The Next Pathways Cohort Begins Saturday, June 7th, 2025!

This will be the final Pathways cohort before the start of Compass 2025! (Pathways is a prerequisite for participating in the Compass Program.)

Foundations & Pathways & Compass Q&A - Recorded May 22, 2025

Download the Summary and Transcript here.

We invite you to join us in your Next Step of the UM Teacher certification journey to become a certified UM Coach, with...

Pathways

Take your own practice deeper as you learn to teach others life-changing mindfulness skills.

Welcome to the Pathways training program registration page.

Hi Friend,

By arriving here, you've shown dedication to your own mindfulness practice, as well as your sincere commitment to serving others.

So before we go any further, we'd like to congratulate you and share our appreciation for the work you're doing. It's truly life-changing, and has the potential to profoundly transform the lives of the people you work with.

We Created Pathways with You in Mind

Experience

Pathways is a highly experiential training, designed to support your development as a coach and your mastery of the Unified Mindfulness system in many different ways. You get extensive practice teaching, with a lot of effective feedback on it--both from the teaching staff and from fellow students, in a safe and constructive learning environment.

Support

As the next step beyond Foundations, Pathways is a 12-week training program followed by an 8 week practicum, in which you work directly with UM Lead Coaches to learn to coach individuals and groups in a uniquely empowering approach to mindfulness that can meet their specific needs.

Confidence

You will become more confident, while you reduce the anxiety that can interfere with you taking the initiative to coach others. Many of our graduates report an improvement in their ability to present, generally. Those who teach other subjects professionally also frequently report an improvement in their ability to teach, overall.

Develop Robust Skills and confidence as Coach

In Pathways, you'll learn to coach others a structured 8-week Unified Minfulness training. The framework for doing this is a unique feature of the UM system. You'll receive direct, personal guidance and feedback from your instructors as well as your fellow students.

Teach an Eight Week Class

You will finish the Pathways program with all the tools, course materials, confidence and support to teach your own 8 week mindfulness class (in fact, you WILL teach your own 8-Week class to conclude Pathways 🙂

Pathways is a course within a course...

Part of what makes Pathways so unique is that there are actually two distinct components to the program.

During your first 12 weeks of Pathways, you'll be working directly with UM Trainer/Teachers and Lead Coaches, and your fellow students in live online, virtual classrooms for classes and instructions.

This is followed by an 8 week practicum in which you'll be teaching the series you've learned with the direct support of your instructors. You can teach it to one individual, or a group; to a friend, a group of friends, or people you don't know. You can teach it in an informal or formal setting. The practicum is meant to ensure your success with internalizing the materials, so you're free to deliver your practicum in a way that meets your level of experience and comfort.

In other words, you'll finish the 12-week training with not only the confidence and an exact plan to teach your own 8-week mindfulness class, but you'll also put that plan into action and teach what you've learned with the direct support of UM Trainer/Teachers. Once you've completed your practicum, you're free to adapt the training as you see fit, for your unique audience. You'll find a vibrant alumni group to connect with around exploring those possibilities.

Your Instructor for the January 2024 Pathways Cohort (P24)

Kristen Connolly

I began practicing mindfulness meditation more than 20 years ago while working as a deadline-oriented, stressed-out journalist.

Early on, I had an obvious, but profound realization: The more I meditated, the better my life became. Mindfulness was like a multi-faceted jewel that made every aspect of my life sparkle. And the ease, clarity, and joy I drew from meditating inspired me to share mindfulness with others, both young and old.

As a mother, I recognized the value of teaching mindfulness to kids, teens, and families. As a former associate editor and staff writer for Forbes magazine, I saw the importance of bringing mindfulness within corporations and other settings to teach adults. Over the years, I’ve also realized the deep benefits of working intimately with individuals, coaching them one-on-one, and guiding them in their practice.

My training and teaching experience reflect the breadth of those pursuits.

Along with being a UM Level 2 coach, I’m also a certified mindfulness facilitator trained through UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center and a senior teacher with Inner Kids, an organization founded on the pioneering work of mindfulness educator Susan Kaiser Greenland. I’m also part of Unified Mindfulness’ yearlong Compass training.

I teach classes for UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center and eMindful, a leading provider of online mindfulness programming. I also work with schools and universities, teaching students, faculty, and administrators mindfulness and designing curricula to implement in school-wide programs. My work for corporations and organizations includes T Mobile, Northern Trust, the City of Hope, Korn Ferry, Intuit, the Broad Center, Orrick, the University of Virginia, and others. And last but not at all least, I teach Unified Mindfulness classes, coach clients one-on-one, and work as a Pathways Lead coach and Support coach.

