By Eve Ekman, PhD
I am writing this letter to let you know about a special training opportunity which is very close to my heart and mind.
The training is to become a certified Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB) teacher
Teaching CEB to nearly a thousand students in the last eight years has been incredible — I have seen the transformative power of emotional awareness and mental balance. CEB moves people towards authentic engagement with their emotions at a granular level and pushes them to apply tools of contemplative introspection for identifying guiding life values and meaning at a macro life level scale. I am writing to you directly, my friends and colleagues, because I want this first year cohort to be the foundation for how this training grows in the US.
The architects and supporters of this training and curriculum are among the most well regarded and experienced scientists and contemplatives. After a large successful study through UCSF proved the benefits of CEB, we began training teachers but never aligned with an organization nor academic institution which would have accelerated our growth. The training remains grass roots. We want to bring this training to a wider audience and maintain its grounded, humble growth, not creating an ever-growing business.
Despite a growing and robust marketplace for wellbeing, compassion, and mindfulness the skills, CEB trainings remain in critical shortage. We have students and trainees who find benefits in our training approach, even if they have had decades of Buddhist practice/theory, psychological research, clinical training and/or certification in MBSR, ACT, CCT, MBCT etc.
CEB Background
We have a literal embarrassment of riches when it comes to the core content and curriculum of training. We have an elegantly written, almost-200 page manual with day-by-day teaching layouts and hours upon hours of clearly guided secular and deep meditations that can stabilize your attention and open your heart. Our teaching philosophy rests on the Western science of emotion and psychology and Eastern contemplative practices, to work towards a truly meaningful life.
The program has been pivotal in my own social-spiritual development. This includes learning in-depth meditative practices drawn from a Tibetan Buddhist origin, but not requiring any ‘belief’ other than “See for yourself if it helps.” The other side of this program was built from my Dad’s fundamental research on recognizing and understanding emotion — from the outside in. I have grown this curriculum, adding embodiment and stress coping, to address our emotions from the inside out.
We hope you consider joining us. For more information, please visit the official CEB website.
Dr. Eve Ekman is the Director of Training at the Greater Good Science Center and emotional trainer among her multitude of experiences designing and developing live and online trainings in mindfulness for health care and the private sector. Eve is also a founding teacher trainer for Cultivating Emotional Balance, an evidenced-based program drawing on Western Scientific and Eastern Contemplative teachings to develop constructive emotional behaviors for a meaningful life.
