If you have completed all eight weeks of the Palouse Mindfulness Online MBSR Course, including the reading, videos and practices (not necessarily including "Supplementary materials"), I will send you a personal note of congratulations along with a certificate of completion. There is no charge for this. It is no small accomplishment to complete such an intensive course on your own, but as you can see from the Map of Graduates and Gallery of Learning, there are hundreds of people from all over the world who have successfully completed this course.
What to include in your request
- Your name, email address, and where you live (city, state/province, country). The location is used for the Map of Graduates. Only first name and last initial will be shown. If you'd rather not have your city indicated, just give the state/province, or even just the country.
- A one-page description of what you've learned and how you will be incorporating what you've learned into your life. This should be in English.
- Practice sheets for Weeks 1-7, both formal and informal. If you are not English-speaking, it's fine to submit these in your native language. If you haven't done all the practices, but have averaged half or more of each week's practice, you are still eligible for a certificate (this would mean an average of three or more of the six formal and informal practices each week).
How to send the request and materials
Sending everything electronically is best. The practice sheets can be scanned, photographed with a smartphone, or you may already have recorded these electronically, such as in a WORD or text file. If it's too difficult to put the materials in electronic form, you may send them via physical mail, but be sure to include your email address since the certificate will be sent to you electronically. In most cases, you will receive your certificate in a week or two.
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If you'd like to help keep the Palouse Mindfulness freely available to all:
If you found the course valuable, you are invited to make a donation to keep the site alive and to help make the course even more accessible to people around the world. This is not expected or required. Please donate only if you feel moved to do so. See About Contributions.
Graduate Offerings
Once you receive the certificate of completion, you may consider yourself a graduate of MBSR. When you receive your certificate, you will be invited to join the Palouse Mindfulness Online Graduate Community, an online group where graduates of the Palouse Mindfulness course can interact with other graduates. Through the site and its associated Graduate Community Map, graduates can connect with other graduates and share insights, questions, and resources.
On the Graduates' page, there is a wealth of information, including a directory of the Graduate Program Readings that provide readings and videos on various topics that have been presented in the past at our local in-person graduate meetings. There are almost 30 topics represented and are a terrific resource for graduates to continue their learning.
A note for those who teach, or wish to teach mindfulness skills:
The Palouse Mindfulness certificate documents that you have successfully completed this particular 8-week online course. It is not a certification to teach MBSR. This doesn't mean that you can't use what you've learned in your work and/or teaching, it just means you cannot call yourself a "certified MBSR instructor" on the basis of this one 8-week online course alone.
If you are interested in building on what you have learned to earn formal certification in teaching mindfulness, see the training programs listed on the Mindfulness Training Centers page. Some, but not all, of these training programs allow the Palouse Mindfulness course to serve as a prerequisite for further training.
That being said, there are many talented people who effectively incorporate mindfulness into their teaching or work who are not certified in a formal way from one of these training centers. They are typically omnivores, finding training from varied sources, from videos, articles, books, or whatever in-person workshops they can find in their area, building on the skills they already have in their own areas of expertise. Whether or not you pursue a certificate specific to teaching mindfulness, you are welcome to use whatever you find on this site, free of charge, for your own work and/or teaching. All I ask is that you let people know it came from palousemindfulness.com, and that it is a free resource, so that they can find other materials on their own (see “Can I use Palouse Mindfulness materials?”).
