Welcome to Mindful Skills! My name is George Lucien Chen, and for over 50 years I have studied and practiced many different forms of meditation, spirituality, and martial arts. From 1991 to 2020, I taught tai chi within the Cheng Man-ching lineage, first at Yale University and then in my own schools in Westchester County, NY. In 1998, I founded Cedar Knolls Sangha within the Tiep Hien Buddhist lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Since 2011, I have taught mindfulness full time in schools, prisons, corporations, and to many private clients. In 2020, I started offering sessions online. Today, I welcome meditation students from all over the world, both virtually and in person. 

Decades of scientific research have validated the many benefits of meditation. Even so, it should never be a bitter chore, like taking medicine. My mission is to help you taste the pleasure of practice, not just the benefits, and to experience its transformative power in your day-to-day life. Through the articles and videos posted here, and the diverse on-line and in-person services and events described in this website, it is my privilege to share this practice with sincere students of all backgrounds, ages and levels of experience.

I should also add a word about the influence of spiritual traditions in my teaching. Since the start of my career, I have offered many programs — especially those conducted in schools and companies — completely free of religious content, and I am perfectly happy doing that whenever the occasion calls for it. At the same time, in my own practice and with private clients, I make liberal use of wisdom found in Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, martial arts, the teachings of Meher Baba, and many other sources. This broad spectrum of influences should not deter those who are uncomfortable with the word “spiritual.” At Mindful Skills, we love and respect the language of science, and while we celebrate the richness and ingenuity of spiritual traditions, we neither represent nor demand ideological commitments apart from our common, cooperative engagement in the study and practice of meditation as a life experiment that is always empirical and true to our personal experience.