Certification Requisites

To earn your Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification, you must complete and submit the following requisites:

1. Log 40 hours of formal mindfulness meditation practice

  • Complete this mindfulness meditation log. Alternatively, you may write your log in a Word doc, paper journal, or similar spreadsheet.
  • If you are not using the log we have provided, your own log must contain the same details that ours outlines/requests. Please read through our log (linked to above) to ensure that you include everything we are looking for. Additionally, your own log should be easy to read and the minutes/hours easy to add up.
  • In assessing your log, the types of practices we are looking for are formal mindfulness meditations (or compassion practices that are taught within the scope of this program, i.e. Just Like Me, loving kindness meditation, self-compassion). We will not be accepting logged hours of visualization meditations, mantra meditations, yoga, qi gong, or dance (amongst other things). Read this document to learn more, and if you still have questions about whether or not a practice will be accepted, contact us and we can let you know.
  • When recording ‘Notes & Insights’, we want to see some type of reflection for every logged practice. We want to see authentic, nuanced, and honest reflections rather than generic notes. For instance:
  • What we’re looking for: “I woke feeling resistant to practice, but I managed to sit for 20 minutes. I became aware of a tightness in my throat and then anxious thoughts about the presentation I have to give today. Coming back to my breath was grounding for me this morning.”
  • What feels lacking to us: “Felt good. My favorite practice. Will do this one again.”
  • Ideas of questions to ask yourself when completing the ‘Notes & Insights’ column:
  • What did I notice in my thinking mind? What did I notice in my emotional body? What did I notice in my physical body? What was I aware of through my senses? Was it easy or difficult to stay present for the practice? Was I distracted, sleepy, frustrated, etc.? Did any spiritual or personal insights arise?
  • You do not need to meditate on consecutive days and your practices do not need to be a specific length. They just need to add up to 40 hours. You can log any formal mindfulness meditations starting from the date that you registered for the course. There is no timeframe in which the log needs to be completed (i.e. you can log meditations over the course of 40 days or over the course of 400 days+, so long as all dates are between the time you register and the time you submit for certification).

2. Complete the Mindfulness Teaching Fundamentals Course. Please click here to read more about what this includes.

Watch all video lessons of the Mindfulness Teaching Fundamentals Course and complete the entire workbook. 

Download a copy to your computer and work from there. Or, print the workbook, fill it out by hand, and scan it back into digital form. Your work must be legible and well-organized (pages in order within a single file). If we cannot read your answers or your file is not organized, we may ask you to re-do and re-submit.

As an alternative to submitting digitally, you may submit a hard copy of all of your materials (see mailing address below these requisites).

All text fields in the workbook must be filled out and your answers need to be thoughtful and reflective. There is no specific length required for your answers, but it should be clear that you have given thought to each question. If we want to see more from you, we may ask you to go back and add more depth to particular answers/lessons.

As you complete the workbook, participate in the discussion on Connect.

Join the Connect mindfulness community here. There, you will find discussion spaces that correspond to each of the 20 lessons in your Mindfulness Teaching Fundamentals Course workbook.

In these discussion spaces, please contribute at least five original posts to the discussion. This could be an observation, reflection, or question. Please also reply at least five times to another person’s post.

There is no limit to how often you can participate in the discussion, but we will be looking for at least five posts and five replies (across the 20 spaces) as evidence of your engagement with the material and the community. 

Complete the 7 self-assessment rubrics found in your Mindfulness Teaching Fundamentals Course workbook, and also here.

Part of the course requirement is to teach 7 meditation types on 3 occasions each (21 sessions in total). You only need to submit one self-assessment form per meditation type. A minimum self-rating of Competent is required across all domains in all self-assessment forms.

You will be the one to fill out the forms, not your participants. However, you can use participant feedback to help inform you of how the practice went and how you’ll complete the form.

When teaching these 7 meditation types, you are welcome to use the scripts provided in the Appendix, but you do not have to. If using a script as a guide, we encourage you to modify it in a way that feels authentic and natural to you. NOTE: Your audio/video submission will need to be unscripted (more notes on that further down).

The 21 meditations you lead can be either one-on-one sessions or group sessions (we think it’s a great idea to get experience doing both).

