THE BODY OF MEDITATION: CULTIVATING EMBODIED WISDOM
with René Fay & Susan Layden
Thursdays, June 25th – August 13th, 2026 | 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET
Register
One of the biggest challenges in meditation is working with the physical body.
For teachers, this challenge is doubled: we must learn to relate skillfully to our own bodies and help our students do the same.
This Dharma Moon training explores the role of the body in both personal practice and teaching. You’ll learn how to recognize and respond to the physical experiences that arise—pain, tension, disconnection—and how to guide others through those moments with skill and care.
Here's why the body matters...
Many of us experience stress, anxiety, or physical tension without fully understanding its source. We carry unconscious stories about our bodies that can make it difficult to feel grounded.
By developing mindfulness of the body, we start to connect with its rhythms. We learn to relate to the body as a place of awareness, even when discomfort is present. This is the foundation of feeling “at home” in the body—a sense of groundedness that doesn’t depend on everything feeling pleasant or easy.
“The breathing and grounding practices, the way the training acknowledged and addressed anxiety, and the invitation to be truly present in the body all felt like coming home.”— Wendy W.
This course explores how to build that kind of relationship—not by avoiding pain, but by meeting it with skill, presence, and care. You’ll also learn how to guide others into that same experience, helping them establish a more embodied and resilient practice.
Our habitual patterns often disrupt the body’s natural sense of ease. Mindfulness of the body helps interrupt these patterns and reconnect us to a more stable, moment-to-moment awareness. This work supports physical acceptance, emotional regulation, and psychological resilience—for both you and your students.
In this course, you will learn how to:
- Sync the body, mind, and breath to create a more integrated meditation practice
- Use body scans to deepen awareness of sensation and embodiment
- Understand the nervous system’s role in mindfulness, including the functions of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems and how to help students shift from fight-or-flight into rest-and-digest
- Use a 10-to-15 minute movement practice in each session to support embodiment
- Help students settle into their bodies with more ease and presence
- Use mindful language—internally and when teaching—to support a more compassionate relationship with the body
- Explore the different “zones” of the body and their roles in practice
- Adapt practices for students with disabilities and/or body limitations, making meditation accessible in a way that honors their personal needs and abilities.
This course is designed to support both your personal embodiment and your teaching.
**This course also provides 25 Continuing Education credits through Yoga Alliance.
Course Format
This course will combine pre-recorded video content with weekly live online sessions, allowing you to learn at your own pace while still providing momentum and support so that you don't get stuck.
- Video Teachings: Each Friday during the course, a new module of videos will open.
- Live Trainings & Support: Every Thursday, there will be a live group Zoom session (6:00pm – 8:00pm ET) where you can ask questions and discuss the week's topic with other students and the course instructor.
- Community Discussions: We will also offer a private online course forum, providing a space to check in and get support from others working through the material.
What Students Have Shared
“The Body of Meditation improved my relationship with myself. It helped me become more comfortable being fully present in my body…”— Rachel
“This training has been a great pairing with the trauma-informed yoga training I’ve already completed…”— Michele S
"What resonated most were the posture customization and accessibility options, along with the inclusive nature of the teaching. The practices felt adaptable and alive, easily crossing the threshold from class into my personal practice and beyond.”
“My favorite aspect was exploring the senses and sensations, and discovering how the body itself becomes the guide…”— Theresa Tobin Macy
“This training offered a wealth of knowledge and resources for my own practice and for creating my classes... I loved the readings and the live meetings, and Susan and René brought so much knowledge, experience, and kindness.”
"This training has expanded my vision, scope, and awareness... It has deepened the way I inhabit meditation in my body, widened the lens through which I understand presence, and offered me tools that feel both timeless and immediately applicable in guiding others."
Join the Body of Meditation Teacher Training
Gain the tools you need to better understand your own relationship to the body, along with practical ways to help students feel more grounded, safe, and supported in theirs.
Registration Options
In addition to the two options below, we now offer Afterpay and Klarna, which let you spread your payments over up to 12 months.
About the Teachers
René Fay
René is the Community Director for Dharma Moon. They are a certified mindfulness meditation teacher and death doula, they studied comparative religion and gender studies, and they earned their black belt at 17. René’s career has a long and extensive history of advocacy, with a focus on collaboration with, support of, and focus on: at-risk youth; queer communities and people; intimate partner violence/sexual assault prevention and intervention; and grief and crisis counseling. René is passionate about making meditation and dharma teachings radically accessible and has personally used meditation to transform their relationship with their own anxiety and chronic health issues. Outside of work, they're likely to be knitting while trapped under a cat listening to podcasts.
Susan Layden
Susan is a senior teacher with Dharma Moon, serving as the coordinator of the 100hr Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training programs and a close senior student of David Nichtern’s for over 10 years. She received her 100hr meditation teaching certificate from David Nichtern and Kaia Yoga. She is a yoga and meditation teacher and a 500hr E-RYT and a YACEP (continuing education provider- with yoga alliance) and holds a 100 certification to teach mindfulness and yoga to children.
Susan is a 4th degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido. She has studied and taught under Grand Master Ik Jo Kang for over 20 years and is registered under Tae Kwon Do Jidokwan in Korea. She is the mother to three precious adult daughters.
Susan is committed to her practices, her family and giving back to her community. She has been in recovery for over 30 years.
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