BECOMING A TEACHER OF PRESENCE

Become a Mindfulness Teacher - with International Accreditation from UK Yoga Alliance Professionals

In 2023, we will host our first Teacher Training Programme, "Becoming a Teacher of Presence' – led by Angus Ford-Robertson and supported by specialist Mindfulness Teachers.

The course will offer hands-on mentoring of up to 20 students – students who want to develop their skills in order to become a qualified Mindfulness Teacher. It will be a unique, highly practical and experiential training. Students should anticipate that they will undergo a great deal of personal growth, change and self-inquiry during the training; this can be a challenging process. But the journey will also be highly rewarding and it should be anticipated that the training will have far reaching effects on one’s life. To be clear, self-enquiry is a necessary step before one can confidently teach and hold space for others.

We will soon be posting on this page a guide course curriculum - showing the many aspects of mindfulness we will be covering.

For now, be assured that the major headings will include:

• Exploring and defining what we mean by meditation, mindfulness and spiritual practice
• Discovering the historical background of meditation in the various spiritual traditions
• Enquiring into 'why' we are teaching mindfulness - what is the purpose, what is our intention, what is our motivation?
• Learning about the body - postures and positions we can adopt for mindfulness
• Understanding the many different styles of meditation, including concentration, awareness, and heart-based practices
• Using yoga postures, breath-work and more to enter meditation
• Exploring specific meditation techniques and their uses; such as visualization, mette or gratitude practices
• Recognising obstacles to practice - and their many remedies

This TTC will focus very much on how to teach mindfulness to individuals, groups and in different settings. To that end, we will explore many subtopics, including:

* Structuring guided meditations * Incorporating meditation into general yoga classes or a therapeutic situation * The use of language in teaching meditation: story telling, metaphor, imagery, silence * Being aware of and sensitive to people with different needs * Understanding trauma * Inclusivity * Emotional responses and contra-indications * The effects of meditation on health and wellbeing: contemporary research * Designing a meditation course * Self-care and boundaries * Resources for continuing and deepening practice * Discovering how to hold space * Understanding groups - and how to create cohesion - the mirror principle * Modelling – its importance in the teaching context of teaching * Exploring issues of self-practice, authenticity and ethics * How to support others in their healing process * How to find and use your unique voice in teaching * A detailed structure of content - "what to teach and when"

The course will be offered as a blended learning course - meaning there will be live, in-person teaching and online sessions delivered via Zoom:

• lectures
• group exercises and meditations
• group discussion and reflection
• personal inquiry
• teaching practice sessions - with feedback
• reading and written assignments

 The Course requires that students:

• explore a personal meditation practice 
• maintain a meditation diary
• record and share yourself guiding meditation
• offer feedback on other participants’ guided meditations
• complete online assignments and other written pieces.

Active participation throughout the course is essential for students to get the most from the course.

We look forward to confirming dates and inviting applications for the course in 2023.