Please join me for an 8-week class to learn the fundamentals of how to develop a life-long meditation habit. The group meditation class meets once per week for 60 to 90 minutes and teaches you core techniques from the Unified Mindfulness system as well as techniques I have found as useful extensions. It gives you tools that can transform your life. Personally, it is something I’ve been working towards for the past 13 years with my own practice in the U.S., India, Nepal, UK, and Myanmar with such teachers as Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Joseph Goldstein, Loch Kelly, and Adyashanti. 

In the fall of 2020, I did a 8 day virtual silent meditation retreat with Shinzen Young after taking a course to learn some of his techniques earlier in the year.  Doing a silent retreat literally 10 feet away from my non-silent partner in a tiny apartment during COVID had its challenges (as well as comic slapstick moments) but it was hugely restorative for me. I loved Shinzen’s direct and nerdy-scientific approach to meditation (he also is a co-director of a neuroscience lab at University of Arizona). I was also taken by the smart, compassionate community that I found myself in of people who practiced Shinzen’s techniques (with meditators from around the world all coming together - virtual retreats actually have some surprising advantages). 

Meditation has been extremely important in my life, helping me work through some deeply rooted depression and social anxiety and connecting me with a much more joyful way of living. When I found out that Shinzen had created a teacher training program for his meditation system called Unified Mindfulness, I was inspired to enroll so that I could offer friends and friends of friends like you the opportunity to experience some of the benefits that I have found in this practice. Finding new tools to weather whatever storms we encounter is especially relevant as we continue to deal with the turbulence, isolation and separation caused by the pandemic.

Unified Mindfulness' comprehensive system covers all contemplatives approaches and "unifies" them in a clear framework that's so rigorously precise, institutions like ​Harvard Medical School, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Vermont​ use it as the basis for their research on meditation and its ​application in the neurosciences, psychology, clinical sciences. UM contains a set of different meditation techniques to help with different life situations, and helps you discover the right tools to get what you want out of meditation.  

There is so much wisdom in the many meditation traditions, but it’s difficult to know where to start or what practices are the most useful to focus on. Shinzen Young’s life’s work has been to deeply investigate, categorize and synthesize the world’s contemplative techniques, and distill them down to his own concentrated set of practices that are extremely effective.

I’m going to give you a precise map and show you how to use those tools to become more present, to be able to focus on what’s most important, to become happier. The UM system works best when you interact and get feedback about your practice. So I’m going to personally take you by the hand and teach you what to do.

My goal with your mindfulness practice is to help you ​discover how to practice it throughout your entire day, not just once. Because here's something you may not realize: while mindfulness is an exercise that works to strengthen the muscles of your attention, it's also an optimizer for every situation of your life. Whether you're hanging out with your honey or your kids or alone, walking the dog, reconnecting with old friends, engaged in creative work, dealing with loss, looking for inspiration, running an errand, worrying about a loved one… every moment of your day, whether mundane or intense, could be qualitatively improved or eased through mindfulness practice.​

You'll learn techniques to ​systematically strengthen your focus​ so you can be more present in your life, your work and with the people you love. We’ll explore UM techniques to discover the ones that are most meaningful to you, so you can apply them to live a happier, healthier, more fulfilled life. Each technique you learn may help you deepen positive states, such as joy, or it may help you better address challenging states, such as anxiety or chatter in the mind. And you'll learn techniques that can be applied in any situation. They can help you make the most of a pleasant one, like hanging out in nature and getting inspired. Or they could help you manage a difficult one, like dealing with stress, burnout or difficult relationships with people in your life (including the relationship you have with yourself).

The class costs $25 per session, for a total of $200 to be paid at the beginning of the course.  I will not turn anyone away for lack of funds, so if you want to request a sliding scale fee, please let me know.  No need to pay until we determine an exact time for the class and you are sure that you can make it.