Buddhist Psychology Training Application - 2021

All applications will go through a screening process by the teachers. Deadline to apply: end of the day on Monday, January 18, 2021 (Pacific Time zone). Important note: Scholarships are very limited and reserved for those who are truly experiencing financial hardship.

Prerequisite:
This training is designed for therapists, educators and those in allied fields. Participants must have attended at least one daylong retreat with an Insight Meditation teacher or community (e.g. Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, Insight Meditation Center, etc.) prior to the start of the training.

Description:
Only when one has truly made oneself a patient can one become a healer.  In practicing mindfulness meditation and studying Buddhist psychology, we become the patient. So much goodness unfolds from this sincerity. Through our practice, we come to understand ourselves, affirm ourselves, and ultimately, transform ourselves. Our own transformation is then leveraged for the welfare of the people we serve.

The classic description of empathy—to stand in someone else’s shoes—presumes that we already know what it is like to stand in our own shoes. With striking clarity, mindfulness reveals what it’s like to stand in our own experience. The intimacy of this encounter with ourselves provides a basis for deep compassion and accurate empathy. This program is not merely about learning techniques to add to one’s therapeutic repertoire: it is a recognition that, in an important sense, you are the intervention and cultivation of your own being enhances your effectiveness.

This four-month training for therapists, educators and those in allied fields, will provide an immersion in Buddhist psychology and the meditation practices that illuminate our minds, foster goodness and transform habits that compound suffering. We’ll dive into the scientific research on mindfulness and its increasing prominence in psychotherapeutic interventions exploring data regarding the efficacy of mindfulness and the mechanisms through which mindfulness confers its benefits. The training will examine the convergences and tensions between clinical research and Buddhist psychology and describe ways to integrate mindfulness into treatment. We’ll consider possible contraindications of mindfulness and how to tailor the intervention to individuals.

Participation and Attendance Guidelines:
Your participation in this training is important. The cohesion of the group is an important aspect of this training, so participation serves both your own development as well as the group. We ask that you commit to the dates and to participate wholeheartedly.

Program training period is January – May 2021. Specific training dates below. All meeting times are: 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

• Jan 22-24 (3 days)
• Feb 13
• March 7
• April 24
• May 14-16 (3 days)

For participants wishing to receive CE credits: In order to receive Continuing Education Credits, participants must attend all sessions live, on time, and in full. Your attendance is tracked carefully to grant your CE credits. Board regulations prohibit partial credit for partial attendance, therefore, incomplete attendance nullifies CE credit eligibility. No exceptions.

For participants not wishing to receive CE credits: Attendance at both three-day retreats (January and May) is mandatory. We expect that all participants will also attend each monthly daylong, however, we understand that sometimes there are unavoidable emergencies. If a participant must miss one of the daylongs, they will need to watch the Zoom recording prior to the next retreat and write a 1 page reflection.

Continuing Education (CE) credit available:
This program offers 18 CE credits for $180 for psychologists and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors, licensed by the APA, California BBS, BRN, or BCE.*

Teachings are appropriate for health care professionals as well as the general public. Care providers will find that the teachings, practices, and immersion in nature during this daylong will aid in their emotional regulation and stress-reduction, offering them another means for managing burnout. By understanding our place in the broader web of life, care providers can also strengthen their capacity for empathy and compassion.

Learning Objectives for participating health care professionals-
At the end of the program you will better able to:

• Describe at least two of the overlaps and differences between mindfulness-based treatment and Buddhist psychology
• Describe the three clusters of meditative practice: attentional, constructive, deconstructive
• List five types of emotion regulation
• Describe the relevance of equanimity for emotional regulation
• Describe how evolutionary biology informs contemporary understandings of emotion
• Describe the parallels between Buddhist practice and exposure therapy
• Explain the role of inflexible self-definition in the generation of difficult emotion
• Explain how scientific reporting biases may contribute to inflated estimates of mindfulness-based intervention effects
• Explain the role of the brain’s default mode network and self-referential thought in emotional regulation
• Explain the differences between self-esteem and self-compassion
• Describe how Buddhist practice is relevant for enhancing the therapeutic alliance
• Describe three ways in which clinician mindfulness helps manage countertransference
• Describe the spectrum of well-being, and associated concepts of mitigating suffering versus promoting flourishing

Continuing Education Credit Schedule (full day attendance required for CE credit; all times listed in Pacific Time)

Jan 22
10 – 10:45 a.m. – Discourse – How to practice within the context of training; objectives and intentions
12 – 1 p.m. – Discourse – overlaps and differences between mindfulness-based treatment and Buddhist psychology
2 – 2:30 p.m. – Guided Meditation
2:30 – 3:30 p.m. – Discourse – spectrum of well-being, and associated concepts of mitigating suffering versus promoting flourishing
3:45 – 4:30 p.m. – Discourse – scientific reporting biases may contribute to inflated estimates of mindfulness-based intervention effects

Jan 23
10 – 11 a.m. – Discourse – Describe the three clusters of meditative practice: attentional, constructive, deconstructive
12 – 1 p.m. – Discourse – Mindfulness as a construct; situating mindfulness in spiritual path, construct validation
2 – 2:30 p.m. – Guided Meditation
2:30 – 3:30 p.m. – Discourse – Facets of Attention and mindfulness practice

Feb 13
10 – 11 a.m. – Discourse – emotion regulation and the relevance of equanimity for emotional regulation & evolutionary biology informs contemporary understandings of emotion
12-1 –  p.m. – Discourse – parallels between Buddhist practice and exposure therapy
2 –  2:30 p.m. – Guided Meditation
2:30 – 3:30 p.m.  – Discourse – brain’s default mode network and self-referential thought in emotional regulation

April 24
10 – 11 a.m. – Discourse – how clinician mindfulness helps manage countertransference
12 – 1 p.m. – Discourse – relevance of Buddhist practice for enhancing the therapeutic
2 – 2:30 p.m. – Guided Meditation
2:30 – 3:30 p.m. – Discourse – brain’s default mode network and self-referential thought in emotional regulation

May 14
10 – 11 a.m. – Discourse – role of inflexible self-definition in the generation of difficult emotion
12 – 1 p.m. – Discourse – differences between self-esteem and self-compassion
2 – 2:30 p.m. – Guided Meditation
2:30 – 3:30 p.m. – Discourse – brain self-referential thought in emotional regulation

*Please note:

• For those with a different license or with a license from a licensing board different than those listed above, please contact your licensing board directly to ask if CE credit from the above-approved sponsors is accepted. Spirit Rock does not confirm applicability of credit for those with licenses different than those listed. Spirit Rock is a provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP16905 for 18 contact hours.
• Credit is awarded for instructional time only and does not include extended silent meditation, if offered.
• For full Provider information, and additional CEC information, including attendance requirements, cancellation, and grievance policies, please visit our Continuing Education Credit information page.*