The 5th Biennial Mindfulness in Law Teacher Training: MLTT 2024
An eight-month, intensive, online + in-person training. Deepen your own practice. Learn to bring mindfulness, wellbeing and yoga into the legal profession.
Become a Leader in the Wellbeing Movement
Curved Separator
What MLTT Students Learn
- The classical foundations of mindfulness and how to teach these to law students and lawyers
- How to explain why mindfulness is crucial for competence and wellbeing in the law right now
- Teaching tools for an eight-limb approach to yoga, for lawyers, judges, and law students
- How to offer mindfulness programming in service of undoing conscious and unconscious bias in the law
- Mindfulness tools to help legal professionals address climate emergency
- Recent advances in contemplative neuroscience
- How to lead mindfulness, compassion, gratitude, and other meditation practices
- Yoga and other contemplative movement practices to share with sedentary lawyers and law students
- How to talk about mindfulness and yoga to wary or cynical colleagues
- And much more!
Welcome Committment
Inclusion and Belonging
One of the strengths of MLTT lies in the inclusiveness of our community.
We extend a warm invitation to everyone to apply, including applicants of all races, ethnicities, classes, genders, ages, religions and spiritualities, physical abilities, sexual orientations, geographic locations, disciplines, and institutions; changemakers of all kinds; those who are the first in their family to attend college or law school (“first generation”); those whose resilience arose by having overcome adversity due to life circumstances (“resilient-to-adversity”); those from communities historically underrepresented in the law or in mindfulness practice and teaching; and those who serve or intend to offer mindfulness to populations of changemakers, first generation or resilient-to-adversity communities; or underrepresented communities.
We welcome applicants in BigLaw, mid-sized firms and solo practitioners; commercial, personal injury, family, and estate and probate lawyers; criminal lawyers on both sides of the aisle; law students, law professors, adjuncts, and lecturers; mediators and arbitrators; professional development leaders, coaches, and others inspiring greater wellbeing in the law; those working in politics including lobbying; and those working adjacent to the law.
Curriculum Flexibility & Openness
Another strength of MLTT is in the flexibility and openness of our curriculum. We welcome applicants from various streams of contemplative practice. Although our training emphasizes the classical teachings of mindfulness, Zen, and yoga, we honor and make space for multidimensional teaching and learning. We are proud to count among our alumni so far, those who are teaching in secular, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Indigenous meditation traditions as well.
MLTT Graduate Community
Finally, the MLTT community includes a true kaleidoscope of legal professionals. Our alums are lawyers, judges, mediators, law students, law professors, professional development directors, coaches, trainers, and presenters, from North America, South America, Asia, and Europe.
These alums work in BigLaw and at small- and medium-sized firms, in internationally renowned and local law schools, with bar associations, in public interest leadership and in the trenches, in criminal defense and prosecution, in professional development, and in individual and group coaching formats. We welcome all who want to deepen their understanding of mindfulness in order to share that understanding with members of the multifaceted U.S. and international legal community. We also welcome all of our graduates into our MLTT Grad Forum, which meets monthly to discuss our ongoing practices and offerings.
How We Spend Time Together
Virtual Meetings
During our eight months together, the students and teachers of MLTT 2024 will co-create a connected, virtual learning community. We’ll meet on Zoom for three, 4-day Intensives, plus on alternating Sundays, to explore the tenets of mindfulness as they relate to wellbeing, effectiveness, and professionalism for lawyers, social justice advocates, and law students.
In addition, there will be two, 4-day Silent Retreats on Zoom, where you’ll experience first-hand the power of your own practice and of mindful community.
The program dates are below. Over the years, we’ve discovered that to create a vibrant, trusting, and deeply connected community, we need everyone to commit to attending all programming, with cameras on. We understand that life happens but thank you for checking your calendar before you apply to confirm that as far as you know, you can make that commitment.
You’ll also meet monthly in small, curated, practice groups with an MLTT lead teacher, as well as more frequently depending on what your practice group decides, and have access to one-on-one monthly meetings with your mentor to discuss your practice, goals, and work during the training.
And we wouldn’t be lawyers if we didn’t assign homework! There will also be:
- Plenty of suggested reading, listening, and viewing, including from our MLTT Best Videos library and from a broad array of mindfulness teachers and traditions
- Talks, meditations, and movement practices to prepare and deliver to your practice group
- An opportunity to create a four- or six-segment program for your chosen audience
- The chance to offer a final talk and guided practice to our cohort at the end of the training
In Person Gathering
In addition to co-creating a powerful online community, we’ll welcome you to a four-day gathering in shared accommodations at lovely, rustic, Westerbeke Ranch** in Sonoma, California, an hour north of San Francisco. Our gathering begins on Wednesday, September 4th in the afternoon, and runs through Sunday, September 8th. We’ll practice together, share mindfulness teachings, play, laugh, connect, and grow, as legal professionals, teachers, and humans.
