Last August I went through the first layoff of my biotech career. I had a newborn son at home. It wasn't just job loss. It was job loss plus a newborn, no sleep, and my own pressure to support the family. I told myself I would be fine but months went by with hundreds of applications, nothing. Constant ghosting. I felt invisible, defeated and couldn't stop replaying every moment as if I could change them. Journaling became glorified goal setting. Grand plans to get in shape, read more, build things. But I was exhausted most days and it made me feel worthless for not following through. Meditation apps felt too passive. I couldn't sit still and with each session the voice in my head grew louder. I went back to something I studied in undergrad, neuroscience and Buddhism. Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's research showed that the physiological response to an emotion clears the body in 90 seconds. After that it's our own thought patterns keeping it alive, not the emotion itself. So I built Salwa around that idea. Write what you're carrying. Sit with it for 90 seconds. Then choose: release it, or hold onto it until you're ready. Rooted in the Buddhist principle of impermanence. The practice is learning to let things move through you rather than hold onto them. The act of letting something go is different from forgetting it. Letting go is a trainable skill. With small consistent practice, 90 seconds throughout the day, we can strengthen the brain's ability to process and release what weighs us down unnecessarily. The result isn't the absence of hard things. It's the clarity and peace that comes from not carrying them longer than we need to. So that we can fully embrace our lives in the present. I built this for myself. I hope it can help someone else too.

Salwa — Feel it. Sit with it. Let it go.

A 90-second practice for what you're carrying.

A 90-second practice for what you're carrying.