Frequently Asked Questions

Our unique BIPOC Mindfulness Teacher Training Program empowers you to embody your limitless potential for leadership and self-determination through:

1. Building community with faculty, facilitators, and peers, co-creating a new mindfulness eco-system that meets the needs and sensibilities of people of color.
2. Collectively developing the attitudes, skills, and experience needed to share and teach mindfulness in your own communities.
3. Contributing to the evolution of mindfulness for communities of color through your own unique embodiment and development of mindfulness theories, practices and applications grounded in your lived experience.
4. Designing a 4-6 week mindfulness program that builds on the strengths and meets the specific needs of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in your community and/or context.

Open House is June 10, 2023 – This will be a great opportunity to connect live, meet faculty and ask any final questions you may have before submitting your application. Please click on the link to register for the June 10th Open House. 

Saturday, June 10 – 9:00-10amPST, 12-1:00pmEST, 4:00-5:00pmGMT

A recording will be made available for those who may not be able to join live. Please register for the open house to receive the recording.

Freedom Together is the only online international mindfulness teacher training program designed solely BY and FOR Black, Indigenous, Asian, and People of Color communities. We hope to provide participants with a unique opportunity to engage in their training alongside others with similar life experiences. 

For many of us, we have spent much of our lives navigating white-dominant spaces in our education, work and further training. Freedom Together strives to offer a safe enough space for BIPOC to explore our experiences and practices in a way that centers our lives and without the need to filter ourselves, explain our experience, and educate others. 

Our hope in creating this space is that it supports us to feel freer to learn alongside one another, go deeper into our life experiences that have shaped us, collectively examine our cultural, social and familial conditioning, and support one another in a loving, accountable space.

The following are key dates to keep in mind. Please sign up for our newsletter and be among the 1st ones to receive the latest enrollment and application news.

• AUGUST 15, 2023 — General Admissions application deadline: $50 non-refundable application fee. 

We offer partial scholarships on an ongoing basis. APPLY NOW to be considered. Award letters provided along with acceptance letters. Please note your scholarship needs in your program application (financial support section).

Please note in your application that you are interested in applying for a scholarship (on a need basis) to receive the scholarship application. 

• SEPTEMBER 1, 2023 – Enrollment and payment deadline. Payment plans are available. Please visit the program page for payment plan table. 

• • Orientation  September  09, 2023
  • Module #1   September  16-17, 2023
  • Module #2   October 14-15, 2023
  • Module #3   November 18 -19, 2023
  • Break         December 2023
  • Module #4   January 20- 21, 2024
  • Module #5   February 10-11, 2024
  • Module #6   March 16-17, 2024
  • Break          April 2024
  • Module #7   May 18-19, 2024
  • Module #8   June 15 -16, 2024
  • Module #9   July 20-21, 2024
  • Graduation retreat – TBD

Successful Applicants Will Need To Demonstrate An Effective Mindfulness Practice Of At Least Two Years, Attendance On At Least One Five Day Mindfulness Meditation Retreat, And Participation In A Mindfulness Course Such As MBSR, MBCT, MBAR, Breathworks, Or A Similar Program.

Although Not Required, Demonstrating Membership With A Professional And Regulatory Body With A Code Of Ethics And Disciplinary Procedures Within Your Field Of Work Will Also Strengthen Your Application.

The wisdom and practical impacts of mindfulness is at the core of this BIPOC mindfulness teacher training program. 

The year is divided into three stages, with three modules per stage:

Stage 1 – Foundations of mindfulness

Provides an opportunity to connect with one another and our appetite for this work, understand the history and applications of secular mindfulness programs, deep dive into the spiritual roots of mindfulness, and explore adult learning theory and the competencies needed to effectively teach mindfulness.

Stage 2 – Mindfulness of the individual and collective body

Takes us into a further exploration of embodiment, movement and the neuroscience of mindfulness, trauma-informed approaches, and how to hold supportive and transformative space for others.

Stage 3 – Mindfulness for these time

Explores the various applications of mindfulness across different sectors of society and for social and environmental activism, and provides an opportunity to celebrate our collective accomplishments and set goals for the future.

Each module delves into core elements of mindfulness practice from a secular perspective after locating the origins in the spiritual roots. 