MLTT 2024 Schedule
Virtual Meetings
Sunday, February 11, 10am-noon
Sunday, February 25, 10am-noon
Friday-Monday, March 1-4, 7am-1pm Pacific: Intensive
Sunday, March 10, 10am-noon
Sunday, March 24, 10am-noon
Friday-Monday, April 5-8, 7am-3pm Pacific: Retreat
Sunday, April 21, 10am-noon
Sunday, May 5, 10am-noon
Sunday, May 19, 10am-noon
Sunday, June 2, 10am-noon
Sunday, June 23, 10am-noon
Friday-Monday, June 28-July 1, 7am-1pm Pacific: Intensive
Sunday, July 14, 10am-noon
Friday-Monday, July 26-29, 7am-3pm Pacific: Retreat
Sunday, August 11, 10am-noon
Sunday, August 25, 10am-noon
Friday-Monday, September 20-23, 7am-1pm Pacific: Intensive
Plus…
Practice Group Meetings
Monthly, with one of our lead teachers
or another luminary in the Mindfulness-in-Law movement
One-on-One Mentoring
Monthly or as you and your mentor agree
And…
Our In-Person Gathering!**
Four days at
Westerbeke Ranch, in Sonoma, California**
All-inclusive –
shared accommodations, delicious meals, lovely grounds, powerful community
Wednesday, September 4th – Sunday, September 8th
…where we’ll practice, learn, play, and grow together…
What Our Students Experience
- Entrée into an inclusive, growing, community of mindfulness-in-law teachers sprinkled across North America, South America, Asia, and Europe
- A warm welcome into what will be a diverse and multi-faceted 2024 cohort of students and teachers
- The opportunity to be in powerful relationship with our remarkable core and guest teachers
- Your own, small, practice group, with whom you’ll share learning, lead meditations, share and overcome concerns, spark questions, and remain close well beyond graduation
- A solid foundation in classical mindfulness, including history, theory, and practice
- Careful, joyful, personal, instruction in how to create and lead mindfulness, compassion, lovingkindness, and other types of mindfulness-based meditations
- One-on-one mentoring from one of our lead teachers or another luminary in the Mindfulness-in-Law movement, hand-picked for you to support your unique interests
- Guidance in whatever direction you choose: developing a course; creating a syllabus; pitching a program to a bar association, law school dean, organization, or firm; starting a mindfulness group at your workplace; creating a program for public defenders, DAs, in public interest, or in corporate law – the sky’s the limit, our teachers have done it all, and if they haven’t, we’ll connect you with someone who has
- Study including personal interaction with honored, internationally-acclaimed mindfulness and yoga teachers who rarely make themselves available to such intimate trainings
Meet Our Lead Teachers for MLTT 2024
Judi Cohen
Judi is the founder of Warrior One. She leads The Wake Up Call, the teaching cohort of Warrior One's Mindfulness in Law Teacher Training, and Warrior One's Essential Mindfulness for Lawyers online training.
Alisa Gray
Alisa is an MLTT Lead Teacher and an AV-rated partner at Tiffany & Bosco, P.A. in Phoenix, Arizona, where she practices in the area of probate-related litigation and mediation, representing corporate trustees, professional fiduciaries, and individuals in complicated or contested guardianships, conservatorships, estates, and trusts.
Gullu Singh
Gullu is a real estate attorney, dedicated meditation practitioner, and mindfulness teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and InsightLA, with a particular interest in integrating the insights of mindfulness into daily life and work.
Robert Chender
Robert is a corporate attorney, 40-year meditation teacher in the Shambhala tradition, founder of the mindfulness group sponsored by the Law Society of England and Wales, and founding teacher of MLTT.
Ingrid Benninghoff Prados
Ingrid (MLTT 2020) es abogada colombiana y profesora de Mindfulness para Derecho en Chile. Su experiencia incluye haber introducido el mindfulness en la Escuela de Derecho de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso y el programa "Mindfulness in Law" en el Poder Judicial del Estado de Nuevo León (México) . Es la fundadora de meditation.law-Mindfulness para el mundo legal®.
We are delighted to be welcoming the following remarkable guest teachers to MLTT 2024.
Reggie Hubbard
Reggie Hubbard is the founder of Active Peace Yoga, and has brought simple, powerful mindfulness and yoga tools to members of the U.S. Congress, congressional staff, labor unions, progressive organizations and individuals from all walks of life.
Sharon Salzberg
Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author of twelve books. She is also co-founder of The Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, and offers a podcast with over six million downloads, called The Metta Hour.
Daniel Goleman
Psychologist and author of Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman has transformed the way the world educates children, relates to family and friends, leads, and conducts business.
Perla Kaliman
Perla Kaliman, PhD, studies, among other things, the impact of meditation practices on cell aging and meditation combined with other therapeutic approaches in adolescents with a history of multiple adverse childhood experiences.
