05/01/2026
For the past 4–5 years, I’ve been working as a Research Scientist in Psychiatry at UC San Diego, studying digital mindfulness and mental health.
But my perspective on meditation hasn’t come from research alone.
Over the years, I’ve seen it from different angles—a long-term personal practice (about 17 years, including a 10-day Vipassana retreat),using tools like the Healthy Minds Program during my time at UW–Madison,spending consistent time with platforms like Calm over the past couple of years,and working with in-house tools like BrainE as part of my research at NEATLabs.
And somewhere along the way, a gap became hard to ignore.
Most meditation apps are really well designed.
They’re calming. Easy to use. Even beautiful.
But when you look a little deeper…
I’m not sure they consistently lead to lasting change in:
– attention– emotional regulation– anxiety or depression symptoms
At least, not in a way we can clearly measure.