Why Mindfulness for Educators?
Teaching is incredibly challenging work. Educating and mentoring our youth is a calling that draws some of the most dedicated people on the planet. It’s tough, high-stakes work, that can result in stress, overwhelm, and burnout.
Mindful educators, mentors, and parents feel more calm, effective, creative, and confident; they’re less likely to burn-out, and our students are less likely to miss out on their talents.
Research shows that mindfulness provides us with skills to build attention, improve focus, and manage stress – allowing us to feel nourished and energized to support and connect with students in the classroom, at home, and beyond.
About This Course
This professional development training is specifically designed for educators, mentors, and parents who are dedicated to supporting youth to learn and thrive.
The central objective of this course is to introduce the research, practice, and experience of mindfulness – supporting attention, stress management, and positive states of mind like gratitude, kindness, joy, and compassion. Educators may earn credits upon completion.
This course fulfills the prerequisite for Mindful Educator Essentials, which provides teaching strategies and the research-backed Mindful Schools K-12 curriculum.
Start Your Journey
Next Session
This course includes 2 LIVE calls during Weeks 2 & 5 with the Mindful Schools Training Team
LIVE calls are a place to learn from the Mindful Schools team and connect with like-minded peers to discuss themes and questions arising in the course.
Watch trainings and practice talks that will support your learning journey
Easy access with a commitment of roughly 2-3 hours per week
Educators are eligible for Graduate Level Credits
Course Objectives
Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment with openness and curiosity. It has a variety of research-backed impacts, including reduction in stress, and improvements in job satisfaction, emotional regulation, and focus.
This six-week online course is designed to teach you the fundamentals of mindfulness meditation through a series of videos, readings, reflections, and guided mindfulness practices. This course covers current scientific research on mindfulness and the brain, emotion regulation, and compassion. You will learn:
- Techniques to practice mindfulness meditation and integrate mindfulness into your daily life
- Neuroscience on mindfulness and how it affects the brain
- Strategies for meeting and navigating intense emotions
- The role mindfulness plays in communication, connection, and interaction
- Practices that cultivate positive states of mind like gratitude, kindness, joy, and compassion
- Strategies and support for developing a regular sitting practice
The course is facilitated by a highly experienced Guiding Teacher who will direct your learning process by answering questions, providing ongoing feedback, and synthesizing emerging themes. All of our Guiding Teachers have over a decade of mindfulness practice and broad teaching experience. Upon completion, you will have a foundational understanding of mindfulness meditation and tools to cultivate a personal mindfulness practice.
Credits
Upon completing this course: Educators can receive up to 3 graduate level credits. Details
Start Your Journey
Next Session
This course includes 2 LIVE calls during Weeks 2 & 5 with the Mindful Schools Training Team
LIVE calls are a place to learn from the Mindful Schools team and connect with like-minded peers to discuss themes and questions arising in the course.
Who Is This For?
Both beginners and those with significant mindfulness experience find this course extremely worthwhile. Participants include educators, counselors, parents, and a wide range of school community members who are excited to share mindfulness with students.
We invite you to join this course if you are curious about exploring and practicing mindfulness alongside a like-minded community of peers who are dedicated to the well-being of children.
This is the first course in the path toward building a “mindful school.”
Our Principles
A guiding principle in the Mindful Schools community is the idea that – even before we formally teach mindfulness to students – our own self-care, self-awareness, and personal mindfulness practice serves as an essential model for our students. And as educators, we wouldn’t ask our students to do something we haven’t tried ourselves.
This is why Mindfulness Fundamentals is a prerequisite for taking our second course, Mindful Educator Essentials. Mindful Educator Essentials provides strategies to integrate and adapt mindfulness into your classroom using our research-backed K-12 Mindful Schools Curriculum.
Our Trainers
The Mindfulness Fundamentals course is designed and taught by Megan Cowan, Chris McKenna, and Matthew Brensilver, PhD. This team has over 50 years of combined mindfulness practice and over 30 years of teaching mindfulness and emotional intelligence to children and adolescents, as well as experience training many thousands of adults.
More questions? Please visit our FAQ page.