Thanissara
Thanissara has facilitated meditation retreats internationally for the last 30 years and has an MA in Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy Practice from Middlesex University & the Karuna Institute in the UK.
Norman Fischer
Zoketsu is a poet and Zen Buddhist priest who leads the Bay Area Working Group for Law and Meditation, is a senior teacher and former co-abbot of San Francisco Zen Center, and is the founder and spiritual director of the Everyday Zen Foundation, which is dedicated to adapting Zen Buddhist teachings to Western culture.
Rhonda Magee
Rhonda is a Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco School of Law and the author of The Inner Work of Racial Justice, as well as a frequent speaker and lecturer on the topic of race, justice, equity, and mindfulness.
James Baraz
James is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and co-authored and teaches the internationally renowned program, Awakening Joy.
Stephanie Lewis
Stephanie Lewis is a federal government attorney, certified mindfulness meditation and qigong instructor, and national board certified health and wellness coach.
Kamini Desai
Kamini is the Education Director and Core Curriculum Developer of the Amrit Yoga Institute, a cutting-edge teaching center for advanced studies in eastern philosophy, one of three Founding Directors of the International University of Yoga and Ayurveda, and the author of Life Lessons, Love Lessons and Yoga Nidra: The Art of Transformational Sleep.
Ron Tyler
Ron is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at Stanford Law School who integrates mindfulness into his clinic teaching and practice, and previously enjoyed a 22-year career as an Assistant Federal Public Defender with the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of California.
Words From MLTT Alums
This work is critical to surviving and thriving in the legal profession. I wish I knew it when I was in law school and throughout my practice years. Lawyers are just like everyone else but less afraid to take up space 😉 It was wonderful to be with skilled orators again. Very different than other meditation groups. And all of us need more skill in learning to dismantle the myriad forms of bias in the profession. There is no excuse anymore.
I would recommend this program to all legal professionals wherever they are in their careers. I grew so much as a person and learned to be more compassionate to myself and those I felt distant from or opposed to – we are all advocates and being reminded of a higher calling was inspirational.
I attended every session because they were all mana from heaven for me. I am by nature somewhat skeptical but from the get-go, I knew this was the real thing. Like so much in my life, since I started noticing, the MLTT appeared when I needed it. In the course of the MLTT I went from deep grieving to a level of happiness that I never imagined I could have. It wasn’t all due to the MLTT but it played a vital part. I have the greatest respect and affection for each of you and hope that Monday is not the last time I will be able to be with you. With love and gratitude, Michael
Wow. I can’t believe it’s over. I am left with wanting more. I can’t wait for what is next.
Thank you, Judi, Alisa, and Gullu. I am so grateful to have spent this time with you and to have learned from you. There are things that I have learned that I will carry with me forever. I know putting on this type of course is not easy and takes a lot of planning, thought, replanning, and more thought, and I see and recognize how much you have brought to us with love. I hope we get to stay connected beyond this MLTT, as you all are my heroes! With love and light.
Thank you teachers and fellow students for being the loving community that I needed after the loss of my father and my doggie within a few weeks of each other in 2021 during the separateness of the COVID-19 pandemic. I needed to expand my world and connect and you have all helped me and I have learned so much that I will carry forward into my practice and my life. Love, Jill
I’m feeling hopeful; hopeful that there is a path to contentedness and equanimity that I knew was there but could not see. I see the power of community, which is new and uncomfortable for me as I generally don’t like to share and seek support. Lastly, there’s no substitute for sitting “face-to-face” and hearing people’s challenges and personal hardships to open one’s heart to the world.
Examples of the powerful work our alums are doing…
- Offering mindfulness training to public interest lawyers throughout California
- Teaching mindfulness to Mexican judges
- Speaking about mindfulness and risk management in large and medium-sized firms
- Offering mindfulness as an element of wellbeing at counseling offices at Yale Law School and Berkeley Law
- Teaching mindfulness at Hong Kong University School of Law and in law schools in Bejing and Australia
- Running robust mindfulness programs at two California public defender’s offices
- Teaching the first law school mindfulness course in South America
- Speaking about mindfulness and offering mindfulness trainings for the AAPI Bar Association, various Women’s Bar Associations, NBLSA and local BLSAs, AILA, ABA Sports & Entertainment Lawyer meetings, and other state and local bar associations
- Developing a national mindfulness-based coaching and training program for corporate and public interest firms and organizations
- Leading county-wide, weekly meditation sittings for all county employees
- Offering a mindfulness course for European mediators and judges
- Providing a 30-minute weekly sit for attorneys at a multi-national law firm
- Running a mindfulness training course for Canadian judges
- Integrating mindfulness into a family law practice in Canada
- Holding a regular sitting group for small-firm colleagues
- Running a coaching and training program for attorneys integrating mindfulness into the U.S. Department of Labor
- Teaching mindfulness courses at law schools in California, New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and other U.S. states as well as in Santiago, Chile
- Employing mindfulness practices in high-stress interactions with clients
- …and more