Two day Introduction to
Mindfulness Facilitation

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Learn How To Teach Mindfulness Using
Proven & Successful Methods
based on the latest research and techniques on teaching mindfulness – Courses in Christchurch

Ongoing research points to the need for all students to receive some form of mental training to fulfil their educational and personal potential.

This highly-evaluated attention training programme aligns with the objectives of the curriculum for personal development, including a focus on social and emotional development, personal self-regulation and building resilience- qualities recognised as benchmarks for success in life.

This two-day certificate course gives you the background, science, practices and techniques to teach/guide others and to establish a regular practice yourself. The course is designed by a registered NZ teacher with 25 years experience of Mindfulness.

Proven & Successful Methods

The course is based on the successful programme Mindful NZ Schools has been running the past four years as well as latest research and techniques on teaching mindfulness designed by the original MBSR members who trained with Jon Kabat-Zinn.

First-Hand Experience


Mindfulness can’t be learnt by talking or reading about it. Mindfulness is experiential. To be able to teach mindfulness you need to understand how it works from the inside out.

Teaching mindfulness is more about guiding people to their own mindfulness practice. It’s about co-creating an environment where mindfulness can ‘happen’.

The course is interactive, covering theory, activities and practices. You will have the opportunity to deepen your contact with your natural intelligence and intuition, be empowered by the discovery that you can self-manage your thoughts and emotions. Participants also get the chance to guide classes for first-hand experience.

Developing a Culture of Kindness


This training will give you a resource to improve everyone’s, including students and children’s ability to deal with stress and anxiety as well as improve attention and focus and cultivate kindness and empathy. Activities and practices will be taught to help engage students in the mindfulness process and assist in internalising the mindfulness process.

Mindfulness is a natural state of being human, yet in our increasingly distracted and fragmented world we now have to ‘teach’ mindfulness to re-empower people with their own natural ability to restore the fragmented mind to a state of wholeness and presence.

In this 2 day certificate course you will not only be introduced to and learn the the powerful Mindfulness techniques that are helping individuals from all walks of life to have more balance and focus in their lives. You will also receive the tools and training to teach these techniques to anyone around you, including students and children.

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Full Documentation


Over these 2 days we will cover so much ground and learn so many things that it would be almost impossible to remember it all afterwards but the best thing is that you don’t need to. You will get printed (or digital if you prefer) documentation on all aspects of what we learnt in the course.
For example: 
  • Templates on how to build dynamic and engaging lessons for any age group.
  • A Mindfulness Facilitator Manual with key points for guiding and leading mindfulness sessions with inspiring and pedagogical tips on how to use language, your own authenticity and natural authority, to create a space where Mindfulness can ‘happen’.
  • 8 Weeks Ready To-Use- Lesson Plans that complies with the objectives of the curriculum for personal development, that you can use as they are or as a starting point when you build your own lessons.
  • 8 week workbook that cover all main mindfulness exercises; breathing. listening, eating etc.
  • A powerpoint presentation with over 60 slides that you can use freely as a resource.
  • A growing Tools & Resources library to expand your knowledge
  • A Certificate of completion of the training- accredited with IMMA (international Mindfulness & Meditation Alliance).
  • Ongoing support.

    • Is this course for me?


    It doesn’t matter if you never have meditated or done one Mindfulness exercise in your life, this course is for anyone who is moved to establish their own Mindfulness practice and get the tools and resources to help others to improve focus, mental resilience and impulse control.

    8 Week Online Course


    When you register you also get access to a complete self-paced online course to establish your own mindfulness practice.
    INCLUDING:

    • A 60 page Mindfulness Training Manual covering eight week lessons in downloadable PDF format
    • Guided Mindfulness audios for each weeks exercises that you can listen to on any device.
    • Recommended videos and talks to watch as a complement to the course
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    “This Course Exceeded My Expectations”Angela B, psychologist, Auckland

    Rita_R_Circle_Smile-300x300_trns

    ABOUT THE TEACHER

    Rita Riccola is one of New Zealand’s leading mindfulness trainers. Her 2 day facilitation course has been attended by hundreds of teachers, counsellors, social workers etc. in both New Zealand and Australia. She have provided staff training for numerous schools across New Zealand in order to help them integrating mindfulness practice to the curriculum.
    Rita is a former teacher and a trained mindfulness teacher with 28 yrs experience who has completed courses with Mindful Schools USA and attended many Mindfulness retreats. These courses are designed to meet the growing need for educators and human resource workers to offer Mindfulness training to all.

