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
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.