AMTTP SPOTLIGHT

Breathing Mind

Banu Çeçen is a Professional Certified Coach, Self-Compassion Awareness Trainer, and Neuroscience Specialist who is skilled in yoga, mindfulness, self-compassion and coaching. She has completed various trainings in various fields. 

As an AMTTP of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association (IMTA), Banu offers three tips that are helpful to the mindfulness teachers community.

Personal practice and embody mindfulness: It is important for the instructor to practice their own mindfulness and compassion practices. The practices will help the instructor maintain a calm, compassionate and gentle presence. This presence is felt and creates a sense of trust in the participants. 

Mindful communication: It is important that the instructor maintains an open, non-judgmental and compassionate attitude towards each participant. It is also important for the instructor to be authentic and present themselves. A respectful, non-intrusive and inclusive attitude may be the key to mindful communication.

What is good for “everyone” may not be good for some : Mindfulness has a lot of benefits proven by researches but this may not be true for everyone. We need to respect every individual and their individual nervous systems. We do not need to give promises that everything is going to be better with the practice. For some, other practices may be the source not mindfulness and we need to be respectful of this.