Teaching Presence in Relationship: an Interpersonal Mindfulness teacher training retreat
22 October 2027 at 15:00 to 30 October 2027 at 16:00
The residential “Teaching Presence in Relationship” teacher training retreat, is designed to prepare teachers of mindfulness-based programmes to teach the Interpersonal Mindfulness Programme. This residential training course will take place at the Ammerdown Retreat Centre in Somerset, near Bath, from 22 to 30 October 2027.
Overview
The Interpersonal Mindfulness Programme offers participants a systematic method for cultivating mindfulness within the context of their relational lives. Extending practice beyond the personal to the interpersonal and social domains of life allows for healing and growth for everyone.
The philosophical and scientific roots of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and other mindfulness based-interventions help reduce suffering and and increase wellbeing. They are a force for good in public health, offering accessible and empowering ways for people to actively participate in their own health and wellness.
The Interpersonal Mindfulness Programme goes a step further, offering a relational mindfulness practice drawn from the foundations of Insight Dialogue (Interpersonal Meditation). Designed specifically to be practiced within live interaction, this approach cultivates awareness in the midst of relationship, fostering insight into the stress, reactivity, and habitual patterns that arise in connection with others.
What’s the format?
The residential training is offered over nine days in person at the Ammerdown Retreat Centre.
The first two and a half days of this training are presented primarily in retreat form. During this period, participants will be immersed, experientially, in the nine-session course curriculum. Silence is practiced throughout this part of the retreat except when meditators are guided in dialogue together. This immersive, experiential approach to learning allows participants to internalise the relational meditation guidelines before going on to teach them.
During the subsequent six-day training period, participants engage in relational practice as well as guiding and being guided in teach-backs and in small and large groups. These interactive exercises deepen participants’ experiential understanding of the meditation guidelines, contemplative themes, and cultivate their teaching presence and skill. A comprehensive handbook containing the full curriculum will be supplied to participants to support learning and teaching.
You are invited to attend a 60 minute online information session on 4 July at 10:00 UK time (BST), where Rosalie Dores and Kevin Fong from the teaching team will be available to answer your questions.
The training objectives
The training objectives include:
- Cultivating the skills required to guide Insight Dialogue–based practices, including guidelines, themes, and choreographed relational practice sequences;
- Developing a theoretical understanding of relational mindfulness methods, skills and practices;
- Exploring and experiencing the six guidelines of Insight Dialogue within the Interpersonal Mindfulness Programme;
- Expanding and enriching teachers’ embodied capacity as a vehicle to communicate and interact effectively with programme participants;
- Deepening understanding of the dialogue themes included in the programme, as well as the nature and causes of relational stress.
Who is the training for?
The programme is for mindfulness teachers who wish to teach the Interpersonal Mindfulness programme to graduates of an eight-week mindfulness course or to people who have prior meditation experience and the permission of the teacher. The training may also be of interest to health care professionals, who fulfil the prerequisites, who wish to deepen their presence in working relationships.
You do not need a clinical or psychotherapy background to do this training.
The teacher trainers
Rosalie Dores
Rosalie Dores is a mindfulness teacher, supervisor and trainer. She teaches Insight Dialogue retreats and Interpersonal Mindfulness courses. She is an associate of The Mindfulness Network CIC.. She serves on the Insight Dialogue Community Teachers’ Council and mentors new teachers. Rosalie is dedicated to offering teachings that engage at the interface between ancient wisdom and the challenges of our modern world. She recognises interpersonal meditation addresses the urgent need for a meditative practice that incorporates the social and interpersonal domains of human experience as intrinsic to awakening. She co-teaches courses and workshops dedicated to raising awareness about climate and social justice.
Phyllis Hicks
Phyllis K Hicks has been practicing insight meditation since 1998. She is inspired by the transformative power of bringing mindfulness and wisdom to relational practices and everyday life. Invited to train as an Insight Dialogue teacher in 2003, she began co teaching retreats with Gregory Kramer and has offered ID retreats internationally with many in the ID Teaching Community. With Florence Meleo Meyer and Gregory Kramer, she co-developed the Interpersonal Mindfulness Program (IMP). She and Florence lead IMP Teacher Trainings and guide an international team of IMP Teachers called the “Gardeners” who tend the ongoing development of the program. Retiring as a psychotherapist and Counseling Institute Director of 35 years, she continues to offer retreats, teacher training, serve on the IDC Teachers Council, and teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at Duke Integrative Medicine.
Kevin Fong
Kevin Fong is a teacher trainer, supervisor, and certification assessor for MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction). As an International Advisor, trainer, and Retreat Lead for the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation (UK), he has been teaching Insight Dialogue and Interpersonal Mindfulness programs since 2016. His work focuses on integrating evidence-based approaches with ancient wisdom for modern living, with a particular interest in relational mindfulness and deepening practice through retreats. Kevin offers silent retreats, classes, and workshops in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin Chinese.
Prerequisites for the training
- A regular personal silent meditation practice;
- Participation in at least one 5-10 day in person, residential silent retreat led by a teacher;
- Participation in two 5 to 7 day in-person Insight Dialogue or Relational Mindfulness retreats. Upcoming retreats may be found here: Insight Dialogue;
- Participation in an eight-week Interpersonal Mindfulness Programme course (in your native language if possible). Find the eight-week Interpersonal Mindfulness Programme here. You can also find this eight-week course offered by our collaborating partners on Relational Mindfulness Collaborative’s website and in Cantonese and Mandarin on ATINAT’s website, and on teacher Rosalie Dores’ website;
- Have undergone professional training as an MBCT/MBSR teacher (or another recognised mindfulness programme. Other professional training backgrounds can be considered on a case-by-case basis);
- Have taught at least three cycles of MBCT/MBSR or have equivalent experience or accreditation as a mindfulness teacher.
If you have met most of the prerequisites but not all, it may still be possible to do the teacher training retreat. Please contact us to explore this option.
Visit this page to see the full teacher training pathway to becoming a teacher of the eight-week Interpersonal Mindfulness Programme.
Cost of residential teacher training
The prices below include full board (room and all meals) and all tuition fees and materials. Please indicate your room type preferences on your application form. Room types will be allocated on a first come, first served basis and will also take into account any accessibility or support needs.
Early birds rates until 1 December 2026 (pay non-refundable deposit)
- Single occupancy ensuite room: £2200
- Single occupancy with shared bathroom (bathroom is shared between two bedrooms) £2000
Standard rates from 2 December 2026 and later
- Single occupancy ensuite room: £2500
- Single occupancy with shared bathroom (bathroom is shared between two bedrooms) £ 2300
- Non-refundable deposit £700
Application process
- Click here to complete an application form. It will then be sent to the teaching team for review.
- Once your application has been accepted, we will send you the deposit payment link to pay your £700 non-refundable deposit.
- The relevant balance of your payment will need to be made. The amount depends on the date you apply (before or after the early bird rate).
Bursaries
We have a limited number of modest bursary places which offer a small reduction of not more than several hundred pounds reduction. If you would not otherwise be able to attend without this, please specify this in the application form. As we need to cover our costs, we may not be able to decide on bursary places until a few months prior to the event itself.
If you have any questions about this training, please don’t hesitate to email us at spft.smc@nhs.net.