Zoom and In-Person. Benefits of both for teachers and trainees. Reflection on our 12-month online Mindfulness Teacher Trainer Course
Next MTTC starts January 2027
In early Covid (March 2020), I switched from long-haul flights to Australia, India, Israel/Palestine to spend time at home writing, researching and engaging in Zoom meetings. Like many subscribers, it took a while to get used to Zoom meetings, its chat column and the gallery with participants faces filling the computer screen.
Beautiful meditation hall in The Wise Lotus Centre in London Colney, 15 minutes from St. Albans, Herts, UK. where non-residential MTTC takes places.
I needed to keep remembering the benefits of Zoom, Benefits included:
We could connect together despite differences in time zone. Our MTTC has around 90 participants from around 18 countries. (So far, three stepped down owing to health issues or work pressure).
Zoom makes possible an affordable course with costs savings for teachers/adminstration and trainees compared to inperson.
Zoom meetings focus on the theme of the meeting in an undistracted way.
Seeing on screen, the head and shoulders of each other, we pick up non-verbal cues.
It takes a minute or two to connect to Zoom and meet each other.
The chat rooms without teachers allow for further sharing. We are introducing this feature so trainees can have more interaction, as well participate in the regular small groups.
PS. We often get a glimpse inside the homes of each other. Babies, children, cats and dogs regularly join the MTTC for a short period.
In-person Meetings
From Thursday to Sunday of 25 – 28 September 2025, Nshorna (co-teacher) and myself meet with a number of trainees in the meditation hall of her non-residential centre, The Wise Lotus in London Colney in Hertforshhire.
Another in-person meeting takes in the residential Waldhaus Buddhist Zentrum, Andernach, Germany from 24-28 October 2025 with assistant teacher, Kerstin Felleiter from Germany.
These in-person meetings provide an opportunity to develop further trust, more time for developing personal friendship and experience non-verbal communication.
There is time to go deeply into the issues and challenges in the development of mindfulness from two people to a group of people.The in-person gatherings enable trainees to develop long standing contact with others.
For those living far afield from Europe, who cannot join either gathering, we offer three days of online practice in November on Zoom, for people at home or outdoors.
Present and Future MTTCs
This month, we entered into the fourth of the 12 months of training, which finishes in early July of 2026. We plan to start the next MTTC in January 2027. You can see numerous details of our training. You can register anytime. We make the training as affordable as possible through a registration fee and occasional requests for donations through the year.
Our comprehensive teaching offers depth of exploration alongside a diversity of interests. MTTC provides two certificates for those who complete the full training – the MTTC certificate and a professional certificate valid worldwide.
Nshorna and I love the opportunity to train people to become mindfulness teachers. From a small seed a large oak tree grows.
www.mindfulnesstrainingcourse.org
Love
Christopher