I. Hardcore engineer.
At the age of 18, when I went to university to study computers I also started working as a programmer. And I loved it. Learned several computer languages and spend a lot of time talking to… computers. Even took inflatable mattress to the company where I worked to talk to computers some more. We went along beautifully…
… but then I discovered people🙂. And fell in love with people and with concepts such as personal development and growth, leadership and talking… to people. Just had a problem that I was a bit shy. I read all the books about personal growth, self help and communication and wanted to become a mentor, a coach, someone who can help other reach their goals. Wanted to… but didn’t know how to make it work. In the meanwhile I used my new knowledge to pursue a career and become an IT manager.
II. Then mindfulness dropped in my life.
I was good with computers, but it wasn’t enough. There was a lot of pressure at work and we got a small child… I was heading for a burnout. I randomly got in my hands a book titled “The Science of Enlightenment: How Meditation Works” and it helped me to survive. Not only survive, but slowly I started to notice other benefits. Like getting along better with my wife. Surviving screams and crying of our baby and sleepless nights became more manageable. Using certain techniques I dismantled most of my fears. Fears of other people, fears of failure, and fears of success…
III. Unified Mindfulness
Mindfulness is very broad field and in a lot of cases poorly defined and full of fluff – when parents and teachers don’t know how to explain something and they say “you’ll understand it, when you’ll get older”. No! I need something I can use, apply and run with it. So when I found Unified Mindfulness, my heart sang. Mindfulness system designed by someone with mentality of a scientist, who went out, studied it all for 50+ years, kept what works and threw out the rest…
IV. Teacher on a mission
… so for three years I have been going through Unified Mindfulness programs on how to TEACH mindfulness. Mindfulness made my life so much more fulfilling, now I want to pay it forward and teach others the techniques and strategies to get more control over their lives and be happier.
I have a mission to reach out to people, especially two kinds of people. Smart people, who realize the benefits of investing some minutes into upgrading their mind. And second – young people, who have not yet been beaten by life. So that when going gets hard they will still thrive and succeed.
Hope to see you around soon,
Zarko Zunko
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.