32 Mindfulness Trainings & Certifications for Professionals

Mindfulness interventions, like positive psychology itself, are focused on bettering peoples’ lives no matter what their situations are.

As positive psychology is interested in increasing the wellbeing of all people, it makes sense for positive psychology to include mindfulness interventions.

Here is an overview of mindfulness training programs around the world, from on-site programs to online programs, from longer courses to shorter workshops, so that anyone interested in mindfulness has a place from which to start.

Before you start reading this article, I recommend you download our three Mindfulness Exercises Pack for free. With this package, you will not just be able to understand mindfulness on a theoretical level, but you’ll also have the tools to apply mindfulness in your work with clients or students.

About The Courses on This Page

Many of these courses (particularly the longer, 8-week courses) are based on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). This is a program that was first introduced by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the school that trained many of the instructors mentioned below. The University of Massachusetts Medical School claims that MBSR can help people with:

• Anxiety
• Work, Family, and Financial Stress
• Asthma
• Cancer
• Chronic Illness and Pain
• Depression
• Eating Disturbances
• Fatigue
• Fibromyalgia
• Gastro-Intestinal (GI) Distress
• Grief
• Headaches
• Heart Disease
• High Blood Pressure
• Panic Attacks
• Post-traumatic Stress (PTSD)
• Skin Disorders
• Sleep Problems

Here is a video provided by the University which serves as a short introduction to MBSR:

Mindfulness X

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Meditation and Mindfulness Teacher Training – Online

The Meditation and Mindfulness Teacher Training Certificate enables individuals to become qualified meditation and mindfulness instructors.

It is a highly practical course that has been designed to offer you the knowledge and experience you need to be a competent teacher of meditation and mindfulness.

The course is ideal for coaches, teachers and other educators, nurses, therapists, yoga teachers, clinical psychologists, human resources representatives, social workers, and anyone else who works with people and would like to expand their practice or career to include meditation teaching, theory, and exercises.

The training is offered as part of the School of Positive Transformation, which is a fully accredited and certified academic institution. The course is led by Dr. Itai Ivtzan, who is a leading positive psychologist and mindfulness teacher.

Once you have completed the training, you will receive a formal certificate indicating you are a certified meditation and mindfulness teacher. The training is offered with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Click here for full information and enrollment.

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On-site Mindfulness Training Courses

For many people, the best way to learn something is in-person with a group of people who are also trying to learn the same thing. For these purposes, here are some in-person, on-site mindfulness training courses in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Mindfulness Center of Atlanta

The Mindfulness Center of Atlanta offers an 8-week course in Mindfulness & Stress Reduction. This includes a day retreat at the Ignatius House Retreat Center, where the courses are also offered. The Center also offers the opportunity to be part of a Georgia State University study looking at the effectiveness of treating smoking cessation with mindfulness.

The Mindfulness Center of Atlanta was founded by Mark Dannenfelser, a licensed counselor, experienced yoga teacher, and lecturer at Emory University in Georgia.

Centre for Mindfulness Studies Toronto

The Centre for Mindfulness Studies in Toronto offers several different types of courses in mindfulness, from introductory classes (including one specifically geared towards teenagers) to mindfulness training aimed at organizations. Their faculty consists of several psychiatric professionals, clinical psychologists, and psychology professors.

There are half-day sessions for beginners, full-day sessions for beginners and the Centre offers an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course too.

Oxford Mindfulness Centre

The Oxford Mindfulness Centre in the UK offers a Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy course for the general public. The course runs for 8 weeks. The Oxford Mindfulness Centre is contained within Oxford University’s Department of Psychiatry.

This course is aimed at helping prevent serious depression and emotional distress in its participants, and the program is looking at ways to adapt the approach to other disorders. The program is also heavily focused on ensuring that its graduates “stay well in the long term.”

Mindfulness Certification Programs for Teachers

For people who are already very familiar with mindfulness and wish to start spreading its teachings to others, there are several mindfulness certification programs available.

Here are just a few of these offerings, with some of them being offered online (with the inclusion of in-person retreat requirements).