    “I’ve learnt valuable human, approachable ways to bring Mindfulness to my school and my own life”Peter, Sydney

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    Make A Booking

    Choose dates for Zoom trainings:

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    These trainings are held using the zoom video platform. To see available face to face trainings, scroll down and look under the location you are interested in (i.e AUCKLAND, CHRISTCHURCH etc.)

    COURSES IN 2023

    APRIL

    2 day Virtual Interactive Zoom Training 26-27 April 2023

    Wednesday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    Thursday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    (There will be breaks for lunch and afternoon tea).

    Cost: $445
    Including: Teaching Manual, Lesson Plans, 8 Week Online Course, Tools & Resources and ongoing support.
    Payment plans available.

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    MAY

    2 day Virtual Interactive Zoom Training 24-25 May 2023

    Wednesday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    Thursday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    (There will be breaks for lunch and afternoon tea).

    Cost: $445
    Including: Teaching Manual, Lesson Plans, 8 Week Online Course, Tools & Resources and ongoing support.
    Payment plans available.

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    JUNE

    2 day Virtual Interactive Zoom Training 14-15 June 2023

    Wednesday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    Thursday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    (There will be breaks for lunch and afternoon tea).

    Cost: $445
    Including: Teaching Manual, Lesson Plans, 8 Week Online Course, Tools & Resources and ongoing support.
    Payment plans available.

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    JULY

    Weekend Virtual Interactive Zoom Training 1-2 July 2023

    Saturday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    Sunday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    (There will be breaks for lunch and afternoon tea).

    Cost: $445
    Including: Teaching Manual, Lesson Plans, 8 Week Online Course, Tools & Resources and ongoing support.
    Payment plans available.

    MAKE A BOOKING

    2 day Virtual Interactive Zoom Training 11-12 2023

    Tuesday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    Wednesday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    (There will be breaks for lunch and afternoon tea).

    Cost: $445
    Including: Teaching Manual, Lesson Plans, 8 Week Online Course, Tools & Resources and ongoing support.
    Payment plans available.

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    AUGUST

    2 day Virtual Interactive Zoom Training 30-31 August 2023

    Wednesday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    Thursday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    (There will be breaks for lunch and afternoon tea).

    Cost: $445
    Including: Teaching Manual, Lesson Plans, 8 Week Online Course, Tools & Resources and ongoing support.
    Payment plans available.

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    SEPTEMBER

    2 day Virtual Interactive Zoom Training 13-14 September 2023

    Wednesday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    Thursday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    (There will be breaks for lunch and afternoon tea).

    Cost: $445
    Including: Teaching Manual, Lesson Plans, 8 Week Online Course, Tools & Resources and ongoing support.
    Payment plans available.

    MAKE A BOOKING

    WEEKEND Virtual Interactive Zoom Training 30 September – 1 October 2023

    Saturday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    Sunday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    (There will be breaks for lunch and afternoon tea).

    Cost: $445
    Including: Teaching Manual, Lesson Plans, 8 Week Online Course, Tools & Resources and ongoing support.
    Payment plans available.

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    NOVEMBER

    2 day Virtual Interactive Zoom Training 22-23 November 2023

    Wednesday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    Thursday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    (There will be breaks for lunch and afternoon tea).

    Cost: $445
    Including: Teaching Manual, Lesson Plans, 8 Week Online Course, Tools & Resources and ongoing support.
    Payment plans available.

    MAKE A BOOKING

    DECEMBER

    2 day Virtual Interactive Zoom Training 12-13 December 2023

    Tuesday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    Wednesday: 11.30am-4.30pm
    (There will be breaks for lunch and afternoon tea).

    Cost: $445
    Including: Teaching Manual, Lesson Plans, 8 Week Online Course, Tools & Resources and ongoing support.
    Payment plans available.

