Becoming an MBSR teacher

Another question I got before leaving for the retreat in Brunnsvik was about the basic qualifications needed to become an MBSR teacher. Again, motivated by his concern to protect the "dharma" Jon Kabat-Zinn and his team set forward some very strict conditions to become a certified MBSR teacher. The details can be found on the website www.umassmed.edu/cfm
It used to be that you needed a qualification in psychology, education or medicine. This is not a strict "go or nt go" condition, although Jon admitts to have a slight preference for these backgrounds. More important however is an intellectual understanding of the scientific, medical and educational roots of MBSR. Every program that emphasizes an understandig of the mind and body, and includes service as a component, may be acceptable.
One of the things that struck me very strongly during the retreat is Jon's continuous concern for the wellbeing of the patient. As an MBSR teacher you often work with vulnerable people, so you have to be able to cope with these strong emotions.

mindfulness and the buddha?

One of the questions I received before leaving on the retreat in Brunnsvik was about a remark made by dr. Edel Maex at the first mindfulness conference in Ghent last June. Edel said he was almost fed up with the word "mindfulness", because it seems to be applied to all all possible problems (eg lose weight, quit smoking, etc). Furthermore he wondered what would have happened if Jon Kabat-Zinn would have called it differently (eg compassion based stress reduction) in stead of focusing on the "mind". Finally he wondered if it was a good idea of Jon to exclude all explicit links with buddhism in the MBSR classes.

During the 7-days retreat Jon stressed at several occasions that for him every mindfulness teacher should know and respect in his deepest heart that his practice has to be grounded in the dharma ( i.e. the teachings of the buddha on how to deal with duka or suffering). Still he prefers not to talk about Buddhism to the patients (or students) because this may confuse them. Those that are really touched by it, will spontaneously look further and deeper. Even the word mindfulness is not important: it is not about labels and congnitve "knowing", it is about the practice and the state of being.

But since we live in a world of labels, trade marks and brands (and lawyers) , Jon recently decided to register MBSR as an international trade mark, not because he wants to "own" it, but because he wants to protect people from abusing it by not respecting this link it to the dharma.