GUIDE SECTIONS:

How to become a meditation teacher

Teacher training

Certification

Career opportunities & pay

Teacher, instructor, coach: what’s the difference?

Well-known meditation teachers

How to teach a meditation

How to Become a Meditation Teacher

creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

• Focus on your own practice first

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

• Decide which type of meditation or mindfulness you will teach

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creati ve project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

• Find a reputable meditation teacher certification or program

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

• Fill in the holes of your own training

It all begin

Trauma, power imbalances, etc.

s with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

• Share your gift with the world

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

• Continually hold the “seat of the student”

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Jump to the top | Download the entire guide for free

GUIDE SECTIONS:

How to become a meditation teacher

Teacher training

Certification

Career opportunities & pay

Teacher, instructor, coach: what’s the difference?

Well-known meditation teachers

How to teach a meditation

Meditation and mindfulness teacher training

creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

How does one become a meditation teacher or coach?

Practice, practice, practice.

I’m joking! But also not–the absolutely most important part of becoming a meditation teacher is to develop your own practice. Students hear us on the level that we’re speaking from, and we can have all the “right” words to say, but if we’re not teaching from a place of solid, time-tested practice, we won’t be effective teachers. Most reputable meditation teacher training programs will require 1-2 years of regular meditation practice, and many also require some kind of extended retreat experience.

Marianne Williamson, author of xxxx, says, “.“ Our own practice is how we stay plugged in.

And after practice, the next step is teacher training–which is different than meditation or mindfulness training. (I myself was a student of Buddhist meditation for many years before I took the big step of embarking on teacher training.) As we’ll cover later, there is no standard governing body for meditation teacher training or certification, so literally anyone can call themselves a meditation teacher… and oh, they do. In this guide, I will outline for you some ways to find a high quality teacher training, but since there is no standard governing body, the standard setter is you. You set your own standards for your own spiritual and meditation practice, and you chose your standard for training.

After practice and training come… more practice. That is, practice teaching. Many longer training programs have this built in, which is wonderful. Being able to have trusted mentors or peers who can give you feedback on your own methods is incredibly important.

So instead of “practice, practice, practice,” I guess it’s: practice, training, practice. :)

What should I expect to learn in a meditation teacher training?

All mindfulness and meditation teacher training programs are different, but the high quality ones will share most of these elements:

• The history of meditation

• The philosophy of their specific type of meditation practice

• At least a general overview of what the other types of meditation are, for context

• The latest neuroscience of meditation and mindfulness

• What their meditation path looks like, and where it leads (less stress? full enlightenment?)

• How meditation relates to mindfulness practices and yoga asana

• Specific technique instruction

• Posture of meditation and working with the physical body

• Creating the container (how to prepare to teach)

• How to structure a meditation class

• Ego, power structures, and other ethical considerations (important!)

• Working with trauma (look for “trauma-informed” teachers)

• What can go wrong with meditation (this is very important and many gloss it over)

• Making a living

• Marketing your services

• Caring for yourself as a teacher (boundaries, energy work, etc.)

• Peer work (including group feedback–crucial)

• Mentorship with an experienced teacher

Other additional things that can create a robust teaching program include:

• Training in additional kinds of meditation, such as mantra, sound, chakra, loving-kindness, metta, or walking meditations

• Working with different types of people (children, trauma survivors, prison populations, medical settings, corporate meditations, etc)

A training should also make very clear what you are and are not qualified to teach once you complete the meditation.

How much does meditation teacher training cost?

Expect to pay between $1800-$3500, depending on the length of the training. (We’ll talk more about how to assess and compare training lengths in a bit.)

For someone who wants to become a meditation teacher (as opposed to those who are adding a complimentary skill set to other offerings) I have yet to see a comprehensive training that costs less than $1500 that I would open-heartedly recommend.

Can you find it cheaper? Heck yes you can! But cheap offerings tend to be from people trying to bottom out prices on the truly high-quality options. (These days, you can even find meditation teacher certification for like $50 on those “teach anything” platforms online, and that’s just crap that muddies the waters.) But don’t think high prices are a proxy for quality; much the same way many yoga studios really only make their money on offering tons of yoga teacher trainings, many meditation studios are realizing the same thing, and are pumping out meditation teacher trainings and pushing up the prices.

Here’s something I like to use for context: MMTCP, the two-year-long Sounds True meditation teacher training led by renowned teachers Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield is pretty much considered the “top of the line” offering––and it clocks in at $6700. (We take an in-depth look at this specific training later on.) So here’s how I do the math, and you can do this, too, if it helps: if two years of arguably the best training costs $6700, and then some random studio is offering a six-week training for four grand…. that doesn’t make sense to me. (Although it is worth noting that MMTCP is kind of shy about saying just how many hours of actual training take place other the two years–a “best guess” is about 350 hours.)

