How To Become A Mindfulness Meditation Teacher - by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach

COURSE

How To Become A Mindfulness Meditation Teacher

With Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach

Drawing upon decades of experience in training mindfulness meditation teachers, Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach share with you what they find key for anyone entering the pathway to teaching. This course invites you to consider what qualities, personal experiences and attitudes are important in those drawn to teaching meditation, as well as the challenges and pitfalls that may arise. Learning to teach is a beautiful and transformative process and this course is an essential guide for those wishing to share the practices of wisdom and compassion.

WisdomHealth & HappinessSelf Inquiry (I Am)MindfulnessSecularGentle RepetitionMindfulness MeditationSecular Mindfulness

Meet your Teacher

Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach
Washington, DC, USA

Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma under Buddhist master's including Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. After returning to the United States, Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. Over the years, Jack has taught in centers and universities worldwide, led International Buddhist Teacher meetings, and worked with many of the great teachers of our time. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a father, husband and activist. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies. Some include: "A Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology" and "No Time Like the Present: Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy Right Where You Are". Tara Brach's teachings blend Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and a full, compassionate engagement with our world. The result is a distinctive voice in Western Buddhism, one that offers a wise and caring approach to freeing ourselves and society from suffering. Tara earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Fielding Institute and went on to complete a five-year Buddhist teacher training program at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. In 1998, Tara founded the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC (IMCW), which is now one of the largest and most dynamic non-residential meditation centers in the United States. Tara’s podcast receives over 1.5 million downloads each month and she is the author of the books Radical Acceptance (Bantam, 2003), True Refuge: Finding Peace & Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart (Bantam, 2013) and Radical Compassion: Learning to Love Yourself and Your World with the Practice of R.A.I.N. (Viking, December 31, 2019). Tara and Jack lead the Awareness Training Institute (ATI) as well as the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP).

read more

10 Days

15.4k students

4.8 stars

12 min / day

Wisdom

English

Lesson 1

Welcome & Introduction

In this lesson you are welcomed to explore the path of becoming a mindfulness teacher. As leading teachers in the international mindfulness movement, Tara and Jack see the growing need for teachings worldwide and appreciate in you a spark of interest in what it means to be a teacher. Over the next 10 days they will share a wealth of insights and wisdom.

read more

Lesson 2

Exploring The Heart Of What We Teach

In this lesson you will learn the basic elements of teacher training, focusing on two key elements: cultivating mindfulness and open heartedness. This session includes core Buddhist philosophy and a profound poem used to remind us that we all have the potential to truly wake up to life.

read more

Lesson 3

What Are The Qualities Of A Good Mindfulness Teacher

In this lesson we will look at the qualities that are important to being a good mindfulness teacher and some basic skills that you will develop over the course of the next 10 days. We will also touch on the importance of encouraging students to trust themselves as their practice deepens.

read more

Lesson 4

What Background Do I Need For Teaching

Like any other discipline, in order to teach mindfulness we have to first learn it ourselves. In this lesson we will look at the importance of developing your own practice and explore the aspects of your own background that can be useful in your role as a teacher.

read more

Lesson 5

What Challenges Might I Encounter As A Mindfulness Teacher

As a mindfulness meditation teacher you will be offering tools and practices connected with the deepest aspiration of human life. In this lesson we will look at the inevitable challenges and issues that arise in the student-teacher relationship and touch on questions around the monetary compensation of a teacher.

read more

Lesson 6

How Do I Respond To Students Facing Intense Difficulties

Students bring their whole life into their meditation practice. In this lesson we will learn how to wisely and lovingly respond to students facing intense difficulties including trauma, in their own life or their meditation practice.

read more

Lesson 7

The Transformational Potential Of Mindfulness

In this lesson we will explore the potential of mindfulness to transform the way we relate to our inner life, to others and to our world. This is the essense of what we can offer as teachers of mindfulness. This lesson entails both theoretical discussion and a reflective meditation.

