garden of mind:

little seeds, lifelong flowers

Why mindfulness?

Many students struggle to set aside time for personal care. Not only do they often lack the knowledge and practices to find balance, but are also subject to normalization of stress and the stigma of seeking professional help.

Research has found that mindfulness-based interventions can help reduce levels of stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. This is due to the mind-body connection: how we see and react to our problems determines how much distress we experience.

Mindfulness is not a replacement for professional or medical help. Rather, it is a promising and powerful supplement for students to add to their lifelong toolkit as they enter an increasingly stressful and turbulent world.

Because mindfulness can be practiced in shorter sessions and in community, it is especially suitable for this young adult population. Consequently, the key components of garden of mind are both backed by the learning sciences, and designed with college students’ needs keenly in mind — all situated within a nostalgic pixel aesthetic.

After rigorous research and user testing, garden of mind is now available on the Apple App Store. Download here, and explore features and trailer video below.

Key Features

Home. Daily, actionable “tiny” prompts encourage short mindfulness moments, supporting habit formation and self-efficacy.

Chatbot. mimi, the in-app bot, provides friendly and convenient advice to help users integrate mindfulness into daily life.

Ecosystem. Stay in community by sharing mindful moments. Check in with friends easily by sending quick virtual hugs.

Self-paced learning. Longer, in-depth readings and exercises are available. Audio options improve accessibility.

College students’ mental health is in crisis.

It is urgent to develop innovative stress management resources for this young adult population that faces a unique constellation of challenges. garden of mind, my Master’s capstone thesis, is a mobile application grounded in foundational mindfulness literature that leverages the power of tiny habits, existing social networks, and cozy gamification to scaffold the building of a daily mindfulness habit. To earn seeds, students complete short, daily mindfulness exercises and provide social support and accountability in community with friends. These seeds then blossom day by day into a garden of pixel flowers, demonstrating visual progress of habit formation and a commitment to practicing for life.