The UCSD Center for Mindfulness

The UCSD Center for Mindfulness in San Diego, California offers a training program for people who wish to become certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teachers. The program requires prospective participants to undergo a long process, consisting of teacher qualification, which includes a 6-day intensive training session, choosing a mentor and teaching two 8-week MBSR courses under this membership.

Prospective teachers then undergo teacher certification, which includes another intensive training session as well as the teaching of several more MBSR courses.

The entire program length is determined by how long it takes a prospective teacher to meet the requirements, such as the number of MBSR classes taught.

The Engaged Mindfulness Institute

The Engaged Mindfulness Institute offers mindfulness teacher training that can be completed online over a course of two years.

The Engaged Mindfulness Institute’s staff is made up of Professor Fleet Maull, author Kate Crisp and Professor Ben Van Arnam, who have experience in mindfulness and Buddhism in particular. This program requires a background in mindful meditation practice, previous attendance at a mindfulness retreat, as well as a consistent internet connection.

The Mindfulness Training Institute

The Mindfulness Training Institute offers programs in both the United States (currently in San Francisco, California) and the United Kingdom (Devon). Both programs consist of yearlong training courses.

The programs are led by Martin Aylward and Mark Coleman, who both have extensive experience teaching mindfulness meditation. Both programs require previous experience with mindful meditation, as well as previous attendance at both mindfulness courses and mindfulness meditation retreats.

The Awareness Training Institute

The Awareness Training Institute at the University of California at Berkeley in the United States offers a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. Jack Kornfield, a trained ex-Buddhist monk who has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and Tara Brach, who also has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and an extensive history in meditation teaches it.

The program also includes a mentorship component led by Pat Coffey, who has been practicing meditation and mindfulness for 40 years and teaching for 20, including teaching mindfulness to prison inmates. The program consists of 2 years, including three 5-day retreats.

Online Mindfulness Classes and Courses

While learning in-person is probably the best way to learn mindfulness (as some of these following instructors claim), it is not always a financial or practical possibility for prospective students to do so. For these reasons, here are a few courses that can be completed entirely online, including two that are completely free.

Since these online courses are mostly completed at your own pace, it is important that anyone who wishes to take an online mindfulness course is aware that it is up to them to put in the time and commitment to get the most out of the teachings.

Mindful Schools

Mindful Schools offers a 6-week online program and includes lifetime access to the course materials. The program is self-paced but includes 2-3 hours of instruction per week. The faculty is made up of several different teachers who all have:

“over a decade of mindfulness practice and broad teaching experience.”

The syllabus includes the focus areas of Mindfulness of Breath, Mindfulness of Body, Mindfulness of Emotions, Development of the Heart, Interpersonal Mindfulness and Everyday Mindfulness. Completing the program earns 3 continuing education units for educators and 12 CEUs for eligible mental health professionals.

Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) UK

Mindfulness in Schools Project offers mindfulness training to school teachers, so that they may pass on their learnings to pupils in the classroom. Since 2009, this not-for-profit organization has provided different training courses, ranging from one-day online programs designed to introduce young children (aged 9-14) to mindfulness, to a 12-day program to train a mindfulness leader within a school’s staff.

The cost of the courses ranges from free to around £825, depending on the specific program. Upon completion of a course, participants will receive a certificate and potentially credits toward Continuing Professional Development for those in the UK.

Palouse Mindfulness

Palouse Mindfulness offers an online course that is completely free, can be started whenever and completed in 8 weeks. The instructor is Dave Potter, a certified MBSR instructor. One does not even need to register for this course or give their email address, and they can complete the course completely on their own time.

Potter believes that an in-person course is the best way to learn mindfulness, but believes that people who cannot complete in-person courses should still have the chance to learn mindfulness. This might help explain why he is offering this material for no money at all. The course claims that the material within will help participants:

“cope with stress, pain, and the challenges of everyday life, deal with disturbing events with grace and composure, [and] be fully present and alive in this moment.”

This short PDF explains MBSR and why Palouse Mindfulness thinks it can be helpful.

Be Mindful Online

Be Mindful Online is an online mindfulness course that can be followed at your own pace on your computer or even on your phone. The course can be completed in 4 weeks or more.

