Mindfulness & MBSR Teacher Training Program | Become a Certified Mindfulness Teacher

Brussels Mindfulness offers a 1,5-year in person Mindfulness Teacher Training programme according to international certification standards. Our 5th cohort will start in February 2025. Early bird fee is available until 14 October 2024.

Successful completion of all parts of the programme leads to a Certificate of Competency in Teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Programme (MBSR).

Apply for the teacher training Download brochure

Deepening your mindfulness skills and become a certified teacher

Has mindfulness transformed your life in a positive way and are you looking for ways to deepen your practice or pass it on to others?

Mindfulness training programmes have attained solid ground in many areas of life: personal development, work, health, education, leadership, parenting, childbirth and others.

As mindfulness is becoming more mainstream, there is a growing need for professionalism. While more people are starting to share mindfulness, there is an increasing need for teachers with a solid background and certified training skills.

Enjoy getting away on long weekends in a beautiful retreat location and learn about mindfulness with like-minded others, supported by a team of international teachers.

Deepening your mindfulness skills and become a certified teacher

Why become a mindfulness teacher?

Here are some reasons why this teacher training can be something for you. You may want to:

Deepen your practice and understanding of mindfulness
Invest in your well-being
Boost your personal growth
Make new friends with an interest in meditation and personal growth
Prepare a career change in your life
Share mindfulness and meditation in a skilful way with others
Figure out what it is that you have to offer the world
Make an investment in your personal future
Be kinder to and take better care of yourself
Look for new ways to earn additional income
Increase your self-awareness and decrease reactivity
Improve your concentration and focus

Read more why a teacher training could be life changing for you and listen why Lorinda recommends our teacher training.

An internationally validated training in a residential setting

This training is organised in a 15-month programme comprising mostly residential weekend modules of 21 days in total.

This course led in English offers you the unique opportunity to deepen your journey into mindfulness together with a group of like-minded people and guided by excellent international teachers. Throughout the programme, you will be practising in small groups and be encouraged to follow your progress by journaling.

The Brussels Mindfulness Teacher Training has been developed in line with the UK Mindfulness-Based Teacher Training Organisation’s Good Practice Guidance for teachers and the international Mindfulness-Based Interventions-Teacher Assessment Criteria (MBI-TAC). Successful completion of all parts leads to the award of a Certificate of Competency in Teaching Mindfulness-Based Approaches.

This programme is an opportunity to understand and embody all the elements of the mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) course and develop the skills, attitudes and knowledge required to deliver elements of a mindfulness training, guide basic meditations or teach an 8-week mindfulness course with supervision. We will be focussing on the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programme, developed by Jon Kabat Zinn, as a core programme so that at the end of our time together you are familiar with all of its elements and practices.

NEW: the programme comprises the MBSR curriculum as well as the curriculum of the "Finding Peace in a Frantic World"- programme.

The training experiences are designed to help you develop your personal mindfulness practice, become familiar with teaching the curriculum and acquire the necessary teaching skills. It is a step-by-step journey from being a mindfulness practitioner to becoming a teacher of mindfulness-based courses.

Don't wait too long to secure your spot in this transformative programme.

Sign up via this link.

Content of the training

During the course of the programme, we will focus on the following elements:

Deepening your personal mindfulness practice and experientially exploring mindfulness as an embodied practice.
Understanding the background, theory, and structure of the following two programmes: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Programme and the "Finding Peace in a Frantic World" Programme.
Understanding the underpinning rationales/intentions, background, theory, cognitive science, evidence base, ethical framework, structure, and sequence of these two curricula.
Learning how to guide meditations and yoga in MBSR, as well as shorter meditations applicable for the "Finding Peace in a Frantic World" Programme.
Practicing how to give feedback in a safe and supportive way.
Learning how to guide inquiry (debriefing on the meditation practices).
Understanding and managing group dynamics and responding wisely to difficult behaviour.
Exploring the educational themes of the training, their rationale, and how to present them.
Developing competency in taking care of the group while also taking care of yourself.
Exploring the Buddhist roots of mindfulness.
Understanding counter-indications, secondary effects, and dealing with difficulties, including the clinical and non-clinical applications of mindfulness.
Developing sensitivity towards meditation-related challenges and understanding the impact of trauma on mindfulness practice.
Practical aspects of organizing a mindfulness course (syllabus development, organisation, intake, marketing, etc.).

All residential modules take place in a beautiful location: La Maison du Chemin des Roches in Dongelberg, Wallonia, approximately 50 minutes from Brussels.

Features of the programme

Strong internationally recognized programme in English
Small group to deepen the experience and direct exchange with the trainers
International team of senior trainers (more than 15 years teaching experience)
Possibility to exchange and work in small peer groups during the duration of the programme
8 weekend modules over the course of 15 months in a retreat-like structure and one 5-day retreat
Residential course in a beautiful locations with exclusive use
Delicious teas and snacks
Delicious organic food during residential modules
An online platform with all material in one spot (summaries, meditations, planning etc)
Four supervision sessions with one of the trainers and one personal tutorial with a trainer

Supervised pilot course

Towards the end of this programme, you will be expected to organise a pilot course and work with a supervisor to reflect on your readiness for teaching and on your unfolding skills and experience. Once you have completed the teacher training and fulfilled all the required tasks you can apply for the assessment procedure. The certificate of competency to teach the full MBSR course will be subject to an assessment based on the 6 criteria of the MBI TAC (mindfulness based interventions teaching assessment criteria, see article 7 of our terms and conditions).

This certificate will enable you to teach the 8-week curriculum to open groups and companies, as well as to apply for membership in a professional mindfulness association.

(In the photo, newly graduated mindfulness teachers Lorinda and Lyuba jump for joy after receiving their diploma!)

Who can participate?

The mindfulness teacher training is open to anyone who wants to become a mindfulness teacher or engage in a deep and life-transforming journey with like-minded people. You should meet the following requirements:

You have followed an 8-week mindfulness training as a participant
You would like to combine your passion for mindfulness with professional trainer skills and attitudes
You have completed some form of higher education (at least a Bachelor’s degree)
You have a daily meditation practice since a few months
You have attended one silent retreat of at least 1 day (see here for our retreats and days of nourishment)