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    Choose dates for face-to-face trainings:

    COURSES IN 2023

    OCTOBER

    2 day Face-to-Face Mindfulness Facilitation Course in Christchurch 17-18 October 2023

    Tuesday: 9.30am-3.30pm
    Wednesday: 9.30am-3.30pm
    (There will be breaks for lunch and afternoon tea).

    Cost: $495
    Including: Morning Tea, Teaching Manual, Lesson Plans, 8 Week Online Course, Tools & Resources and ongoing support.
    Payment plans available.

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    Who is the course for?

    • Teachers
    • Yoga Trainers
    • Social Workers
    • Consultants
    • Psychologists
    • Team Leaders
    • Personal Assistants
    • Physiotherapists
    • Nurses
    • Parents
    • Pastors
    • & anyone who want to add Mindfulness Facilitation to their skill set

    What Participants Say

    “What I liked best about the 2 day training was the relaxed, knowledgeable approach to Mindfulness”.
    -Laura, Melbourne

    “I liked the pace, experiential learning and the facilitators sharing her experience”
    Alison, Sydney

    “I’ve learnt valuable human, approachable ways to bring Mindfulness to my school and my own life”
    Peter, Sydney

    “ I’ve learnt that you can choose to change. The interaction between participants was especially valuable”
    – Jen, Sydney

    “Rita is a fabulous facilitator – she made us feel extremely comfortable, was open minded and encouraged us all to share from our diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise. I came away with many very practical, easy to use exercises that I have since been using with with my classes of various ages. Thank you Rita for gifting me such a wonderful and enjoyable afternoon of learning”.
    -Louise Dore, Auckland

    “I found Rita’s expert and gentle facilitating a wonderful way to explore mindfulness personally, whilst also guiding me to share mindfulness with others”.
    -Suzanne Henwood, Auckland

    “The Mindfulness Teacher Training 2 day workshop delivered some excellent material and provided participants with some definitive tools to enable them to develop their own teaching programs around. Rita’s knowledge and inclusive manner of facilitating made for an enjoyable experience”.
    -Errol Alison, Wellington

    “What I liked best about the course was the practical nature and the openness to ask questions”
    -Wendy, Sydney

    “I’ve learnt very practical strategies and meaningful discussions of experiences”
    -Sarah, Christchurch

    Highly Evaluated Programme – Designed and Delivered by a Reg. NZ Teacher

    Course Content – Day 1 & 2

    • What is Mindfulness?
    • How does it work?
      Evidence-based research results
      and the neuroscience.
    • Why Teach Mindfulness to Students and Children.
    • Breathing Exercise 1 and 2
    • Guided Body Scan
    • The STOP Method
    • How to build a MIndfulness Lesson
    • Tools & Resources
    • How to identifying patterns of thinking and reacting that keep us trapped.
    • Practical ways to work with  Difficult Thoughts and Emotions.
    • Turning boredom and restlessness into curiosity
    • Mindful Listening-expanded awareness.
    • The ‘Mountain meditation’
    • Training Session – Teaching Mindfulness
    • Questions and Answers, feedback/personal Enquiry into your own experience
    With the added distraction from mobile devices, texting and social media, the
    challenge of keeping students attention in the classroom has in many schools become a whole new ball game.

    Why Mindfulness?

    Evidence based results from around the world continue to show that the regular practise of Mindfulness has ongoing benefits for physical and mental health. Research over the past few decades has found that Mindfulness training helps to;

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    Relieve Anxiety & Stress

    In our fast paced lives, where we rush from one demand to another, there is very little time or space to stop and pause. Mindfulness offer the tools needed to connect with our inner intelligence, where we can access natural calmness beneath the busy minds.

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    Let go of Anger & Frustration

    Coming in contact with your direct experience in the mindful state allows us to become familiar with the patterns that direct our lives; our thoughts, emotions and reactions.

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    OVERCOME WORRYING
    & NEGATIVE THINKING

    Pain is an inevitable part of being human but suffering is optional. In Mindfulness we learn how to manage our thoughts and emotions instead of letting emotions and thoughts manage us.

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    STOP INNER CHATTER

    Aimless thinking and inner chatter is draining our energy and clouding over the present moment. One of the most common benefits from regular Mindfulness training is greater mental clarity and a new sense of inner peace.

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    Have Better Sleep

    To be able stop incessant thinking and worrying is one of the great benefits of Mindfulness and it makes it easier to sleep in and have unbroken sleep throughout the night.