The course includes 10 sessions with videos and interactive exercises, 12 assignments, five guided meditation downloads, online tools, and resources emailed to you after completing the course.

The program is taught by Ed Halliwell and Tessa Watt, who are both experienced mindfulness teachers and authors.

MBSRtraining.com

mbsrtraining.com offers an 8-week MBSR online course, taught by G. Ross Clark. Clark was trained at the University of Massachusetts Medical School to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.

The course is self-paced and includes nine 2½ hour lessons, made up of “audio, video & text topics.” Clark also offers his phone number and email to course participants so they do not have to complete the course completely on their own.

Future Learn

Future Learn also offers a completely free online mindfulness course completed over a period of 6 weeks. The course involves 3 hours of education a week and is taught by Craig Hassed, a general practitioner, speaker, author and mindfulness expert, and Dr. Richard Chambers, a clinical psychology and mindfulness expert.

The course can be taken by anyone (there are no prerequisites) and explores the science behind mindfulness as well as mindfulness exercises one can apply to their own life.

Mindfulness Training at UCLA and Harvard

While many universities offer mindfulness training components, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States offer several different mindfulness training options.

This makes these prestigious universities excellent options for anyone who happens to live in the area that wishes to study mindfulness. The center at UCLA also offers online versions of their mindfulness classes.

The Mindfulness Awareness Research Center

The Mindfulness Awareness Research Center at the University of California at Los Angeles in the United States offers several different mindfulness training options, both in-person and online. Most of these classes are Mindfulness Awareness Practice (MAPs) classes.

The introductory, in-person MAPs class takes six weeks and meets weekly for two hours. The class includes an overview of mindfulness, mindfulness as it relates to the body and pain, as well as mindfulness and emotions. There is also a heavy focus on meditation so that students can apply their mindfulness practices to daily life.

After taking the introductory class, there are several other classes participants can take, such as a class focused on improving meditation, a class on self-compassion, and a class on finding happiness. All in-person classes (including the introductory and advanced classes) run for six weeks. For an extra fee, participants can earn continuing education units.

The center also offers online classes that go on for six weeks but can be completed at your own pace. The introductory MAPs class online is called MAPs 1 for Daily Living and serves as an introduction to mindfulness. This course can also be completed in Spanish.

After taking the introductory class, there is a MAPs II class focusing on positive emotions and a MAPs II class focusing on “next steps,” aimed at helping people continue practicing mindfulness in their daily lives.

There is no option to earn continuing education units from online classes. The center also offers free drop-in meditation classes weekly.

Harvard University

Harvard University also offers mindfulness training through its Center for Wellness. Like many mindfulness training programs, they offer an 8-week MBSR course offered during both the fall and spring semesters of the school year.

There is also a half-hour introduction to MBSR offered, though it is currently full and only accepting waitlist registrations. The MBSR course is taught by Suzanne Westbrook, MD, a Harvard University Health Services clinician.

Aside from MBSR, they offer a quarterly meditation series called Calming the Mind, Opening the Heart. However, information about this series is scant. Like UCLA, Harvard also offers daily drop-in meditation sessions for free, with one running in the morning and the other running during lunchtime. These sessions are taught by Jeanne Mahon, a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education as well as a registered yoga instructor.

Mindfulness Courses in London UK

Although the United Kingdom has been briefly discussed above, there are several different mindfulness training options in London alone. These courses are all offered in-person in London, though it is of note that the instructor at Mindfulness London also offers an online course mentioned above, at bemindfulonline.com.

London Mindful

London Mindful offers several different types of mindfulness courses. Their main offerings are 8-week MBSR courses and include a one-day retreat. The weekly course consists of 2-hour sessions which combine:

“experiential mindfulness practices with the latest tools and techniques of neuroscience, psychology and the study of wellbeing.”

Each course has a different instructor, from Jiva, who holds a Masters in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapies to Christian Kerr, who has over a decade of experience teaching yoga and meditation, as well as mindfulness training from several places including the Oxford Mindfulness Centre.

