Our Team.
The MT Mindfulness Consulting team is our greatest strength. Our partners, directors, facilitators, and trainers have been carefully trained and adhere to the strongest standards of practice. Knowledgeable in many aspects of mindfulness training, they are driven to help create a program that works for all individuals and their needs.

Mitch Takefman
Founder
Director of Corporate Awareness
Mitch is certified as an instructor in several mindfulness and mediation disciplines. He is also the co-creator of the Tailored Mindfulness Experience™ (TME) program and founder of MT Mindfulness Consulting. For over 30 years he has been practicing meditation and mindfulness and utilizes the approaches of different practices for various results. He has been incorporating his knowledge of various contemplative practices to create a system that is comprehensive and tailored to meet the needs of any individual student. That is why Mitch works with the TME. Too often meditation and mindfulness coaches are stuck in a bubble of the one technique they have learned. This does not serve the individual as well as creating a program that resonates with their personal strengths and goals. Through the years he has worked in with large public companies as well as start-ups. He understands the pressures and stresses that people face each day and has the tools to change perspectives and paradigms. His work has been successfully adopted by corporations as well as individuals in classes, seminars, or private sessions.

David Schmaus
Partner
Director of Education and Technology
David is an instructor and facilitator with over three decades of experience covering topics from mathematics and ethics to mindfulness. He has studied and practiced in a variety of mindfulness systems and is a Level 2 Unified Mindfulness coach. He has a PhD in Educational Administration and Leadership with research interests in ethics, regenerative practice, and building resilient communities. With experience leading and coaching large teams, David is keenly aware of the importance of building mindful resilience in a complex and rapidly changing world. David is interested in coaching people and teams through the process of developing a Tailored Mindfulness Experience™. By developing a variety of mindfulness skills, individuals can practice mindfulness in almost any circumstance. This makes mindfulness and its benefits available to everyone in an easy to access and fun to practice way. Students can work with David to create a mindfulness practice that works for them.

Bob Chiang
Associate Director
& Project Manager
Bob Chiang is a UK-based Unified Mindfulness Teacher/Trainer. 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 Teacher/Trainer. 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 Teacher/Trainer, 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 a Deep Tissue Massage Therapist

Chris Trani
Director of
Communicative Mindfulness
Chris helps people build competence and confidence to have conversations they assess as complex, difficult - or even impossible. Drawing on over 40 years of experience, Chris leverages her background as an oncology nurse, a counselor, a management / leadership development consultant, a corporate leadership and communication coach and, a mindfulness facilitator to bring a breadth of experience to her clients. Her business client list includes individuals and teams from healthcare, financial services and city/county government. She is lauded for her excellent presentation and facilitation skills and for her relentless focus on designing productive conversations that lead to action, accountability, and results. A former client described it like this -“Chris conveys tremendous empathy for people struggling with business and personal issues. She combines an endearing manner with a tough-minded focus on what needs to be accomplished.” Chris has a Masters in Counseling Psychology and multiple training certifications related to her specialty. She is a contributing author to the book “Mindful Communication: Speaking and Listening with Wisdom and Compassion” published by Routledge. She lives in Portland, Oregon US.

John Murphy
UK Regional Director
John is a Mindfulness coach based in Dublin, Ireland. After many years of cultivating his own meditation practice, working one-on-one with Shinzen Young over the phone, online, and on retreat and attending retreats in Europe, he made the decision to deepen his training at the Monastic Academy, a modern monastery in Vermont. Since then he has become a certified L2 coach in the Unified Mindfulness system and has enjoyed working with clients one-on-one and in group settings, helping them to both develop and maintain their practice. His passion now lies in being there for others as they endeavour to get their own meditation practice up and running. He has also completed numerous retreats with Moojibaba and Shodo Harada Roshi and is involved with One Drop Zen, a Rinzai zen Buddhist sangha in Dublin.

Preethi Balan
Asia Regional Director
Preethi is a certified Unified Mindfulness Teacher. She holds a Masters in Psychology, a Post graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management and an Engineering Degree. She began her career as an Instrumentation Engineer before switching to HR. Her corporate career spanned 14 years across these roles in Indian companies as well as MNCs. After completing her Masters in Psychology, Preethi worked for 6 years as a clinic and case manager at a child psychiatry centre in Bangalore. Preethi’s introduction to mindfulness was at a meditation program in 2012. Post this, she dabbled with various systems of practice. However, though each of the practices were enriching, she struggled with developing mindfulness in daily life and maintaining consistency in practice was a challenge. As she explored solutions towards this, Preethi discovered the Unified Mindfulness. The well-structured techniques taught by UM resonated well with Preethi as she was able to realise the benefits of mindfulness in a more reliable and consistent manner. It also set Preethi off on a journey to figure out the best way to teach these practices to adolescents & adults. This culminated in Preethi becoming a Trained mindfulness coach by completing 420 hours of teacher training from Unified Mindfulness. The techniques taught under the Unified Mindfulness system are secular, flexible and can be applied by anyone who wants to practice mindful living. Preethi teaches these techniques to individuals, groups, Corporate and NGO employees, and also works collaboratively with psychologists to offer support to their clients. Her goal is to support individuals to develop a consistent mindfulness practice and to apply it across daily situations. Aside from being a Mindfulness Coach, Preethi’s other engagements are as follows: • Teaching assistant with Unified Mindfulness for their Compass 2 program. • A learning partner with Har Mandir School in Coorg involved in teacher training program to implement mindfulness and other soft skills. •. Conducting group sessions for parents of children with special needs.

Brent Purple Oliver
US Regional Director
Brent is a mindfulness and meditation coach known for his bold, straightforward approach spiced with plenty of humor, curiosity, and attitude. For more than two decades, he studied and practiced within various approaches before realizing no single system could possibly contain him. His path has evolved into cutting-edge contemplative cross training that's both functional and adaptable. Brent is a certified mindfulness teacher through Unified Mindfulness and the Engaged Mindfulness Institute, as well as a certified trauma-sensitive practitioner. He works with individuals and groups to custom-tailor methods based on their goals, style, and circumstances. Over the last ten years, Brent has taught mindfulness in high schools, businesses, yoga studios, colleges, and pretty much everywhere through the magic of Zoom. One of his greatest strengths is a freakish versatility that makes him equally skilled in boardrooms, living rooms, and classrooms. He's committed to helping others discover how to be more aware, awake, and awesome.

Khalela Talion
Social Media Manager
Khalela is a freelance graphic and layout designer based in Manila. She holds Degrees in Communication Arts and Law (JD).
Our Clients.


"There are many paths up the mountain. Choose the one that is the best for your abilities and objectives. Don't choose the path because it is the only one the guide knows."
Mitch Takefman