I continue to write, and my journalistic curiosity and storytelling influence my teaching and coaching. So, too, does the belief that mediation practice ought to reach beyond the cushion to help us become more fulfilled and compassionate toward others and ourselves in our daily lives.

The Unified Mindfulness system has helped me do just that, and I’ve found the techniques and skills I’ve acquired through Shinzen Young’s wisdom life changing.

A quote from author Winifred Gallagher serves as an overarching promise of what I hope to offer those who work with me. She writes:

“Paying rapt attention, whether to a trout stream or a novel, a do-it-yourself-project or a prayer, increases your capacity for concentration, expands your inner boundaries, and lifts your spirits, but more important, it simply makes you feel life is worth living.”

To learn more about Kelly, go here.

Bob Chiang

Bob Chiang is a UK-based UM Mindfulness L2 Coach . Being born and raised in Singapore, he experienced a rich and diverse environment, drawing on the varied influences of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity. He later lived in Kuwait for seven years, before moving to Scotland, and then finally settling in Derbyshire, England. Living in so many varied places cultivated an appreciation for the beauty and diversity of different cultures and people.

Bob enjoys connecting with and interacting with people, and exploring the areas of life that speak to our deeper selves. This has led him to pursue his vocation as a Mindfulness Coach. He works with people from all walks of life, through one-to-one mindfulness coaching or through courses he runs for the corporate sector. In particular, he finds the techniques in Unified Mindfulness to be useful and effective in helping people to be happy and fulfilled. In his sessions, he brings warmth, patience, and a touch of humor. Alongside his practice as a Mindfulness Coach, he has an ongoing interest in mindful approaches to the experiences of those in hospices and for the end of life. He also teaches Tai Chi Chuan and is a bodyworker.

To learn more about Bob, go here.

Robert McClure

Robert McClure is a Certified Mindfulness Facilitator and instructor at UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. He is also a Certified Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) teacher for Stanford University Center for Compassion, Altruism, Research and Education (CCARE).

He is a Human Resources Consultant at Sharp HealthCare in San Diego CA and teaches mindfulness and compassion skills to healthcare professionals. Bob teaches a system of mindfulness training that develops the skills of attention, clarity, and balance not just in meditation but to enhance every moment of your daily life

To learn more about Bob, go here.

Marc-Antoine Landry, M.D.
Physician

I stumbled upon Shinzen’s work on a flight back home. I fell in love with the simplicity, the clarity and the comprehensiveness of it.

My scientifically curious mind and my big heart both found roots in this mindfulness approach. I was searching for a mentor in my area when I was directed to the Unified Mindfulness group.

Serendipity led me from the Foundations course to Pathways exactly when I needed it the most. Pathways was for me an extraordinary occasion to deepen my knowledge and practice of Shinzen’s approach with the never ceasing support of Julianna, Don and all the other teachers.

I fell in love with the content (and the contour) of the curriculum on the very first day!

Over the course of the weeks, I felt more and more confident teaching all those well structured mindfulness practices that we learned. The content was very well organized and there was enough time to integrate the new techniques. The amount of support that I received was exactly what I needed … or more!

I made some new friends who share the love of mindfulness. We developed a worldwide community of coaches and teachers using the online environment to break the barriers of distance. In this new community, I felt free to exchange on many topics and benefited from the wisdom and experience of our mentors.

Pathways deepened my own practice and made me feel very confident to start teaching mindfulness.

Special Consultants for the Next Patwhays Cohort

Julianna Raye

As creator of the Foundations program and the CEO and Head Trainer of Unified Mindfulness, Julianna is devoted to deepening people’s understanding of research-supported mindfulness and empowering anyone to guide others in its practice.

With more than 150 weeks of immersive, silent training in both the mindfulness and Zen traditions, Julianna has completed over 20,000 hours of formal practice.

Click here to read Julianna's full bio...

Don McCormick

Don is the Director of Education at Unified Mindfulness.

Shortly after completing his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior at Case Western Reserve University in 1985, Don began studying mindfulness with Shinzen Young.

He's a pioneer in the fields of workplace mindfulness, critical management studies, religious diversity in the workplace and spirituality in the workplace.

He is particularly excited about using scientifically supported teaching methods in the Pathways program and sharing them with you throughout the training.

Click here to read Don's full bio...

Pathways Schedule and Curriculum

The main classroom instruction takes place over 12 weeks.

You will meet via Zoom once a week for approximately 90 minutes.

