Mindfulness training
The Deepening Mindfulness & Mindful Communication (DMMC) training offers continuing education for professionals who want to further integrate mindfulness into their daily lives and professional practice, both in the relationship with themselves and with others. As a mindfulness trainer, after completing the training, you will be able to teach the (follow-up) training Deepening Mindfulness & Mindful Communication (DMMC) or integrate its exercises into your own practice.
In addition, the training offers professionals from other sectors, such as mental health counselors, coaches, teachers and yoga teachers, the opportunity to apply mindfulness more broadly and guide others in mindful communication.
Training content
At the heart of the training is the accredited and scientifically based DMMC program. This program offers a continuation of the 8-week MBSR/MBCT mindfulness training and focuses on further developing mindfulness & mindful communication.
During the training, you will learn how to apply mindfulness in different situations, and be given tools to apply mindfulness beyond the meditation mat. The program provides concrete tools for mindful and authentic communication, deepening connection with yourself and others, and strengthening the calming system.
In five training days you go through both participant training and trainer training. Between the two training weekends there is a few weeks of space so that the exercises can also be experienced as a participant and practiced in homework groups with each other (physically or online).

The training includes the following learning objectives:
Personal and trainer skills:
Deepening Mindfulness skills: You will learn various meditation forms, including calm meditation, compassion practice and values-based meditation.
Mindful Communication: You develop skills in mindful listening, speaking and responding, including in challenging situations such as conflict.
Increasing body awareness: Through yin yoga and yoga nidra, you strengthen your calming system and body awareness.
Psycho-education: You will increase your knowledge of the autonomic nervous system, emotion regulation and how these systems affect our daily interactions.
Trainer skills:
You will learn the structure and content of the 6 meetings and the practice day of the DMMC training.
You are able to lead the training (or parts of the training if you are not a trainer) independently.
You will become proficient in guiding meditations, communication exercises and yin yoga.
You are also capable of delivering short powerful education.
You gain knowledge about the working mechanisms of the program.
"True communication occurs when we share not just words, but silence and space." - Eckhart Tolle
Contents DMMC program: meditations, exercises and education
Meditation exercises
– We are adding new meditations to our meditation toolbox to be used as needed.
– Calm meditation, through which we cultivate tranquility and concentration and can use this as needed.
– (Self-) Compassion through mildness meditation and compassion-focused exercises, which helps us in relation to ourselves and others.
– Mindfulness meditation paying attention to the feeling tone of our experiences, further increasing and deepening our understanding of our reactivity.
– Values-focused meditation. We explore how setting an intention allows us to live and communicate more from our values.
– Elemental Meditation. We increase our body awareness and awareness of interconnectedness.
Communicating Mindfully
– We do exercises with supportive education that provide insight into what happens in contact with others. This gives us more insight into our conditioning and how to free ourselves from it.
– We practice experientially and discover how we can deepen and improve contact, communicate authentically(er) and, where necessary, avoid miscommunication by better noticing what is actually happening rather than how we interpret something.
– The exercises help to calm our system in contact and face contact with more confidence and joy.
– We learn to be mindfully present and listen in a way that is nurturing and helpful to ourselves and those with whom we are in contact.
– We develop the skill of mindful speaking, exploring how to use the qualities of mindfulness when we speak.
– We learn what happens in conflict and how to communicate more connectively.
Body-oriented exercises
– We practice yin yoga, a form that helps with stress reduction, strengthening our calming system and promoting a healthy body-mind balance. We will learn accessible poses that make up a short yin yoga class. The individual postures and class can also be used in guiding mindful movement.
– We are introduced to yoga nidra meditation and discover how it strengthens the calming system and increases insight.
Psychoeducation and other exercises
– We increase our understanding of needs and values and how to bring them into contact.
– We are introduced to three emotion regulation or motivation systems and what role they play in our lives and contact and how we can find more balance in them.
– We gain insight into the workings of our autonomic nervous system and calming system and how to strengthen them.
DMMC Program: Scientifically-Based and Evidence-Based
Between 2022 and 2024, Maya Schroevers of the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) conducted a study of the effects of the DMMC program. The results were very positive, with significant improvements in body awareness, mindfulness, self-compassion and quality of relationships. Read more.
We draw on a rich variety of methodologies and traditions in the DMMC program. Exercises have been selected based on their proven effectiveness, complementary properties and their relationship to mindfulness. Where useful, elements have been combined into new exercises.
The exercises and education are inspired by the following methods and movements:
- (Interpersonal) Mindfulness
- Nonviolent communication (NVC)
- Greenzone communication
- Deep Listening
- Compassion training: Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living (MBCL)
- Different Buddhist traditions
- Yin yoga
- Communication Training
- Theatresport
For whom is this training suitable?
The training is open to anyone trained as a mindfulness trainer. Meditation facilitators, yoga teachers, (G)GZ aid workers, coaches, teachers, communication trainers and other professionals who work with people and are familiar with mindfulness are also welcome. This could be through a previous MBSR, MBCT or Breathworks mindfulness training, for example, or at least one year of regular mindfulness practice.
After the training, the group training DMMC can be provided, provided you have basic mindfulness trainer skills, as for example as an MBSR/MBCT trainer. Otherwise, you can use elements of the program in your own professional practice or supervise the program individually.
Practical information
- Duration: Five training days, spread over two weekends
- Cost: €997 (including coffee, tea and training materials). If you register before December 31, 2024, you will receive a €100 early bird discount. Only the book ‘The art of mindful communication’ needs to be purchased separately. Look here for the extensive reading list. The training is exempt from VAT.
- Accreditation: The course is accredited by the Mindfulness Registry (52 points)
- Agenda: For a list of all training days, see the agenda at the bottom of this page
- Download the full training brochure
Are you interested in the course? Apply directly or contact us for more information.