Don’t stress if this feels like too much to figure out! We’ll look at exactly how to measure the quality of a meditation teaching training program below.

If these prices represents too great a financial investment for you, consider ways to reduce the cost of a reputable training (such as through scholarships, work-study, hardship discounts, sliding fee scales, or payment plans) instead of going for a cheaper, lesser quality one. If you find a training you absolutely love but you can’t afford it, try emailing the facilitators and asking for if there are options available to you to reduce the price. Everyone deserves to make a good living–including meditation teacher training instructors!–but it’s always fine to inquire.

An important note: many reputable meditation teacher trainings these days offer significant discounts for Black and Indigenous people of color, disabled people, members of the queer community, and trans-and gender-non-conforming people. An added bonus of this is that by seeking out these options, you’ll be more likely to find a teacher community where you’ll feel safe and welcome. (And if you’re not a member of a marginalized community, consider this as a factor and let your chosen program know! This is a small way to help move the world of meditation forward.)

How can I tell if a training is good or not?

First, pay attention to both how many of the expected topics above are covered in a training, and notice the level of detail used to describe the modules. I’ve noticed that a lot of “just getting started” or “fly-by-night” type trainings are super vague about what they cover. Very generally speaking, the more detail in a description, the more thoughtful and planned-out a training will be. (Beware of a description of a meditation teacher training that is little more than a bullet list with some fancy teacher photos and some generic woo-woo stock photos.)

Other things to keep an eye out for:

• Majority live instruction – a little bit of self-paced or pre-recorded instruction is okay; it should not be the bulk

• Limited class size – you want to get your questions asked and your skills honed

• Look at their application form – broadly speaking, the more reputable a training is, the harder it is to get into; top training programs typically have very in-depth application processes (often including personal interviews) and lower-tier ones have nothing more than credit card forms or some random esoteric questions

• Teaching methodology or pedagogy – they should have one, and it should fit how you learn (examples include didactic learning, inquiry based, collaborative); if you’re a visual learner and they are lecture-only, it will likely be frustrating

Dive deep into who is teaching the courses by looking for:

• Diversity of teachers – in all the ways that come to mind, but also including different lineages

• Teachers who are experienced in teaching teachers – look for transparency into the education, training, and experience of teachers (this is not the same as the Instagram following ;)

A few red flags:

• Explore the meditation practice pre-requisites for joining the program – if they require less than a year of experience (or have no stated requirement) or don’t require any prior in-depth retreat experience, that’s a sign that they are probably just trying to fill their classes up

• If they focus on the “certificate” over other factors, they are likely a diploma mill

• A “teach anything” platform - if you can learn to bake bread or fix a car here, it’s not the place

• If a website lists trainings all over the world – it’s likely an aggregator

Finally, one of the most important things is also one of the hardest to define: you want to resonate with the teacher or teachers you will be spending time with. I like to say: if they haven’t been where you want to go, don’t ask them for directions! Meaning, if they are cranky or blah, don’t choose them as your teacher. Don’t second guess this one; go with your gut.

CHOOSING A TEACHER EBOOK

Best mindfulness and meditation teacher training programs

The best training is the one that prepares you to safely and confidently teach meditation. Using this information outlined here and your own inner compass, my hope is that you find a great fit for you, as everyone is different. That being said, here are some mindfulness and meditation teacher programs that are generally thought of by other teachers as being highly reputable.

• MBSR https://www.umassmemorialhealthcare.org/umass-memorial-medical-center/services-treatments/center-for-mindfulness/mbsr-teacher-training

• UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center Training in Mindfulness Facilitation

• Sounds True with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield (more on this program below)

• For Canadians, the Centre for Mindfulness Studies offers many options

Just because a program isn’t on this list doesn’t mean it isn’t a good program. Use the evaluation techniques above to help guide you when looking at any program, including these I listed here. Remember, you’re setting your own standard.

Exploring other teacher trainings

Many local meditation studios offer meditation teacher trainings, and these days so do a lot of yoga studios–they vary widely in quality. If you’re wanting to explore different teachers or lineages, a good way to start is to explore the websites of one of the top retreat centers (these include Spirit Rock, Omega, Feathered Pipe, InsightLA, and K––––––, among others) , find teachers who are interesting to you, and expand your search from there.

