Meditation Guide Training

Tuesday Evenings on Zoom, 6pm - 8pm Mountain Time / 7pm - 9pm Central Time May 12th, 19th, 26th, June 2nd—-see below

Our world sure needs all the meditation it can get, and it’s wonderful that you’re interested in helping share this beautiful and profound practice with others!

Many of you either work in helping professions where you already include or wish to include some meditation, support or lead local or home based meditation groups or sits, have an aspiration to, may wish to share meditation with others in all kinds of other settings (outreach, work or social events, volunteer settings, yoga, healthcare, etc), or are interested in supporting my own activities or eventually having some of your own. For all these reasons and more, I’ve decided it’s time to offer a Meditation Guide Training to help this all along:)

This will be a gentle first step, preparing and empowering you to give introduction talks and meditation instructions, facilitate group sits, and one or two individual follow up meetings with individuals after that. Or, to incorporate meditation as you see fit into ongoing work that you already do and have your own training in.

Having completed Meditation Guide Training, you’ll be all set to proceed as described above, though there won’t be any pressure or commitment to do so. For those interested in doing more teaching beyond what I described above, this would be a first step, and we can talk more individually about a path from there.

Please Note: This training is only for those of you I’ve invited:) If you think of someone you’d like to suggest including, please do contact me, but please do not forward this page to others.

Together we will:

  • Learn how to give initial shamatha meditation instruction and walking meditation instruction

  • Learn a few different methods of meditating that work well for different people (breath counting, body scans, meditating using any of the senses)

  • Learn trauma-informed meditation techniques, how to preemptively work them into initial instructions, spot common signs they may be needed or helpful, and how to gently intervene

  • Learn how to give introductory talks about meditation in your own words

  • Practice all of this on each other as a group, support and encourage each other, offer constructive feedback and perspective, so that you get some practice and find your confidence

  • Discuss listening skills and ethics

  • Form a supportive cohort so you have each other! And of course you’ll always have me.

Prerequisites and Ethics

If you’re not sure about any of these and are interested but don’t think you meet one, just let me know and we’ll talk:

  • Having an established meditation practice for at least one year

  • The genuine motivation to help others

  • Completing a cumulative two weeks of meditation retreats before beginning to guide others. These can be weekends, or any length, all added up together, with any Buddhist teacher or tradition, and you can go ahead and attend the training if you haven’t done this much retreat yet and we’ll stay in touch

  • The willingness to maintain crystal clear boundaries that guiding others in their meditation practice is a vulnerable and sacred space, to respect their confidentiality and privacy, and to absolutely not pursue or engage in any kind of romantic encounters with those under your guidance. (We’ll talk more about this)

  • To do our best not to cause any kind of hurt or confusion, to be receptive to feedback, and if necessary to seek assistance in making amends or repairs if things go wrong—-it’s rare, but it happens to everyone

  • To share all that you can from your own wisdom and experience, the teachings you’ve learned, but to not attempt to teach beyond our own capacity

  • To always keep learning, and continuing your own path and practice:)

Schedule

We’ll have four sessions on Zoom to get started, then you’ll have some homework, and we’ll reconvene for a full Zoom day on a weekend TBA later in the summer or fall, and potentially another after that.

These first four Zoom sessions will be Tuesday evenings 6pm - 8pm Mountain Time on May 12th, May 19th, May 26th, and June 2nd.

While they will be recorded if you have a schedule conflict, this format will be much more interactive than my typical courses, so please try not to miss more than one. This will be a small group, so think a workshop and cohort of 10 - 15 people where we’re back and forth much of the time.

Registration and Payment

If you have questions or concerns about the above, please contact me before registering. Otherwise, go ahead and register by filling out the form below and paying on Venmo or PayPal as described.

Tuition & Payment

Standard Tuition: $200

30% Discount with Basic Membership: $140

50% Discount with Sustaining Membership: $100

100% Discount with Patron Membership: $0, just register

Haven’t seen my membership yet? Check it out here

Contact me if you need financial aid.

Payment is on Venmo or PayPal, both under my legal name (Travis Dierolf):

Venmo:

@Travis-Dierolf

(970) 573-2383

loden1@protonmail.com

PayPal:

@TravisDierolf

(970) 573-2383

loden1@protonmail.com