Institute Faculty
The faculty members of the IMA are among the most experienced and longstanding trainers in Europe and represent 10 countries. Not only do they have extensive experience teaching MBIs in the fields of medicine, mental health, clinical, educational, institutional and business, but also eight of its faculty are authorized meditation teachers in various traditions.
Linda Lehrhaupt
PhD, is the founder and executive director of the Institute for Mindfulness-Based Approaches. She is acknowledged as a pioneer in introducing MBSR and mindfulness education in several European countries and is known for her depth of knowledge and expertise in the integration of mindfulness in education, health care and its social applications.
She began teaching MBSR in Germany in 1994 and taught within the Institute’s MBSR teacher-training program for almost two decades. She began her MBSR teacher training at the Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts Medical School, with Prof. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and colleagues in 1993 and completed its MBSR teacher certification program.
She has practiced Zen meditation since 1979 and is a Zen teacher (Roshi) in the White Plum Lineage founded by Taisan Maezumi Roshi. She has also completed a training and is certified to work as an interfaith spiritual director (companion).
Dr. Lehrhaupt earned a PhD in Performance Studies from New York University in 1990 with a specialty in ritual and traditions. In her early teaching career, she worked as a secondary school teacher before moving into adult education and professional training in mindfulness-based programs, where she has taught for more than 40 years. During this time, Dr. Lehrhaupt had led many hundreds of workshops and retreats.
She taught Tai Chi and Qigong for more than 20 years. Based on her experience in mindful movement and Mindfulness meditation, she developed the Embodied Mindful Awareness Training (EMA), which is offered in various formats including 8 weeks, retreats and workshops
She has written several books, including co-authoring a highly regarded introduction to MBSR that has been translated into 9 languages.
Born and raised in New York City, she has been living in Germany and France since 1983.
Ingrid van den Hout
M. Sci. is the senior coordinator of the IMA MBSR Teacher-Training Programs for France and Japan. She completed her study of the Science of Human Movement at the Free University of Amsterdam in 1989. She works as a psychomotor therapist in mental health care. She is a teacher of MBSR, MBCT and Breathworks. She has a background in the martial arts (Aikido) and became a practitioner of Vipassana in 2001. Insight Dialogue and Iyengar Yoga are also a regular part of her practice. She trained as an MBSR teacher at the Center for Mindfulness (CFM) in the U.S. in 2004 and 2005. Continuing her development as an MBCT teacher, she participated in the Advanced-Training for MBCT offered by the University of Bangor in 2008. She acted as senior teacher and assessor during a multi-clinic study on MBCT by Radboud University. Since 2006 she has acted as a trainer of MBSR and MBCT teachers, firt on the faculty of the Dutch Institute for Mindfulness and since 2016 for IMA. She completed her formal training as a supervisor at the British Centre for Supervision and Team Development in 2013. Her involvement in psychosomatics led her to train as a teacher of Breathworks.
Jean-Daniel Rüedi
PhD, is the assistant director of the IMA. He worked for more than 15 years in academia and private companies as project manager, R&D manager and CEO, before starting to work as freelance coach and consultant. He is the co-founder of O’Centre Formation and now work as trainer, coach and therapist with teams and individuals. He is trained in coaching, organization and relationship systems coaching, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), hypnosis, Non-Violent Communication (NVC), transpersonal therapy, as well as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). He trained as MBSR teacher with the IMA and as MBCL teacher with the Mindfulness Network. He teaches both these programs in Switzerland and online.
Eugenio Correnti
is an engineer by training. He worked for 20 years in IT security. His 25 years of experience with meditation and yoga led him to change career paths in 2012, when he trained as an MBSR instructor and studied yoga and nonviolent communication. He is a CFM-certified instructor and has been offering MBSR courses since 2014. He works with corporations and in correctional facilities, teaching mindfulness and other mind-body practices. He is a member of the ADM and serves as president of the French Association of MBSR Instructors.
