East Coast Mindfulness MBSR Teacher Training Pathway

Program Overview

East Coast Mindfulness offers a 3-phase professional mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) teacher training pathway that is completed entirely online, preparing you to teach MBSR in person. All teacher trainings are conducted online live, as you interact with an experienced MBSR trainer.

The entire pathway takes 2-3+ years to complete; however, there is no requirement to complete the pathway through to certification. You may begin teaching MBSR during Phase One, after completing Fundamentals in Teaching MBSR, under the guidance of a mentor who will walk alongside you as you develop and grow into a skilled, confident MBSR teacher. Completion of Phase One may be enough to meet your needs as an MBSR teacher, but we are here for you if you desire to complete MBSR teacher training beyond Phase One.

Please know, as with the development of your own mindfulness practice, training to offer mindfulness to others is a process that happens in unique ways for each trainee; therefore, there may be times throughout your training when you are asked to pause, wait, attend to your personal practice and/or seek further learning in a particular area, before moving to the next training course. Your mentor and you may decide that teaching additional cycles of MBSR and/or additional mentoring before moving into the certification process would benefit your teaching. East Coast Mindfulness instructors retain the responsibility to support the quality and integrity of MBSR teaching, and thus may require this of you.

We also offer a 4-week training to certified and/or fully trained, experienced MBSR teachers who want to teach MBSR online.

NOTE: If you are currently training to teach MBSR with another institution and would like to continue your training through East Coast Mindfulness, email Margaret and Rebecca at info@eastcoastmindfulness.com to let us know. We can meet you where you are, and finalize your training.

Have questions about our MBSR Teacher Training Pathway? Join us at a free 60-minute informational session to learn more.

To help us plan for, and skillfully meet, all who are interested, please choose only one of the following days and times. Click on the appropriate button to register for one of the sessions (times listed are US Eastern—if you need a time zone converter, you might use this one):

These sessions will be conducted via the Zoom video conferencing platform. To participate, you will need a high-speed internet connection, and a laptop or desktop computer with speaker, microphone, and video capability (no phones or tablets).

Why Train with East Coast Mindfulness to Teach MBSR?

  • Margaret and Rebecca are experienced MBSR teacher trainers, and pioneers in teaching MBSR online

  • Teacher trainees have found the online format effective and engaging, and have formed lasting friendships and connections with their teaching colleagues and trainers

  • All trainings are held online, live—providing the intimacy of being invited into each other’s homes and the connections we will make with one another as we gather from all over the world

  • You begin teaching early on under the direct mentorship of an experienced MBSR teacher trainer, so you don’t develop unskillful habits during the early formative stage of your teacher development

  • By beginning to teach MBSR early in your training, you earn money sooner, which offsets the cost of teacher training

  • You will not need to travel to complete trainings, which reduces the carbon footprint and eliminates travel and lodging costs

  • You get to study videos of experienced MBSR teachers

  • Participants who complete Phase One, Two, and Three are listed on our site

  • Margaret and Rebecca are dedicated to working with you directly and personally. It is their heart's intention for East Coast Mindfulness to be a global online center for connection and intimacy. As a teacher trainee, this means being available and attentive to your development, as you grow into teaching.

Prerequisites to Entering MBSR Teacher Training

  • Completion of an 8-Week MBSR course for personal growth, in one of these 2 formats:

  • Regular personal mindfulness meditation practice of at least one year

  • Participation in a recent silent, teacher-led retreat of 3 days or more in a mindfulness tradition. Retreat must be led by a live teacher (no videos of teachers), conducted in a group setting (not a solo retreat).

  • Commitment to complete at least Phase One of the teacher training pathway

  • Acceptance into the teacher training pathway

What technology you will need:

  • High-speed internet connection

  • Please, no phones

  • Join on a computer that has a full-sized screen on which you can see at least 25 Zoom participants, without having to scroll

  • Ensure that your computer is situated on a stable surface (instead of resting on your lap, etc.)

  • Video and microphone capability (so that you can be seen and heard)

  • A place for practice that allows for being undisturbed

  • Current version of Zoom installed

The Teacher Training Pathway
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Phase 1: MBSR Fundamentals/Beginning to Teach

• Fundamentals in Teaching MBSR: 7-Day Intensive

NOTE: After completing Fundamentals in Teaching MBSR and before applying for Mentorship Cycle Three, participation in a live, 5-day (or more) silent, teacher-led retreat in a group setting in the tradition of MBSR is required for certification (retreat can be completed either in person or online). Click here for specifics.

• Mentorship Cycle One (while teaching the first cycle of MBSR): Ten 90-minute sessions, 1 per week, with mentor
• Inside the MBSR Classroom: 10-week training, includes study of videos of experienced MBSR teachers
• Mentorship Cycle Two (while teaching the second cycle of MBSR): Ten 60-minute sessions, 1 per week, with mentor

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Phase 2: Advanced MBSR Teacher Training

• Inquiry Intensive: 4-day training
• Mentorship Cycle Three (while teaching the third, fourth or fifth cycle of MBSR): Four 60-minute sessions over a 10-week period

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Phase 3: Completion/Certification

• Teach a cycle of MBSR on your own
• Complete overall self-assessment
• Review & Certification: culminating individualized review with an experienced mentor, resulting in Certification in Teaching MBSR

If you are a fully trained, experienced MBSR teacher, and would like to be trained and certified to teach MBSR Live Online by the teachers who pioneered online MBSR at the Center for Mindfulness, UMass Medical School, you can apply for this 4-weekend intensive online training.

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Train to Teach MBSR Online

• Training format: four weekends, all conducted online, with assignments in between
• Participants who successfully complete this training are listed on our site

More information (including course schedules, cost, and registration info) can be found on the Train to Teach MBSR Live Online page.

Note: we also offer a 3-day, 27-hour Introduction to Teaching MBSR Live Online course, to help new MBSR teachers identify what is essential in each class of an MBSR course, and gain practical experience in expressing the essence of those classes through the online format.

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