MBSR Foundations Training (9-day Residential)
September 3 to 12, 2020
Bethlehem Centre,
2371 Arbot Rd, Nanaimo, BC
About 9-Day MBSR Foundations Training:
The format for the MBSR Foundations Residential Program training combines the 5-day Framework for
Living Mindfully with a four-day seminar training for those interested in becoming teachers. The 9-day MBSR Foundations is one of the training requirements on the path to become a full eight-week MBSR Teacher. For complete details of all the training steps needed to be a recognized MBSR Teacher, please visit the Mindfulness Center at Brown University.
The format for the MBSR Foundations Residential Program training combines the 5-day Framework for
Living Mindfully with a four-day seminar training for those interested in becoming teachers. The 9-day MBSR Foundations is one of the training requirements on the path to become a full eight-week MBSR Teacher. For complete details of all the training steps needed to be a recognized MBSR Teacher, please visit the Mindfulness Center at Brown University.
Here is an introduction to the MBSR teacher training path from the Assistant Director, Lynn Koerbel, from the Mindfulness Center at Brown University:
The MBSR Foundations Residential Program includes:
- Participation in the Framework for Living Mindfully Program, a 5-day intensive residential program
meditation practices, as well as investigation of themes of perception, automatic, habitual stress
reactivity, mindfulness-mediated stress response and interpersonal communication.
- Participation in two, 1.5 hour online orientations before the program begins, and a 4-day intensive
The importance of directly experiencing the dynamics, rigor, structure and fluidity of the MBSR curriculum,
in person, cannot be over emphasized. Through a trainee’s own direct experience of the five-day
Framework for Living Mindfully program, the personal and multi-faceted nature of the MBSR program is
revealed. This personal experience directly fosters the early learning of the participant-trainee. The
experiential in vivo nature of the program is enhanced and supported by cognitive frames that help deepen
understanding and integrate learning.
Reflection and investigation in the MBSR Foundations seminar is supported with reflective writing, group
dialogue, and a variety of individual and group learning activities.
Participant-trainees will begin to apply their learning by guiding peers in a short meditation practice
sessions and to express, creatively, how the required readings are integrated into their experience of the
Framework for Living Mindfully program.
Towards the end of the course, participant-trainees will receive guidance and support for offering short
introductory programs or workshops based on the MBSR curriculum. These offerings form part of the
requirement for application to The Teacher Advancement Intensive (TAI), the second step of the formal
training for teaching MBSR.
Course Goals/Learning Objectives
At the end of MBSR Foundations, trainees will be able to:
- Characterize and articulate how key theoretical features of MBSR are situated implicitly and explicitly in the MBSR curriculum;
- Reflect, analyze and articulate, in a group context, the moment-to-moment experiences available through the cultivation of awareness;
- Recognize and demonstrate comprehension of the ethos, structure and content of the MBSR curriculum and course, both as it relates to one’s personal commitment to practice as well as a primary perspective in teaching;
- Lead short mindfulness practices, using essential language principles of MBSR meditation guidance;
- Identify and analyze the critical nature of the relational field, dialogue and inquiry as it shows up in the MBSR classroom, as a specific strength and characteristic of the program and in the Foundations training;
- Identify and articulate the teacher qualities and capacity needed to hold and facilitate the group;
- Demonstrate a growing faculty for self-awareness and expression as a skill in mindfulness;
- Identify and discuss conditioning as it relates to automatic habitual stress reactivity;
- Identify and discuss mindfulness as a mediator in conditioning and habit formation, and as a path to choice and;
- Discuss and analyze the current science as it pertains to both clinical and non-clinical implications of mindfulness and MBSR, the better to increase scientific literacy and critical thinking;
- Demonstrate comprehension of exclusionary criteria for program participation, cautions regarding trauma, and adaptations for specific populations;
- Offer short introductory programs based on elements of the MBSR curriculum;
- Identify and discuss various supports of the MBSR program, such as:
- Contemplative methodology;
- Experiential education;
- Stress psychology, stress physiology, and the neuroscience of mindfulness practice in a variety of real-life applications; and;
- Group dynamics specific to psycho-education and group learning.
- Identify and discuss specific frames as they pertain to the MBSR classroom and stress and challenge in daily living, including:
- Trauma.
- Inclusion, diversity and identity,
- Ascertain one’s own strengths, personal patterns and responses, and areas of development as a critical component for skill in teaching.
Requirements For 9-Day MBSR Foundations
- Successful completion of an 8-week MBSR program (including eight, 2.5 hour classes, an all-day class, and daily home practice)
- At least one year of consistent daily meditation practice
- At least one year of consistent body awareness movement, preferably yoga
- Participation in a 5-7 day silent, teacher-led mindfulness retreat within the last three years. If you would like a list of possible retreat locations that could meet this requirement, you can also fill the form below or email me at info@drkasimalmashat.com.
