This past week I completed a four-day training for teacher certification conducted by the KORU Center for Mindfulness at Duke University. Fortunately the training was held at a wonderfully pastoral site – the Earthrise at IONS Retreat Center just outside of Petaluma, in northern Marin County, California.  Nice cool temperatures and low humidity in August were so refreshing for this Mississippi guy.

KORU mindfulness training is specifically designed for teachers of college students and emerging adults (ages 18 – 29) and was created by Dr. Holly Rogers and Dr. Margaret Maytan in the fall of 2005 while they were both serving as clinicians at the Duke University Counseling and Psychological Services Center and Clinical Associates in the Department of Psychiatry at the renowned Duke University Medical Center.

The textbook for the training, authored by Drs. Rogers and Maytan, which has some invaluable information on the specifics of teaching mindfulness successfully to college students, is Mindfulness For The Next Generation – Helping Emerging Adults Manage Stress and Lead Healthier Lives, Oxford University Press, 2012.

I am so grateful once again that my University has supported me in this training,and I am anxious to bring these newly refined mindfulness skills into my classroom this fall.  Hotty Toddy, freshmen!  Get ready to go minds up!