Course Materials
All the resources you’ll need for your year-long training
Welcome to the Student Centre
This is the main online portal for your Mindfulness Teacher Training, where you’ll find reminders, access the online tutorials, find copies of materials handed out during the in-person training, watch or listen to video or audio clips from the training, browse the Participant List to find contact info for your fellow trainees, and connect to our Facebook Group for all Students and Alumni.
If you have any questions about any of these links and materials, please contact your Course Administrator at karen@mindfulnesstraininginstitute.com.
Also, feel free to join our private Facebook Group.
Online Tutorial Dates
All tutorials are at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm UK / 6pm CET
TBC
Training Dates in Berkeley, California
Module 1: 3-6 September, 2025
Module 2: 10-13 December, 2025
Module 3: 4-7 March, 2026
Module 4: 17-20 June, 2026
Exploring Mindfulness Paper
Assignment
Mindfulness is… (1500-2000 words)
Your paper should begin with “Mindfulness is…”, completing the sentence with a concise and clear description of your understanding of the core features of Mindfulness practice as you understand it.
The Mindfulness of the title refers not only to the translation of ’sati’, but to the broad use of the word as an umbrella term for the secular presentation of awareness-based meditative practices that have their origin in the Buddhist tradition.
Your paper will unpack your opening sentence so as to explore various features of mindfulness practice, in which you may cover the functions, origins, benefits and applications of mindfulness practice.
While you may cite various sources, your essay should predominantly demonstrate your own understanding. You may choose to cover areas of mindfulness teaching and practice with which you already feel clear and confident, so as to refine your articulation of key areas, or you may choose to explore territory which feels more adventurous and less clear for you, as a way to learn. Either way, your paper should be underpinned by the way that teachings and practices were presented in Module 1 of our training.
Submission Deadline
00 Xxxxxxxxxx, 202X
Meet to discuss with Mentor by
00 Xxxxxxxxxx, 202X
Resources
Assignment
Guided Meditation Video
15 minutes, delivered direct to camera, uploaded to YouTube, with a link sent to Karen and to your mentor.
Lead a guided Mindfulness meditation for 15 minutes, emphasising an area of practice developed and explored during Modules 1 or 2. Guide the meditation as you would lead it as part of an introductory course. Take care to use language and imagery that is accessible and suitable to the population you are teaching, and do NOT use specifically Buddhist terminology or references.
Your meditation should be at least 13 minutes long. DO NOT EXCEED the 15 minute limit, as YouTube requires additional account verification for uploads over 15 minutes.
Submission Instructions
Upload your recording to YouTube/Vimeo. Please ensure that your video is viewable to anyone with a link by signing out of your accounts and testing your link. Then send the link in an email to your Karen and your Mentor.
YouTube Help
For step-by-step instructions on how to upload your video to YouTube here. If you need further assistance, please contact Karen.
Assignments to prepare for next module
Reading List
From Suffering to Peace: The True Promise of Mindfulness
— Mark Coleman
Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out
— Ruth King
10 Minute Talk
Prepare for a 10 minute talk to a group in class for the March module. This is a practice for learning how to give mini-talks in your SIT course.
Topic: A theme from module 1 or 2 on an aspect of mindfulness practice ( i.e. mindfulness of breath/body/emotion/thought, etc.)
The talk is to be aimed at the population you will be serving, and you can announce at the beginning of the talk who it is being delivered to. You will give your talk to half the group and receive appreciative and constructive feedback from Mark or Martin.
Teaching Your SIT Course
Assignments
Reading List
Awake Where You Are — Martin Aylward (Also available in French)
Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness — David Trevelyan (Also available in Spanish, German, and Dutch)
SIT Assignments
As you know, in order to graduate, you need to teach the SIT curriculum to a live audience of between 2 and 20 students. In addition to teaching the course, your teachers and mentors will need the following from you:
Videos of your teaching
- Max. 15 minute video of you teaching your SIT course to your live audience. This should be during a talk/lecture and can include some Q&A. Please get your students’ permission to record if you plan to include Q&A.
