Become an expert meditation teacher!

If you are a yoga teacher, meditation practitioner, or just eager to learn more about yourself, this meditation teacher training is for you!

With this 50 Hours Certification Meditation Teacher Training you will gain advanced knowledge about meditation, clarity about who you are, and you will have the confidence to share meditation with others!

Dates
14-25 January 2019
14-25 February 2019

Check in: 1pm
Check out: 11am
10 days training/instruction: 15 Jan/Feb 2019, 9am till 24 Jan/Feb 2019, 6pm

Price
€1300 Private bungalow with Fan
€1600 Private bungalow with Airconditioning
Including: Wifi, Syllabus, Certificate. No meals included.

Event Highlights
-11 nights accommodation on the paradise beach in the meditation & yoga heart of Koh Phangan
-Swimming pool, Wi-fi, beachside resort, 10 minutes walk of popular Zen-beach
-10 days of training (50 hours) including experiencing meditations, learning advanced knowledge of meditation philosophy, practicing guiding meditations, discussions, sharings and more
-The experience and confidence to share meditation with thousands of people
-Official Meditation Teacher Certification with the Institute for Meditation
-10 days of fun, dance and celebration
-A life changing experience and friends for life!

Meditation Teacher Training Program
The program is a combination of experiencing meditations, meditation philosophy teachings and discussions, practicing guiding meditations, sharings, self-study and time to relax and digest. The program is an alive and joyful exploration where everybody becomes an inspiration to each other and where lifelong friendships are made. The program is rooted in the open sharing and celebration of your present experience.

Our signature
Institute for Meditation offers a holistic approach to meditation. This means we don’t teach one specific method, but rather give a complete perspective on the differences between the various ways of meditation. With this teaching you will be able to recognize the benefits and limitations of the different approaches to meditation. This enables you to consciously choose the right meditation techniques to fit your specific interest, purpose and audience. We encourage you to share from your creativity and authenticity. Sharing the meditation you are most passionate about!

Why teach meditation?
People are looking for silence, clarity, and answers in a more complex world. More and more companies, yoga studios, and schools acknowledge the benefits of meditation and incorporate meditation into their daily operations. With teaching groups and individuals, you can inspire thousands of people by sharing your authentic guidance for opening up to life.

The best way of learning is teaching
Scientists found out that students enlisted to tutor others work harder to understand the material, recall it more accurately, and apply it more effectively. Feedback from students or peers further enhances the tutors’ learning. A teacher training is the best way to explore and understand the fundamentals of meditation.

What meditation teacher training graduates gain
Graduates have the skills and confidence to guide meditations, the knowledge of a vast variety of meditations, the creativity to fit the right meditation for the right audience and situation, the knowledge of ancient meditation philosophies, a deepened human understanding to guide and coach people, a progressive set of tools for teaching or other ways of guiding groups (yoga, primary & secundary school, corporate trainings etc) and an official Meditation Teacher Certification with the Institute for Meditation.

Certification
After successful completion of this training you will receive an official Meditation Teacher Certification with the Institute for Meditation. Participants receive a certificate of completion that can be counted as 50 hours of continuing education with the Yoga Alliance. If you are a registered yoga teacher (RYT) you must meet the Continuing Education (CE) Requirements on an ongoing basis. Every three years starting from your initial date of registration you must complete and log a minimum of 30 hours of yoga related training. Institute for Meditation is a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider® (YACEP) who has been verified by and is in good standing with Yoga Alliance.

Program
Institute of Meditations teachings are based on philosophies derived from Tao, Advaita and Buddhism. They focus on becoming aware of basic assumptions about life and their implications in your daily life. With ancient teachings and models from Tao and Advaita philosophy, we recognize and unveil limiting ideas to explore a spontaneous, open-minded way of living. With the ancient knowledge of Buddhism we explore the vicious circle of searching and suffering in life (Samsara) and the opportunity for liberation from this cycle (Nirvana).

Course content
Meditation practice
You will become familiar with a broad variety of meditations based on Zen and Buddhist traditions. You will experience passive meditations like silent sitting and active meditations involving sound and movement. The main focus of this training is insight meditation, which is based on the process of enquiry.
-Zen, Buddhist & Osho meditations
-Passive meditations
-Active meditations
-Insight meditations
-Bodyscan techniques
-Sharing & Discussion

Meditation philosophy
You will become aware of your beliefs and their implications on your emotions, thoughts and behaviour. With ancient knowledge from Taoism, Buddhism and Advaita philosophy you will be able to guide people towards clarity.
-Enquiry into effort & control
-Theory Nature of the Mind
-Theory Circle of Suffering (Samsara)
-Theory The Way of Tao (Yin Yang)
-Theory Advaita
-Sharing & Discussion

