One seed grant. Five years of NIH funding.

Dear John,

I joined Mind & Life as Director of Development earlier this year, and one of the joys of these first months has been learning how far a single research grant can go. I’d love to tell you about one of them.

In 2024, clinical psychologist Erin Mistretta of the University of Washington set out to understand why a mindfulness practice can be so hard to keep up for people living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Fatigue, pain, and difficulties with mobility or concentration can make each day different from the last. Mindfulness may help, but keeping up a regular practice isn’t always easy.

With a Mind & Life Varela grant, Erin and her team talked with 17 people living with MS and asked: What gets in the way?

They told her. They also gave her something more: words of encouragement for the people who would come after them. Erin’s team gathered those words into a bank of supportive messages, from people who’ve been there to people just starting out.

Research like Erin’s is hard to fund at the start—she calls it “niche upon niche upon niche.” It’s too early for big federal grants and too specialized for most funders. Promising ideas often stall in that gap.

That gap is exactly where Mind & Life steps in, and where you can help. Erin’s progress on her Varela project helped show National Institutes of Health (NIH) reviewers she was ready to lead this work. This spring, she began a five-year NIH Career Development Award to build and test an app that helps people with MS turn mindfulness into a lasting habit as part of treatment for chronic pain, one practice at a time.

One seed grant of $15,537 led to five years of federal funding and a tool designed with the very people it’s meant to help. That’s the kind of impact that keeps amazing me.

Right now, a young scientist somewhere has an idea that could ease real suffering. All it needs is someone to believe in it first. This is the moment to be that someone.

Two longtime community members of Mind & Life are matching every gift, dollar for dollar, up to $200,000 through December 31, while committed matching funds remain. Those funds are released only when someone like you gives. Your $50 becomes $100. Your $250 becomes $500.

If Erin’s story moves you, I hope you’ll join us. Whatever amount you choose to give will be doubled, and it would mean so much to have you with us.

Your gift supports grants for emerging scientists, scholarships to the Summer Research Institute (where Erin’s path with Mind & Life began in 2022), and the 40th-anniversary Mind & Life Dialogue.

Give and join us live. Every donor, in any gift amount, will receive a personal invitation to a live, one-hour conversation with David Creswell, host of the Mind & Life Podcast. Every donor also receives the recording.

Thank you for being part of the Mind & Life community. Whatever you decide, I’m grateful for the care you bring to this work.

With gratitude and joy,

Susan Lane
Director of Development, Mind & Life Institute



P.S. Erin’s work began with 17 conversations and one seed grant. Through December 31, your gift will be doubled, and it could help the next idea take root.