Buddhist meditation teacher training

You will cover the four noble truths, and eight-fold path,

In addition to Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, other wonderful Buddhist teachers who sometimes offer or join teacher trainings include Lama Rod Owens, Trudy xxxx, Susan Piver, Sharon Salzburg, Anne Cushman, Adreanna Limbach., JoAnna Hardy,

Buddhist author Lodro Rinzler offers a cool two-part program that is comprised of a Buddhist Immersion Program followed by a teacher training program. I also recommend looking at Three Jewels Enlightenment Studio, a NYC-based non-profit that has moved to doing online trainings.

Important note: there are a lot Buddhist lineages that offer different types of meditation teacher training, but I am going to be completely honest with you here. So many of them have been rocked by various scandals in recent years (and have handled the accusations of abuse so terribly) that there aren’t any that I can recommend in good conscience right now. May American Buddhism find its way back to the true path.

Mindfulness-based teacher training

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Short meditation teacher training

A short meditation teacher training is appropriate in some cases–if you’re adding meditation or mindfulness instruction to your existing offerings, for instance. A teacher who wants to bring mindfulness practices to the classroom, or a therapist looking to guide meditation sessions, or a trained yoga teacher who knows that meditation instruction is more important than just something to mimic.

However, a lot of times, my impression is that super-short meditation teacher trainings like this–50 hours, say, or a weekend–are often more for generating revenue for an existing business then about truly building a foundation in meditation instruction. (I’ve even seen 20-hour “full” teacher training courses offered. This is a money grab, not a real training.)

If you’re new to meditation (let’s say, within the first year), you might want to wait a bit to make sure it’s

About those hours…

An important note–and this applies to a training program of any length–the hours taught should be active hours–mainly instruction, mentorship, and active practice teaching while receiving feedback. It’s suboptimal but okay for some of the hours to be from additional meditation practice above-and-beyond a typical daily half hour or so that you might normally do, or time spent implementing new practical techniques. But if someone is just telling you to meditate more and then charging you for it… that is decidedly not a teacher training.

I recently saw a meditation teacher training listed at 100 hours, but when I looked at the breakdown, it was 13 hours of pre-recorded videos and 87 hours of meditation on your own time. That, to me, is pretty dang dishonest. So make sure you’re getting what you pay for, no matter which route you take. (Worth noting is that this training is offered by a “partner” of one of those certifying places we’ll discuss in depth below–a good example of why “certified mindfulness and meditation teacher training” is not necessarily a way to find quality training.)

100 hour meditation teacher training

Lately, a lot of meditation teacher trainings, especially the ones offered by local studios, have started to offer trainings that clock in at this length. It kind of seems to have become a delineator between shorter, shallow trainings and the longer, generally more established 200 hour and 300 hour meditation teacher trainings.

There is no doubt that 100 hours is a lot of time, and certainly more in-depth than a weekend–but at forty hours a week, it adds up to just two-and-a-half weeks.

Consider this for a little context: the Yoga Alliance, which is the internationally recognized standards-setting organization for yoga teacher training, considers 200 hours to be the bare minimum time needed to train a beginning yoga teacher. (There is no commonly recognized standards-setting organization for meditation instruction, which we’ll discuss more in-depth later on.) And yes, while yoga covers complex physical anatomy, a high quality meditation teacher training covers a ton of stuff, as we covered above–including really vital stuff like neuroscience, changing the brain, working with difficult emotions, and dealing with traumatized or anxious students.

This is not to scare you! But it is to stay, hey: if you’re considering devoting 100 hours of your life to this, you might want to consider making it 200 hours instead. :)

200 hour meditation teacher training

This is what a lot of high-quality programs offer these days. Similar to the standards used by the Yoga Alliance, as I outlined above, I personally consider this about the minimum of training to get a beginning meditation teacher started. My personal experience is that this is also the choice of a lot of yoga teachers who are wanting to learn to teach meditation, because they seem to understand what it takes to learn a new focus as a teacher.

Many new meditation and mindfulness teachers use a 200 hour program as a baseline teacher training, and then use shorter additional trainings to fill in what they want more information about–such as posture, trauma-informed teaching, or ethics. If you find a 200 hour training that covers most of the bases we looked at above, and has teachers who you are excited about, this strategy can be a great option.

300+ hour meditation teacher training

If you’re wanting to become a meditation teacher–that is, to make it your full time job–this is what I recommend. A course of this length or more is considered the gold standard for a professional mindfulness or meditation teacher. (This length, or that 200 hour plus other trainings method, as I mentioned above.)

A personal note: for my own initial meditation teacher training, I did a 300 hour in-person program that including five long-weekend retreats, which I then supplemented with over 200 more hours of training––which was all in addition to a multi-year Buddhist intensive meditation program. Adding it all up in my head, I can confidently say that I have had probably 1,000 hours of training, and I can even more confidently say that I still have a lot to learn. :) (You can see more details of my spiritual education here, if you’re interested.)

