Mindful Teaching Starts With Humility

A quiet room, a slower week, and a simple question that matters: what truly makes someone ready to teach mindfulness? While recovering from COVID, I took time to reflect on the difference between healthy hesitation and unhelpful overconfidence—and why the best teachers often start from humility rather than hype.

We walk through a practical rule of thumb shared by senior mindfulness teachers: when invited to teach, thoughtful caution can signal integrity, while quick certainty can reveal a mismatch in motivation. I dig into what that looks like in real life—respect for lineage and evidence-based methods, eagerness to keep learning, and the willingness to prioritize student welfare over personal status. We explore how ego can slip into the role through grand promises or a rush to scale, and how that energy often reduces connection, sensitivity, and care.

From there, we center the motivation that sustains good teaching: compassion. If the driving force is to help people navigate stress, anxiety, and pain with presence and kindness, the teacher’s stance becomes service rather than performance. That intention shapes everything—language, pacing, trauma-informed choices, and the quiet discipline of ongoing practice. I share simple readiness checks you can use before stepping onto the path: Are you open to mentorship? Are you patient with your development? Do you feel tenderness for the teachings themselves and for those you hope to serve?

If you feel called to teach, let your caution be a doorway, not a barrier. Let compassion lead and let the integrity of the teachings guide your next steps. Listen now, share with a friend who’s considering teacher training, and leave a review to tell me what keeps your motivation clear.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:50):
Hey everyone.
Uh Sean Fargo here.
Just wanted to say hi and giveeveryone a quick update that I'm
doing okay.
Recovering from COVID over thepast week, and hopefully we'll
be out of isolation here onTuesday or Wednesday.
But while I've been here in thisroom day after day, I've been
doing a lot of thinking about alot of your questions around

(01:12):
mindfulness teaching.
And was just reminded thatthere's a common rule of thumb
among very senior mindfulnessteachers that when they ask
dedicated practitioners if theywant to become mindfulness
teachers, that they look forsome degree of caution, some
degree of reservation born outof a sense of integrity for the

(01:36):
teachings and the welfare oftheir prospective students.
So when a senior mindfulnessteacher like Jack Cornfield or
Joseph Goldstein asks adedicated practitioner if they
want to teach mindfulness, andif the person isn't quite sure
that they're ready, or if theyexpress some degree of doubt as

(01:58):
to their experience level, or ifthey just express interest in
wanting to learn a lot moreabout how to teach mindfulness
first, then that's usually areally good sign that some
degree of reservation and doubtcan be a good thing when there's
a sense of care for theteachings, care for the welfare

(02:20):
of those who they may teach inthe future.
So that's usually a good thing.
But when a senior mindfulnessteacher asks a dedicated
practitioner if they want toteach mindfulness, and if that
person responds with a sense ofstrong confidence and excitement
and immediate speculation thatthey're going to change the

(02:46):
world with their unique wisdom,then that may be a warning sign
that they're not quite ready,that their motivations may not
be in the right place, or thattheir ego may get in the way of
them actually being able toconnect with people with a
deeper sense of care.
So when people are consideringteaching mindfulness and

(03:09):
meditation, you know, we alwaysneed to check our motivation,
our level of care for theintegrity of the teachings
themselves, and the level ofcompassion that we have for the
people who we want to help.
And this level of compassionthat we have for people and

(03:32):
wanting to help alleviate theirsuffering and stress and
anxiety, help them live withmore presence and care.
That's at the heart of theteachings.
That's the heart of all goodmindfulness teachings and
teachers.
So just wanted to share thatreflection with you.

(03:57):
And hope you're all doing wellthis week.
Hope you're you and your familyare doing well.
Happy Mother's Day.
Hello to all the moms out there.
Thank you for being great moms.
And we'll check in again later.
Thank you, everybody.
Take care.