Educator Voices from This Course
About This Course
Prerequisites: 101: Mindfulness Foundations recommended.
Time to Complete: 6 Weeks. 20 Hours. Expect to dedicate 2 to 4 hours per week.
Respected Credentials: Earn a Certificate of Completion from a recognized training organization. Educators may apply for graduate credits.
Live Sessions: This course includes two 1-hour live calls, guided by our faculty.
Instruction + Resources: Learn via video, guided audio, reading, course activities.
Forum: Build connection with peers and faculty for discussion and feedback.
Whether we are speaking, listening, texting, emailing, or just plain thinking, most of us spend our days communicating. Language is one of our primary ways of connecting with others and understanding our lives. Communication habits run deep, yet patiently bringing attention to specific aspects of our words and thinking can have profound and far-reaching impacts.
The more we understand and transform our own communication patterns, the more care, clarity, and flexibility we are able to bring to all of our life’s relationships. In the classroom, in particular, our skill in speaking clearly and listening empathically is vitally important. It helps us connect with students at a deeper level, enabling us to better meet their academic and personal needs.
Join Our Next Session:
COURSE COST: $295
Course Objectives
View Dates for (2) Live Sessions
This six-week virtual course offers an opportunity to deepen your mindfulness practice by exploring the realm of interpersonal communication in all aspects of your life: personal, social, and professional. The course draws upon the tools and insights of mindfulness practice, the internationally used system of Nonviolent Communication, and the science of nervous system regulation. Videos, exercises, and detailed lecture notes guide you through a step-by-step, integrated approach to understanding and transforming your communication.
This course is specifically designed to help you:
- Reduce the stress associated with interpersonal differences and conflict
- Find creative and effective tools to handle student behavior issues
- Learn ways to build stronger relationships with students, parents, faculty, and administrators
- Develop skills to create more trust, cooperation, and collaboration
- Hear the genuine concerns and real needs of others regardless of how they’re speaking to you
Mindful Communication is generally not a beginning level course, and can be more rigorous than other Mindful Schools trainings. You can expect to devote 2-4 hours per week, and are strongly encouraged to pair up with another participant as a “practice buddy.” Buddies talk once per week for 20-30 minutes (often via video chat or phone) to practice course material.
Support From an Online Course Guide
Online Course Guides are experienced Mindful Schools faculty members who support you in all six weeks of the course. Through live sessions, emails, and forums, your Online Course Guide will facilitate discussions, synthesize emerging themes and answer questions. Meet our team!
Graduate Credits
Upon completing this training, educators may apply for and receive graduate level credits. Details
Join Our Next Session:
COURSE COST: $295
Who Is This For?
The Mindful Schools community includes educators, counselors, parents, and a wide range of school community members. We invite you to join this course if you are interested in deepening your mindfulness practice alongside a like-minded community of peers.
Before taking this course, we strongly recommend that participants have a background in personal mindfulness practice through our 101: Mindfulness Foundations course.
Mindful Schools Training Path
Explore your personal and professional growth path through Mindful Schools’ core training (101 and 201), elective courses (Self-Compassion and Mindful Communication), interactive workshops, retreats, and ongoing practice support. Together, we can build trauma-sensitive, equitable, and resilient schools where students and educators can thrive.
More Educator Voices from This Course
“This course has been eye-opening for me in many ways. Taking the time to be aware of the layers of the conversation and approaching them with the intention to understand before responding doesn’t seem like new or ground-breaking advice, but it’s a game changer. And being able to practice this and all of the skills taught in this course has been a wonderful way to learn and grow. Thank you!”
–– Katie, Omaha, NE
“The lessons in the Mindful Schools Curriculum are great, but I think it is the practices taught in this course that will help me better deliver that material and to embody mindful practices in my daily life. Thank you so much for this rich and rewarding course!”
–– Christine, Montclair, NJ
“This has been such a great course. There are definitely little shifts happening. Big take aways for me have been tuning into my needs and reflecting on what matters most, noticing emotions in my body and growing my understanding of what empathy is and what it isn’t. I’m so grateful for your gentle, nurturing teaching and excited to have seen the possibilities of deep communication. Thank you.”
–– Helen, Berkeley, CA
Our Trainer
Oren Jay Sofer has practiced mindfulness since 1997, and teaches mindfulness, Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and somatics. In the early 2000s, he developed a deep interest in the relationship between mindfulness practice and communication. A graduate of the BayNVC North American Leadership Training, he began teaching NVC in 2006 and has taught classes and workshops to individuals and organizations nationally. Oren has extensive experience with mindfulness-based programs for children and adolescents; he was one of the first generation of teachers at Mindful Schools and made significant contributions to the development of the Mindful Schools curriculum. Oren is also trained and certified in Somatic Experiencing for healing trauma. He holds a degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University.