How to become a meditation coach

Meditation is becoming an integral part of the personal development industry.  Learning how to become a meditation coach can afford you a growing number of professional opportunities.

From helping clients deal with stress to supporting them in the achievement of their goals, there are limitless professional applications of guided meditation.

While it’s exciting to see online meditation coach certifications & meditation teacher training programs, it’s still not clear what the best path to becoming a meditation coach is.

In fact, there is a lot of confusion around what the title “meditation coach” even means.

So, before we dive in, let’s clear up the ambiguity around this new profession…

What Is a Meditation Coach?

There are two ways to answer this question, depending on who you ask.  

Some define a meditation coach as a person who coaches people on how to develop their own meditation practice.  Others will tell you a meditation coach is a coach who integrates guided meditation into their work with clients or groups.

These two interpretations are completely different are critical to understanding how to become the sort of meditation coach YOU would like to be.

To clear up the confusion, answer this question for yourself:

“Do you want to teach people to meditate or lead guided meditations?”

Many prospective meditation coaches desire to lead guided meditations, not just teach people how to follow their breath or develop their own practice.

Unfortunately, most meditation coach training out there only create meditation teachers, not guided meditation facilitators.  Also, most meditation coach certifications only teach mindfulness, not guided imagery or how to use meditation to help people achieve specific goals & outcomes.

If your goal is to be able to lead immersive guided meditation experiences for clients or groups, you want to make sure that any training teaches the correct meditation methodology.

Personally, I believe the market for simply coaching others how to meditate to be quite limited, so I would suggest you save your money if your goal is to “teach” meditation instead of guiding people through meditation experiences.  

However, coaches who understand how to integrate meditation with other modalities & lead deep, insightful meditation experiences have a fantastic opportunity to build a business in-person, online, 1-on-1 or in groups.

Do You Need Training to Become a Meditation Coach?

Yes.  Training is essential to be able to facilitate guided meditations.

Delivering an effective guided meditation (that shifts physiology) is both an art & a science that can only be perfected through experience.  

Meditation coach training enables an expert to transfer their experience to the student, without the student having to go through the years of trial & error.

Whether you are leading one person or a room full of people, guiding a meditation is a performance.  Training can help you learn to perform under pressure and consistently deliver novel experiences for your participant(s).

That said, you should be careful when selecting a meditation coach certification or online meditation coach training.  This is a new field and people are beginning to sell courses on the subject who have little to no professional experience themselves.

Also, be sure you don’t select a mindfulness coach training.  Mindfulness is great for stress relief & other simple uses but lacks the diversity of professional applications necessary to build a business around.

I wrote a separate article on how to choose the right meditation training, so I won’t go into detail here.

However, if you are serious about becoming a trained meditation coach, I suggest you read that article from start to finish before shelling out any of your hard-earned money.

In-Person vs. Online Meditation Coach Training

If you are looking a becoming a certified meditation coach, selecting the right training format is essential.  Learning to facilitate guided meditations requires that you learn a lot of information, but also have the necessary support to put that knowledge to work for you.

Personally, I would not waste my money on in-person only training.  There is simply no way to learn the necessary information, practice & come out of a 3-day (or even a 3 week) seminar with the skills necessary to become a successful meditation faciliator.

Online meditation coach training is a better option, if the curriculum is well-organized.  Online formats allow for more in-depth instruction that will ultimately lead to a better outcome.  

BUT…

The problem with both in-person & online meditation coach certification programs is they typically don’t support you during or after the training is complete.  

Ongoing support, coaching & mentorship is critical to the success of new meditation coaches, because most questions arise when trying to integrate a new modality into your work, not during the course of the training.

So, be sure that you choose a program that doesn’t leave you hanging, or it will likely become one of those trainings you buy and never actually use.

Conclusion

The best meditation coach training will be a hybrid online training, group coaching & mentorship program with an in-person certification for graduates.

This will ensure that you gain enough information on leading guided meditations, have the support you need to integrate & implement the information and get to practice your new meditation coach skills in-person, under pressure.  

Learning through a combination of practice, Q & A, and quality training (from an instructor with experience in the field) is the fastest & most effective way to become a meditation coach.

If you are interested in learning more, I suggest you check out our training curriculum or read up on the guided meditation methodology we teach here at The Guided Meditation Framework™.