Registration & Cost

Yes. Successful completion of the 8-week MBSR course prior to your application to the teacher training is required.

While many applicants have long-standing mediation practices when they apply, the format of MBSR, the unfolding of the program week to week, the unique aspects of dialogue and inquiry along with practice and didactic presentational elements offered, is very different than what one encounters in a meditation hall. 

Likewise, while other MBPs such as MBCT rest on the same foundations, each course’s intentions and activities are different enough that the prerequisites for each training are specific. We also recognize that many come to MBSR teacher training with years of professional and/or clinical experience, including psychology, psychiatry, yoga training, and other forms of holistic or therapeutic work. The skills and knowledge in these professional areas may be quite helpful in the MBSR teacher-training pathway, but the quality of personal, experiential, and “human to human” interactions available in the MBSR classroom and training programs is rare. The opportunity to investigate one’s own life through the lens of meditation practice, compassion, and wisdom, and within a community of learning unites personal exploration with professional development in a unique way.

If you haven't yet taken MBSR, you can take it through Brown University. If it has been more than 8 years since you took the MBSR course, we strongly recommend that you take it again before applying for MBSR teacher training.

*Please note, Brown University does not offer retreats, however they can be taken through the Mindfulness Health Institute (MHI), a separate entity that works in collaboration with Brown University.

Brown University offers the prerequisite MBSR course. 

It can also be taken through the Mindfulness and Health Institute (MHI), a separate entity that works in collaboration with Brown University to offer retreats and other programs. Or, you can take courses from a well-qualified teacher elsewhere as long as the MBSR class fulfills the Standards of Practice and is taught in a live format (online or in-person).

Yes. We prefer a minimum of two years of regular formal mindfulness practice for entrance into the training program. If you don't yet have a mindfulness practice and would like to develop one, go here to learn about our mindfulness courses for individuals.

The graduate degree requirement is one avenue of assessing a potential MBSR teacher's level of critical thinking, writing, and speaking skills, a dedication to an area of study, research or professional development separate from mindfulness or meditation experience.

Often, the learning experiences that reflect these capacities occur outside more formal, academic venues. For example: Certificates in coaching, education, or writing; higher-level yoga teacher training, massage therapy or bodywork training; or other non-academic but rigorous formal learning experiences (i.e., not individually or independently directed) may be equivalent to this requirement.

When completing the application for the program, you are welcome to list your training to see if they would fulfill this equivalency, prior to your anticipated training. In addition, there is a written document required with the application to MBSR Foundations with the submission of materials for Teacher Certification in MBSR to demonstrate your ability to write and articulate your learning from these pathways.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have shifted all our training online for now, and anticipate including some residential training when it is safe to do so. However, the necessity of online training is clear, and we will also continue to offer training online to serve a global community. When it is safe, our residential training will once again happen around the world in cooperation with our global partners, in our home state of Rhode Island, and throughout the United States. 

Introductory sessions are brief 1.5 to 2.5 hour sessions offered using content based on the 8-week MBSR program. These sessions are an opportunity for teacher trainees to start teaching elements of the MBSR curriculum before teaching a complete 8-week MBSR program. Introductory sessions include presentational and practice elements learned in the MBSR Foundations program and use the pedagogical approach of MBSR: interactive, experientially-based, and using appropriate science to connect practice with outcomes. Offered to general audiences or to specific groups such as work colleagues, parent groups, church or synagogue communities or other, these sessions are a way for participants to try out mindfulness, deepen their practice, or learn new applications. Preparation for presenting introductory sessions is covered in the MBSR Foundations program.

The prerequisites can be completed within 3-4 months if you have a daily established mindfulness practice of two years.

Once you begin the professional training to become an MBSR teacher, the most common progression is 3-6 years.  During this time you will have attended three more qualifying retreats and begun teaching MBSR. Because part of this training is experiential, the time between the formal training components is still very important: time for practice and reflection, in order to more fully digest and integrate what is being learned, and also, towards the middle of the training pathway, time teaching MBSR. The program should not take more than five years to complete.

All courses held in the US are taught in English. Global Collaborative trainings are often taught in the language of the host country; some include English-speaking teachers; and some are taught in English with simultaneous translation provided by reliable and skilled translators. Please check the details of each program, especially those being offered outside of the US.