Pre-requisite: Must have attended at least 1 daylong retreat with an Insight Meditation teacher/community (e.g. Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, Insight Meditation Center, etc.)

DESCRIPTION
Only when one has truly made oneself a patient can one become a healer.  In practicing mindfulness meditation and studying Buddhist psychology, we become the patient. So much goodness unfolds from this sincerity. Through our practice, we come to understand ourselves, affirm ourselves, and ultimately, transform ourselves. Our own transformation is then leveraged for the welfare of the people we serve.

The classic description of empathy—to stand in someone else’s shoes—presumes that we already know what it is like to stand in our own shoes. With striking clarity, mindfulness reveals what it’s like to stand in our own experience. The intimacy of this encounter with ourselves provides a basis for deep compassion and accurate empathy. This program is not merely about learning techniques to add to one’s therapeutic repertoire: it is a recognition that, in an important sense, you are the intervention and cultivation of your own being enhances your effectiveness.

This four-month training for therapists, educators and those in allied fields, will provide an immersion in Buddhist psychology and the meditation practices that illuminate our minds, foster goodness and transform habits that compound suffering. We’ll dive into the scientific research on mindfulness and its increasing prominence in psychotherapeutic interventions exploring data regarding the efficacy of mindfulness and the mechanisms through which mindfulness confers its benefits. The training will examine the convergences and tensions between clinical research and Buddhist psychology and describe ways to integrate mindfulness into treatment. We’ll consider possible contraindications of mindfulness and how to tailor the intervention to individuals. Please join us.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
We generally only offer financial assistance one time a year per person. Choosing the fee you can reasonably afford helps make courses available to all, regardless of ability to pay. No one turned away for lack of funds, as space allows. If you are in need of financial assistance, please email registration@spiritrock.org.