- Please also record an additional 10-15 min talk in case Mark and Martin request to view more of your teaching.
- 10-15 minute guided meditation, and record an additional meditation to have on hand should Mark and Martin request to view more of your teaching.
SIT Evaluation Essay (1000-1500 words max)
How the course went, how you felt in the teaching role, what could be improved on, what was difficult/challenging?
Teacher Development Essay (max 1000-1500 words)
How has your own mindfulness practice developed and deepened over the year of your training? How have your teaching skills and confidence, and your knowledge of Mindfulness themes, grown over the year? How do you see your teaching of Mindfulness developing over the next 3 years? In which areas of practice and teaching do you feel you most need to develop as a teacher?
SIT Course Evaluations
Please have your students complete the following evaluation form on your SIT course. Martin, Mark and your mentor will review these; so please have them submit their evaluations as soon as your course ends. If requesting your students to submit these electronically (preferred), please familiarize yourself with the website ahead of time so that you can answer any questions that arise.
There are three ways to submit the evaluations:
- Preferred option: Follow the link below to find the SIT Course Evaluation in your language and have your students fill out the evaluation online here.
- Print out the PDF version of the evaluations (available at the link above) to distribute, collect your students’ responses, scan the evaluations and email them to Karen.
- Print the PDF and distribute the evaluations, collect them, input each of the responses yourself into the form at the link above.
SIT Research Questionnaires: to assess the efficacy of the course, please administer at the start of your SIT course and at the conclusion of your final session. If requesting your students to submit these electronically (preferred), please familiarize yourself with the website ahead of time so that you can answer any questions that arise. Please only have students who have finished the course in its entirety fill out the Post-Course Questionnaire.
SIT Mindfulness Research Factshet: Describes the SIT Mindfulness Course research your students will participate in by completing the pre- and post-course questionnaires.
Identification Number:So that pre- and post-course questionnaires can be matched up, please instruct your students to use a student code / identification number comprised of your initials, their initials, and a designation for Pre or Post Course. See example below (Karen fills out the Pre-Course Questionnaire for a course with Mark; Post-Course code would be MCKMPost).
Example
MCKMPreKMPre
Teacher Initials
Student Initials
Pre or Post Course
There are two ways to submit the questionnaires:
- Preferred Option: Follow the link below to find the questionnaire in your language and have your students fill out the evaluation online here.
- Print out the PDF of the evaluations (also available at the link above) to distribute, collect your students’ responses, scan the evaluations and email them to Karen.
Submission Instructions
All the above materials shall be submitted by XX Xxxx, 202X. To do so, please email the following items to Karen and your Mentor by the due date:
- Teaching Videos should be uploaded to YouTube/Vimeo. Please ensure that your videos are viewable to anyone with a link by signing out of your accounts and testing your links. Then paste the links at the top of your SIT Evaluation Essay.
- SIT Evaluation Essay and Teacher Development Essay can be submitted in Word (.docx) or PDF formats.
- SIT Course Evaluations: We will automatically receive all evaluations submitted through the MTI website, but if you administer hard copy evaluation forms, please scan and send them to Karen, or manually enter the responses into the form on the website.
- SIT Mindfulness Research Questionnaires: We will automatically receive all questionnaires submitted through the MTI website, but if you administer hard copy questionnaires, please scan and email them to Karen.
Mentor Meeting
Please meet with your mentor to discuss and review your materials by XX Xxxxx 202X.
Graduation
Graduation from the course depends on successful delivery of the SIT course, completion of the course material, any additional conditional requirements of your initial acceptance, and the evaluation of the teachers of your course participation and competence in Mindfulness Teaching. Some students may be asked by the course leaders to complete further teaching, study or practice as a condition for graduation.
