Is there any financial support available for teacher training? Expand Yes! Removing barriers to mindfulness training is something that we at Breathworks are very passionate about. For those who cannot afford the individual rate, you are welcome to pay the concessionary rate. You can spread the cost of training over a longer period by taking one module at a time, or you can sign up for Stage 1 or 2 of our training as a package and request a payment plan. If you are experiencing significant financial hardship, you may be eligible to apply for a bursary place. Our bursary places can fund up to 50% of the concessionary rate for the whole course. You can find details here.
How much does teacher training cost? Expand You can find the details of our teacher training fees here.
I’m already an MBSR/MBCT teacher - can I skip straight to the Advanced Training? Expand If you are already a qualified MBSR or MBCT teacher, you can do our Conversion Training for MBSR / MBCT Teachers Workshop which will give you an introduction to the Breathworks approach. After this, you will be able to skip straight to the Advanced Teacher Training stage (Stage 2 of the Training Pathway).
I completed a Breathworks course a long time ago - does that still count toward my prerequisites? Expand If you’ve completed a Breathworks course within 2 years of your Mindfulness Facilitator training event that’s fine, however any longer than 2 years and we may ask that you take another course as a refresher.
How long does it take to complete the Teacher Training Programme? Expand The whole teacher training programme takes a minimum of 1 year to complete, and you must leave at least 6 months between your Mindfulness Facilitator A and Advanced Teacher Training Events. You can also take most of the modules from our training programme as freestanding events in their own right, leading to different training outcomes - you can find more information here.
CAN I START LEADING MINDFULNESS SESSIONS AFTER STAGE 1 OF THE TRAINING PROGRAMME? Expand You can lead short mindfulness sessions once you have completed our Mindfulness Facilitator A & B modules (part of Stage 1 training). We provide session plans and facilitator notes for six short mindfulness sessions as part of that training. If you wish to teach Breathworks Mindfulness for Health and Mindfulness for Stress courses, then you must complete the whole teacher training programme (Stages 1 & 2) and become an accredited Breathworks Mindfulness Teacher.
How do I stay in touch with other Breathworks Teachers? Expand There is a private group for Breathworks Teachers and Trainees within our online Community of Practice, where you can share ideas and questions about teaching Breathworks courses. You can ask to join the group once you have become a member of the Community of Practice – membership is free. You’ll find the Teachers & Trainees Group under 'Groups' in the Community of Practice main menu.
What do I need to do to maintain accreditation as a Breathworks teacher? Expand Once accredited, Breathworks Mindfulness Teachers pay an annual fee of £80 to maintain accreditation. In addition, they must do the following: Adhere to the BAMBA Good Practice Guidelines (GPG) (previously the UK Network of Mindfulness-Based Teacher Trainers) and the Breathworks Code of Conduct. Having on-going mindfulness supervision is an important part of the good practice requirements for teachers of mindfulness-based courses as set out by BAMBA GPG. Complete a short annual survey to help Breathworks report on its social impact and provide information and feedback about who you are reaching with mindfulness (sent at the start of each calendar year). Attend the annual teachers gathering with Breathworks founder and team or watch the recording. Attend at least one CPD event/year. This event can be a Breathworks event or an event offered by any BAMBA member organisation. Attend at least one 5-7 days long meditation retreat per year. This can be broken down into 1, 2 or 3 day events if you have caring responsibilities or health needs. This can be a Breathworks event, although it doesn't need to be. This retreat experience deepens your own practice, providing more space and stillness for the fullness of your experience to emerge. This can be residential or online, be teacher led and include significant periods of silence. Retreats allow a deeper sense of stillness and silence, providing more space to be with the fullness of your experience as it's emerging. This kind of space is difficult to find in our day to day lives, which is why retreats are so critical for mindfulness teachers. If your life circumstances (for example, raising young children or caring for an elderly parent) make it difficult for you to meet this expectation, please contact the office so we can discuss your options.
Do I need supervision if I’m teaching a Breathworks course? Expand On-going mindfulness supervision is an important part of the good practice requirements for teachers of mindfulness-based courses. All Breathworks supervisors meet the good practice guidelines for supervisors developed by BAMBA (British Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches). If you are looking for mindfulness-based supervision specifically for Breathworks facilitators, accredited teachers and those who are in our training programme, then please search for Breathworks supervisors in our teachers’ directory. Find out more and get in touch with a supervisor here.
What are the benefits of accreditation as a Breathworks Mindfulness teacher? Expand All accredited Breathworks Mindfulness Teachers enjoy the following benefits: Access to and use of curriculum and all related materials for the Mindfulness for Health and/or Mindfulness for Stress courses, with free curriculum updates when available. A free listing of contact information on the online Breathworks Teachers Directory. Use of the Breathworks Accredited Teachers logo for your marketing purposes. 10% discount on all Breathworks Continuing Professional Development events. 25% discount on all Breathworks meditations from the shop. Access to the Teachers Group on the Breathworks Online Community of Practice.
What's the annual accreditation fee as a Breathworks teacher? Expand The accreditation fee is £80 per year, and is part of Breathworks teachers CPD (Continuing Professional Development). It allows us to maintain your accreditation, organise events for our teachers and provide teaching resources. It also allows access to a range of information and networking opportunities to assist you in your role. In order to maintain accreditation, all teachers are expected to pay this fee on an annual basis. You can pay your annual accreditation fee here
What Continuing Professional Development (CPD) events are available for Breathworks teachers? Expand Lots! We’re continually running CPD workshops and courses for our teachers, facilitators and trainees, featuring the latest developments in the mindfulness field, opportunities to develop your skills, and helpful tools. You can also purchase recordings of past CPD workshops here, and see what’s coming up in our calendar here. And accredited teachers get 10% off all CPDs.
