence-based approaches, selecting the methods that best support your unique circumstances, personality and goals. Many of the therapies mentioned below have been influenced by concepts originating in Buddhist philosophy.
My therapeutic approach integrates a solid five-year training in Transpersonal Psychotherapy with contemplative psychology and more than thirty years of personal exploration of spirituality, Eastern Philosophy and, for the last two decades, Buddhism. This unique blend of modern psychological science with practical, compassionate wisdom is dedicated to cultivating lasting wellbeing, true happiness and inner peace.
I’m experienced in the following modalities:
Evidence-based therapies
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): transform unhelpful thought and behaviour patterns.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): develop a compassionate relationship with difficult thoughts and emotions.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR): heal from the impact of trauma and distressing life experiences.
I receive regular supervision.
Registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP verified membership number: 53518).
Self-awareness and the unconscious mind
Internal Family Systems (IFS): recognise the different parts of yourself, each of which has served a role, but may no longer be serving you.
Jungian Psychotherapy: become aware of the unconscious patterns shaping your life, and make choices with greater freedom, authenticity and autonomy.
Dream Analysis (Jungian Dream Interpretation): uncover deeper meaning from your unconscious mind.
Mindfulness and Contemplative Psychology
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR): learn practical mindfulness skills to reduce stress, regulate emotions, and feel grounded in daily life.
Mindfulness-Based Self-Compassion (MBSC): treat yourself with the kindness and support you’d offer a friend.
Karin facilitated mindfulness workshops for organisations including Epson Europe BV.
Seasoned meditator: 30+ years of meditation practice and mindfulness experience (of which 20+ years Buddhism).
Positive Psychology and Coaching
Positive Psychology: identify and increase your innate qualities like resilience, humour, gratitude, patience and generosity to help you thrive and flourish in life.
Professional Life Coaching & Career Coaching: an evidence-informed coaching approach that helps you clarify your direction, make aligned decisions and create meaningful, positive change.
By integrating modern psychotherapeutic science with Buddhist wisdom, I help you understand yourself more deeply, heal emotional wounds and create lasting positive change. Serving clients in London, UK and worldwide online.
Want to work with a therapist who understands your world view, spiritual path, values, code of ethics and the way you aspire to live?
Karin Peeters meditating at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya - India, where Buddha reached enlightenment.
Depth of my Buddhist study, meditation and lived experience
Buddhism is far more than an area of professional interest for me. It has been a lived path of study, meditation and personal practice since 2006, profoundly shaping both my life and the way I work as a Psychotherapist and Life & Career Coach.
My journey has taken me through India and Nepal, where I lived for three and a half years immersed in Buddhist philosophy, meditation retreats and Eastern contemplative traditions. Alongside my formal psychotherapy training in the United Kingdom, this experience has given me a deep appreciation of both modern psychological science and the ancient wisdom of Buddhist practice.
My own spiritual path is firmly rooted in Tibetan Buddhism (Mahayana and Vajrayana) within the Nyingma and Kagyu lineages, while also drawing inspiration from Zen Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism, Engaged Buddhism through the Plum Village Tradition founded by Thich Nhat Hanh, and Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka.
Explore my journey of Buddhist study, practice and guidance that continues to shape my life and my work:
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My studies include Buddhist philosophy and contemplative psychology through:
• Rangjung Yeshe Institute (RYI), Kathmandu, Nepal: an internationally respected centre for higher Buddhist studies affiliated with Kathmandu University and located within Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery.
• Jamyang London Buddhist Centre, United Kingdom: part of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).
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Since 2006, I've maintained a regular meditation practice supported by silent retreats, intensive study programmes and ongoing teachings. These include:
Ten-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat in the tradition of S. N. Goenka at Himachal Vipassana Centre, Dharamshala, India
One-month Lamrim Meditation Course (Sanskrit for stages of the path to enlightenment) course at Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal – based on the Mahayana Gelug lineage
Annual solitary silent meditation retreats
Regular teaching seminars with my principal teacher, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, in the UK, Austria, India and Nepal
My long-term daily practice is called Tara’s Triple Excellence, based on the female Buddha Green Tara, the goddess of compassion in action.
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Over the years I've had the privilege of receiving in-person teachings both nationally and internationally with some of the greatest recognised Tibetan Buddhist meditation masters of the 20th century including His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, Venerable Robina Courtin, Khandro-la, Phakchok Rinpoche, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Khensur Lama Lhundrup and Venerable Gen Losang Namgyel.
I have the deepest honor of calling these respected masters my teachers.
I've also been deeply inspired by the lives, teachings and writings of: Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Pema Chödrön, Venerable Thubten Chodron, Tsultrim Allione, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ajahn Brahm, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Alan Watts and Tara Brach.
Zen Buddhist and Mindfulness Teacher
Mahayana Buddhism - Gelugpa and Psychotherapist
Vipassana Meditation Practitioner
Vajrayana Buddhism, Tibetan Teacher and Translator
Endorsement from a Psychotherapist Colleague
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Buddhist Psychotherapy?
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Buddhist psychotherapy combines Western modern psychology with the original teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, as a method to develop inner peace, compassion and wisdom. Rather than treating symptoms alone, Buddhist psychotherapy explores how you relate to your thoughts, emotions and life experiences. Together, we work to reduce suffering, cultivate self-understanding and help you live with greater clarity, loving-kindness and inner freedom.
The ancient Eastern wisdom traditions invite us to live according to a profound moral compass, cultivating a loving, compassionate and wise heart that benefits both ourselves and everyone we meet.
What are the benefits of Buddhist Therapy?
2
The universal principles of Buddhist psychotherapy offer a practical and compassionate way of understanding yourself more deeply and living with greater clarity, inner peace and freedom. We’d work together on a deep level, inviting you to develop greater self-awareness, compassion, emotional balance and wisdom. Rather than struggling against difficult experiences, we learn to relate to them with curiosity and kindness.
At all times my approach remains grounded in evidence-based psychotherapy and tailored to your individual needs.
Does this mean I have to be Buddhist to work with you?
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No. I don’t believe in one right way. My invitation to all of my clients is to become more themselves. I welcome people of all cultures, beliefs and religions. Whether you’re Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Jew, etc., atheist, spiritual or simply curious, you are welcome here. I love learning from you, and will support you to be true to your own unique self. To live whole-heartedly from a place of honesty, integrity and authenticity.
Why are you uniquely qualified to integrate psychotherapy with Buddhist psychology?
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Few coaches and therapists combine extensive clinical psychotherapy training with decades of Buddhist study, meditation and lived contemplative practice. My work is informed by professional psychotherapy qualifications, decades of clinical experience, formal study of Buddhist philosophy at Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Nepal and Jamyang London Buddhist Centre in the United Kingdom, long-term meditation practice, and regular retreats and teachings with respected Buddhist meditation masters.
This depth of experience allows me to integrate evidence-based psychology with authentic Buddhist wisdom in a way that is both clinically grounded and deeply personal and heart-centred.
Do you have another question? Please check the FAQs page for more helpful answers.
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