Where my claims come from

How I decide what to say

Every claim rests on published research, a plausible scientific explanation, or a long-standing tradition, and I say which. If it rests on none of them, I don't say it.

• Research-backed: studies support it, and I cite them.
• Based on research: it's built on research about how something works, but hasn't been tested in this exact form.
• Traditional practice: a long-standing mindfulness practice, described as such.
• Practical method: a working method from my own practice. No health effect is claimed.

Inside the course, every technique in the Technique Library carries one of these labels with its source, and every course screen lists the research it draws on.

The main claims, and what's behind them

• Mindfulness at work. Across 23 randomised trials of mindfulness training delivered at work, people reported less stress, anxiety and psychological distress, and better wellbeing and sleep. The same review found no clear evidence either way for burnout, depression or work performance (Bartlett et al., 2019).
• It isn't always comfortable. In a careful study of an eight-week programme, 37% of participants had at least one meditation-related experience that affected their day-to-day functioning (Britton et al., 2021). That's why practice is always optional and adjustable. See Wellbeing & Safety.
• AI saves time on some work. In a controlled trial, people using ChatGPT finished writing tasks about 40% faster (Noy & Zhang, 2023).
• AI makes confident mistakes. On a task outside AI's strengths, consultants using it were 19 percentage points less likely to get the right answer (Dell'Acqua et al., 2023), and specialist legal AI tools made things up on 17–33% of queries (Magesh et al., 2024). That's why the course teaches you to build a human check into any AI workflow.
• Habits take time. A new daily habit took a median of 66 days to become automatic, with wide variation (Lally et al., 2010), so the programme is built around repetition, not one-off workshops.
• Breathing. Slow breathing lowers heart rate and helps people settle (Zaccaro et al., 2018), and five minutes a day of cyclic sighing lifted mood in a month-long trial (Balban et al., 2023).
• Wait and return. The course's attention loop: wait alertly, notice when you drift, come back kindly. It's built on research rather than tested as a package. Focused meditation cycles through focus, drifting, noticing and returning (Hasenkamp et al., 2012). The mind wanders more when a task asks little of it (Forster & Lavie, 2009). And expecting a sensation in one part of the body prepares the brain's touch area for it (van Ede et al., 2011). That it makes unguided practice easier to stay with is my own experience.
• Being kind to yourself. In a lab study, short self-compassion exercises lowered heart rate and raised heart rate variability (Kirschner et al., 2019), and talking to yourself by name instead of "I" reduced emotional reactivity (Moser et al., 2017). If you're usually hard on yourself, kindness can feel uncomfortable at first (Rockliff et al., 2011).
• Hours and dollar figures. The ROI calculator gives estimates, not guarantees. How it's worked out explains each figure.
• Spiritual language. When I use a spiritual term, such as "the veil", I say so and pair it with the research term where there is one (naive realism).

What I don't claim

• The programme is training, not therapy. It doesn't diagnose, treat or cure anything.
• I don't promise results. People and teams vary, and I measure what actually changes.
• I won't use reviews or stories that suggest the programme improved someone's health.

Spotted something I can't back up?

Tell me at support@alignedmomentum.co.nz. I'll check it, then fix it or take it down. This approach follows the Fair Trading Act and the ASA's Therapeutic and Health Advertising Code. How I use AI is on a separate page.

Last updated 29 October 2026.