Before I continue on what may seem like a judgmental tone, I should reveal my own background in teacher education. When I was 18 years old, I put up posters all over my college campus inviting people to come and meditate with me. Naive as I was, I assumed that everyone who showed up would know how to meditate and that my role would be to ring another bell at the beginning and at the end.
That first meeting proved me wrong. A dozen newcomers to meditation sat there in silence with me, only to admit at the end that they had no idea how to meditate. I brought in my own mentors within the Shambhala Buddhist tradition and they kindly came to provide meditation instruction for months until they encouraged me to pursue teacher training myself. It made sense, especially considering that I already had several years of meditation experience under my belt in addition to months of retreat practice.
So if I seem a little skeptical about someone who goes on a weekend retreat and calls themselves a “meditation teacher,” now you understand why. My problem is not with this one individual, but with how the increasing popularity of meditation has led to a flood of self-proclaimed teachers who are not trained to hold space for individuals as they navigate the tricky waters of their own minds. That led me to ask a big question: How do you know if a teacher is authentic or well-trained?
In hopes that you will have the opportunity to study with a meditation instructor in person, here is a series of questions to ask your potential teacher to determine if this is what you are looking for so that you are not led astray.
When trying to find a meditation teacher, use these four essential questions to vet potential candidates and confirm that you can truly benefit from their guidance and wisdom
1. What is your origin?
Every teacher I know and respect comes from a certain lineage. They were trained by someone who trained with someone who trained with someone, and so on, going back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Of course, ancestry can look like many things. There are family lines as well as direct lines between teachers and disciples, and more institutionalized lines, where people undergo training at a local center to the point where they are invited to begin teaching.
Asking about someone’s heritage is in no way offensive. In fact, a good meditation teacher is really just a repository and spokesperson for ancient wisdom and therefore should be able to easily point out where that knowledge comes from. If they have no ancestry, a worthwhile follow-up question – and I admit this may be a bit snarky – might be, “Did you create this form of meditation?” If so, it’s important to understand that even if the practice works for them, it may not work for you. I recommend finding a teacher with a background that offers you a proven technique.
2. Where were you trained?
Sometimes, when someone signs up to teach MNDFL, the network of meditation studios that I co-founded, they lead with a list of teachers they have studied with. “I love those teachers,” I might respond, “but where did you get teacher training?” Meditation training under the guidance of a teacher is very different from being trained to teach that form of meditation by that person. A possible analogy might be seeing a therapist for a year and then, after experiencing the benefits of that work, calling yourself a therapist, without training. Not a wise idea.
Nowadays there are many ways to get training. There are teacher training courses within various meditation lineages, more secular or pan-traditional training for mindfulness practices, and even vocation or location-specific training, such as teacher training for yoga teachers or how to offer meditation within a corporate environment. There are also cases where a person is directly encouraged to teach by their teachers, based on their wisdom and understanding, and that is wonderful. But if the person you’re asking this question to can’t articulate who encouraged them to teach, be it an institution or an individual, that could be a red flag.
The fact that I have been teaching meditation for 16 years does not make me immune from always deepening my practice and study. I do this under the guidance of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and receive lessons from other Shambhala and Zen teachers. I regularly practice meditation and avidly devour Buddhist books. On average, I go on a long retreat once a year. Every few years I take further teacher training courses, just to stay sharp and refine what I do.
If you turn to a teacher and ask who they are actively studying with and they are vague about it, this may be another indicator to keep looking. Anyone who believes that he has had a great awakening and is therefore above receiving teachings from living people is probably fooling himself.
4. What motivated you to take on students?
I can’t help but suspect that, given the sudden popularity of meditation, some people see an emerging financial market and want to position themselves as a thought leader in it. By the way, I’ve been called a ‘thought leader’ before, which I find hilarious. I could earn this title if we counted the number of thoughts per meditation session on a scoreboard. (Side note: Meditation is about making friends, not about turning off your mind.)
If someone’s motivation for becoming a meditation teacher is to become rich or famous, that’s not good, but luckily that’s easy to spot from a mile away. They ignore the concerns of individuals seeking help, and only take gigs that are lucrative or make them look cooler. Many of my favorite teachers balance the grand events where they are invited to teach with smaller teaching assignments that generate little to no money and earn a living that way.
The best motivation to teach, in my opinion, is because the teacher understands the transformative aspect of meditation and wants to make it as widely accessible as possible to those who need it. If you ask a teacher this question, you will probably learn more than the other questions combined.
Ultimately, a good meditation teacher will simply embody the teachings. They will be present, friendly and open-hearted with you. They will have done the ‘work’, so to speak, so you will be less tempted to ask about the benefits of meditation because you will see it in their being and be inspired. If you can find such a teacher and he or she can answer these questions, cherish this spiritual friend, for they are quite rare.