Pamela Duckerin
is a teacher, trainer and supervisor with the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice (CMRP) at Bangor University. She qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 1984 and has worked in the field of mental health since then, working in a variety of settings and specialties within the UK and Canada. She has undertaken further professional training including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in 1996 and worked as a DBT therapist for 7 years. In 2010 she completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Evidence-Based Psychological Therapy and currently works in a primary care mental health service as a senior CBT therapist and lead for long-term physical health conditions. She set up an MBCT programme there in 2010, running 8-week courses and training and supervising trainee mindfulness teachers. She provides courses for staff, for clients with recurrent depression and for those with pain, illness or persisting physical symptoms. She has had a meditation practice since 1998 and completed her teacher training through the CPPD route with CMRP. She is interested in capturing the personal meaning of mindfulness to those she is so fortunate to encounter as a mindfulness teacher, having discovered the unique way that people describe how their personal practice has changed their lives.
Stéphane Faure
is one of the first of three people in France to have received final certification as an MBSR teacher from the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society (CFM), USA. In 2012, he trained in Theory U and Presencing, and works with organizations of various sizes in the public and private sectors. He also teaches mindfulness to doctors, nurses and health personnel as well as to patients with severe and chronic diseases, in collaboration with several physicians and clinical psychologists. He has a degree in international law. He has completed two, three-year traditional Tibetan retreats and taught meditation for many years before beginning to teach MBSR in 2009. In 2014 he co-founded the BNB Social Club of Bordeaux, a organization dedicated to improving the quality of life through training in mindfulness and social action. The BNB offers various retreats and courses based on the practice of mindfulness, Qigong and compassion training.
Sagra J. Hannich
is an MBSR & MBCT Teacher. She has a Diploma in Sport (Area of specialization: Prevention and Rehabilitation) and is a Naturopath for Psychotherapy. She has many years work experience with cardiac patients in clinical settings. Since 2009 she is a member of the staff of the Asklepios Clinic in Hamburg, Germany, where she teaches MBSR and MBCT in the day clinic for stress medicine. She completed her training as an MBSR and MBCT teacher at the Institute for Mindfulness-Based Approaches, as well as further trainings with Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli. Her personal meditation practice of almost 30 years is in Zen, Vipassana and meditative movement.
Gwénola Herbette
PhD, is a Certified MBSR Trainer (CFM-UMass) and Certified MBSR Instructor (CFM-UMass), a Doctor of Psychology, and a psychotherapist. She has been teaching mindfulness in a secular setting for over 15 years. She founded the Mindfulness Institute in Belgium, where she teaches MBSR and trains and supervises teachers of mindfulness-based programs. She also collaborates with universities in Belgium, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Asia. She deepens her own practice through silent retreats and multi-year study programs, notably at Bodhi College, where she was trained to lead retreats. Being in nature is also a great source of inspiration, joy, and connection.
Kiyoko Inoue
Director of the International Mindfulness Center Japan (IMCJ)
MBSR Teacher and Trainer (IMA)
MBCT Certified Teacher (University of California, San Diego)
MBCL Certified Teacher (Erik van den Brink & Frits Koster)
Paws b Qualified Teacher (Mindfulness in School Project)
Training
- University of California San Diego
- Oxford Mindfulness Center
- Mindfulness Based Compassionate Living
- the Institute for Mindfulness Based Approaches
- Mindful Network (Bangor University)
- Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (Thailand)
Amir H Imani
Amir holds a Master’s degree in Counseling and Adult Education from the University of Toronto, Canada. He worked in mental health research at the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Toronto and studies and practices the effect of mind-body integration in mental health and balanced living since the year 2000. He has undergone MBSR Teacher Training at the Centre for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and has been teaching MBSR to different groups including Mindfulness trainers, corporate staff and executives since 2005.Through his personal and professional interest in mind-body medicine, Amir has trained with Dr. Jon Kabat Zinn, founder of MBSR program and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.Amir has also trained with pioneer leading teachers including Joseph Goldstein and Larry Rosenberg. He is the co-founder/director of the Indian based Omega Wellbeing, founding director of the only hospital-based MBSR program in the Middle East region, and a senior certified mindfulness teacher at UMASS Medical School.
Małgosia Jakubczak
is the Founder and Director of the Polski Instytut Mindfulness (The Polish Institute of Mindfulness-POLIM), which has played a leading role in introducing mindfulness in Poland. Among other programs, POLIM offers an MBSR teacher-training program in close cooperation with the IMA and is also a mentor for MBSR teachers-in-training within the IMA. She has a degree in education from the University of Warsaw (1981). She worked for many years in the area of professional development and in-service teacher training for the Polish Ministry of Education. She was the creator of various programs to enhance social skills for teachers, particularly in the area of communication, which were also introduced into the Polish educational system. She is the first person from Poland to complete the IMA’s teacher-training program and has led many MBSR courses. She has practiced Zen meditation practice since 1998. She is the author of Developing Mindfulness in Everyday Life (in Polish, 2010).
