Cindy’s MMTCP Project
Dearest Friend,
Thank you for your interest in my project to earn certification as a mindfulness meditation teacher.
I know there are many worthy causes to support in this world. I thank you deeply for considering supporting this one. I am deeply grateful for your consideration—and for all you already do in the world.
In this time when we as a nation and the world at large are facing so many major challenges—all at once and for such an extended period of time—pervasive fear, anxiety, and stress have become endemic. Healing is desperately needed—both on individual and societal levels.
I believe teaching mindfulness meditation offers a singular opportunity for me to use my unique skills, attributes and experience to be an important part of this essential healing.
To this end, I want to become the best possible teacher I can be. While I already feel confident in my teaching, I know I have so much more to learn - especially when it comes to teaching vulnerable populations and those who have suffered trauma.
After extensive research, I have selected an intensive 2-year program with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach—the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) offered through their Awareness Training Institute. I am convinced the MMTCP program will allow me to become the highly skilled and successful teacher I aspire to be.
This program is one of the very best—if not the best—programs of this nature in the world. Led by two of the West’s most beloved meditation teachers, it also incorporates world-renowned guest teachers including Eckhart Tolle, Dan Siegel, Rick Hanson (neuroscience), Kristin Neff (mindful self-compassion), and Joanna Macy (mindful environmentalism), among others.
The program is also a major investment—over $10,000. It includes multiple components in addition to the course itself, including prerequisite courses and a final conference.
I am very committed to this path. I have procured a scholarship which will greatly offset the cost of the tuition itself and I have already covered the costs of and completed the prerequisites.
I am endeavoring now to raise $4500 to cover the balance of my expenses: the remaining portion of the tuition, required texts and supporting materials, as well as costs for the final conference at the end of the program. Any additional funds I might receive will be used to engage in other supporting educational opportunities and/or offset living expenses so that I might more fully dedicate myself to my studies.
The demand for meditation instruction is increasing everywhere—among the general public, but also in educational institutions, the business world, nonprofits, mental and physical health professions, and within the prison system. This, along with the urgent need for societal healing, convince me that this is a worthy and important investment.
All types of meditation are designed to bring calm to the mind, to bring healing. Mindfulness meditation offers this and more. It helps bring the perspective needed that allows us to let go of our own fears so that we can truly listen to others. To open our hearts and minds to our own suffering so that we might tend to it with loving care and in turn then be able to extend compassion and understanding to others. This contributes to healing of the divisions of the world—both within and without—in a way that is both accessible and effective.
I began teaching meditation two years ago and many of my students have reported that learning these skills has been life-changing. Those who have taken my courses have learned to see things in entirely new and refreshing ways, have come to love and accept themselves more deeply, are far more accepting and less judgmental of others, have more hope for the future, and have found deeper joy in their lives and a renewed appreciation for the sanctity of this precious life we are living.
If you’re interested in more details, I have created a variety of documents to share with you—including an itemized budget, MMTCP program description and attributes, and a recounting of my journey towards this place in my life. I am also giving you access to my original application to the program as well as my scholarship application as I believe they will give you the best overall understanding of my earnestness in this endeavor. To access all of the above, just click here.
Your support will allow me to give the very best of myself to this program so that I might be able to reap from it the greatest benefit—and in turn serve the world and humanity to my fullest capacity.
In return, I promise to offer you the following:
Quarterly updates about the program and what I have learned
Upon completion of Year One, a Zoom call presentation highlighting my learnings from Year One, followed by a Q&A period
Upon completion of Year Two, a Zoom call presentation highlighting my learnings from the entirety of the program, especially the second year, as well as my plans for the future and how I will put to good use what I have learned. This, too, will be followed by a Q&A period
A free Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation Webinar—open to all, including any family, friends, neighbors, colleagues you would like to invite
My promise to pay your kindness and support forward, whenever and wherever possible
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions about any of the above.
This is my dream. I thank you most sincerely for your consideration, for being a part of my village, and in advance for your contribution, should you feel called to participate.
You may contribute in any of the following ways:
Via Venmo to @Cindy-Novelo
Via PayPal to cindynovelomusic@gmail.com
Send a check to me at: Cindy Novelo, 842 E. 12th St., Lawrence, KS 66044
Via credit card here.
With deepest appreciation for all you are and do,
Cindy