A Clinician's Guide to Teaching Mindfulness: The Comprehensive Session-by-Session Program for Mental Health Professionals and Health Care Providers

by Christiane Wolf MD PhD, J. Greg Serpa, Jack Kornfield (Foreword)

Mindfulness-based interventions have exploded in popularity due to their success in treating everything from everyday stress to more serious mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).This breakthrough book provides professionals with a comprehensive, session-by-session guide to teaching mindfulness, complete with the scripts and training materials needed to teach introductory mindfulness in a wide variety of settings, despite theoretical background.

Mindfulness—once an ancient practice honed in Buddhist monasteries—is now a mainstream, evidence-based, secular intervention employed by trained health and mental health professionals worldwide. The rapid spread of mindfulness increasingly involves psychologists, physicians, social workers, therapists, counselors, spiritual advisers, life coaches, and education professionals trained in their respective disciplines. Additionally, research continues to show that mindfulness is an effective treatment for anxiety, depression, stress, pain relief, and many other illnesses.

If you are a professional interested in teaching mindfulness, this book will provide you with everything you need to get started right away. The introductory, six-week protocol outlined in this book is easy-to-use, and can be implemented in a variety of settings, ranging from an outpatient mental health clinic to an inpatient oncology clinic, from a substance abuse recovery program to educational settings.  

In addition, this book will tell you what to bring to each class; provides outlines for each session; offers scripts to help you differentiate the weekly meditative practices; and provides invaluable resources for further study and professional development. If you’re looking to integrate mindfulness into your professional work, this is your go-to guide.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Meditation

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2015

Reviews

[Vladimir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the things are wonderfully simplified, but overall I didn't get what I needed, and that was a way to teach mindfulness as more than just nifty exercises taken from Buddhism, I was hoping for more. At the same time, some of their recommendations really do require explanations, such as their belief that we, for example, we should evade answering "overly intellectual" questions. I find this just preposterous. Whereas I understand that mindfulness is first and foremost an experiential thing and that any issues regarding its precise definition arise from this, but if someone pays for a course they should well expect teachers who have exceptional understanding of the practice, including - whatever that means for the authors - "intellectual" understanding. To make things worse, they don't really emphasize the importance of good practice for teachers. Yes they repeat endlessly that teachers must now how to do what they teach, but essential for the authors it boils down to being able to meditate 5 minutes longer than your students, which is just silly. My teacher spent years in a Buddhist monastery before daring to teach, and I only decided that it was time to teach after 8 years of daily practice. This is because mindfulness is not easy and because a lot of the issues and hindrances people face are something that teachers really need to deal with, and having personal experience is crucial. Also, there is a whole segment missing on other qualifications that teachers should have, such as at least basic knowledge of human psychology and more importantly psychopathology, because contrary to popular opinion, mindfulness is not for everyone and it is not without its "side-effects"; untrained teachers can actually do harm.
The book gets 3 stars because it does some good. It gives you a set of decent scripts for beginners, it provides detailed instructions and structure for each class that teachers can expand upon as they wish, and this is really useful. Another thing that I appreciated was a really simplified view of Buddhism which is sure to upset Buddhists but they do give those answers that you need for a class that is secular, so that's a plus as well.

[Mika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a helpful resource with lots of good mindfulness scripts to use as a starting point. I'll be keeping this on hand, maybe saving the scripts especially for future groups.
There were parts I wasn't personally super bought into, but as with anything like this I'll just take what feels authentic to me and leave the rest.

[Calli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only is this book easy to read and integrate in to practice, it brings up points that I hadn’t even considered until I read them. I highly recommend this book to learn how to teach practice effectively. I love the last part of the book with each session outlined and organized to not only add structure but give me ideas for my own classes.

[Kathryn Burwash · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and comprehensive guide to teaching a mindfulness class. It incorporates all you need to know from practical ideas like promoting yourself, lesson plans, teaching theory, to the importance of the inner state of the teacher.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great introduction to the concept of teaching mindfulness. It includes 6 [+2] complete class outlines for an introductory course.

[Qasim Zafar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, a relatively quick read with adaptable insight, but not indispensable.

[Debbirder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent resource and easy to follow.

[Lynette Monteiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting if somewhat contradictory in saying this is not a Buddhist program, yet uses specifically Buddhist teachings and philosophy. Again, minimal time/space given to sila despite the heavy leaning on Buddhist concepts. Useful to see how a 6-week program is pulled together. Good material on compassion.

[Rick Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am almost half way through my Textbook and find it very thorough and Scientific!
Anyone preparing for a Certificate program, this Book is highly recommended!!

Finally finished! It is a Great Teaching Book for Practitioners!

[Juliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical and informative.