It’s been 13 years since I started my meditation journey. I initially sought it as a way of managing anxiety and depression as a manager at a big tech firm, and in the years since, my life has been changed in innumerable positive ways due to my practice. Chronic problems such as insomnia, anxiety, and depression have resolved to a surprising degree. My life is fuller and happier now that it’s ever been.
I don’t think meditation is the cure for everything, and also am a big believer in exercise, therapy, eating right and getting enough sleep. There are some times when we must attend to these other aspects of our health and well being first. But for me at least, meditation has made the most significant and lasting positive improvements to my life. And I’m seeing that effect in others that I teach when they start to take up the practice.
Now my passion is finding ways to share the benefits with as many people as possible. I teach introduction to meditation courses, coach private clients, and offer a nurturing, positive approach to mindfulness. Particular areas of focus include working with chronic pain, meditation in daily life, and techniques for working with emotional challenges. These areas have been honed by years of retreat practice with teachers including Shinzen Young, U Tejaniya, Loch Kelly, and Adyashanti, and most recently by becoming certified as a Unified Mindfulness Teacher.
My meditation style combines Unified Mindfulness techniques with awareness-based non-dual practices. Which is all to say that there is a great variety. I have found that different meditation practices work best for different people, and we work together find the combination that clicks for you. The left-brain / right-brain experiences I’ve had in the tech world and as an award-winning documentary filmmaker have led to a flexible style that meets students where they are at. Please reach out if you are interested in learning more.
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.