You can teach 1 of each of the 7 types of meditations within the container of our Teaching Practice Calls. We ask that you teach the other 2 sessions of each meditation type in spaces where you can lead post-meditation inquiry and discussion.

Your self-assessment forms must be completed thoroughly and with thoughtfulness. These forms are based on the MBI:TAC self-assessment rubric. Please familiarize yourself with this rubric to understand what to look for in each domain. You can learn more about completing the self-assessment rubrics here.

To get a better sense of what we're looking for in the self-assessment forms, read through a sample here.

3. Review the How To Guide Mindfulness Meditations Course and read through the accompanying e-book

  • Watch all 6 lessons of the How To Guide Mindfulness Meditations Course and read through the e-book that goes with it. You can find the downloadable e-book within any of the lesson pages.
  • There is no homework associated with this requisite. We trust that when you submit your materials, you will have reviewed this course and the e-book from start to finish.

4. Submit 20-30 minutes of audio and/or video recordings of yourself teaching the foundational principles of mindfulness.

  • In your recording, we want to see you speak to the following four foundational principles of mindfulness:
  • Primary emphasis on body and five senses
  • Non-judgment: not good or bad, right or wrong… rather: pleasant, unpleasant or neutral
  • Allowance, care and curiosity of this actual experience
  • Non-reactivity: not grasping, avoiding or pushing away
  • We need to hear/see you teaching in your own words about what mindfulness entails (making sure you cover the above foundations). We will not accept recordings of you reading from a script.
  • You may record something specifically for this requisite or you can send a recording of yourself teaching others.
  • Many people use their smartphone to record their meditations (as these files can be easily shared via email or Dropbox). However, you can also record on a Zoom call, in QuickTime, or using any other platform you’re familiar with. Make sure to let your participants know if you’re recording a session.
  • You may submit a single recording or two or three. For example, you might submit a single body scan practice that covers the foundations above. Or, you might submit one mindful breathing practice and one loving kindness practice that together cover the foundations above.
  • We’d like to hear/see you teaching mindfulness both didactically and through a guided practice. In other words, you might start your recording with a short introduction to mindfulness or introduction to the practice before leading a meditation.
  • While you may teach other types of meditations in your own professional practice (i.e. mantra, visualization), this course is rooted in mindfulness. Your recording must be reflective of the types of teachings that this course offers.
  • We will review up to a maximum of 30 minutes audio and/or video. If you submit something that goes beyond this, we will ask you for a shorter recording.

To submit:

  • We accept submissions when you have completed all of the requisites listed above. We do not accept partial submissions.
  • When you are ready to submit, please send all of your documents in a single email to [email protected].
  • It is likely that some of your files (i.e. your audio/video files) will be too large to send through email. You can use Google Drive (with open viewing permissions), Dropbox, or WeTransfer to send us your files. If you send documents directly via any of the above providers, please also send a direct email to [email protected] to let us know you’ve made that submission.

Once you have submitted:

  • We will begin reviewing your materials once we have received your complete submission. The initial review typically takes 1-2 weeks. After this review, we will do one of the following:
  • Send you your certificate and our congratulations
  • Request resubmissions of any requisite(s) we feel needs a bit more practice, work, or care
  • IF THERE IS BALANCE REMAINING IN YOUR ACCOUNT: We will ask that you settle any remaining balance in your account for the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Program. You can settle the balance right away or continue with your monthly installments. If your submitted certification requisites meet our requirements, you will receive your certificate once you have paid for the program in full.
  • We reserve the right to request resubmissions until your documents and/or recordings reflect your understanding of and ability to teach mindfulness with accuracy, care, and skill.

To submit a hardcopy:

If you prefer to send your certification requirements in hardcopy, you can send them to:

Mindfulness Exercises
PO Box 9452, Berkeley, CA 94709
United States

You can send your written requirements in hardcopy and your recordings digitally. Just let us know when you send us your audio/video that the rest of the requirements will be coming in the mail.

NOTE: We are not responsible for submissions that get lost in transit. Make sure you have a backup copy of your submission should your mail not make it to us for any reason.

Learn more about these certification requirements on our FAQ sheet.

Please submit your documents and links to [email protected] for review. Only fully-paid registrants of the Certification Program are eligible.