Linda Lehrhaupt, PhD

is the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Mindfulness-Based Approaches (IMA), the oldest training institute of its kind on the European Continent. As a teacher, trainer and supervisor in mindfulness-based programs, she is recognized internationally as one of the pioneers in their implementation in health care, society and personal development.

Dr. Lehrhaupt began teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in 1993 and has been training teachers in MBIs since the IMA’s founding in 2001. She is certified to teach MBSR from the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society (CFM), in Worcester, Mass (USA) and holds a doctorate in Performance Studies from New York University, with a specialization in religious rituals and traditions. She also holds a degree in education and has taught in secondary school and adult education since 1971.

Dr. Lehrhaupt has practiced Zen meditation since 1979 and has received full authorization as a Zen teacher in the White Plum lineage founded by Taizan Maezumi, Roshi. She began studying Tai Chi and Qigong in the late 1970s with some of the first Chinese masters to come to the West, and for over 20 years she directed innovative teacher-training programs in mindful movement.

She is also the creator of the Mindfulness-Based Teacher Project (MBTP), a podcast series, dedicated to supporting, inspiring and sharing know how with teachers of mindfulness-based approaches, mindful movement and teachers in contemplative traditions. Please see https://bit.ly/3qERkmu.

She is the author of Riding the Waves of Life: Mindfulness and Inner Balance (in German, Kösel, 2012) and Tai Chi as a Path of Wisdom (Shambhala, 2001). She is co-author of the book Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction: The MBSR Program for Enhancing Health and Vitality (New World Library, 2017).

Born in New York City, Dr. Lehrhaupt has been living with her family in Germany since 1983.