ServiceSpace Pods

Born to Flourish

Starts Apr 12, 2026

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About This Pod

We are living through a quiet emergency. Loneliness now carries the same health risk as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day. Our minds wander nearly half of all waking hours, pulled by worry, regret, or the glow of our screens.

Yet decades of research by pioneering neuroscientists Richard J. Davidson and Cortland Dahl point to something both radical and hopeful: flourishing is a trainable skill. The same biological systems that can leave us distracted and anxious can also be trained to cultivate clarity, resilience, compassion, and purpose. As their new book Born to Flourish suggests, we are not starting from scratch. The capacity to flourish is already built into us.

“Five minutes of deliberate practice each day is enough to produce lasting changes in attention, emotional resilience, and well-being. You don’t need to overhaul your life. You need to use the minutes you already have.”

This seven-day pod draws on their decades of research at the Center for Healthy Minds. Together, we’ll explore four trainable capacities at the heart of flourishing: Awareness, Connection, Insight, and Purpose. 

And we’ll do it together. Because one of the most striking findings from this research is that flourishing is contagious. When we cultivate these qualities in ourselves, their effects ripple outward.

Our Pod Journey

The pod unfolds over a week — opening and closing calls bookending seven days of guided practice, reflection, and shared dialogue.

Apr 10
Friday		 Guest-Listener Call with Dr. Cortland Dahl
7:00 AM Pacific · 3:00 PM UK · 7:30 PM India
90 min
Apr 12
Sunday		 Pod Orientation Call (All Podmates + Richie & Cort!)
9:00 AM Pacific · 5:00 PM UK · 9:30 PM India
75 min
Apr 13–18
Mon–Sat		 Seven Days of Practice & Reflection
Each day: a new dimension of flourishing — a reading, a short meditation, one small real-world experiment, and shared reflections with your global podmates.
~5-10 hours over the week
Apr 19
Sunday		 Closing Circle (All Podmates + Richie & Cort!)
7:00 AM Pacific · 3:00 PM UK · 7:30 PM India
90 min

About Richie & Cort

Dr. Richard Davidson

Richie Davidson is a neuroscientist whose career changed direction after a conversation with the Dalai Lama in 1992. He’d spent years studying the brain circuits of anxiety and depression. The Dalai Lama asked a disarmingly simple question: Why can’t you use those same tools to study kindness and compassion? That question became his life’s work. He founded the Center for Healthy Minds at UW–Madison, where his team has published over 600 articles on emotion, the brain, and contemplative practice.

Dr. Cortland Dahl

Cortland Dahl came to this work through a different door. Struggling with anxiety as a college student, he found his way to meditation — and eventually to a decade living in Tibetan refugee settlements in Nepal and India, studying under revered teachers. He later earned the first-ever PhD in Mind, Brain, and Contemplative Science from UW–Madison, where he designed the Healthy Minds Program — a free wellbeing app downloaded over a million times across 140 countries, bridging ancient contemplative wisdom and modern brain science.

Together, they host Dharma Lab, a growing community at the intersection of neuroscience and contemplative wisdom. 

To join the pod, you don’t need to have meditated before. You don’t need to have read the book. What helps is genuine curiosity about your own inner life — and a willingness to look honestly at what you find.

To join, fill out the form below. Once you are approved by the circle host, you will receive a welcome email with your login information.