Art of teaching
You will learn to share from your OWN experience. In this training you will become your own authority. The only valuable and convincing teaching is simply being authentic, which will inspire others to do the same.
-Practicing guiding meditations
-Master your voice: tone, volume, tempo, rhythm, enunciation
-Exploring your playfulness and creativity with words
-Approaches holding space
-Giving feedback on meditations

Meditation sequencing
You will be able to design custom-made meditations to fit your specific intention, focus and audience. A simple yet profound structure enables you to trust on your own experience and flow with your intuition while guiding meditations.
-Theory Types of Meditation
-Enquiry into intentions & purposes of meditation
-Sequencing techniques
-Sharing & Discussion

Meditations in this teacher training
Relaxation meditations
-Mindfulness meditation
-Zazen or silent sitting meditation
-Vipassana meditation
-Body Scan
-Massage

Inquiry meditations
-Loving-kindness meditation
-Insight meditation
-Self-inquiry meditation

Active meditations
-Dynamic meditation
-Kundalini meditation
-Walking meditation
-Shaking meditation
-Dance meditation

Requirements
-This training is for beginners & advanced students and everyone who is curious about meditation and wants to know more.
-There are no other certificates needed for joining this training.
-We will enquire about your motivation to see if this training is suitable for you. If we believe your motivation is not in accord with the offered program, we hold the right to not approve your application.

What to bring?
-Loose and comfortable clothes to wear during your meditations
-Swimming wear
-Sun blocker
-Mosquito repellent
-Sunglasses
-Towel
-Diary/notebook and pen
-Travel insurance

How to get there?
Flight to Samui Airport (USM)
The nearest airport is in Koh Samui. Between Bangkok and Koh Samui, there are many daily services run by Bangkok Airways. The flying time is about 50 minutes. A connecting ferry will have to be taken from Koh Samui to Koh Phangan. The ferry ports for Koh Phangan is usually available as a free service. Please ask for the service when you purchase the ticket for the ferry in the Seatran-Lomprayah ferry counter as you exit Samui Airport (USM).

Flight to Surat Thani Airport (URT)
Air Asia flies from Bangkok to Surat Thani daily, flying time is about 50 minutes. The transfer from Surat Thani International Airport (URT) to Donsak ferry port is by coach or taxi and takes about one and a half hours. In Donsak, you can transfer to the Raja ferry to Koh Phangan which takes three hours. Whilst the overall journey is longer than flying directly to Koh Samui, it can be cheaper to fly via Surat Thani, depending on the time of year.

Ferry
You can take a ferry from Samui to Koh Phangan. The Seatran ferry leaves Koh Samui at 08:00 a.m. and 01:00 p.m. The Lomprayah ferry leaves Koh Samui at 8:00 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. The Seatran pier is located near the airport, approximately a 10-minute drive and the Lomprayah pier is located 50 minutes from the airport. Please take that into consideration when booking the rest of your journey. Ferries arrive in Koh Phangan at Thong Sala Pier. %You can also take a ferry from Koh Phangan to Koh Samui. The Seatran ferry leaves Koh Phangan at 11:00 a.m. and 04:30 p.m. The Lomprayah ferry leaves Koh Phangan at 7:15 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 4:20 p.m. From Samui Airport (USM), there is a shuttle service going to the ferry ports for Koh Phangan which is usually available as a free service. Please ask for the service when you purchase the ticket for the ferry in the Seatran-Lomprayah ferry counter as you exit Samui Airport (USM).

Bus
There are many bus services from Bangkok to Koh Phangan. Most of those are sleeper buses. They can be booked from travel agencies in Bangkok or by going to the central bus station in Sia Thai. The journey takes about 10 hours to Donsak where there is a ferry port for boats going to Koh Phangan. From Donsak, the journey takes around three hours to Koh Phangan. Usually, the ferry is included in the price of the bus.

Train
Trains leave Bangkok several times daily. The journey time is about 12 hours. Sleeping booths are available in some services. Leaving the train in Surat Thani, the transfer by coach or taxi from Surat Thani station to Donsak Pier takes about one and a half hours. From Donsak, the ferry journey takes three hours to Koh Phangan.

There are two companies that run luxury coach services from Bangkok to Chumphon, which takes about 6 hours. At Chumphon, you transfer to a large express boat that stops at Koh Tao before arriving at Koh Phangan. The boat journey from Chumphon to Koh Phangan takes about 2 ½ hours.

From the pier to the resort
Local taxis are available from the pier. Please inform the taxi to go to Samma Karuna Srithanu. Please print out instructions in Thai to give to the taxi driver, that will avoid any unnecessary delay and frustration. Taxis cost approximately 200 to 300 THB per person.

