Kathy Ward Mindful Academy International CEO
Since 2010 Kathy has taught 93 Teacher Training courses to over 600 students from all over the world. She now focuses on running Mindfulness MBSR & MBI Meditation Teacher Training courses online due to COVID-19, in Altea on the Mediterranean coast in Spain, USA, Hungary, Ireland, and Romania, and workshops with Mindfulness Modern in Turkey, Vienna, and the USA. She also chairs a Mindfulness community to support graduates around the world.
Kathy also offers online Mindfulness Supervision to graduates and other Mindfulness teachers, preparation for the Level 1 and Level 2 courses, support and development for the Qualified Mindfulness MBSR and MBI Mindfulness Teacher qualifications. She also runs online workshops for Mindfulness-based Teachers including teaching Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness, Inquiry and exploring the Mindfulness-based Teaching Assessment Criteria (MBI-TAC) as a way to support embodiment and growth as a Mindfulness Teacher.
She also offers live online 8-week MBSR Mindfulness courses to groups and individuals wishing to learn Mindfulness in the comfort of their own homes.
Kathy taught a professional 200hr Yoga Teacher Training course, first as an affiliate of IYT Integrative Yoga Therapy in 2010 and 2011. She then wrote and taught her own unique 200hr Mindfulness Hatha Yoga & MBSR Yoga Therapy Teacher Training and 200hr Mindful Hatha Yoga Teacher Training and Mindfulness Yin Yoga training course a total of 21 times before retiring from teaching Yoga courses to focus on Mindfulness Teacher Training.
In 2012, Kathy wrote and developed a 200hr Mindfulness MBSR course and as Director of Training, she registered Mindful Academy with the UK Yoga Alliance Professionals. Together with co-founder Bodhin Woodward they offered a 200hr Mindfulness MBSR Meditation Teacher Training course in Solterreno until Spring 2017 when they parted company. Kathy and Bodhin now run completely separate companies and the courses are not the same.
In April 2017, Kathy merged her UK Yoga Alliance registered company Mindful Academy with her USA registered Mindful Yoga Academy to become Mindful Academy International with an updated curriculum. Kathy now offers Mindfulness Teacher Training pathway courses in Altea on the Mediterranean coast in Spain, Internationally and online. The Mindfulness MBSR Teacher Training Level 1 and Level 2 courses follow the MBSR curriculums taught by Center for Mindfulness UMASS Medical School and the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice (CMRP) Bangor where Kathy trained.
In April 2018, Kathy introduced a Mindfulness Teacher Training Level 3 MBI Mindfulness Teacher qualifications which leads to a certificate of competency in teaching mindfulness-based approaches. That year, she also achieved external accreditation as a Provider of Training Excellence© with the globally recognized Professional Development Consortium and CPD Standards Office On successful graduation, Mindful Academy International certificates and formal CPD Standards certificates are issued and accepted in a multitude of countries and across all professional sectors. This external accreditation offers a much higher qualification than we have been able to offer in previous years, whilst registered with the Yoga Alliance.
Also in 2018, Kathy updated the courses by including the very latest in trauma-sensitive mindfulness, and the Mindful Academy International core practices, session plans, and resources have been rigorously updated to reflect the 'do no harm' vision of teaching mindfulness.
Kathy is now taking time to write and find ways of sharing Mindfulness around the world. She was also very excited to have been invited as a mindfulness expert to give a talk at the world famous TEDx Talks in Cluj Romania in June 2019, and a workshop the following day. If you would like to view the TEDx talk Mindfulness and Kindness, the keys to Happiness please visit YouTube