Olivier Lelouch
is an instructor for the MBSR, MBCL, and MSC programs in France. He was introduced to meditation in 1990 while living in Japan and has maintained a personal practice ever since, including regular retreats in Asia and Europe. He now lives in the Ariège Pyrenees, where he hosts workshops, retreats, and mindfulness days. After studying at a business school and working for a dozen years in large corporations, he changed careers and, since 2005, has been guiding people through individual sessions using craniosacral osteopathy.
Ted Meissner
has been a meditator since the early 90’s, is a UMass Center for Mindfulness Certified MBSR Teacher, and is the host of the podcast Present Moment: Mindfulness Practice and Science and the new video podcast Mindfulness Voyage. He has presented about mindfulness to various groups including Apple, UnitedHealth, Optum, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the National Black Nurses Association, and others. Ted has been published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, Mindful, and The International Journal of Whole Person Care, and is a peer reviewer of articles for the science journal Mindfulness. He supervises mindfulness teachers internationally with the Institute for Mindfulness-Based Approaches based in Germany, serves on the board of trustees for The Mindfulness Network in the U.K., has held master classes for the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation, and teaches various mindfulness and burnout courses live online.
Kenya Miyamoto
Teacher & Administrative Director
International Mindfuolness Center Japan (IMCJ)
MBSR Teacher (IMA)
MBCT Trained Teacher (Oxford Mindfulness Center）
MBCL Certified Teacher (Erik van den Brink & Frits Koster)
Training
- Oxford Mindfulness Center
- Mindfulness Based Compassionate Living
- the Institute for Mindfulness Based Approaches
- Mindful Network (Bangor University)
- Bangor University
- Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (Thailand)
Stéphane Offort
studied theoretical physics before turning his attention to the study of the mind through Buddhist teachings and meditation, practicing for 15 years in retreat. For the past decade, he has been collaborating with Stéphane Faure to lead mindfulness retreats. He is part of the first generation of instructors trained by IMA and has been teaching the MBSR program since 2018. He also works in collaboration with neuroscientist Antoine Lutz on research into meditation in neuroscience. Since January 2019, Stéphane has specialized in implementing online MBSR protocols and leads mindfulness programs and retreats in France and across Europe while continuing his traditional teaching of Tibetan Buddhism.
Wolfgang Schröder
is co-leader of the (Mindfulness Practice)'Achtsamkeitspraxis Berlin' since 2012. His interest in spiritual development and meditation was awakened in 1985. When he trained as a bookseller in the Rhineland, he made a fundamental decision to dedicate his life to practicing and deepening the Buddhist practice. During a stay of several years in the Triratna Sangha in Great Britain, he was able to intensify his practice and study of Buddhism. At that time, he worked in cooperatively run companies and certified as a yoga teacher in 1994. Since he became familiar with Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book ‘Full Catastrophy Living’ in 2005, he continued to practice and train as teacher within the context of MBSR. In 2008 he certified as MBSR teacher, in 2009 as MBCT teacher and also trained as MBCL teacher. He continues to widen his experience and offering in the direction of ‘mindfulness at work’, for example at the Potential Project. He feels fortunate to meet people in different ways and to support them on their way to more awareness, clarity and kindness.
Rene Ryorin Slikker
René Slikker is a psychologist and physical therapist. His specific interest is mind-body medicine and personal development. As a psychologist, he combines mental and physical well being with return-to-work programs. He has worked in the United States, Great Britain and Germany as a physical therapist. When he learned about MBSR and Jon Kabat-Zinn, he was immediately inspired and still is. He was one of the first students to train in MBSR with Johan Tinge and his teaching staff at the Institute for Mindfulness in Holland in 2008. He has worked as a mindfulness teacher trainer at the post-doc program of the Hogeschool Utrecht. He has taught numerous MBSR courses and guided several retreats. He started practicing Zen Buddhism in 1998 and has integrated this into his work. At present, he works as a Buddhist psychologist in his own practice in Amsterdam. He and his wife have also founded and teach in a small Zen temple.