Here are some key highlights of program modules to give you an idea of the overall journey: 

• Module 3 brings us forward to why we are courageous in seeking freedom together as Black, Asian, Indigenous and People of Color and the ways mindfulness directly impacts our experiences and liberatory path, incorporating multiple ways of experiencing this path. 
• Modules 4 and 5 explore embodied and trauma-sensitive mindfulness practices while Module 6 teaches us how to hold space for all this.
• Modules 7 and 8 engage with mindfulness in society at large and in specific justice-seeking spaces. The Training program closes with Module 9 which drives home the importance of moving in the mindfulness path collectively and next steps in our teacher training journey.

The program includes 200 hours of instruction roughly divided into 100 hours of student-directed learning and 100 hours of teacher-led sessions offered one weekend a month (see schedule above). 

The student-directed learning is provided through an online learning system called Canvas. Each trainee receives their unique password to access reading materials, reflection questions, scenarios, videos, guided meditation practices, assignments and comprehension checks for each module. Participants are expected to complete the self-paced learning for each module before the next live session.

The teacher-led sessions include teacher input, small and large group reflections and discussions, group exercises, guided practices and enquiry, assignment review groups, rituals, and Q and A with keynote speakers.

There are also monthly group mentoring sessions and quarterly one to one mentoring. These sessions provide an opportunity to check-in on assignments and practice together.

Assignments include individual and group research, teaching practice with the opportunity to give and receive feedback, practice journals, and design and delivery of a practicum.

Practice journals provide an opportunity for participants to share what they are noticing in their meditation, mindfulness in daily life, and somatic practice. To be completed and discussed with their mentor between stages I and II.

The Practicum includes the creation and delivery of a 4–6-week mindfulness program for their community/context, to be delivered between stages 2 and 3.

Yes, each year there will be a kick-off retreat in April before the start of the first module and a closing retreat the following March after the last module has been completed.

The inaugural class will be made up of 30 mindfulness trainees working with 5 remarkable teachers. Trainees will receive both monthly group mentoring (6:1 ratio) and quarterly individual mentoring directly from lead teachers.

Participants in this unique training program will benefit in a BIPOC co-learning environment, from the collective energy, with people who have similar lived experiences as them, being BIPOC and centering marginalized experiences.

These conducive energies for learning will allow students to go deeper into the understanding and practices of mindfulness in all aspects of life. On the completion of this training program, students will be connected to a network of fellow practitioners and BIPOC mentors who will continue to provide support along their evolving mindfulness journey.

Upon completion participants will also be eligible to apply to be certified as a professional mindfulness teacher with the International Mindfulness Teachers Association.

Within secular mindfulness, we incorporate methodologies from MBSR, MBCT, MBAR, Breathworks, and others. We also draw from the Buddhist traditions of the Triratna Buddhist Community, Insight Tradition, Vipassana Meditation, Plum Village Tradition, Kagyu, and Nyingma and other indigenous spiritual traditions.

Other methodologies include somatic experiencing, trauma-sensitive mindfulness, adult learning theory, and emergent strategy.

Upon acceptance to the program you are eligible to become a member of IMTA. Benefits include:

• Access to the IMTA community of mindfulness teachers, allowing you to network with leaders in the mindfulness teaching community
• The opportunity to pursue an internationally-recognized accreditation or certification credential that shows you have met our rigorous standards of mindfulness teacher training.
• Inclusion in our online, geographically searchable directory, where you can tell the world who you are as a mindfulness teacher.
• Invitations to community events and meet-ups that IMTA attends or hosts in your area.
• Discounts on services from our partners on everything from insurance to continuing education.
• The ability to nominate representatives (yourself included!) to participate in IMTA Committees
• The ability to nominate a representative for election to the Board of Directors (Accredited Organizations only)

Upon successful completion of the program, you are eligible to apply for the Certified Mindfulness Teacher, Professional Level (CMT-P) credential with IMTA. Benefits include:

• An internationally-recognized credential that shows you have met our minimum standards of mindfulness teacher training.
• Discounted rates, for mindfulness teacher insurance (pending).
• Marketing on the IMTA website via geographically searchable Directory where you can list where you teach and tell the world more about who you are as a mindfulness teacher.
• Access to continuing education opportunities (pending).
• Access to peer support through network of local chapters (pending).

A short video recorded by lead teachers and/or head of faculty can also be recorded to launch during Enrollment peak.