Do you need a mindfulness teacher?
As the incorporation of mindfulness practices into varied aspects of life—including work, school, hospitals, and more—grows in demand, so too does the importance of qualified mindfulness teachers. These professionals, trained to assist groups and individuals with integrating mindfulness into their thought processes and activities, can be invaluable.
By understanding what mindfulness teachers offer and how to find the best mindfulness teacher for your needs, you can make a logical, empowered decision.
What Is a Mindfulness Teacher?
The definition of a “mindfulness teacher” is currently fairly broad.
Search for a mindfulness teacher online, and you’ll likely see a range of types, from private practitioners to independent mindfulness programs.
The wiggle-room in determining what exactly a mindfulness teacher is and who can claim that title has prompted some leaders to seek—and even create—more rigorous standards. A small group of experienced teachers recently launched the International Mindfulness Teachers Association (IMTA), which was launched with the mission, “to oversee national and international mindfulness teacher education and training standards to ensure teaching and education programs continue to meet a level of depth and rigor needed to serve students and clients at the highest level and standardize the mindfulness teaching profession.”
The Association’s establishment was met with pushback from multiple mindfulness professionals, and many still disagree about whether the field of mindfulness teaching should require narrow standards or be more widely accessible. (Read more in The Challenge of Certifying Mindfulness Teachers.)
For now, the best path toward finding the right mindfulness teacher for your needs should start with articulating why you’re looking for one and an understanding of what to look for in a good mindfulness professional.
Why Do You Need a Mindfulness Teacher?
Finding a good mindfulness teacher can help us unlock our greatest potential for kindness, connection with others, and even long-term happiness.
In Do You Need a Mindfulness Teacher? Barry Boyce writes:
In the hands of good mindfulness teachers, mindfulness opens the door to deeper inquiry and insight. Using the steadiness of mind and the lower reactivity that arises from simple mindfulness practice, we investigate. We look at causes, context, conditions. We develop a rounded picture that can lead to change.
For example, a number of mindfulness teachers encourage the use of mindfulness to notice and investigate unconscious bias and to do deep listening. For a long time, mindfulness has been used in service of improving our ability to have difficult conversations, as evidenced by the recent work of Oren Jay Sofer (author of Say What You Mean) and Lili Powell at the University of Virginia’s Contemplative Sciences Center.
People teaching mindful leadership, such as Janice Marturano, Rich Fernandez, and Jeremy Hunter, ask their students to probe for underlying values that are their own—not ones simply supplied to them by their employer. They engage students in discussions that investigate with curiosity the causes of pain: personal pain, shared pain, organizational pain.
In addition, most mindfulness teachers introduce kindness and compassion practices that emphasize our intimate connection with others, as opposed to focusing purely on ourselves. And teachers like Jud Brewer and Hugh Byrne offer lots of good instruction and advice about changing deep-seated habits. They are not blaming or guilting us for having our habits, as some critics suggest. They are simply unpacking the process of habit formation and supplying us with tools to make new choices.
Skills to Look for in a Mindfulness Teacher
When you’re ready to begin your search for a mindfulness teacher, we recommend keeping this list of skills on hand for assessment.
1. Thoughtfully Organizes Curriculum: How well is the teacher prepared and how well do they cover the curriculum content of the session?
2. Connects Authentically: Characteristics of a good teacher include empathy, authenticity, compassion, warmth, curiosity, and respect, among others.
3. Naturally Embodies Mindfulness: To embody a practice of mindfulness is to bring the core attitudes of mindfulness practice—non-judging, patience, beginner’s mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance, and letting go—to the practice of teaching mindfulness.
4. Clearly Guides Practices: How well does the teacher describe what participants are being invited to do in the practice, including all the elements required in that practice?
5. Creatively Supports Inquiry and Curiosity: Does the teacher convey the themes of the course interactively to participants, using a range of teaching approaches that make the themes come alive?
6. Competently Navig