Here's the exact Pathways Class Schedule:

Week 1: Overview and Role of the Teacher

Course Overview

Giving & Receiving Feedback

Levels of Teaching Mindfulness

Fear of Teaching

Week 2: Appreciation Techniques - Feel Rest

Explaining the Feel Rest Technique

Guiding Others in the Feel Rest Technique

Answering Questions about the Feel Rest Technique

Week 3: Introduction to the Practicum

Preparation for the Practicum

Group Supervision

Week 4: Techniques for Nurturing Positivity - Feel Good

Explaining the Feel Good Technique

Guiding Others in the Feel Good Technique

Answering Questions about the Feel Good Technique

Week 5: Dealing with Adverse Reactions to Mindfulness

Negative reactions people have to mindfulness and how to handle them

Week 6: Transcend Techniques - Feel Flow

Explaining the Feel Flow Technique

Guiding Others in the Feel Flow Technique

Answering Questions about the Feel Flow Technique

Week 7: The Ethics of Teaching Mindfulness

Ethical Issues the Mindfulness Teacher Faces

Sexual Relations

Conflicts of Interest

Week 8: Express Techniques - Auto Move

Explaining the Auto Move Technique

Guiding Others in the Auto Move Technique

Answering Questions about the Auto Move Technique

Week 9: Practice in Daily Life

Daily Life Practice

Techniques

Obstacles

Opportunities

Week 10: Responding to Questions, Reports, & Common Objections

Handling Hostile Questions

Handling Common Objections

Handling Self-Denigrating Questions

Reports

Week 11: Week 11: Empowering Students with Strategy Options

The Importance of Choice

Opportunities and Obstacles

Working Directly with Experience

Having Background Equanimity

Week 12: Practice Structures: Yours & Your clients'

Rhythms of Practice

Daily Practice

Retreats

Accelerators

Support (From Peers & From Coaching)

A Huge Success...

Hopefully you've heard feedback regarding the Pathways training program. It's a very unique, highly experiential program, unlike anything you've likely experienced before.

Each Pathways cohort has been a special experience for everyone involved - teachers, coaches and students alike.

Not only is the training a success, but new friendships and professional relationships are forged through the process. Most Pathways cohort study groups still meet regularly to stay connected and continue to support each other as they expand their own coaching offerings.

So the Pathways training is actually much more than a 12-week coaching program. We hope you'll take this next step with us in your own contemplative journey.

The Pathways Application Process

There's a simple application for you to complete online before being accepted into Pathways.

But it's not a test. This brief questionnaire will help us support you and your individual needs as you start the Pathways program.

But as a gentle reminder - you need to have the Foundations training completed before starting the Pathways training!

*If you need help with your Foundations training, please reach out to our support desk so we can provide assistance!

The Investment

The Pathways training is usually $2,497.00

You'll receive live, expert training, and supervision for 5 months as part of the Pathways program.

And to kickstart the registration period with an added incentive, we're announcing all new payment options, including several ways to receive discounted tuition!

You will graduate the Pathways training with with your own 8-week mindfulness training program in hand and numerous other perks from being in the inaugural Pathways group including...

Personal Branding on UnifiedMindfulness.com

You'll be acknowledged on the UnifiedMindfulness.com website as having completed the Pathways program with your own, unique web page containing your bio and links to your own website (if applicable).

One Year Membership in the UM's Private Group Coaching Program

As a Pathways student, you'll have complimentary membership into the UM's Private Group Coaching Program private UM support group for a full year, starting upon your successful completion of Pathways. (a $228/year value!)

Certificate of Completion & an Official UM Designation

As Pathways graduate, you'll receive a Certificate of Completion and earn the designation of "Unified Mindfulness Coach."

One Year Access to UM's AI-Powered Learning Center

Powered by AI, you can easily find specific content, access transcripts, chapters, descriptions, and key takeaways across a a vast library of video and audio content. Separate learning centers are available for the PGC Coaching calls, Shinzen's content, and Julianna's content!

Free access to the monthly Home Practice Program by Shinzen

Upon successful completion of Pathways, you're invited to attend as many weekly HPP live classes with Shinzen as you like for free for 3 months following the classroom instruction in Pathways.

Lifetime Access to the Private Pathways Alumni Support Group

You're getting permanent access to the private Pathways Alumni group for ongoing teaching support, connection, mutual support, and networking.

Free Access to the Weekly Life Practice Program by Shinzen

During your 12 weeks of Pathways classes, you're invited to attend as many LPP live classes with Shinzen as you like for free.

The Inside Track on Emerging Opportunities @ UM

We're growing...fast! Not just Unified Mindfulness, but also our entire community and the reach of mindfulness practice, in general.

Which means we need quality, skilled UM coaches.

By participating in the cohort, we'll get to know you and see you in action, which is meaningful for the opportunities that present themselves as we continue to grow.

To be clear and transparent, this is not a guarantee of income or referrals. But our vision for Pathways is both to develop highly skilled coaches through proper training, and to create opportunities for them.

