MINDFULNESS TEACHER TRAINING PATHWAY
If you have experienced the positive benefits of practicing mindfulness, you may wish to train and become a qualified teacher of mindfulness.
Mindfulness Hrvatska in partnership with the UK Mindfulness Association and Mindfulness Association Polska, offers a comprehensive mindfulness teacher training pathway. This is a professional, high quality training which includes the assessment of your teaching of mindfulness against published teaching criteria. After successful completion of the training pathway, you are eligible to teach the 8-week Mindfulness Based Living Course (MBLC) using the curriculum created by the UK Mindfulness Association, and to gain ‘MBLC Approved Teacher’ status.
The MBLC is recognised as an eight week course in the UK Good Practice Guidelines (Bamba.org). The MBLC is comparable to other 8-week courses such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) or ‘BreathWorks’.
Qualified teachers can teach the MBLC as an independent trainer or a representative of an organisation and charge a fee. They can also go on to train to teach a Level 2, 8-week mindfulness course, Compassion Based Living Course (CBLC) (details on request).
Our mindfulness teacher training pathway involves two stages. Participants may study these stages sequentially, completing Stage 1 before commencing Stage 2 the following year, or concurrently, completing the pathway in one year (see more details below).
STAGE 1: ‘BEING PRESENT’ LEVEL 1 MINDFULNESS COURSE
Stage 1 requires participants to complete our ‘Being Present’ Level 1 Mindfulness course or an equivalent course (the MBLC itself is not an equivalent course). The course has four modules, each of which includes an online study and practice ‘weekend’. The course blends together in-person and online learning, so we can benefit from the advantages of both approaches. Weekends 1 and 4 are in-person and weekends 2 and 3 are online. It may be possible for participants, when necessary, to undertake 3 or all of the study/practice weekends online.
The four online study/practice weekends are on the following dates:
Weekend 1 (in-person): Saturday 11 December & Sunday 12 December 2021
Weekend 2 (online): Friday 18 February to Sunday 20 February 2022
Weekend 3 (online): Friday 08 April to Sunday 10 April 2022
Weekend 4 (in-person): Saturday 11 June & Sunday 12 June 2022.
The in-person weekends are from 09:30-17:00 on Saturday and Sunday. Each online weekend meets on Friday evening, 18.00-21:00, Saturday 09:00-14:30 and Sunday 09:00-13:45.
The fee for Stage 1 in 2020/2021 is 1600 kuna or €210.00 for each of the 4 modules. The course fee can be paid in up to 4 instalments or in one payment.
To reserve a place on ‘Being Present’ or if you have any questions, please email [email protected]. The course is limited to 20 participants.
If you have already completed the ‘Being Present’ Course, then you are ready to begin stage 2 of the teacher training pathway.
STAGE 2: TEACHING SKILLS
Teaching Skills aims to support participants to begin developing a safe and effective mindfulness teaching practice. The course emphasises the requirement for facilitators to be able to embody mindfulness and compassion while facilitating secular mindfulness training courses. It explores the rationales behind the practices and the way they fit together as a whole. The key skill is learning to stay fully present as you lead guided practices and enquiry. This skill depends entirely upon a sustained and regular personal mindfulness practice.
Teaching Skills is sub-divided into two levels and there are 4 steps:
STEP 1: TEACHING SKILLS TRAINING WEEKENDS (LEVEL 1)
This involves participation in two teaching skills training weekends in Zagreb. In 2020-2021 these weekends are online. At each weekend, mindfulness practices and teaching skills are modelled, explained and discussed. Participants are given opportunities to develop their teaching skills through leading practices and receiving and giving peer feedback. At level 1, participants are required to also submit a short, written essay on teaching mindfulness.
The next in-person teaching skills weekends in Zagreb will be:
Weekend 1: 08-09 January 2022
Weekend 2: 19-20 March 2022.
Each day (Saturday and Sunday) is from 10:00-17:00. To complete the course, participants must attend both weekends.
The fee in 2020-21 for Level 1 Teaching Skills is 3000 kuna or €398.00 for each of the two weekends.
STEP 2: BETWEEN LEVEL 1 AND LEVEL 2 (at least three months)
In-between level 1 and level 2 participants are required to undertake each of the following activities:
-
Study the 8-week MBLC course, week by week, journaling your practice in preparation for the Level 2 MBLC Teaching Skills retreat (10 hours reading and reflection on top of practice).
-
12 hours online teaching practice of at least eight 1.5 hour sessions (12 hours) of online peer teaching groups in groups of four supporting development of self-reflection to develop teacher awareness and skills. This will be self-organised by the participants with the help and support of Mindfulness Hrvatska.
-
-
Six annual online check ins with tutor team member to support training pathway.
-
Monthly teacher member CPD sessions, and previously recorded CPD sessions (10 sessions to be attended or watched – 10 hours)
-
STEP 3: TEACHING SKILLS RETREAT (LEVEL 2)
Level 2 Teaching Skills involves participation in a 5-day mindfulness teaching skills retreat. During the retreat live mindfulness teaching sessions delivered by the participants are self-assessed and discussed with tutors who also make an assessment. The mindfulness session is taught and assessed by a tutor in English.
The 5 day residential retreat is at Snježna Kraljica, Sljeme, Zagreb, 22-27 August 2022 (booking to be confirmed).
The course fee for the residential retreat, including all tuition, assessment and materials is 4,850.00 kn / €644.00
In addition, the cost of food and accommodation, varies according to the accommodation chosen, (eg single person apartment, double or triple) and travel costs. The cost of food and accommodation in 2021 was between 1316 kuna/€175 and 2332 kuna/€310.
Successful participants in the teaching skills retreat are awarded a ‘certificate of readiness’ to teach the MBLC at the end of the retreat and they can begin teaching the course.
STEP 4: AFTER THE LEVEL 2 TEACHING SKILLS RETREAT
-
Completion of a teacher-led, mindfulness retreat to deepen practice lasting 5 days with 50% of waking hours in silence.
-
Read the following books and write at least a 100-word reflection:
-
-
The Mindfulness Teaching Guide – by Rob Brandsma (10 hours)
-
Insight Dialogue by Gregory Kramer (10 hours)
-
Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness by David Treleaven (10 hours)
-
-
Teach two MBLC 8-week courses under supervision with supervisor with at least three hours of supervision (group or individual) for each course and keeping a teaching journal.
-
Completion of teacher training pathway with 1-hour tutor check in to go through the booklet to ensure all elements of the teacher training pathway have been completed and awarding of completion certificate. You will then be eligible to have your name added Mindfulness Hrvatska’s listing of approved and accredited teachers of mindfulness.
If teaching mindfulness is your aspiration and intention, we hope that you will consider mindfulness teacher training with Mindfulness Hrvatska and our partner organisations, UK Mindfulness Association and Mindfulness Polska. By going through the teacher training and sharing the benefits of mindfulness with others, our own practice and understanding of mindfulness grows. In turn our practice deepens, and we reap the benefit too.
If you are interested in our mindfulness teacher training pathway or if you have any questions, please email [email protected]