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Shinzen Young is an American mindfulness teacher and neuroscience research consultant. His systematic approach to categorizing, adapting and teaching meditation, known as Unified Mindfulness, has resulted in collaborations with Harvard Medical School, Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Vermont in the burgeoning field of contemplative neuroscience. Shinzen is now Co-Director of the Science Enhanced Mindful Awareness (SEMA) Lab at the University of Arizona, where his work on brain sonication is yielding amazing results.
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Shinzen’s interest in Asia began at the age of 14 when he decided to attend an extra-curricular Japanese ethnic school in his native city of Los Angeles. After majoring in Asian languages at UCLA, he entered a PhD program in Buddhist Studies at the University of Wisconsin. As a part of his thesis research, he lived as a Shingon (Japanese Vajrayana) monk for three years at Mount Koya, Japan. It was there that he received the name Shinzen (真善).
During that time, he became friends with Father William Johnston (author of Christian Zen and Silent Music). Fr. Johnston helped broaden Shinzen’s interests to include comparative world mysticism and the scientific study of meditative states. Upon returning to the United States, his academic interests shifted to the dialogue between Eastern meditation and Western science.
Shinzen is known for his interactive, algorithmic approach to mindfulness, and often uses mathematical metaphors to illustrate meditative phenomena. He is the author of The Science of Enlightenment: Teachings and Meditations for Awakening Through Self-Investigation (Audio Tapes, 2005), Natural Pain Relief: How to Soothe and Dissolve Physical Pain with Mindfulness (paperback, 2011) and numerous audio offerings. His most recent book is The Science of Enlightenment: How Meditation Works https://www.shinzen.org/resources/ (2016).
Shinzen leads global online retreats. In 2006, he created the Home Practice Program: these online and phone-based mini-retreats are designed to make deep meditation practice accessible to anyone in the world regardless of their location, health situation, and time or financial constraints. His teachings are the core curriculum of Unified Mindfulness, an independent company dedicated to the wide dissemination of his teachings.
During that time, he became friends with Father William Johnston (author of Christian Zen and Silent Music). Fr. Johnston helped broaden Shinzen’s interests to include comparative world mysticism and the scientific study of meditative states. Upon returning to the United States, his academic interests shifted to the dialogue between Eastern meditation and Western science.
Shinzen is known for his interactive, algorithmic approach to mindfulness, and often uses mathematical metaphors to illustrate meditative phenomena. He is the author of The Science of Enlightenment: Teachings and Meditations for Awakening Through Self-Investigation (Audio Tapes, 2005), Natural Pain Relief: How to Soothe and Dissolve Physical Pain with Mindfulness (paperback, 2011) and numerous audio offerings. His most recent book is The Science of Enlightenment: How Meditation Works https://www.shinzen.org/resources/ (2016).
Shinzen leads global online retreats. In 2006, he created the Home Practice Program: these online and phone-based mini-retreats are designed to make deep meditation practice accessible to anyone in the world regardless of their location, health situation, and time or financial constraints. His teachings are the core curriculum of Unified Mindfulness, an independent company dedicated to the wide dissemination of his teachings.
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I’m a Jewish-American Buddhist-informed mindfulness teacher who got turned on to comparative mysticism by an Irish-Catholic priest and who has developed a Burmese-Japanese fusion practice inspired by the spirit of quantified science.
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