Immersive meditation teacher training and meditation certification retreats

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Online meditation teacher training

I't’s all online these days. Is that okay?

x

A reminder that just because a training is online does not mean that it shouldn’t be live. As I mentioned above, a little bit of pre-recorded stuff is fine, but there’s a lot that happens in a live class, even an online one, that is an important part of the training process: building community, asking and answering questions in real time, mentorship, and getting and giving peer feedback, to name a few.

Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield mindfulness teacher training (and the Sounds True courses)

As I’ve mentioned several times, the MMTCP program is

Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield are living legends in the meditation world–and so are a lot of their guest teachers, like Eckhart Tolle, Kristen Neff, and Anne Cushman.

This course is produced by the xxxx publishing house Sounds True, so it’s kind of a “who’s who” of their most popular authors. Normally something like that might turn me off, but the truth is that the teachers–and the program itself–just really is that good.

It’s also long (two years), expensive ($6700), and very difficult to get into.

By the way, it is not a teacher training, but if you’re interesting in learning to deepen your personal practice using teachings from Jack and Tara, Sounds True also offers a seven-week course called The Power of Awareness. (All of the teachings from Jack and Tara are pre-recorded, but it does has live mentoring sessions with other people.)

https://mmtcp.soundstrue.com/

Deepak Chopra meditation teacher training

Another program that I get asked about a lot is the Chopra Center meditation teacher training from Deepak Chopra. I have never come across anyone who has actually done this program, so unfortunately I don’t have any personal experience I can share with you.

The program guide is light on details, but there are some things I will point out. First, it calls the program “rigorous“ but it’s a 50-60 hour program. Secondly, most of the teachers seem to be employees of the Chopra Center itself, which is an unusual arrangement (this could be good or bad, depending on your personal point of view.) And finally, the price ($2,295-$2,495 at this writing) is very high for the number of training hours, which when combined with the stated perks of “the ability to market yourself as a Chopra Certified Instructor” and “inclusion in the Chopra's online Find-a-Teacher network“ sends up red flags for me that this might be more about marketing than training. But if this is a training you are interested in, you should decide for yourself!

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GUIDE SECTIONS:

How to become a meditation teacher

Teacher training

Certification

Career opportunities & pay

Teacher, instructor, coach: what’s the difference?

Well-known meditation teachers

How to teach a meditation

Meditation and Mindfulness Certification

creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Why is there no standard for meditation or mindfulness certification?

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

https://internationalmindfulness.org/

How to become a certified meditation instructor or teacher

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creati ve project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

How to assess meditation teacher and instructor certification

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Meditation and mindfulness certification online

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How to become a certified spiritual teacher

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creati ve project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

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GUIDE SECTIONS:

How to become a meditation teacher

Teacher training

Certification

Career opportunities & pay

Teacher, instructor, coach: what’s the difference?

Well-known meditation teachers

How to teach a meditation

Career opportunities in meditation

creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

What qualifications do I need to be a meditation teacher?

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

The business side of meditation

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Meditation teacher salary

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

How to start an online meditation business

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

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GUIDE SECTIONS:

How to become a meditation teacher

Teacher training

Certification

Career opportunities & pay

Teacher, instructor, coach: what’s the difference?

Well-known meditation teachers

How to teach a meditation

What is the difference between a meditation teacher, instructor, and coach?

creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Who teaches meditation?

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

What is a meditation teacher?

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creati ve project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

What is a meditation (or guided meditation) instructor?

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

What is a meditation coach, mentor, guide, or facilitator?

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Is there such thing as a meditation guru or expert?

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Are there yoga meditation teachers?

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What is a mindfulness trainer or instructor?

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

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GUIDE SECTIONS:

How to become a meditation teacher

Teacher training

Certification

Career opportunities & pay

Teacher, instructor, coach: what’s the difference?

Well-known meditation teachers

How to teach a meditation

Famous meditation teachers

creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

The “great” meditation teachers

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Buddhist meditation teachers

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Popular and top meditation teachers (“the meditation influencers”)

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Best meditation teachers online

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How to tell if a meditation teacher is any good or not

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GUIDE SECTIONS:

How to become a meditation teacher

Teacher training

Certification

Career opportunities & pay

Teacher, instructor, coach: what’s the difference?

Well-known meditation teachers

How to teach a meditation

How to teach or lead a meditation

creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

First things first: should you?

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Learn to lead a guided meditation

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How to teach or guide a meditation class

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creati ve project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Teaching mindfulness courses online

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

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