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    STOP LIVING IN THE PAST

    Mindfulness practices increasingly bring you more into the present with the growing awareness that going over the past keeps you stuck in the past.

    What do you get from this Course?

    • Guidance given by experienced mindfulness trainer
    • The opportunity to learn in a safe, relaxed environment with a beginner group.
    • Learning simple practices to help students and children to relax the body, eliminate stress, calm the mind
    • Improve mental and physical well-being, by changing patterns of anxious thinking
    • Be empowered by the discovery that you can self-manage your thoughts and emotions
    • Deepen your contact with your natural intelligence and intuition.
    • How to build mindfulness lessons that is accessible for children of all ages
    • Powerpoint and audio links
    The Mindfulness Teacher Training 2 day workshop
    delivered some excellent material and provided
    participants with some definitive tools to enable them to
    develop their own teaching programs around.
    Rita’s knowledge and inclusive manner of facilitating made
    for an enjoyable experience.Errol Alison, participant

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Mindfulness means “paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn. (Founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction)

    Mindfulness is a way of noticing where your attention is in the present moment without judging it good or bad. It’s about not wandering off into an imagined future or going over the past but fully engaging right here right now.

    The ability to focus on one thing at a time is a skill and requires practice. Just as athletes train on a daily basis to maintain fitness and stamina, Mindfulness, which is a mental training, requires regular daily practice to experience the many well documented benefits especially of de-stressing, relaxing the body and generally self-managing in a new and empowering way.

    Through guided, simple easy-to-do practisies you are training the mind to be more present in the moment. resulting in it to be less anxious, more alert and alive.

    Everyone really and especially anyone

    • Who over-thinks
    • Thinks anxiously as a regular behavior.
    • Stressed people
    • People who engage in constant negative self-talk
    • People who can’t sleep because of incessant inner chatter
    • People who operate on ‘auto-pilot’ and are always ‘on’..
    Current research tells us 20 minutes a day is required to achieve lasting benefits. This can be broken into two 10 minutes sessions-easily do-able when you experience the inner calm and rest from the robotic mind.
    You will slowly (sometimes quickly) begin to experience a lightness of being, less anxiety, better sleep, easier communications and a general improved sense of well-being and have more energy. These are not empty promises but almost guaranteed if you follow the instructions, do the practices regularly and begin to live more Mindfully.
    Yes, you get a certificate after completing the 2 days training and the 8 week online component which is a 8 week self-paced course to establish your own practice.
    Meditation and Mindfulness are very similar the only difference being that Meditation takes many more forms;chanting, mantras as well as breathing and visualisations however Mindfulness meditation is a specific set of exercises that focus exclusively on the five senses.
    Many places that run Mindfulness courses do so on a donation basis and are connected to spiritual centers. Mindfulness in New Zealand is an independent group and the trainers pay to live just like everyone else. Everybody needs to be paid for their effort as well as the cost of hiring venues and paying advertising to let people know the courses exist.
    The 2 day course is an immersion into mindfulness facilitation, covering all ground; science behind it, practices, methods, tools and resources. It gives you a strong foundation and also ongoing support afterwards and many of the attendants start implementing these techniques in their profession directly after the course. With that said, in the end, it is your regular practice and self enquiry together with you own communication and coaching skills that leads to the ability to facilitate effectively. 
    No, the course is for teaching everyone, adults, children, teenagers, although it has grown out of working with students.
    Yes, it is accredited with IMMA (International’s Meditation and Mindfulness Alliance)

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    NON RELIGIOUS

    There is no religion, dogma or beliefs attached to Mindfulness. Mindfulness has it’s roots in many contemplative practices but doesn’t require or impose on anyones belief systems. It’s a mental activity that has proven to be of great benefit for maintaining physical, mental and emotional balance.

    PROVEN METHODS

    The many benefits of Mindfulness have been well documented especially in the past 30 years since Jon Kabat-Zinn established the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programme that has led to the wide-spread, evidence based research and the acceptance of these non-religious, practical exercises anyone can do.

    FOR EVERYONE

    Mindfulness practice doesn’t require any preparation or beforehand knowledge about meditation. Anyone can experience the effect from these simple exercises.