Life Practice Program (LPP) with Shinzen Young

The Life Practice Program is an online meditation program led by Shinzen Young, the American mindfulness teacher known for Unified Mindfulness. It is built around the idea of taking your practice beyond the cushion, and it suits meditators who want to bring their sitting into the rest of their lives. Each session is held online, with Shinzen and a guest.

What to Expect

The program runs as a weekly gathering. Shinzen Young is joined each week by a guest, and the focus stays on how meditation lives in daily activity rather than only in formal sitting. Because it is held online, you can take part from home.

The Life Practice Program sits alongside other offerings in the same community. The Home Practice Program is a separate weekend retreat format, held by conference call, so people can join meditation retreat offerings from the comfort of their homes. Some of those weekends are led by Shinzen and others by trainers and coaches from the Unified Mindfulness community. The wider calendar also includes virtual retreats hosted by Vipassana Support International and an annual immersion experience. These are distinct from the weekly Life Practice Program.

About Shinzen Young

Shinzen Young is an American mindfulness teacher and neuroscience research consultant. He is known for Unified Mindfulness, his systematic approach to categorizing, adapting and teaching meditation. That work has led to collaborations in contemplative neuroscience with Harvard Medical School, Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Vermont. He is also co-director of the Science Enhanced Mindful Awareness (SEMA) Lab at the University of Arizona.

His interest in Asia began at 14, when he chose to attend a Japanese ethnic school in his native Los Angeles. He majored in Asian languages at UCLA, then entered a PhD program in Buddhist Studies at the University of Wisconsin. For his thesis research he lived for three years as a Shingon (Japanese Vajrayana) monk at Mount Koya, Japan, where he received the name Shinzen.

Before You Go

The program takes place online, so all you need is a way to connect from wherever you practice. The weekend Home Practice Program retreats run by conference call, which means audio participation from home. Guests change from week to week, so each session has its own flavor while keeping the same aim: a practice that carries into ordinary life.