Hello there :)
Browsing for an affordable training option, I came across a website that gather a lot of red flags while claiming to offer a certified MBSR teacher training :
http://mindfulyogaacademy.com/news-feeds-component/200hr-mindfulness-meditation-ttc/mindfulness-meditation-mbsr-teacher-training-courses.html
What do you think ? Is it legit ? Any way to report it otherwise ?
Thank you for your insight.
Thanks for pointing this out. Perusing their website, this is what I noticed: The full 200hr Mindfulness MBSR Teacher Training qualification is comprised of 2 x 100hr modules (TTR1 and TTR2) and on successful graduation of the full UK Accredited Yoga Alliance Professionals Registered 200hr course you receive qualified MBSR Teacher status and have the skills and confidence to teach Mindfulness based Stress Reduction Meditation classes and workshops including Mindful Movement, and MBSR 8 week Stress Reduction courses to groups and individuals that empower people to make a real difference to their lives. You will also be eligable (at your own cost) to register with the Internationally accepted Yoga Alliance Professionals as a 200hr Registered Teacher should you wish.
At $1600 plus travel and lodging, it seems to be expensive enough at least for persons travelling form the states. My guess is that this is similar to the CFMâs Fundamentals and PTIs, but again, i only scanned the website. I am curious as to what other think of this as well. Gus
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
The fact that they do not mention the cfm when they write about the certification makes me think it wouldnât be recognized âofficiallyâ, would it be ?
Also, after a bit more research, the âYoga Alliance Professionalsâ they mention is actually listed as not being affiliated to the ârealâ Yoga Alliance, which makes me think we should all stay away from this formation.
I thought the âMBSRâ was a protected acronym, I wonder if any cfm officials could give us a definitive answer about whether they are affiliated or not ?
Having looked at the website I noticed that most of the instructors have qualifications from Bangor University whose mindfulness courses are well respected the UK. Bangorâs principal offering is an MBCT based course, but they also have masterâs and PhD programs, all recognised by UMASS. So given their provenance I would say they are probably OK
It is exactly what it says it is. A mindful yoga academy. When you graduate the Yoga Alliance professionals certify you to teach anyone everything that they say you can. There is no âofficialâ CFM position on these sorts of trainings. As I understand the official CFM position is for its graduates to not call anything that varies from the MBSR 8 week curriculum MBSR. There are about a dozen of these âTrainingsâ available in Australia that use all the same buzzwords in their course descriptors - MBSR, Kabat-Zinn,as taught by CFM, UMAss, accredited( by them) . None of them actually meet the depth and rigor of the training at CFM but they are much cheaper and take less time but the presentation/marketing is super slick. When I have contacted them and mention the recommendation that only the actual CFM curriculum be advertised as being MBSR the response I get ( if at all) is "What can they do about it- we can call it what we like?"
This is the new business model in well-being- there is more income in training teachers than in teaching clients- a lot of these trainers have little experience in training teachers and once you have spent your money why on earth would you question the competency of the people you just paid thousands to?
You have to ask what it is you want to do and then ask the places you want to facilitate at if they recognize the qualification. Ideally speak to a range of past graduates about their experience of the training and of its acceptance afterwards.
I agree with the others - this is not a UMASS CFM training. People often use MBSR name without permission or connection to UMASS. To become a âqualifiedâ MBSR teacher I probably spent 500-600 hours of trainings at CFM including 2 silent retreats. To become an RYT-200 (registered yoga teacher 200 hr) I had to go through a separate 200 hours of specific yoga teacher training with a registered Yoga Alliance school. Yoga Alliance Professionals sounds like theyâre using that name to their advantage as well. I completed two separate trainings for yoga & MBSR for a total of about 800 hours, compared to this 200 hr program. Maybe itâs a great program but sounds as if theyâre using other respected programâs name to bolster their business - not very mindful, buyer beware!