Facilitator Training

The second module is starting now.

The Goal of the 2-year teacher training program is to get students ready to teach meditation to individuals and groups.

Teachers at Mindful Heart Programs will provide day-long seminars monthly, with online and in-person instructions and weekly guidance in small groups to help participants cultivate a daily practice and deepen their knowledge and experience in a tradition or traditions of their choice.

The second module is only open for application for those with an existing deep foundation in Mindfulness philosophy and practice

Module 1: Foundation

This is a great place to join us if you have experience meditating and want to deepen your practice or if you’re a beginner and want to fast-track and solidify your journey into becoming a seasoned meditator. The first module sets the foundation for the 2-year facilitator training.

In this course, you will:

Meet once a month for a day-long training by MHP teachers

Have weekly dedicated training sessions with a small group
Have access to mentors for one-on-one support
Be guided in building up your personal meditation practice
Develop your understanding of underlying Buddhist philosophy
Understand how mindfulness, compassion, and Western psychology complement each other in developing emotional balance
Cultivate Heart practices such as kindness, self-compassion, gratitude, and forgiveness
Teach the foundations of Mindful Nature Connection
Give an initial experience of Awake Awareness and Glimpse practices

Module 2: Creation

The second module is only open for application for those with an existing deep foundation in Mindfulness philosophy and practice, until the end of August 2023.

In part two, we will take the next step, and pupils will learn the art of facilitating groups and guiding others in guided meditations.

We will work in diads, triads, and fishbowls to give pupils practice and confidence in guiding others in meditations.
We will learn to guide a whole variety of meditations, mindfulness of breathing, mindfulness of body, thoughts, and feelings, simple glimpse and awareness practices, LongKindness and Compassion practices, and Nature Connection practices
Cultivating Emotional practices such as The Mindful Pause, Emotional Balance, and Forgiveness practices
Deepening the studies and Buddhist teachings from Module 1, bridging between Buddhist and Western psychology,
Learning the foundations of facilitation, attitudes, ethics, boundaries
Learning the facilitation of Nature Connection practices

Module 3: Implementation

In addition, we will offer a second year which includes regular weekly group consultations to check in on your learning and facilitating progress, as well as monthly half-day seminars to deepen your understanding.

In the second year, we will also offer specializations in facilitation for therapists, healthcare providers, yoga teachers, and all those interested in deepening their facilitation skills. You will learn leading meditation groups in schools, for seniors and Spanish-speaking students, for people seriously ill or at the end of life, for those who like to facilitate mindful nature connection, and for people in recovery,

mindful self-compassion.

Those interested in Awake Awareness practices learn to deepen their understanding and how to bring some of those principles into their teaching.

In addition, we will offer a variety of specializations:

a. Michael Kearney, MD, will teach a series on how mindful nature-connection and non-dual awareness practices can build deep resilience in a world of uncertainty and adversity.

b. Radhule Weininger, Ph.D., will teach a series on non-dual Awake Awareness and Effortless Mindfulness. With step by step pointing out instructions and glimpse practices, students will be guided to experience deeper and deeper levels of awareness. Heart Awareness, the deepest level of meeting ourselves, others, and our world, will allow us to live and teach from a new and rich perspective.

c. Harrison Heyl, MA, Vivian Valentin, Ph.D., and Alejandra Tashma, will teach a series on working with children in personal and school settings. You will learn how to guide children and teens in mindfulness and heartfulness practices in a playful and fun way.

d. Mariela Bravo, InsightLA teacher, will teach a series on how to share mindfulness and compassion practices with beginners and how to do that from a place that is sensitive to culture and trauma.

e. Fred Delafield, MA, and Arno Jaffe, JD, will teach a series on mindfulness and compassion practices in recovery and how to work mindfully with those who recover from alcohol and drug abuse.

f. Anahita Holden, Ph.D. and Hattie Bluestone, MA, will teach a course on Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) and how to integrate this method into the guiding of meditations.

Times TBA

Teachers

Radhule Weininger

CO-FOUNDER
Radhule is a clinical psychologist and teacher of Buddhist meditation and Buddhist psychology. She is the co-founder and guiding teacher of the non-profit Mindful Heart Programs which offers a safe refuge for meditation and education programs in mindfulness, meditation, and nature connection in the Santa Barbara area. She is mentored by Jack Kornfield in her teaching and by Joanna Macy in her interest in Engaged Buddhism. In her Dzogchen practice, she was supported by her mentor, the late Dan Brown, PhD
Michael Kearney

CO-FOUNDER
A physician with over 35 years in palliative care and hospice. He is interested in models of healing that go beyond the bio-medical to include the whole person and the world. He is inspired by the teachings of Engaged Buddhism and Earth-based spirituality.
Fred Delafield

MHP Facilitator
Fred began this path in 1996 with his teacher Shinzen Young who ultimately encouraged him to teach. Since then he has studied with many of the great teachers in the West and the East, ordaining for some time in the Mahasi lineage under Sayadaw u Indaka. Fred draws not only upon Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana schools of Buddhist teaching, but the indigenous wisdom of the “red road”, Taoist movement practices, yoga, interpersonal neurobiology, psychology, somatic psychotherapy, and psychedelics.
Mariela Bravo

MHP Facilitator
Mariela is a graduate of MHP’s Mindfulness and Compassion Facilitator Program and InsightLA’s Mindfulness Facilitator Program. Mariela has been teaching and facilitating mindfulness workshops and groups online and in-person in both Spanish and English. She currently teaches at InsightLA Meditation Center, Mindful Heart Programs (MHP), and in a variety of settings such as schools, non-profits, clinics, and corporations. Her passion for sharing mindfulness and compassion practices is inspired by the human capacity for transformation and healing.