Literatuur
Naast de trainershandleiding en het werkboek voor deelnemers behoort de volgende literatuur tot de opleiding voor trainers. Deze ontvang je op de eerste opleidingsdag, met uitzondering van het boek, dat je zelf dient aan te schaffen:
- Boek (zelf aanschaffen): De kunst van mindful communiceren: Luisteren en spreken met wijsheid en compassie door Frits Koster & Jetty Heynekamp (Boom, 2020)
- Hoofdstuk uit het boek: Bevrijdend inzicht: Een kennismaking met boeddhistische psychologie, mindfulness en inzichtmeditatie (hoofdstuk 11: Kalmtemeditatie) door Frits Koster (Asoka, 1999; 7e druk 2020)
- Hoofdstuk uit het boek: Compassie (hoofdstuk 16) door Erik van den Brink & Frits Koster uit: E. Bohlmeijer, N. Jacobs, J.A. Walburg & G. Westerhof, Handboek positieve psychologie: Theorie, onderzoek en interventies (Boom, 2021)
- Artikel: Mindfulness Breathing – Windmill–Bodhipaksa
- Artikel: The Six Element Practice – Windmill–Bodhipaksa
- Wetenschappelijk artikel: Deepening Mindfulness and Mindful Communication: A Pilot Study on Feasibility, Acceptability, and Perceived Benefits of this Newly Developed Mindfulness-Based Follow-Up Group Program door Maya J. Schroevers, Jun Wang, Zohair Elabd, Frits Koster
- Wetenschappelijk artikel: The Improvement of Emotion and Attention Regulation after a 6-Week Training of Focused Meditation: A Randomized Controlled Trial door Carolina Baptista Menezes, Maria Clara de Paula Couto, Luciano G. Buratto, Fátima Erthal, Mirtes G. Pereira, en Lisiane Bizarro
- Digitaal materiaal: Tijdens de opleiding worden diverse video- en audiobestanden gedeeld.
For whom is this training suitable?
The training is open to anyone trained as a mindfulness trainer. Meditation facilitators, yoga teachers, (G)GZ aid workers, coaches, teachers, communication trainers and other professionals who work with people and are familiar with mindfulness are also welcome. This could be through a previous MBSR, MBCT or Breathworks mindfulness training, for example, or at least one year of regular mindfulness practice.
After the training, the group training DMMC can be provided, provided you have basic mindfulness trainer skills, as for example as an MBSR/MBCT trainer. Otherwise, you can use elements of the program in your own professional practice or supervise the program individually.
Practical information
- Duration: Five training days, spread over two weekends
- Cost: €997 (including coffee, tea and training materials). If you register before December 31, 2024, you will receive a €100 early bird discount. The book ‘The art of mindful communication’ should be purchased separately. Look here for the extensive reading list.
- Accreditation: The course is accredited by the Mindfulness Registry (52 points)
- Download the full training brochure
Are you interested in the course? Apply directly or contact us for more information.
Literatuur
Naast de trainershandleiding en het werkboek voor deelnemers behoort de volgende literatuur tot de opleiding voor trainers. Deze ontvang je op de eerste opleidingsdag, met uitzondering van het boek, dat je zelf dient aan te schaffen:
- Boek (zelf aanschaffen): De kunst van mindful communiceren: Luisteren en spreken met wijsheid en compassie door Frits Koster & Jetty Heynekamp (Boom, 2020)
- Hoofdstuk uit het boek: Bevrijdend inzicht: Een kennismaking met boeddhistische psychologie, mindfulness en inzichtmeditatie (hoofdstuk 11: Kalmtemeditatie) door Frits Koster (Asoka, 1999; 7e druk 2020)
- Hoofdstuk uit het boek: Compassie (hoofdstuk 16) door Erik van den Brink & Frits Koster uit: E. Bohlmeijer, N. Jacobs, J.A. Walburg & G. Westerhof, Handboek positieve psychologie: Theorie, onderzoek en interventies (Boom, 2021)
- Artikel: Mindfulness Breathing – Windmill–Bodhipaksa
- Artikel: The Six Element Practice – Windmill–Bodhipaksa
- Wetenschappelijk artikel: Deepening Mindfulness and Mindful Communication: A Pilot Study on Feasibility, Acceptability, and Perceived Benefits of this Newly Developed Mindfulness-Based Follow-Up Group Program door Maya J. Schroevers, Jun Wang, Zohair Elabd, Frits Koster
- Wetenschappelijk artikel: The Improvement of Emotion and Attention Regulation after a 6-Week Training of Focused Meditation: A Randomized Controlled Trial door Carolina Baptista Menezes, Maria Clara de Paula Couto, Luciano G. Buratto, Fátima Erthal, Mirtes G. Pereira, en Lisiane Bizarro
- Digitaal materiaal: Tijdens de opleiding worden diverse video- en audiobestanden gedeeld.
Teachers
The training is taught by: Zohair Elabd, Frits Koster and Lidewij Severins.
Training Day 1: Zohair Elabd
Training Day 2: Frits Koster & Zohair Elabd
Training Day 3: Frits Koster & Zohair Elabd
Training Day 4: Lidewij Severins & Zohair Elabd
Training Day 5: Zohair Elabd
Certification
- Certificate of Participation: Upon successful completion you will receive the certifcate
- Group trainer DMMC.: MBSR/MBCT or Breathworks trainers can register as a trainer DMMC and add their training to the national schedule at no cost, provided they supervise one training and attend 2 supervision sessions within 3 years of training.
- Supervisor DMMC: Non-certified mindfulness trainers or professionals can register as a facilitator DMMC without supervision. Coaches, psychologists and therapists can also register their individual training at no cost.