Mindfulness London

Mindfulness London offers an 8-week MBSR course taught by Ed Halliwell, who also helps teach courses at the aforementioned bemindfulonline.com. This course consists of weekly 2-hour sessions and a 6-hour day retreat. It begins with an hour and a half-long orientation session.

The course also assigns weekly homework which is meant to take about 45 minutes a day, so that participants can extend their learning beyond class time. This weekly homework includes CDs and other course materials (the cost of which are included in tuition) making the program a multimedia experience.

The Now Project

The Now Project offers an introductory class called The Miracle of Mindfulness, which consists of 6 weekly 1½ hour sessions to be taken on either Tuesday or Wednesday evenings. The course outline is as follows, from:

Week 1 to Week 6:

• How To Cultivate Mindfulness
• The Way of the Body
• Sweet Surrender and Going Deeper Within The Greater Mind
• Emotional Alchemy
• Beyond the Self
• The Energy of Mindfulness.

There are a few teachers in the program, but the founder and main teacher Adrian, was:

“the first person in the UK to teach Mindfulness as a treatment for addiction.”

Mindfree

Mindfree offers a unique 8-week experience in that the course combines Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, as opposed to most mindfulness training which focuses on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Participants can either take it in the morning or the afternoon.

Like many 8-week mindful sessions, the program consists of weekly two-hour sessions as well as a day retreat. The course is billed as a course for both beginners and those with some experience in mindfulness and meditation.

The London Centre for Mindfulness

The London Centre for Mindfulness offers an 8-week MBSR course which begins with an introductory session. They also have a morning and evening session.

The course consists of a series of mediations which range from 3 to 40 minutes. Anyone interested in the course can take a half-day practice session which serves as an introduction to the mindfulness courses, although course graduates can also attend. Finally, course graduates can attend a monthly drop-in meditation session to “reconnect with the practice.”

Mindfulness Workshops, Classes, and Degrees

If you’re not ready yet to commit to an 8-week (or longer) course, there are several shorter mindfulness classes and workshops available out there. For example, London Mindful, Mindfulness London and the UCLA Mindfulness Awareness Research Center (all of which have been previously discussed here) all offer shorter workshops alongside their longer courses.

Here are some other options for short-term mindfulness workshops. But first, have a look at our own article – How to Plan a Mindfulness Workshop.

Mindfulness Workshops

Mindfulness Workshops holds one-day intensive mindfulness workshops in Copenhagen, Denmark. These workshops are led by Esan Hansen, a mindfulness teacher, and speaker. They focus on “basic guided mindfulness exercises” and the goal of the workshop is for participants to be able to practice mindfulness on their own after one day.

This makes the workshop a great option for beginners.

The Center for Mindful Self-Compassion

The Center for Mindful Self-Compassion in North Carolina in the United States offers a two-day workshop teaching the core skills of mindful self-compassion. The workshop can either be taken in person or live-streamed online. For an extra fee, nurses, psychologists, and social workers can earn continuing education units for completing the workshop.

The workshop focuses on self-compassion and how to practice it in daily life, as well as teaching self-compassion to others.

The Mindfulness Practice Center of Fairfax

The Mindfulness Practice Center of Fairfax in Virginia in the United States offers mindfulness workshops on Saturdays. You can take either all-day workshops (8:45 AM – 4:00 PM) or half-day programs (8:45 AM – 1:30 PM). People who sign up for the all-day workshop can leave after lunch as one would for the half-day.

Both workshops focus on guided meditation including walking meditation, but the all-day workshop focuses more on discussing mindfulness, so it is a better option for people who are looking to learn rather than people who are simply looking for a meditation workshop.

The workshops are led by Anh-Huong and Thu Nguyen, who have been practicing Zen mindfulness for over 30 years and first led a mindfulness retreat in the United States nearly 30 years ago, in 1988.

Mindful Practices with Leanda

A mindfulness center in Dublin, Ireland called Mindful Practices with Leanda offers a half-day workshop (from 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM). The workshop is led by Leanda Carroll, a licensed psychologist who has been studying mindfulness for over a decade. This workshop focuses on reducing stress in your daily life and improving personal awareness but also claims to help attendees start their own mindfulness practice.

