teacher training

10-Week Online MBSR Essentials
(Fully Recognized by the Mindfulness Center at Brown University & Global Mindfulness Collaborative)

The 10-Week Online MBSR Essentials is the first step in Level 1 of the MBSR Teacher Training Pathway.  It meets equivalency for 10-Week Foundations training offered through Brown University’s School Of Professional Studies, and recognized by all members of the Global Mindfulness Collaborative, including the Mindfulness Centre at Brown University (MC@B).

MBSR Essentials offers a highly experiential exploration of the MBSR curriculum, cultivating evidence-based teaching competencies and understanding from the inside out. Whether you intend to teach MBSR or integrate mindfulness into your professional field in other ways, Essentials is a special opportunity to deepen practice. As we discover greater degrees of freedom in our own lives, we are able to bring the essential transformative elements of mindfulness to others in the service of minimizing harm and maximizing human flourishing.

Upon successful completion of MBSR Essentials you can:

• Teach mindfulness workshops. 
• Teach introductory mindfulness meditation classes.  

Please note, after completion MBSR Essentials you are not qualified to teach the eight-week MBSR curriculum.  This happens only after completing all aspects of Level 1, which includes MBSR Intensive Practice and Teaching (IPT) – see Three Training Levels for more details.

The goals/learning objectives for MBSR Essentials are:

• Deepen practice, individually and relationally, understanding teaching as a practice
• Become familiar with the key frameworks of MBSR through living within the curriculum
• Deepen understanding and integration of the underpinnings 
• Self-exploration/reflection 

At the end of MBSR Essentials training, trainees will be able to offer introductory programs based in the essence and practice of MBSR.

Our Center For Mindfulness Canada (CFMC) is a member of the Global Mindfulness Collaborative.  GMC is an international network of MBSR teacher trainers and colleagues, certified by the Center For Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at University of Massachusetts Medical School (CFM) and the Mindfulness Center at Brown University (MC@B), all of whom are committed to offering evidence-based MBSR teacher training in alignment with highest-quality standards.  

Learn more about the Teacher Training Pathway, lineage, recognition, and the 3-level training.

The total hours will be 63.50 hours over 10-weeks, not including the eight-week MBSR info session/orientation (1.50 hrs) for which the date/time will be sent to your email separately.

Here is the detailed schedule:

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Please note, all times are in Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).  The Pacific time zone encompasses western Canada, western United States, and western Mexico.  To calculate your specific times zone, you can use this link.

Prerequisites For the 10-Week Online MBSR Essentials

• Complete the eight-week MBSR program with a Qualified or Certified MBSR Teacher live online or in-person. This is the first stage before applying to any teacher training.*
• Attend at least one qualifying 5-7 day Insight or Mindfulness silent retreat.  
• A minimum of two years of personal meditation practice.**

*You will not be able to apply for MBSR Essentials if you have not already taken the eight-week MBSR as a stand-alone program prior to your application.   This means you will not be able to take the eight-week MBSR program for the first time during the 10-Week MBSR Essentials as that does not fulfil the prerequisite requirement.  

**Each application will be evaluated on its individual merits.

This training is intensive! Along with participating fully in the eight-week MBSR program (2.5 hours a week plus the all-day), there is attendance at each MBSR Essentials weekly seminar (3.5 hours each). 

Due to the time commitment required for this training, it is also helpful to budget a few hours between sessions for readings, preparation, reflection, and assignments.  This does not include the daily home mindfulness practices that are part of the eight-week MBSR program (i.e., 40-60 minutes daily formal and informal practices).

The term “participant-trainee role” is used to highlight the paramount importance of personally experiencing the dynamics, rigor, structure, and fluidity of the eight-week MBSR curriculum.  The MBSR program is multi-faceted and multidimensional.  It can be better understood by a trainee’s embodied and direct experience of the program. This in turn supports fostering greater learning and growth.  

The 10-Week Online MBSR Essentials is designed to provide an experiential in vivo journey.  This direct experience in the eight-week MBSR program is then further supported by cognitive frames that help deepen the understanding and integrate learning (i.e., readings, reflections, written assignments, individual and group activities).

Towards the end of this 10-week MBSR Essentials, the participant-trainees will have the opportunity integrative the readings/assignments/activities with their direct experienced to guide peers in short meditation practice sessions.

This 10-Week Online Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Essentials Training program, has 63.50 CE credit hours approved by the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA).  The Centre For Mindfulness Canada maintains responsibility for the program.

This eight-week MBSR program will be facilitated by Dr. Kasim Al-Mashat. He is a Registered Psychologist and University of Massachusetts Certified MBSR Teacher and authorized Teacher Trainer by the Mindfulness Center at Brown University. He is the founder of Center For Mindfulness Canada. Kasim has also completed a six-month meditation retreat in silence in Southeast Asia and presented a TEDx about mindfulness. For a full bio – click here.