I’ve been practicing meditation since 2010, with the past few years as a full time contemplative. There’s something in it, I tell ya!
My journey started with the realization that the present moment is all there is. Later, I found out the present moment is deeper and more wonderful than the imagination can stretch. Somewhere in the middle, though, meditation really saved me.
I had anxiety
The kind that makes your organs hurt And I had the kind of mind that exhausts itself with wild creativity
And self hatred
One day my world collapsed and I really needed help. I decided to practice meditation for 20 minutes twice per day. I’m not sure what i expected, but after about 3 weeks, something that would normally send me over the edge, didn’t. I watched my mind choose peace over anger, and right then and there I became obsessed.
More recently, I spent 7 months in intensive retreat and decided it was time to start sharing. I found the UM teacher training, and rented a big old house in a Thai jungle and got started. This place served as a kind of mini ashram – a bridge between the monastery and the “real world” – and was the perfect place to focus on my own practice and begin learning to teach.
In the time in the Old Thai House I taught close to 200 classes, both online and in person, and know that I’ve found what I want to do for the rest of my life
Julianna received her BA in psychology from Duke University. As founder, president, and head trainer of Unified Mindfulness, she is dedicated to disseminating Shinzen Young’s comprehensive mindfulness meditation system through the creation and presentation of educational programs and teacher-training certification programs.
Dr. Hunter serves as associate professor of practice and is the founding director of the Executive Mind Leadership Institute at the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management, Claremont Graduate University. He also serves as visiting professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, where he developed and co-teaches the Leading Mindfully executive education program..
Dr. Eisendrath serves as chief psychologist and president of the Institute for Dialogue Therapy, P.C., where, as a Jungian analyst, she offers psychotherapy with individuals and couples, psychoanalysis, supervision, and training.
Dr. Vago serves as the research director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and the director of the Contemplative Neuroscience and Integrative Medicine (CNIM) Laboratory at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is an associate professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Department of Psychiatry.
Stella is a psychologist, professor, and Zen practitioner. She became a formal student in 2008 in the Soto Zen tradition. She teaches courses in mindfulness based psychotherapies and the psychology of compassion at the Union Institute & University. She also co-facilitates a family program and young adult program at Shao Shan Temple, in Woodbury Vermont.
Dr. Creswell serves as a tenured associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also the director of the Health & Human Performance Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University.
Dr. McCormick currently serves as director of education at Unified Mindfulness. In 1975, he received a B.A. in psychology from the University of California Santa Cruz, where he was part of Dr. Elliot Aronson’s research team that examined cooperative approaches to reducing interracial conflict and academic performance problems in newly integrated school, and made Honors in Psychology, College Honors, and Thesis Honors.
UnifiedMindfulness.com is the official teacher training platform for Shinzen and the Unified Mindfulness System.
Created over 50 years of research and testing by Shinzen Young, Unified Mindfulness is a system of meditation that’s easily researchable by science, with clear terminology and rigorous precision around concepts and procedures.
The Unified Mindfulness system is a comprehensive, robust and refined support structure that any individual at any stage of meditation practice can rely on to go deeper in their insight and their ability to share it with others. It is also a secular form of meditation, which means it’s not religious in any way so anyone, of any faith, can do it.