Chris Trani

Portland, OR, USA
Certified UM Trainer/Teacher & UM Mentor

Bringing practice to life figuratively and literally. This describes Chris Trani’s primary motivation for and outcome of her mindfulness practice. It is also what guides her when given the privilege of serving others as a mindfulness teacher/trainer and mentor.


One of the aspects of bringing practice to life that is of great interest to Chris is how to infuse mindfulness in daily conversations particularly those conversations we assess as challenging due to emotionality, complexity, etc. Her skill in conversational design & coaching draws extensively from her professional experience as an oncology nurse, a manager, a counselor, a management & leadership development consultant, a corporate leadership and communication coach and, for the past many years, as an independent consultant, coach and group facilitator. Chris’s coaching, facilitation and teaching philosophy and style is described by others as clear, practical, engaging and encouraging.

Chris began meditating over 30 years ago and, after many years of intermittent practice, finally realized that she simply felt better and her life worked better when she committed to regular practice!


In 2008, after participating in a weekend retreat with Shinzen Young, Chris was drawn to become more disciplined with her mindfulness practice thus began regular study with Shinzen to learn his system, now called Unified Mindfulness (UM).


In 2012, Chris began formal training with Shinzen to become a mindfulness facilitator to teach & coach others using the UM system. She was among first group of students to complete the UM Pathways program in 2018 to become a UM Level 2 Coach. She remains committed to on-going guidance from an array of teachers and welcomes active collaboration with fellow UM coaches & community members.


Chris’s formal education includes a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and an undergraduate degree in Nursing (RN) from Colorado State University. She has also completed thousands of hours of continuing education programs during her career all rooted in self-awareness, emotional and conversational intelligence

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