Secular Mindfulness · Boulder, CO (+ Online)
1-year hybrid meditation teacher certification from David Gandelman and Michael Galyon. Online training plus 2-day in-person retreat at The StarHouse, Boulder, CO. Multi-tradition secular curriculum.
Grounded Mind Meditation Teacher Certification is a meditation teacher training run by Grounded Mind, based in Boulder, CO (+ Online). It sits in the Secular Mindfulness tradition and is offered in a hybrid online and in-person format. The program runs 1 year. Secular mindfulness teacher trainings sit downstream of the MBSR protocol but draw broadly from contemplative traditions, neuroscience, and applied psychology. Programs vary widely in length, depth, and standards. Grounded Mind positions this training inside that lineage. The program does not list a major external accreditation body, so prospective students should weigh faculty depth and supervision structure rather than a credential alone. Practical detail matters here. Grounded Mind Meditation Teacher Certification is a meditation teacher training run by Grounded Mind, based in Boulder, CO (+ Online) draws students who want to teach in wellness, community, and small-group settings. OMP lists this program in its Meditation Teacher Training directory so practitioners can compare it on tradition, hours, format, and accreditation alongside several hundred other pathways. Source notes describe it as: 1-year hybrid meditation teacher certification from David Gandelman and Michael Galyon. Online training plus 2-day in-person retreat at The StarHouse, Boulder, CO. Multi-tradition secular curriculum. Practice forms inside this tradition typically include sitting meditation, breath awareness, body scan, loving-kindness, walking practice, and applied exercises for daily life. Students entering Grounded Mind Meditation Teacher Certification should expect to meet those forms in cohort sessions, in their own daily practice, and in supervised teaching with peers and faculty. Honest teacher trainings in this field share a few markers: a real practice requirement, a named faculty with verifiable lineage, supervised teaching of real students, and inquiry-based feedback. The directory entry above gives the structural facts; the school's own materials are the place to confirm faculty bios, the practicum format, and what graduates are authorized to teach.
Practice forms inside the curriculum follow the Secular Mindfulness tradition. Students work with sitting meditation, breath awareness, body scan, loving-kindness, walking practice, and applied exercises for daily life. Across 1 year, the cohort moves through foundational practice, teaching skills, and supervised practicum. Grounded Mind structures the work around the standard arc for this tradition: deepening of personal practice, study of source materials, observation and co-teaching of groups, written reflection, and feedback from faculty. Where the program lists named modules, those appear in the school's own curriculum sheet; the directory does not invent module names that are not on the source page. Inquiry is central. In the Secular Mindfulness tradition, the teacher's job is less to deliver content than to hold a frame inside which participants can notice their own experience. Most credible teacher trainings in this field weight inquiry skill heavily across the curriculum. Students should expect daily personal practice across the program, plus retreat or intensive components depending on the tradition. The school's onboarding materials list specific reading, recordings, and pre-program participation requirements.
Grounded Mind delivers the training in a hybrid online and in-person format over 1 year. The structure usually combines cohort sessions, individual practice, mentorship, and supervised teaching. In the Secular Mindfulness tradition, the standard expectations are a daily personal sit, regular meetings with a mentor or supervisor, and either a silent retreat component or a residential intensive depending on the program. The online format relies on live video sessions, recorded practice, and dyad or small-group practicum work between sessions. The in-person component anchors the cohort, with residential days that hold the silent practice container the tradition expects. Feedback comes through inquiry transcripts, recorded teaching, and direct observation by faculty.
Graduates earn the certificate issued by Grounded Mind. The credential carries the weight of no major external accreditation, and graduates teach inside the scope the school authorizes. Graduates teach within the scope the program defines and within their own existing professional license where one applies.
Most programs in this category expect an established personal meditation practice and a clear teaching context. The school's application page lists the specific prior training, retreat history, or screening required.
Secular mindfulness trainings span the widest quality range in this directory. The strongest are anchored to a named teacher with a real practice background and a multi-month structure with supervision; the weakest are short certifications without inquiry or feedback. Read the curriculum and faculty bios closely.
| Location | Boulder, CO (+ Online) |
| Country | United States |
| Tradition | Secular Mindfulness |
| Format | In-person, Online |
| Duration | 1 year |