Best Programs for Coaches & Therapists
The following programs have been curated from the vast number aimed at helping professionals like practicing coaches and therapists.
1. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Teaching Certificate – Brown University – United States
The Mindfulness Center at Brown offers a tiered mindfulness program that trains participants to become MBSR instructors.
The Certificate in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Teaching is led by experienced teacher-trainers to deepen participants’ mindfulness practice and teaching skills.
You can tailor the course so that it fits around other commitments and become a qualified MBSR teacher in one or two years. Brown offers free introductory sessions to help you decide if this is right for you.
2. Breathworks Teacher Training – United Kingdom
Like Brown, Breathworks offers a range of training pathways to becoming a fully accredited mindfulness teacher in two specific approaches: MBSR and also their own approach developed by the course leaders called mindfulness-based pain and illness management.
Breathworks offers free virtual open days that permit you to browse the range of options and ask questions about the different pathways available. Find out more by visiting the Breathworks website. All Breathworks training programs are accredited by the British Association of Mindfulness-based Approaches.
3. Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program – Mindfulness Exercises – United States
This is an online teacher training program led by an impressive lineup of internationally renowned teacher trainers that promises to equip participants to “teach mindfulness — without self-doubt, fear of judgment, or imposter syndrome” (Mindfulness Exercises, n.d., para. 1).
Trainers include Dr. Gabor Maté, Byron Katie, Christopher Germer, Dr. Richie Davidson, and Susan Kaiser Greenland, among others. The program offers internationally recognized accreditation with the International Mindfulness and Meditation Alliance.
You can explore further details at Mindfulness Exercises.
3 Mindfulness Certification Programs for Teachers
The following three mindfulness certification programs are specifically aimed at qualified teachers and educators interested in integrating mindfulness into schools and classrooms.
1. Mindfulness in Schools Project – United Kingdom
The Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) is a global community that offers a range of short online training workshops for teachers and an intensive in-person training in the United Kingdom to become a school mindfulness lead.
The workshops offer different methods of teaching mindfulness that are targeted at specific age ranges. Read more about what’s offered at MiSP.
2. Mindfulness for Educators Certificate – Antioch University – United States
This fully online program for mindfulness training in graduate education is the only one in the United States aimed at teachers of all kinds.
Whether you work in an elementary school or a graduate school, the Mindfulness for Educators Certificate is designed to support participants in deepening their own mindfulness and compassion practices while learning how to apply them to their work as educators.
3. Mindfulness for Teachers Certificate – University of San Diego – United States
The University of San Diego’s fully online mindfulness training for teachers program is designed to engage and inspire teachers interested in developing mindfulness in schools from preschool to 12th grade.
The certificate can be earned over six months to a year by completing three courses at a pace that fits around other commitments. It includes meditation training for teachers plus mindfulness course design and evaluation methods for schools.
7 In-Person Retreats & Experiential Workshops
This carefully curated sample of seven retreat centers offers a range of mindfulness training options, as well as experiential workshops and retreats based on mindful, conscious living.
1. Spirit Rock Meditation Center – Woodacre, California, United States
Spirit Rock Meditation Center has roots in insight meditation teachings (vipassana) and offers retreats, classes, and workshops in person and online.
Programs cater to both beginners and experienced practitioners seeking an opportunity to deepen their mindfulness and meditation practice.
2. Gaia House – Devon, United Kingdom
Gaia House is situated in South Devon, England, and hosts retreats and workshops led by Buddhist meditation teachers predominantly from the insight (vipassana), loving-kindness (metta), and Zen meditation traditions.
As well as hosting courses, workshops, and retreats, Gaia House caters to long-term solitary meditators and work retreatants curious about exploring mindful living.
3. Plum Village – Dordogne, France
Plum village near Bordeaux in France was the first monastic community founded in the West by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay). Thay was a famous Vietnamese monk and peace activist who wrote some mindfulness classics, including The Miracle of Mindfulness and his Mindfulness Essentials series.
Plum Village offers a range of in-person and online retreats, including extended stays of up to three months during the traditional Buddhist “rains retreat.” The only permanent residents of Plum Village are monks and nuns, but others can volunteer in exchange for a small fee to support the monastery.
4. Blue Cliff Monastery – Pine Bush, New York, United States
This is a branch of the Plum Village global community run along the same lines and with similar facilities as the original. Blue Cliff Monastery is a mindfulness meditation center that also offers retreats and other workshops.
Thay founded monastic communities all over the world, and you can search the Plum Village Practice Centers to find the nearest if his particular approach to mindfulness appeals to you.
5. IMS Forest Refuge –Barre, Massachusetts, United States
The Forest Refuge offers retreat facilities for established practitioners of vipassana or insight meditation to go deep into their practice in total silence. It is part of the Insight Meditation Society, which has a network of mindfulness meditation centers across the United States and worldwide. Forest Refuge is specifically for committed practitioners.
6. Mindfulness Training Institute – Australia and New Zealand
For those living in Australia or New Zealand, the Mindfulness Training Institute (MTI) offers a range of certified mindfulness training programs in approaches like MBSR and MBCT, as well as workshops and silent meditation retreats. MTI has a whole range of retreat options.
7. Clear Sky Meditation Centre – Fort Steele, British Columbia, Canada
The Clear Sky Meditation Centre offers a range of mindfulness courses and workshops online and in person. They also offer a three-month live-in intensive where people learn to live mindfully in a conscious community. They also have three individual retreat cabins with valley views to support silent personal retreats.
The above are a small sample of what is available worldwide but give you some idea of what is available.
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