Team Bios
Mark Dannenfelser, MA, MPS, LPC
Teacher
Founding Director
Mark Dannenfelser
Mark is a certified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction teacher, a licensed professional counselor, a registered yoga teacher, a certified spiritual director, and a commissioned presenter of the Centering Prayer method.
In 1990 Mark founded Dannenfelser and Associates, PC, a private mental health group that provides psychotherapy to individuals and groups. In 2009 he founded the Mindfulness Center of Atlanta, whose mission is to reduce suffering and increase well-being, using evidence-based, integrative, mind-body practices. Mark is the co-host of the Contemplative Outreach podcast entitled, Opening Minds, Opening Hearts. He is an affiliated spiritual director at the Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center.
Mark is the former program coordinator for Contemplative Outreach International, and the former adjunct lecturer in spirituality and psychology at Spring Hill College.
Mark’s professional interest is in working at the point of intersection between mind-body practices and healing, especially in the areas of trauma, addiction, grief, life-limiting illness, anxiety, depression and chronic stress. His passion is to support healing, integration and equilibrium within the individual, society and the natural world by increasing awareness of and care for our inner and outer landscapes.
Mark holds the Master of Arts Degree in Counseling Psychology from Montclair University, the Master of Arts Degree in Pastoral Studies from Spring Hill College, and the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from Ramapo College. Mark holds the Certificate for Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction from the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society™ (CFM) at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center (Jon Kabat-Zinn and senior staff), the Certificate in Mindfulness Mentor Training (Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield and Cloud Sangha), the certificate in Clinical Training in Mind- Body Medicine (Herbert Benson, MD, Mind/Body Medical Institute), the Eye Movement Desensitization Response Basic Training, Levels I & II (EMDR International Association: EMDRIA), the certificate in Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness Program (David Treleaven), and the Certificate in Spiritual Direction from Spring Hill College.
He has also completed training in EcoAwareness and mindfulness meditation (East Coast Mindfulness) , the Mindful Schools Curriculum, Yoga Therapy in Cancer & Chronic Illness Professional Training (Jnani Chapman and Integral Teachers Yoga Association).
Mark is engaged in research regarding:
mindfulness and smoking cessation among low-income adults (Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA)
mindfulness and chronic kidney disease among veterans (Emory University and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Atlanta, GA)
mindfulness and smoking cessation among public housing residents (New York University, New York, NY)
mindfulness and stress among emergency medicine residents (Emory University and Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta, GA)
best practices for mindfulness teachers who want to bring EcoAwareness into their teaching (East Coast Mindfulness, NH and Lund University Center for Sustainability Studies, Sweden)