Hi there, I’m a Unified Mindfulness Level 2 Coach, NASM-certified Personal Trainer, and a certified Nutrition Network Advisor in Low Carb High Fat Nutrition. I wish to improve the human condition by helping others optimize their happiness and health.
I’ve spent many years not understanding the importance of mindfulness, nutrition and exercise, until I found myself to be falling apart one day, both physically and mentally. I became determined to take better care of myself, by doing rigorous research on happiness and health, as well as methodical experimentation via trial and error. Now that I’m the happiest and healthiest as I’ve ever been, I want to share my learnings to help others reach the same goals.
While we don’t have to live in a monastery and meditate for hours every day, it helps to notice how sensations would arise and pass away, and how our minds relate to these sensations. While we don’t have to eat a strict diet with zero indulgences, it helps to understand what food sources make us healthy, and what food sources make us sick. And while we don’t have to be a bodybuilder with six pack abs, it helps to know what we can do to avoid being brittle and frail as we age. Unified Mindfulness not only helps us become more mindful in all facets of our lives, but I also find it beneficial in helping us find joy and satisfaction as we model healthy eating habits and fitness routines, or preempt unhealthy patterns that resurface.
My meditation background includes the Unified Mindfulness system, nondual practices, jhana and samatha-vipassana practices from meditation manual The Mind Illuminated, and vipassana practices as taught by S.N. Goenka.
My diet is ancestral/primal – an emphasis on nutrient-dense whole foods that our ancestors ate in abundance, and avoidance of inflammatory modern food sources. I have years of experience experimenting with keto/paleo/carnivore diets, as well as intermittent and multi-day water fasting, and I often cycle in different ways of eating to stay metabolically flexible.
My fitness routine is a mixture of high intensity sprints and low intensity long distance runs on thin barefoot running shoes, and bodyweight strength training with gymnastic rings. I’ve trained for two marathons, with a PR of 3 hours and 38 minutes. I also have experience in Muay Thai, competitive dragon boat racing in Hong Kong, and classical strength training with weights and machines.
As for my personal background: I was born and raised in Hong Kong, and after 16 years of living in the United States, I moved back to Hong Kong, where I have been calling home for the last 10 years. I’m natively fluent in English and Cantonese, conversational in Mandarin, and I have bachelor and master degrees in Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In a former life, I was a product manager and UX designer in Silicon Valley for 7 years. I later became a passionate photographer, which eventually led me to capturing the surreal sights and people at Burning Man, where I participated as a documentarian, art builder, visual designer, and other lead roles with multiple art projects and artist collectives, during the 10 times I attended their main and regional events in Nevada, South Africa, Spain and Israel.
You can find out more about me at https://kennyyu.org
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.