We are dedicated to expanding the reach of Shinzen's system and we need to collaborate with skilled coaches and teachers to do that.

We know you share our dedication to providing people with an approach to practice that will yield transformative results in their lives. And after spending 5 months together, we'll have a pretty solid understanding of your skills and how they may fit increasing opportunities in the organization. (If you're interested, of course :-)

So Much More...

There are so many benefits to deepening your practice and helping others deepen theirs. So join us in Pathways and let's take things to the next level...

The Full Support of the Entire UM Team

You'll have the full support the entire Unified Mindfulness team to ensure your success with Pathways.

Albert Grabb M.D.

I signed up for the Pathways training program because I felt that being able to share Shinzen Young's Unified Mindfulness system would be a great addition to the trainings and certifications I had already completed. That said, the program really exceeded any and all expectations I had.

The Pathways program is a unique opportunity to learn how to effectively share Shinzen unique approach to developing mindfulness. The program's creators have leveraged his systematized approach to contemplative practice by combining it with an innovative and very modern approach to teaching and learning.

The course is incredibly practical from the perspective of content, practice opportunities and support. I was really blown away by the availability of the instructors, the organization of the materials that were provided and then presented formally and the depth and sincerity of my fellow students.

I cannot recommend this program more highly.

I have noticed, over months, increasing levels of respect and gratitude and appreciation for the skill and craftsmanship—and yes, true beauty that has gone into the unfolding of the Foundations and Pathways experiences. As a life-long student, I’ve encountered many brilliant and talented and experienced teachers, each of whom has brought something wonderful into my life. And that does not discount the “teachers” who are not so designated by culture: my husband and our son; parents and family members, and perhaps most profoundly, the desert and riparian landscape and broader natural world that I grew up “feeling” with the senses, entraining to, appreciating, learning from.

Pathways and Foundations is a dramatic and new experience. The gradually deepening community that started with Julianna and Don and their video Foundations students, expanded into the large Pathways group of “strangers”, none of whom I had met, other than a couple of you, briefly, at retreats—then the dyads and triads, and finally the vividly functioning sangha of our study group. . .just the community aspect is astonishingly powerful—particularly because it’s all via online presence. The atmosphere in these meetings is so light, so full of beauty. But the entire curriculum design, support structure, and logical presentation of Shinzen’s steadily coalescing simple and immediately functioning techniques has made it possible for us to teach confidently and effectively within a relatively short period of time.

I have seen people take “See” and “Feel Rest” into immediate softening and relief of anxiety and drivenness—and received many other very positive and incredulous feedbacks. And the challenge of bringing these techniques to my friends and family, to my churches, is a treasured gift. It, too, unfolds constantly—has its own form of Flow, of expansion and contraction. My own practice has blossomed, essentially all for months through practice-in-life—but there are a lot of practice hours in my life right now, with coaching and the classes, the prep, constant background practice, hospice work, music. Practice now infuses everything I do, every moment. I am massaged by reality in every crevice of life.

You have my deepest bow, timeless and overflowing gratitude, tears of joy.

Cynthia

Our Guarantee

Our 100%, No-Questions-Asked Refund.

It goes without saying that we fully stand behind the Pathways training program.

We also acknowledge and honor your commitment to "do the work" necessary to help share the gift of mindfulness with others.

So your Pathways registration fee is 100% refundable until the start of this next cohort or 6 months from your registration date, whichever comes first.

After this date, your registration will be deferred and applied to a future cohort of your choosing.

John Watson

I was a little reluctant at first to enroll in the Pathways course because I knew it would be during an already busy work and personal life.

But in the end, the extra time devoted to learning to teach mindfulness as well as deepening my own practice was a stress-reducer, not a stress-inducer. In my family life, I found that I was more calm, caring and adaptable.

At work I noticed that my time was more productive, less filled with worries about deadlines and stuff and as a bonus, I was more creative than ever. Now, I'm excited to help other people discover how they can make their own positive changes in their daily life.

Since starting the practicum it's really hit home how focused Pathways is on developing the skill of teaching. I know it's not always the case with teacher training's. There are a lot of them that teach you techniques but not how to actually lead a class.

When it came time to start teaching the practicum I became aware of how much confidence I had in my skills at transmitting the information to others. As you know, teaching meditation can be an experience filled with a lot of uncertainty and it's been awesome to feel so grounded by a solid base of teaching skills.

Just wanted you to know it worked well for me and I'm really grateful for that. My students are really enjoying it so far!

Have Questions About Pathways? Let's Talk

If you'd like to connect to discuss any aspects of the Pathways program, then please schedule a call, and let's connect! Just follow the instructions to schedule time - it's fast and easy.

Thanks!

I look forward to connecting.

Dave Dennis

Co-Founder | Unified Mindfulness

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