We humans depend on automatic reflexes. Pulling our hand from a hot stove is a classic example of their protective value. But routinely reaching for the apps, the feeds, the chatbots is not. It’s extractive. These systems are engineered to manipulate brain chemistry like a drug, giving us a dopamine hit with every like we receive, then selling what they learn about us from every post we linger on. They capture our attention for profit, work on us unconsciously, and shape our preferences without our noticing.

Stack on the never-ending news streams, notifications, texts, the pull to answer our boss’s email at 9 p.m., and it’s no wonder we’re exhausted. No shock we snap at someone we love, stay stuck in loops we can’t reason our way out of, and react before we can respond. This stimulation overload is also wearing down our ability to process information.

And now, when we most need our own mental clarity, we’re encouraged to lean on AI to make sense of it all.

Granted, chatbots can feel exactly like what we need in a vulnerable moment. They can be shockingly on point about our inner lives, disarmingly so. But the relief of feeling seen comes laced with profound costs most of us were never taught to spot, let alone navigate. Researchers — including the people building AI — are now starting to document the price we are paying, such as the erosion of our ability to think for ourselves.

Why this matters now →

That’s why I started Adeptable Mind Coaching.

This practice combines brainwave training and Inner Witness work. Brainwave training takes your consciousness to the gym, strengthening your brainwaves, the electrical correlate of every state of mind.

The Inner Witness work develops the distinctly human capacity to stand back within your own mind, watch what pulls on your attention, what tugs on your emotions, and consciously choose whether that’s how you want to spend your precious time or how you wish to show up, instead of reacting on reflex.

Together, the two are a potent combination for personal sovereignty. Brainwave training teaches you to shift into a calmer, clearer state when you need it, and Inner Witness work gives you the ability to step back and watch yourself in the moment, so you can choose that response.

The brainwave training uses a guided meditation protocol for optimal performance and flow states, created by mind research pioneer and international authority on EEG and consciousness Anna Wise, whom I was trained and certified by, as well as assisted at the Esalen Institute. It is designed to evoke the empirically established brainwave signature seen in elite level professionals, advanced meditators, and Zen masters.

It comes in two tracks. The original Awakened Mind training protocol uses EEG to provide efficient feedback on your brainwave activity throughout the sessions. This allows us to identify the words and images that occur when you access the peak state. You’ll learn to use these landmarks to return to the state when you need it in your day-to-day life.

The second track is a non-EEG adaptation I developed as a more affordable option, so the price of equipment doesn’t decide who has the tools to fight tech manipulation. We use the same meditations, in the same order, with alternative assessment gauges and post-session debriefs for feedback. As in the original protocol, you develop a felt sense for each bandwidth and learn to work with each one for a more adept mental foundation, with success measured in day-to-day improvements. This is brainwave fluency training. Both paths have advantages, and both equip you with greater mastery over the state and content of consciousness.

Learn more about the two tracks →

For the Inner Witness work, I created a take-home workbook that maps the stages of moving from reaction to response, and trains you to catch yourself in the hardest moments of your day-to-day life.

You’ll also learn to spot when you’re being manipulated as you use the feeds and the chatbots, and together we’ll build a personal plan for using the technology without it using you.

At this moment in history, when control of our own thought is being methodically chipped away by technology, it couldn’t be more important to know when we’re making a considered response and when we’re rationalizing a reflex (like many of us do every day with the phone).

Whether your priority is staying awake to the manipulations of the machine, using these tools without being seduced by the tricks of the algorithms, being less reactive interpersonally, or building better boundaries, this practice puts you back in the driver’s seat.

Train for cognitive and emotional sovereignty in the age of tech capture — and take back the wheel.