It is with great excitement and joy that we see our SIYLI community growing around the world. As we welcome a new generation of mindfulness champions into our community, I’m also announcing a significant strategic realignment that’s best summed up with the phrase “teachers first.”
Before I get into what this means, it’s worth sharing that our teachers are amazing. I can only describe some of them I know as forces of nature. Many have built sophisticated client bases in region. Some are recognized as the leading mindfulness experts in their countries. And almost all of our teachers continue to do the dedicated and often-quiet work of teaching mindfulness practices around the world.
We believe teachers like these hold the key to activating mindfulness and compassion practices for millions, if not billions, of people. And it is through them that SIYLI can achieve our mission of creating the conditions for world peace.
That’s why we’re thrilled to have accepted more than 110 teacher trainees into our Fall 2017 SIY Teacher Training program. This month, we’re also launching our five-month mindful leader program, SIY Engage, in both San Francisco and Sydney. The teacher trainees hail from more than 30 countries, ranging from Nigeria to Brazil and Switzerland to Indonesia. We will now have a wide network of certified SIY teachers on every major continent, working in a wonderful array of languages and cultures.
We want to truly support teachers with tools to expand the global reach, depth and impact of Search Inside Yourself’s mindfulness and compassion offerings. The reality is that the business of delivering mindfulness in organizations is often difficult. The complexity of proposing, piloting, getting feedback on and launching SIY programs within organizations is significant. We also want teachers to deliver open enrollment public programs and events in the future. We look forward to supporting them to maximize their impact.
You can expect to hear from us soon to gather your ideas, experiences and feedback on this teachers-first approach. We’re looking forward to working with you all as we make good on SIYLI’s core value of radical generosity together.
With my best regards,