Venue Samma Karuna
You can find Samma Karuna on Google Maps or use the global coordinates 9.766211, 99.961954. Samma Karuna is located in Haad Chao Phao about 100 meters from Family Mart Haad Chao Phao.

Institute for Meditation
Institute for Meditation stands out from other meditation schools by its personal approach and focus on self-enquiry. In our trainings and retreats we explore our attitude towards relationships, work, emotions, thoughts and bodily sensations. We offer different meditations to explore the nature of stress, control, resistance, flow and relaxation. We regard the open sharing of individual experiences in our insight dialogues as the core of our teaching programs.

Another clear characteristic of our school is that we do not stick to one lineage of meditation. We teach simple yet profound models, theories and philosophies from different traditions to deeply understand the meaning of meditation. In order to experientially explore the meaning of meditation, we also use different techniques of meditations which have their origin in the different traditions. We sit in silence, but also dance, discuss, shake, shout and go into nature.

We don’t believe force is necessary for change. Any force will inherently bring stress in your life, however subtle this tension may be.. We therefore use meditation as an effortless tool to look at life and conciously live the life we want to live!

Paul Verkuijlen
Paul is a philosopher, massage therapist and expert meditation teacher. He was born in The Netherlands but spend the last years mostly living abroad. With Merel he has been running meditation courses in India, Portugal, Thailand and The Netherlands.

He studied meditation and Eastern philosophies while living in meditation communities in India and Australia. After seeing many teachers (and charlatans), he clearly saw the benefits and traps of the different spiritual teachings. Through his incessant curiosity and with the honest input of some teachers, he recognized the source of confusion and suffering. Consequently he realized the meaning of clarity and liberation. This is when he started to share his passion for meditation.

He has a bachelor's degree in teaching and has a Master's degree in sociology. His main focus of study was social psychology, philosophy and lifestyles.

Paul is a certified Osho Meditation facilitator (Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune, India).

Next to teaching meditation, he also works as a certified massage therapist and had more than 300 hours of training in various disciplines: rebalancing, aryuvedic yoga massage, Thai massage and Myofascial Chi-Release.

Merel Martens
Merel is yoga therapist, entrepreneur and expert meditation teacher. She was born in the southern part of the Netherlands. She has been living in India since six years, where she founded and managed a successful yoga and meditation teacher training school. Throughout the years she has trained over 300+ teacher training students to become successful yoga teachers and therapists. She now focusses on teaching meditation.

Merel also works as a yoga teacher (E-RYT500) and yoga therapist.

She studied yoga philosophy and Buddhism in various meditation centres in the Indian Himalayas.

She has a bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Master's degree in International Public Health.

She is specialized in mind-body physiology and psychology. She wrote a book about this subject titled: ‘Essential Yoga Therapy: A beginner's guide to applying yoga therapy’.

Venue Highlights
This training will be offered at Samma Karuna. Samma Karuna is an International School of Awakening and Healing, and Yoga Retreat Centre in Thailand. It's a mindfulness community, for people who are called to learn to live a happier, more fulfilled and enriched life, based on principles of self-development, acceptance and celebration.

Koh Phangan
Samma Karuna is nestled amongst the palm trees, beautiful beaches, and jungle landscapes of Koh Phangan. Koh Phangan is a beautiful island in the Gulf of Thailand in southeast Thailand in Surat Thani Province. It is part of the Samui Archipelago. Koh Phangan has two sister islands: the larger Ko Samui to the south and the smaller Ko Tao to the north. Koh Phangan is about 125 square kilometers in size, and is part of Surat Thani district. Samma Karuna is located about 5 kilometers north from Thong Sala (commercial center of the island and where the pier is located). This site of the island is known as the epicenter of meditation and yoga.

Accommodation
During the training you’ll be staying at Benjamin’s Hut in a private bungalow. This resort is located on the Haad Yao beach and right next to Samma Karuna. Benjamin's Hut is within a 5-minute walk from the local shops and a minimart. It is a 10-minute drive from the Thong Sala pier. The hotel's restaurant serves a selection of Thai and European dishes. Drinks can be enjoyed at the bar.

You can choose a private bungalow with fan ($1550) or with airconditioning ($1900). The bungalow is equipped with Wi-fi, a private balcony, hammock and bathroom with toilet and shower facilities. Laundry services are available (additional charges will be applied).

Please note: If the resort is fully booked, you’ll be staying in a different resort. In this case, you might need to rent a scooter to get to Samma Karuna.

12 Day 50 Hours Certification Meditation Teacher Training in Koh Phangan, Thailand

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