Tara Centre Professional Training
Compassionate
Mindfulness
Teacher Training
Diploma
The guiding intention of this training is to help create more meditation teachers — to serve people who are suffering now, in everyday life.
This course is offered grounded in humility, responsibility, and love.
Are You Ready?
A Heart‑Based, Experiential Path for those called to teach meditation from true grounded presence.
This course is designed for you to open your heart enough to feel the lives of the people in front of you so that you can react responsibly.
It is offered as a skilful path for those who feel a genuine call to help others in this time of widespread depression, disconnection, and quiet suffering.
This is not a self‑improvement course.
It is an experiential training that works primarily with you, so that when you sit in front of others, your teaching arises naturally, safely, and authentically.
The Heart Of The Training
The core question of this course is simple:
Can you open your heart enough to truly feel the lives of the people in front of you?
Only from that place does effective meditation teaching emerge.
The course is taught by Jitei and is offered by and at the Tara Centre in Lancaster.
You will never be asked to read from a script or learn rigid methods, instead you will develop:
Embodied awareness
Intuition and sensitivity to group dynamics
Confidence that is rooted in stillness
The capacity to respond rather than perform
Who This Training Is For
Have an established personal meditation practice.
Feel called to teach or already find others turning to them.
Want to find depth within themselves.
Are disillusioned with scripted or therapeutic mindfulness.
Wish to teach in secular or mixed‑faith settings.
Care deeply about safety, ethics, and responsibility.
This training is not for those seeking awakening experiences, quick certification, or a purely therapeutic qualification.
Fully Accredited by the Complementary Medical Association.
This is a Professional Level 18 month course to teach meditation One to One and in group settings.
Accredited and fully insurable.
You will be a Meditation Teacher NOT a Buddhist Teacher.
What Participants Often Discover
People who take this course often arrive unsure of themselves but leave with the ability to sit with others confidently, safely, and with an open heart.
They discover that confidence emerges in themselves when they stop trying to be somebody else.
“I now have the confidence to share the practice with others.”
“Jitei was able to nurture and challenge me so that my confidence grew and grew. The practical experience from the start made a huge difference.”
Adam Gregory — Meditation Teacher, Martial Arts Instructor
“This became more than a course — it became a way of life.”
“Learning the Brahmavihārās transformed how I teach and how I live. This work extends far beyond the meditation cushion.”
Kathy Patchett — Meditation Teacher, Yoga Teacher, Yoga Therapist
“I peeled back layers I didn’t even know were there.”
“The simplicity helped me grasp the teachings faster than I expected. I now live with more compassion and presence.”
Jennifer Zimri Tucker
“The main focus is you — and that’s what makes it so powerful.”
“The heart‑based meditations profoundly affected my daily life and relationships. I now feel ready to take these teachings into the world.”
Sam Stevens — Meditation Teacher
The Structure of the Training
The course unfolds over 18 months, combining:
Quarterly in‑person intensive weekends
- Monthly meetings on Zoom
Ongoing personal practice
Case‑study teaching between modules
Peer learning and reflection
The emphasis throughout is experiential learning, integration, and responsibility.
Weekend 1
Developing Mindfulness
- Posture and breath as foundations of awareness
Where the mind actually appears in experience
Mindfulness in its original form (early texts and modern research)
Group awareness and dynamics
Creating safety in meditation sessions
Weekend 2
Developing Loving
Kindness
- Loving Kindness in its original form
Breath and heart awareness
Developing confidence in front of a group
Beginning to teach from warmth and presence
Trauma awareness (Level 1)
Safeguarding and ethical practice
Weekend 3
Developing Compassion
Compassion as an embodied response to suffering
Teaching compassion meditation
Developing your own expression of teaching
Working with group dynamics
Trauma awareness (Level 2)
Weekend 4
Developing Joy
What joy means beyond pleasure
Teaching joy as a living quality
Deepening authenticity in teaching
Integrating intuition into how you teach
Weekend 5
Developing Equanimity
What a balanced mind feels like
Teaching from steadiness and clarity
Ethical responsibility as a teacher
Standing fully in the role of the teacher
Weekend 6
Critical Practice
and Celebration
Practical examination
Peer observation and feedback
Celebration (with cake!)
Successful completion leads to a Diploma in Meditation Teaching.
Practicalities
- 6 Weekend Modules over 18 months (once a season beginning 7pm on Friday evening and finishing 4pm on Sunday afternoon). Friday night is learning how to create a sense of ritual, with a guided meditation by Jitei. Saturday and Sunday we work through the curriculum.
- Attendance does not guarantee a Diploma. A Diploma is only obtained after satisfactory completion of all elements of the course, including ALL case studies, personal practice, observation, assessment and examination
- Location the Tara Centre, Lancaster
- Accredited by the Complementary Medical Association.
- Monthly online supervision / community gathering on Zoom.
- Cost £2500 payable in full or on a payment plan with a (non refundable) deposit of £250 then 18 monthly payments of £125.
- 50 case studies (10 for each module). It usually works out at one case study per week.
- Students are expected to commit to the full duration of the training.
- To book a place please email Jitei for a phone chat or even better a zoom chat: jiteiwhite@gmail.com
New Cohort Intake
24th Oct 2026
A new cohort begins at the end of October 2026
Places are limited to maintain depth, safety, and group cohesion.
If this training speaks to you, you are warmly invited to enquire.
Weekend
Workshops
at the
Tara Centre
To be confirmed soon
Your Teacher
Rev Jitei White
I am a Buddhist monk from the Zen tradition with 43 years practicing and over 25 years teaching meditation. As well as teaching this course I am a Cemetery Monk on a seven year spiritual retreat called the Kaihogyo. This means I walk in meditation in Lancaster Cemetery for 100 or 200 continuous days 26 or 40 miles every day each year.
Dedication is very important with meditation, something I always promote throughout this course.