Submission Deadline
00 Xxxxxxxxxx, 202X
Meet to discuss with Mentor by
00 Xxxxxxxxxx, 202X
Resources
Video
Audio
4 Foundations Presentation
Pre-Course Screening
SIT Flyer Examples
MTI Trainee Logo
Inclusivity Statement
Example
SIT Certificate of Completion
Certificates
(Two versions, one with printer marks/bleeds, one without)
Congratulations!
Dear US12 graduates,
Congratulations on completing the Mindfulness Training Institute’s yearlong Professional Mindfulness Teacher Training. We so appreciate the way you all were able to show up and contribute to a meaningful last module even with the challenges of being so much online.
This letter contains important post-graduate information about ongoing teacher development, and about your connection with MTI and the growing global field of Mindfulness practice and teaching.
Certification and Accreditation
Graduation results from completing the yearlong teacher training and practicum to a satisfactory level and completing all course material and assignments. Graduates are eligible to become Mindfulness Training Institute Certified Teachers.
Our certification year runs from September to August. Annual certification fees of US$150 can be paid through MTI paypal account, using the address: Paypal.me/MTIfees
MTI is accredited by the International Mindfulness Teachers’ Association (IMTA), an organisation founded to establish standardised requirements for Mindfulness Teacher certification. Mark and Martin are both IMTA Advisory Board Members.
MTI certification meets the qualifying standard for IMTA certification. In addition to MTI certification, you may wish to apply directly to IMTA to be an IMTA certified Mindfulness Teacher, enabling you to use the IMTA certified logo on your teaching materials.
Benefits of MTI Certification
MTI certification, renewed annually, has the following benefits:
- Membership of the MTI Alumni community. You will receive the quarterly graduate newsletter with updates to the SIT manual, new research, useful articles and other related material.
- Listing on the MTI website Teacher Directory. Your name, location and website / other contact info will be listed in the Directory of MTI certified teachers.
- Access to the Alumni members area on the website. This includes audio and video recordings from your training, as well as from other MTI trainings and the Alumni retreats.
- 2-monthly online tutorials with Mark and Martin, where you can bring questions about your own teaching.
- 2-monthly online peer-led tutorials where you and other alumni can share your wisdom and support each other with your different areas of expertise. Each session is typically led by 2 or 3 alumni in collaboration.
- Alumni retreats: Certification allows you to join annual post-graduate retreats offered by Martin and Mark, for your post graduate teacher development.
- Teaching opportunities with MTI: The Institute can pass on mindfulness teaching invitations to certified MTI graduates.
Supervision
Certified MTI graduates are required to maintain supervision for teaching, with a minimum of one supervision session for each SIT course (or similar) taught. If you have appreciated your MTI mentor’s support during training, you could ask them to become your supervisor. Supervisors set the cost of meetings. Our guidelines to them use a sliding scale of $75 to $150.
The Alumni members section of the MTI website has a list of MTI recommended supervisors who are all long time Dharma practitioners and well established Mindfulness teachers. Supervision from other established teachers is also possible.
Peer support
In addition to the regular alumni peer tutorials, we encourage graduates to meet regularly for mutual support and exploration, within your pods or in affinity groups of people serving similar populations.
Possible format for a one-hour meeting:
- Short guided meditation to start.
- 15 minutes each to do a check in / report about your teaching which includes time for feedback / questions etc.
- 15 minutes general discussion about teaching issues.
Re-certification requirements
To maintain certification, graduates commit to the following:
- At least one weeklong silent meditation retreat per year.
- Maintaining a daily personal meditation practice.
- Supervision for Mindfulness teaching.
- Recommitting to the 5 ethical teaching guidelines
Congratulations to all of you completing the course, and to all those are graduating now. We also very much look forward to all those who will be offering their SIT courses in the coming months so we can review your material and allow you to graduate too.
We look forward to our ongoing relationship with you as an MTI graduate and certified teacher.
With love,
Mark and Martin