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The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness (UCSD CFM) has established itself as a leader in the field of mindfulness-based professional training, relying upon the model of retreat-style professional trainings that blend mindfulness practice, immersion in the interventions being taught, and top-notch teachers with strong credentials and experience in those interventions.

More recently, the Center has embarked on an ambitious transformation into becoming the Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute (MBPTI) dedicated to supporting and growing teachers of Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI’s) through training, mentorship, community-building and certification. Over the coming months and years the MBPTI will become a virtual home for those on the path toward becoming teachers of a variety of MBI’s.

Take a moment to review our offerings and click on the link to be added to our email list to be alerted of notable additions. Also note that we have provided a number of resources and links to support the growing community of MBI teachers and aspiring teachers. Take the time to explore our site and see what the MBPTI has to offer!

 

From Our Blog

Taking down the walls: Challenges and opportunities of forgiveness
from stevepsyd
By Margaret Cullen and Gonzalo Brito “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility”— (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) These are challenging times. There is more divisiveness than many of us can remember in our lifetimes. This climate of fear and destabilization promotes distrust, antagonism and even hatred. These emotions, moods and mental states not only undermine society, they rob us of our peace of mind, and send even the most “enlightened” among us into reactivity and contraction making us incapable of seeing clearly [...]
Fri, Mar 17, 2017, Continue reading at the source
Navigating Aortic Valve Replacement (AVR) Surgery with mPEAK and Mindfulness
from MBSR Mentorship
Read this very personal story from a recent mPEAK participant and Join Pete Kirchmer for the next mPEAK 3-Day Intensive March 11-13, 2017, UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness, San Diego, CA. By William R. Matthews, MA, LPC Medical literature contains numerous references proclaiming the benefits of meditation and mindfulness on cardiovascular health and pain management. But to me, these were merely academic case studies, as I had not personally known anyone who had successfully used mindfulness to manage through a major medical procedure. That is, until August 17, 2016, when I had aortic valve replacement surgery. I need to back up a [...]
Tue, Feb 14, 2017, Continue reading at the source
Mindfulness Building Resilience and Improving Care in Modern Medicine
from stevepsyd
We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one. – Confucius By Michael Krasner, MD, FACP After 6 years of sharing Mindful Practice in intensive retreat trainings with over 400 physicians, medical educators and other health professionals from all over the globe, Ron Epstein and I began to ask ourselves- why wait for our colleagues to come to us? If the need for building resilience among our colleagues is pressing, and the tools for helping improve quality of care, quality of caring, and our own well-being are effective, relevant and accessible, why delay offering this [...]
Fri, Dec 23, 2016, Continue reading at the source
Mindfulness Shines A Light on Anger
from MBSR Mentorship
by Margaret Cullen and Gonzalo Brito Pons Margaret Cullen and Gonzalo Brito Pons, co-authored “The Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance Workbook. Join them for the Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance (MBEB) Teacher Training Intensive, April 9-15, 2017 at EarthRise Retreat Center, Petaluma, CA. Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance is an empirically-supported 9-week psycho-educational group intervention that teaches mindfulness meditation and emotion training. It's such a shame to think of how often we deride ourselves, and each other, for being “emotional.” It's like jumping on someone for breathing. Emotion is a process that is a vital part of being alive. As the pioneering psychologist of emotions Paul Ekman has [...]
Wed, Sep 28, 2016, Continue reading at the source
New Retreat Offered to Meet the Needs of Teachers of Mindfulness-Based Programs
from stevepsyd
By Susan Woods, LICSW Susan Woods In time everything changes and the field of mindfulness is no exception. Over the years one of the recommendations for becoming an instructor interested in teaching a mindfulness-based program (MBP), has been the requirement to attend silent teacher-led mindfulness retreats. This is because teaching mindfulness-based programs profoundly relies on the teacher having a personal working experiential knowledge of what happens to the mind/body when engaging in mindfulness meditation practice. The field of MBPs is becoming professionalized and that includes continued discussions about developing consensus and standardization for the training of MBP instructors. This means that specific training [...]
Fri, Jul 08, 2016, Continue reading at the source