The Global Mindfulness Collaborative developed the MBSR Teacher Training Pathway honoring and with the intention to embody our lineage: training as MBSR teachers through the Center for Mindfulness founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn and steered for many years by Saki Santorelli, and training as MBSR teacher trainers through the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine, and/or later from our teachers and colleagues at the Mindfulness Center at Brown University.
We also honor a lineage that goes back further than the Center for Mindfulness or Jon Kabat-Zinn. All members of the GMC came to mindfulness practice through various lineages and traditions, and each has a dedicated, passionate relationship to practice and its fruits with gratitude for our elders who have shared through embodied wisdom and compassion.
As a global collaborative, we continue in fidelity to this lineage simultaneously taking a fresh look at the teacher training pathway to reflect the various cultural and locational circumstances in which we live, practice, and teach, including the move to online learning.
Presented here is the most current Teacher Training Pathway. It will certainly continue to be reviewed and refined with great care and, in an increasingly complex world, acknowledging the need to honor the gifts and circumstances of the cultural contexts in which trainers and teachers were formed and are practicing.
Three Levels of Training
The GMC MBSR Teacher Training Pathway has three (3) levels. Level 1 is two programs that leads to MBSR Teacher, Qualified Level 1 status. Level 2 also has two programs and it leads to MBSR Teacher, Qualified Level 2 status. The third level of teaching is Certification that leads to Certified MBSR Teacher status.
Level 1: MBSR Essentials and MBSR Intensive Practice and Teaching (IPT) Programs
Upon successful completion of both Essentials and IPT:
You are qualified as: MBSR Teacher, Qualified Level 1
MBSR Essentials Program
MBSR Essentials is the first step in the Global Mindfulness Collaborative’s MBSR Teacher Training Pathway. It offers a highly experiential exploration of the MBSR curriculum, cultivating evidence-based teaching competencies and understanding from the inside out. Whether you intend to teach MBSR or integrate mindfulness into your professional field in other ways, Essentials is a special opportunity to deepen practice. As we discover greater degrees of freedom in our own lives, we are able to bring the essential transformative elements of mindfulness to others in the service of minimizing harm and maximizing human flourishing.
MBSR Intensive Practice and Teaching (IPT) Program
MBSR Intensive Practice and Teaching (IPT) is the second formal training on the pathway to teach, providing a deeper dive into the MBSR curriculum’s form and essence and greater clarity to its intention, content and flow. True to its name, this training is an intensive immersion in MBSR that strengthens teaching skills and personal practice. As a trainee, you will expand your experiential and cognitive understanding of MBSR through practice teaching, receiving feedback from peers and trainers, study and self-reflection, mindfulness practice, and the support of the learning community. The IPT aims explicitly to develop teaching skills as well as the embodied presence and qualities of heart that support freedom from suffering for ourselves and those we serve.
Level 2: MBSR Group Practice and Teaching (GPT) and MBSR Individual Supervision Programs
Upon successful completion of both GPT and Supervision:
You are qualified as: MBSR Teacher, Qualified Level 2
MBSR Group Practice and Teaching (GPT) Program
The Group Practice and Teaching (GPT) training marks the entry into Level 2 of the MBSR Teacher Training program and is designed to support your continuing development and refinement as an MBSR teacher. With the dynamic support of the GPT group and trainer, you will investigate the intentions and components of various curricular elements, and have opportunities to reflect and practice teaching according to specific needs and requests. Explorations of pedagogical issues, MBI-TAC domains, teacher competencies, and teaching as transformational practice are woven organically into the GPT program. Personal meditation practice continues to be the cornerstone of all investigations and is intrinsic to the course.
MBSR Individual Supervision Program
Individual Supervision of the MBSR Teacher is the final course in Level 2 of the MBSR Teacher Training program. This training offers the MBSR teacher continuity and connection through the close relationship with their mentor throughout the full eight-week MBSR teaching cycle. This MBSR teacher training program is designed with the intention of providing individual guidance and support, as well as clarifying concepts and deepening understanding of the underlying principles of the MBSR program. Through the intention and commitment to work directly and intensively with their mentor, the trainee is able to refine and update the teaching of the MBSR program.
Note:
The 10-session MBSR Individual Supervision Program is usually taken after completion of MBSR GPT. Any other supervision or mentoring sessions you have taken will not qualify as part of this program.
Level 3: Certification
Upon successful review and assessment:
You are qualified as: Certified MBSR Teacher
MBSR Teacher Assessment and Certification (MBSR TAC)
The MBSR TAC is the culmination of years of study, practice and teaching by the MBSR teacher candidate for certification. Through a review and certification process verified by the Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University, identifying in the teacher candidate how the knowledge, skills, attitudes and competences are expressed in the teaching. Strengths, areas for development and recommendations for post-certification learning are assessed for a “continuing education” process that is essential as part of the MBSR teacher’s holistic development.
Note:
Supervision is available at any time during the teacher training pathway – either in one off sessions or in a series.