Secular Mindfulness · United States
Association for Mindfulness in Education offers training and resources for educators integrating mindfulness into K-12 classrooms.
Association for Mindfulness in Education is a meditation teacher training run by Association for Mindfulness in Education out of United States. The program sits inside the Secular Mindfulness stream and trains practitioners who want to teach, not just sit. In its own words, the program describes itself this way: Association for Mindfulness in Education offers training and resources for educators integrating mindfulness into K-12 classrooms. That self-description matters because it tells students what the school cares about before the first session begins. Practice form follows the Secular Mindfulness tradition. That means students work with breath awareness, body scan, mindful movement, open monitoring, and inquiry dialogue with participants. Source material draws on Kabat-Zinn's Full Catastrophe Living, Segal/Williams/Teasdale on MBCT, and trauma-sensitive mindfulness sources. Most programs route to mbsr/mbct teacher pathways or imta-style accreditation rather than monastic authorization. Format is mixed format, which shapes both who can attend and how the bond between teacher and student develops. Suited for clinicians, educators, and coaches who want a secular, evidence-based vocabulary and clear ethical scaffolding. Anyone weighing the program against a secular MBSR-style track should read the next sections carefully; the texture is different. What separates this program from the wider category is the combination of secular mindfulness form, the school's own teaching culture, and the specific cohort it draws. Students who do well here tend to share a few things in common. They show up on time, they sit through discomfort without negotiating with it, and they take feedback without flinching. Those traits matter more than prior credentials. The school can teach the form. It can't teach a willingness to keep returning to the cushion when the practice gets boring or hard. Without a secular accreditation, graduates lean on the school's reputation and the lineage's standing when introducing themselves to new students. Anyone considering Association for Mindfulness in Education should read the school's own pages, talk to current and former students, and where possible sit a short retreat with the lead teacher before committing. Meditation teacher trainings ask for years of practice and significant tuition. The fit between student and lineage matters more than the brochure does. This page collects what's publicly known and frames it inside the wider Secular Mindfulness field, so prospective students can decide where to keep looking.
Curriculum is shaped by the Secular Mindfulness form. Across the listed duration, students work through breath awareness, body scan, mindful movement, open monitoring, and inquiry dialogue with participants. Reading and study draw on Kabat-Zinn's Full Catastrophe Living, Segal/Williams/Teasdale on MBCT, and trauma-sensitive mindfulness sources. In a mixed format container, training tends to alternate sitting practice, group inquiry, written reflection, and supervised teaching attempts. Where the lineage is monastic, the day is set by the monastery bell rather than by a syllabus. Where the program is secular, modules are scheduled and assessed. Either way, students should expect more practice than reading, and more silence than discussion.
Delivery uses a mix of contact hours and self-paced practice. Cohorts are kept small enough that the lead teacher knows each student's sitting practice by name. Mentorship runs alongside the schedule, not after it; students get feedback on their own teaching attempts before they finish. Assessment includes recorded teaching, written reflection, and in some cases a peer-led practicum.
Graduates carry authorization from the lineage rather than a secular certificate. Most programs route to mbsr/mbct teacher pathways or imta-style accreditation rather than monastic authorization. Scope of practice is teaching meditation within the lineage form, leading retreats where invited, and offering one-to-one guidance under continued supervision from a senior teacher. Many graduates go on to anchor a local sitting group, host short retreats for newer students, or join the school's faculty in a junior teaching role. A smaller number eventually receive deeper authorization that lets them ordain or transmit to their own students. The path is long and the credential expands over years rather than at a single graduation.
A regular personal practice is expected before applying. Most accepted students arrive with at least a year of consistent sitting and some retreat exposure. Specific prerequisites vary by cohort, and the school screens applications individually. Confirm current requirements with the school directly, since intake criteria shift between cohorts and the published page is rarely the full story. Applicants without the listed background can sometimes be accepted on the strength of a teacher's recommendation, but those exceptions are rare.
These programs are built for the secular workplace and clinic. They sit between Buddhist source traditions and pure self-help. Against secular certificates, the trade is real: less paper credential, more teacher relationship. Students should weigh which one their future students will care about. Sibling programs in the same tradition will share most of the form and differ mainly in teacher style, retreat length, and tuition. Prospective students should compare at least two or three programs side by side before committing, since the right fit depends as much on the lead teacher as on the syllabus.
| Location | United States |
| Country | United States |
| Tradition | Secular Mindfulness |