Mindfulness Works Australia

Mindfulness Works Australia offers one-day workshops for mindfulness beginners in Redcliffe, Peregian Beach, Bardon, and Sydney. Each session includes a one-year subscription to the group’s mindfulness app, WildFlowers.

The sessions are led by teachers, authors, and counselors, depending on which location one chooses to take the workshop in. These workshops focus on teaching mindfulness to people so that they can have less stress in their lives and sleep better, as well as be more accepting of themselves.

Exclusive Mindfulness Retreats

Finally, there are several different mindfulness retreats being offered all around the world.

These retreats are a prerequisite for many teaching certification programs, though they can also be attended by people who are simply looking to deepen their own mindfulness practice.

These retreats are not for beginners and are meant for people who already practice mindfulness and are looking to take the next step in their own lives.

Shambhala Mountain Center

Shambhala Mountain Center in Colorado in the United States offers a 9-day long silent mindfulness retreat.

The retreat is led by Janet Solyntjes, who completed MBSR training at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and has been practicing mind-body disciplines for 40 years, and David Spound, who has been practicing meditation for 40 years and teaching it for 10, who has also completed MBSR training at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

The retreat’s daily schedule focuses on meditation sessions, though there are also teaching sessions focusing on the core ideals of MBSR. The retreat is billed as “suitable for mindfulness teachers or aspiring teachers,” and it fulfills a prerequisite for the aforementioned Oasis Institute’s teacher certification program.

Mindful Way

Mindful Way is leading a 6-day silent mindfulness retreat in Florida in the United States. The retreat is led by “certified MBSR and Dharma Teachers” Beth Mulligan and Jon Aaron.

Like the above retreat, this one also meets the Oasis Institute’s prerequisite for mindfulness teacher certification. The retreat focuses on “Mindful Movement” which involves walking meditation, as well as daily talks and interview with the teachers. This retreat also puts a focus on the Buddhist foundations of MBSR.

Motus Mundi

Motus Mundi in Italy hosts a 5-day silent retreat in Rome which also fulfills the Oasis Institute’s requirements for teacher certification. The retreat is called The Way of Silence and of Listening to the Heart. The retreat focuses on the teachings of MBSR, but particularly focuses on “noble silence,” which the program calls:

“a profound condition which will allow us to get in touch with one of the most important human resources – that is ‘listening.’”

The teachers in this retreat are Elana Rosenbaum, who is an adjunct faculty at the University of Massachusetts Medical School where she works alongside Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of MBSR, and Franco Cucchio, a certified MBSR teacher with experience in Buddhism as well.

Ser Integral

Ser Integral, a mindfulness center in Portugal, hosts a mindfulness meditation retreat called Art of Silence. It is a 6-day retreat that meets the Oasis Institute’s prerequisite for teacher certification. The center stresses that the retreat is secular and non-religious and that instructions are presented in English.

The usage of phones and computers is not allowed during the retreat:

“in order to support the context of silence that we will cultivate throughout the retreat.”

The focus areas of the retreat include theoretical teachings, mindfulness meditation practices, and mindful yoga. The retreat is led by Paul Burrows, who has extensive experience with retreats focusing on Buddhist traditions. All meals at this retreat are vegetarian.

The Gaia House

The Gaia House, a center focusing on “insight meditation in the Buddhist tradition” offers several different retreats of varying lengths. One such retreat is called Cultivating Clarity and Compassion and runs for 5 days.

The retreat is led by Alan Lewis, an ex-Theravadin Buddhist monk. This retreat focuses on sitting and walking meditation, and believes that attendees will come out of it with greater compassion, both for themselves and others.

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A Take-Home Message

Practicing mindfulness can help all sorts of people no matter what is going on in their lives. Learning mindfulness is very accessible, whether you have a center in your hometown or just an internet connection, whether you have enough money for a retreat or do not have any money at all, or if you want to learn how to teach mindfulness to others.

No matter what your situation is, there is a mindfulness training option tailored to your needs.

We’d love to hear your thoughts or experiences about any of the resources mentioned above. Please write to us in the comments section below!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Mindfulness Exercises for free.