read more

Lesson 8

Where And Who Will I Teach

In this lesson we will learn where and who you might teach. There are a growing number of areas where mindfulness practice is deemed highly valuable and necessary. There is a huge variety of ways these teachings can be taken into the world. Your opportunities are endless.

read more

Lesson 9

What Is The Best Teacher Training For Me

In this course we will look at the requirements and qualities that make up a good teacher training program and what support you might seek throughout the learning process. With the help of a good teacher you can develop and strengthen your own practice, a necessary component for becoming a teacher yourself.

read more

Lesson 10

Healing Our World

In this final lesson we arrive at what might be your deepest motivation for teaching: helping to heal our world. One of the benefits of mindfulness and compassion training is bringing what you have learnt to the lives of others. We hope you are inspired to grow in compassion, expression and connection, and dive into your journey of learning and teaching.

read more

4.8 (811)

Recent Reviews

Jennifer

September 3, 2025

Very inspiring, so much so it gave me the confidence to try harder and become an Insight Timer teacher. Thanks both of you. Great duo!

Carole

July 30, 2025

Bien fait et un excellent début de réflexion sur enseigner ou non la meditation et la bienveillance. Merci

Alexa

May 17, 2025

Wonderful course, and plenty of time and prompt to reflect as explore our own hearts. Thank you 🙏

Kimberly

May 3, 2025

Thank you!!!!!

Will

April 10, 2025

Best course I've taken on insight timer thus far

Anne

March 18, 2025

A beautiful course.

Zachary

February 26, 2025

Great course! Thanks for the knowledge and reflections. This gives me a lot to consider for my next steps towards being a meditation teacher

Linda

November 15, 2024

Very helpful guidance for the path of teaching mindfulness

Jo

October 16, 2024

Thank you, Tara and Jack, for this thoughtful, affirmative course. It felt for me like having a truly open conversation with an experienced friend who wandered with me through important questions while always holding my curiosity about and interest in a path like this with validity and reverence. Without judgement or fear. 🙏🏻❤️‍🩹

Danit

May 18, 2024

Exceptional teachers who come from real knowledge and understanding

Lisa

April 8, 2024

Thank you for all your wise words and inspiration. I feel this is now my path and hope I can inspire others to mediate and be more mindful in their life as it has been so powerful for me 🙏

Ben

March 27, 2024

Thank you Jack and Tarra. It was amazing and accurate journey 🙏🏻

Deborah

January 1, 2024

Excellent

Penny

November 28, 2023

I learned a lot and feel inspired to once again gather a few interested people to meditate together.🙏🙏🙏

Cassie

October 29, 2023

Thank you! A wonderful explanation and introduction to mindfulness teacher training.

Emily

October 24, 2023

Very helpful information that helps clarify and reflect. 🙏

Neil

September 11, 2023

Very informative. it has enable me to realise that at my time of life (75) that my time would be better spent developing my mindfulness skills to enable me to enrich those around me both closely and in the wider community. Thank you. 🙏

Autumn

September 3, 2023

Great overview of a need for teachers in our world, and what the broad basis are needed to start on this journey of healing souls and teaching others!

Hope

August 31, 2023

Thank you so much for this course! I especially moved by your inclusion of social justice as a platform for teaching it is such an important aspect of my offerings as a teacher

Henrik

August 31, 2023

Great

More from Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach

COURSE

4.9

• 40 DAYS

Mindfulness Daily

by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach

COURSE

4.9

• 40 DAYS

Mindfulness Daily At Work

by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach

60 min

4.9

• TALKS

Tara Brach And Jack Kornfield: An Evening Of Questions & Responses

Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach

17 min

4.9

• TALKS

A Steady Heart In Time Of Coronavirus (Part 1)

Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach

25 min

4.9

• TALKS

A Steady Heart In Time Of Coronavirus (Part 2)

Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach

Trusted by 35 million people. It's free.

Insight Timer

Get the app