- Graduate degree or equivalent background experience in healthcare, public health, medicine, or education. Graduate level work in other disciplines will be considered, including business and law. This will be addressed case by case.
Continuing Education
This 9-Day MBSR Foundations offered through our Centre For Mindfulness Canada has been approved by Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) for a total of 73.5 CE credit hours. The Centre For Mindfulness Canada maintains responsibility for the program.
Fees
The fee for this 9-Day Foundations is comprised of:
- Registration Fee
- Accommodation/Meals.
The Registration fee is payable to Centre For Mindfulness Canada, and Accommodations/Meals will be paid directly to Bethlehem Centre. Payment instructions and details will be emailed to you upon acceptance into the program.
Here are the fee options:
Early Bird Rate (By May 31, 2020) |
Regular Rate (After May 31, 2020) |
|
Registration Fee for 9-Day Foundations |
$2,100 |
$2,400 |
Accommodation options |
Nightly Rate |
Total for 9 days |
Shared room with one person (Meals included) |
$125 per night |
$1125 |
Single room (Meals included) |
$155 per night |
$1395 |
Commuters (No accommodations, meals only) |
$65 per day |
$585 |
Please note: All accommodation room options (i.e., single or shared) have shared bathrooms, and meals will be served in dinning area. Also, the early-bird rate only applies to tuition fees.
Payment Options
- Interact e-transfer (preferred), cash or cheque
- Checks and e-transfers are payable to "Centre for Mindfulness Canada"
- Do you have questions? Please contact us at info@centreformindfulness.ca for questions or instructions on how to send the interact e-transfer or where to mail the check to.
- Receipts will be provided under "Centre For Mindfulness Canada" and not "Dr. Kasim Al-Mashat" as this 9-day retreat is not considered a Psychological Service (i.e., not applicable for extended health plan coverage if you have one).
About the Instructors:
The 9 Day Foundations will be facilitated by Dr. Kasim Al-Mashat and Florence Meleo-Meyer. Dr. Kasim Al-Mashat is a Registered Psychologist and Certified MBSR Teacher/Trainer. 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.
Florence Meleo-Meyer serves as Global Ambassador to the MBSR Affiliates world-wide at the Mindfulness Center, Brown University and is inspired by the potential of MBSR to impact global health and well-being when taught by teachers trained with rigor, depth, and cultural sensitivity. She has trained MBSR teachers and teacher trainers for over 20 years. As Director of Oasis Institute, for Professional Education and Training at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts’ Medical School, she engaged with and supported the development of thousands of MBSR teachers globally.
Over many years, Florence directly trained MBSR teacher trainers, and was director of the Train the Trainer program. With equal focus on the refinement of teaching skills, attitudes and knowledge, the heart of her work attends to the cultivation of the deepest understanding of MBSR as a path of love, healing and transformation. She has been a leading contributor to the development of best practices for teacher training in the growing field of MBSR and MBIs. Having trained in MBSR directly with Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD and Saki Santorelli, MA, EdD, she leads MBSR Insight retreats internationally and cultivates deeper understanding of the essence of MBSR within the non-dual experience of silent meditation practice while supporting the integration as a whole life approach. For additional info about Florence’s, click here.
The 9 Day Foundations will be facilitated by Dr. Kasim Al-Mashat and Florence Meleo-Meyer. Dr. Kasim Al-Mashat is a Registered Psychologist and Certified MBSR Teacher/Trainer. 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.
Florence Meleo-Meyer serves as Global Ambassador to the MBSR Affiliates world-wide at the Mindfulness Center, Brown University and is inspired by the potential of MBSR to impact global health and well-being when taught by teachers trained with rigor, depth, and cultural sensitivity. She has trained MBSR teachers and teacher trainers for over 20 years. As Director of Oasis Institute, for Professional Education and Training at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts’ Medical School, she engaged with and supported the development of thousands of MBSR teachers globally.
Over many years, Florence directly trained MBSR teacher trainers, and was director of the Train the Trainer program. With equal focus on the refinement of teaching skills, attitudes and knowledge, the heart of her work attends to the cultivation of the deepest understanding of MBSR as a path of love, healing and transformation. She has been a leading contributor to the development of best practices for teacher training in the growing field of MBSR and MBIs. Having trained in MBSR directly with Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD and Saki Santorelli, MA, EdD, she leads MBSR Insight retreats internationally and cultivates deeper understanding of the essence of MBSR within the non-dual experience of silent meditation practice while supporting the integration as a whole life approach. For additional info about Florence’s, click here.
How to Apply
The application for the 9-Day MBSR Foundations will open on March 2, 2020. Please visit this tab again by then.