Greg Burdulis

Somatic Coaching Certification (SCC)

Integrated Trauma Practitioner (ITP)

Whole Brain Living Advanced Certification (WBLAC)

Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT)

TEDxBoulder Speaker

Certified Mindfulness Teacher (CMT)

Professional Certified Coach (PCC)

Masters in Spirituality (MA)

Former monk

I specialize in people like you, who know there’s more to life than their current life circumstances but… but…but… When I felt this way I launched into widely different directions to discover what was missing: I studied psychology and dance. I taught rock climbing and mountaineering. I rode freight trains. I set off to travel around the world—and turned back after 2 years. I worked in famine relief operations. I was a professional storyteller and chaplain. I completed graduate school. I lived in Asia for 10 years, 7 of them as a monk in Burma.

I returned to the US with a plan to teach what I had learned in the monasteries. I quickly realized I needed more skills so I studied yoga, coaching, neuroscience, humor, adult learning, integrative trauma training, and somatics.

I married. We bought a house…and a cat.

Now I mentor people who have a hunger similar to mine. I help them learn what’s important and to organize their lives to prioritize that.

I don’t claim I’m special, but I am unique, just like you. Together we can learn to prune what doesn’t work for you, and fertilize what does. I enjoy connecting with clients whom I see as fellow travelers.

Short Story

I founded The Power of Presence in 2008 to bring to the world what was hidden in the monasteries—techniques to relax the body and focus the mind and touch eternity. In my teaching, I add neuroscience and positive psychology.

To benefit from mindfulness you don’t have to shave your head and disappear for 7 years.  You just have to train your mind–regularly and properly.  Simple–but not easy.  That’s why for millennia teachers have been guides, mirrors and support on this path. I am forever indebted to mine.

Here’s what I learned: “I am not a perfect monk…but I am a happy monk.”

Acknowledging imperfection is wisdom.  Recognizing our power to influence our mental and emotional states is terrifying and, ultimately,  liberating.

That’s what work with clients boils down to:

-Acknowledge reality

-Practice calm, courage, compassion and connectivity.  In short,  feel good.

Because it’s almost impossible to do this on your own, let me help.  I’ll give you the gifts my teachers gave me.

Not perfection, just clarity, focus and peace.

Long Story

I have been interested in the depth and breadth of what is possible for human beings for as long as I can remember. As a child my curiosity led me away from home so often Mom pinned a note on my shirt:  “My name is Greg Burdulis.  Please call my mom at 256-0893.”

My senior year of high school was in Switzerland.

My interest in the natural world led me to guiding wilderness canoe and mountaineering trips—which paid for college, where I investigated the deeper layers of human experience while studying psychology, counseling and dance.

Exploring the breadth of human experience, I traveled in Central and South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa. I rode freight trains, soloed mountains and the Great Pyramid of Cheops, and did famine relief work in the Sahara.

Expanding creativity, I made a living as a storyteller.  And volunteered for hospice.

I danced on and choreographed for the low-flying trapeze.

Articles about my hospice experiences and travels and teaching with Matthew Fox were published in national journals. Newspapers wrote warmly about my dance.  A fiction piece was published in a literary journal.

In hopes of understanding the spiritual dimension of life I gained a Masters of Spirituality degree. What I learned about compassion and the inter-web of life motivated me to reach out more toward others. I trained and served as a chaplain.

I learned that “study” only goes so far.  I was hungry to completely immerse myself in spirituality. I lived in Asia for 9 years, studying philosophy and practicing meditation.

Meditation is hard work. I thought being a monk might magically make meditation easier and hurry up the process.  Nope.

However, I experienced profound fulfillment and elated, but serene states of freedom. I knew from direct experience that time didn’t exist and realized the transience of all phenomena. I could see that pain is inevitable in life and suffering is optional. I connected with our tremendous human potential for positive change.

My father was dying. I returned to the States. I saw being a happy hermit was no longer the challenge. Being a happy, peaceful layman and husband while contributing to society are the new challenges.

What I experienced as a monk is invaluable. It changed my life profoundly for the better…and still does.  My work is to help others learn what I did. This is one way to contribute to the inter-web of life.

I’ve been consulting regularly at one of the hottest ad agencies in the world. Stress and pressure are extreme. Though employees don’t have the benefit of a cave, they are learning mindfulness, concentration, patience, perseverance, appreciation, the power of intention and the vigor of happiness.

They look better, smile more, and manage stress effectively.

They are happier…and everyone around them is better off.

After all, we’re all in this together.

Facts, Dates & Places

     Education & Training

2024 Certified Somatic Coach, The Somatic School, UK

2023 Certified Integrated Trauma Practitioner, Aura Institute,

2022 Certified Whole Brain Living Instructor, Advanced Level, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

2020 Certified International Mindfulness Teachers Association, Professional Level

2019 Certification 200 Hr. Yoga Teacher Training, East+West, Yoga Alliance

2014  Professional Coaching Certification, International Coaching Federation

2104 Certified Fearless Leaders Coaching & Facilitation, TC North, Boulder, CO

2012 Certified Body and Movement Coach, Newfield Network, Boulder, CO

2012 Certified Coach, Newfield Network, Boulder, CO

1999 Chaplaincy Training; Pastoral Education, 5 units, Meriter Hospital, Madison, WI

1994 M.A. Spirituality; Institute of Culture and Creation Spirituality, Oakland, CA

1982 B.S. Counseling and Education; The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA

Meditation Training

25,000 + hours of practice

Daily practice—40 years

Intensive meditation practice; Burma, 2001-07

Livelihood

Design and facilitate courses at Google, eBay, Facebook, Eli Lilly… in US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Korea…

Develop and lead online mindfulness sessions and courses privately and for eMindful.com

Write and record “Mindfulness Resources” for women with advanced breast cancer for Novartis

Lead mindfulness sessions; WisdomLabs and Salesforce

Keynote for Nutrition Business Journal Summit CA, and Social Ventures Network, MA

“Monk” Consultant; engage employees in mindfulness and broaden their perspectives through group sessions and individual meetings—Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, Boulder, CO

Teach Vipassana meditation; Thailand, Burma, USA

Choreograph and dance for Cycropia Aerial Dance Inc., Madison, WI

Facilitate The Artist’s Way—Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, with Julia Cameron, Taos, NM

Teach Creation Spirituality with Matthew Fox; Europe and Philippines

Teach yoga, USA, India, and Nepal

Volunteer; Hospice Family Care, Tucson, AZ

Storyteller; Arizona Commission on the Arts, USA, Mexico, Bolivia and Peru

Manage grain shipments at desert airport; European Economic Community, El Fasher, Sudan

Guide mountaineering, canoeing, and whitewater trips, USA

Facilitate Wilderness Therapy with At-Risk Youth, Santa Fe Mt. Center, NM