I’ve already done an MBSR/MBCT/MSC 8-week course, do I still need to do a Breathworks course as a prerequisite for teacher training? Expand Yes. Although there is some overlap between the contents of Breathworks courses, and other 8-week mindfulness courses, there is enough that is distinct about the Breathworks approach that will make having participated on a course yourself indispensable to training as a facilitator or teacher in the Breathworks approach to mindfulness and compassion. You can complete either a Mindfulness for Health or a Mindfulness for Stress course to fulfil this prerequisite.
I live in a different time zone and the schedule doesn't work for me Expand We try to schedule our online training events such that they are accessible to as many time zones and schedules as possible. If there are currently no events that suit your time zone and schedule, keep an eye on the upcoming events, and when we arrange our next set of teacher training events there may be an option that will work for you. Another option is to do our Global Timezone option, which is available for some training modules such as Mindfulness Facilitator B, Mindful Movement and TTa. This option involves watching the recordings of the live sessions and having a one hour one-to-one personal session with a member of our training team to reflect on your learning during each week of the Teacher Training event. You and the trainer assigned to you will arrange your one-to-one sessions at mutually convenient times via Zoom/Skype/phone. Please note that you will still need to watch all the recordings of any group Zoom sessions, as well as making posts in the course forums. So your overall personal learning time each week on this option will be a 1 hour one-to-one session with a trainer on top of time to watch the live course sessions and any self-study for that module. The Global Timezone online fee will vary from module to module. It is an additional fee on top of the usual online fee for that module. Please contact [email protected] to enquire about Global Timezone options for a particular training event.
Am I entitled to apply for the Concessionary Rate? Expand We offer a concessionary rate of training which we recommend to those earning less than £22,000 a year (or less than £25,000 if you live in London). If this applies to you, you can select 'concessionary rate' when you book your training. If you are experiencing significant financial barriers, you may be eligible to apply for a Bursary Place. Find out more about eligibility and the bursary process here. Our bursary places can fund up to 50% of the concessionary rate for the whole course, but if you can afford to pay more than 50% please state that on your application. Equally, if you cannot afford to pay 50% of the fees, please do still apply for a bursary and tell us how much you can afford. We aim to make our training as inclusive as possible. If you fit our criteria, you can apply for a Bursary Place. You will also need to complete an Application Form for the module you are applying for so both applications can be reviewed together. Please feel free to contact us if you have more questions about eligibility: [email protected].
Are there any resources to help me teach online? Expand Yes! You can find resources for teaching online on the teachers group on the online Community of Practice here.
Can I book onto an online Training Event if I can't make all the sessions? Expand Our online Training sessions are recorded, so participants are able to catch up on missed sessions, however we require students to attend at least 80% of the live events of an online training event.
Can I cancel a training event after I've booked it? Expand We appreciate things happen in life and you may need to make changes to your bookings. Whilst we can’t offer refunds, we may be able to transfer dates subject to our Cancellation Policy. Get in touch with our training team should you wish to cancel or move your module at [email protected].
Do I still need supervision after I've been teaching for a long time? Expand Yes. We'd suggest that you have at least 3 hours of supervision per course for the first 6 to 8 courses you teach, and even after this, regular supervision is a necessity. Supervision is intended to help you to become confident and secure in your delivery of Breathworks material, and in your ability to respond to participants with varied needs. Even the best mindfulness teachers have blind spots, and in order to best serve participants on their courses, we need to reflect on our experience teaching with an experienced supervisor.
Why is it important to have at least 12 months of personal meditation experience before training? Expand It is important to already have an established practice so that you already know that the mindfulness journey is for you. If you were going to get a piano teacher, you'd like to be taught by somebody who already has some experience playing the piano! When training to teach you will be required to practice particular meditations and write diaries about them. A big part of being a mindfulness teacher is embodying what you teach, and your practice lets us know that you are ready for that.
IF I TRAIN AS A BREATHWORKS MINDFULNESS TEACHER, IS THERE A TIME LIMIT THAT I NEED TO COMPLETE MY MODULES IN? Expand Not really, though we’d recommend that you keep some momentum up in your training rather than letting it spread over too long a period, or you’re likely to find your skills and knowledge get a bit rusty. We do, however, specify a maximum gap of 2 years between training modules. If you have a longer gap than that we may ask you to reconnect with the Breathworks approach by undertaking or supporting a Breathworks 8-week course, for example, before continuing with your training.
IF I WANT TO TRAIN AS A BREATHWORKS MINDFULNESS FACILITATOR, CAN I COMPLETE THE TRAINING MODULES IN ANY ORDER? Expand No, you have to do Mindfulness Facilitator A first, followed by Mindfulness Facilitator B.
WHAT DO I NEED TO COMPLETE IN ORDER TO QUALIFY AS A BREATHWORKS MINDFULNESS TEACHER? Expand You need to complete all the modules in both Stages 1 and 2 of our training programme.
I’M NOT SURE I WANT TO TEACH MINDFULNESS, IS THIS TRAINING FOR ME? Expand Many people get involved with the Breathworks training programme for reasons other than to become a fully accredited mindfulness teacher. You might simply want to focus on developing and deepening your own mindfulness practice, in which case you could begin by doing our Going Deeper course which focuses specifically on this area. After that, you could always go on to engage with other training modules while maintaining this practice focus and just learning more about the Breathworks way. Or perhaps you want to learn to share mindfulness with friends and family, work colleagues and clients, or members of your community in accessible, bite-sized sessions. Our Mindfulness Facilitator modules would be perfect for you. Our modular training programme really allows you to focus on your interests and build up your training gradually to suit you. You don’t need to know what your end goal is to get started!