You're invited to participate in an event at the forefront of science and meditation...

Transcranial Focused Ultrasound (tFUS)
Meditation Retreat 

When: December 10 - 17, 2025

Where: Dharma Treasure (Culadasa's Retreat Center) 

Approximately a 90-minute drive southeast of Tucson or 3 hours from Phoenix.

Please join us for a one-of-a-kind Unified Mindfulness retreat and experience Transcranial Focused Ultrasound (tFUS) neuromodulation for yourself, while supporting next-gen science!

As of 11/8/2025, only 9 spots are still available, so please save yours quickly. Candidates will be contacted in the order we receive the Retreat Candidate Questionnaires.
Join this collaboration between Unified Mindfulness and SEMA lab. Julianna Raye will lead you in a 7 day equanimity focused meditation retreat while tFUS (transcranial focused ultrasound) is administered three times, as part of a study led by Dr. Jay Sanguinetti.

The week includes immersive meditation practice, equanimity centered group discussion and Q&A, private mindfulness coaching, and science and wisdom talks. Plus, you’ll experience three tFUS sessions and support important contemplative neuroscience research in the process.

SEMA lab is exploring the possibility that neuromodulation through transcranial focused ultrasound can lower the barriers to meditation and allow practitioners to access its benefits more deeply. You can participate in a study that helps them validate or adjust that premise. We hope you’ll join us for this unique retreat.

Come participate in this event at the forefront of science and meditation and see for yourself, December 10 - 17, 2025!

Here's what to do next.

The available beds are listed below. All beds (including the Bell tents) have electricity and heat. The prices listed are per person and include all meals for all seven (7) days of the retreat.

Once you've decided on your lodging, please click the "Select & Complete Questionnaire" button.  All potential retreat participants need to complete a short Retreat Candidate Questionnaire as the next step. 

Once you complete your questionnaire, you will be contacted by the SEMA lab for the brief screening call.  All retreat candidates must complete this short screening phone call to confirm that you will be eligible for the ultrasound.  This call also gives you an opportunity to talk with someone at the SEMA lab for any questions you may have prior to confirming your spot. If you have logistical questions, please send an email to the support desk here: support@unifiedmindulness.com

All participants will need an MRI before the retreat for the purpose of administering the ultrasound. If you already have an MRI, you are welcome to use that. If not, the SEMA lab will pay for your MRI in Tucson, but you will need to arrive a day or two early to have one done. Accommodations in Tucson pre-retreat are not covered.

Meditators of all experience levels are welcome to attend!

Choose Your Accommodations (10 beds still open):

Allegra's (2)

One-bedroom apartment with 2 twin beds.

Complete price per person for food and lodging across all 7 days is $1,387.50.

Kuti (2)

Small meditation hut with a twin bed, a desk and a composting toilet.

Complete price per person for food and lodging across all 7 days is $1,495.00.

Yurt (3)

Yurt with electricity, heating and cooling, and running water; 4 twin beds, each in a private space.

Complete price per person for food and lodging across all 7 days is $1,193.75.

Bell Tent (2)

Canvas tents with electricity, heating, and a twin bed.

Complete price per person for food and lodging across all 7 days is $1,250.00.

Retreat led by Julianna Raye 

Designer of the Unified Mindfulness Teacher Training, Julianna Raye is devoted to deepening people’s ability to practice and understand research-supported mindfulness and to empowering anyone to guide others in its practice. She has been training individuals and groups in the Unified Mindfulness system for over two decades.

Julianna has been leading retreats for over two decades. To this retreat she brings three decades of her own silent retreat training and over 20,000 hours of formal practice, along with her experience collaborating with leading contemplative neuroscience researchers.

 Her brain has been studied in neuroscience labs at Vanderbilt, the University of New Mexico, the University of Arizona, and in a published University of California, Los Angeles study comparing long-term meditators’ brains with those of non-meditators. She also designed and led the mindfulness program for a workplace research study, carried out under top mindfulness researcher David Creswell, PhD, through his Human Performance lab at Carnegie Mellon University. That study showed positive outcomes regarding improved employee well-being and decreased stress. A novel aspect of it was an emphasis on the application of mindfulness techniques in daily life, which is a strength of the Unified Mindfulness system.

Julianna is the coauthor of papers from the study that were published in two prominent peer-reviewed journals: Mindfulness and the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. Dr. Creswell developed the field of health neuroscience. Based on his equanimity research and Julianna’s expertise in the UM model, they joined with a third co-founder, Mat Polowitz, to create Equa, a first-of-its-kind predictive closed-loop interactive app.

Transcranial Focused Ultrasound (tFUS) Neuromodulation by SEMA lab, University of Arizona

Mindfulness has many potential benefits, but it is often difficult to maintain a practice to reach those rewards. At SEMA lab, we propose to biophysically operationalize the measurement of mindful awareness. Then, we hope to clarify, by gold standard clinical criteria, how those skills serve to significantly increase physiological and psycho-social well being. 

Our research will give us a better understanding of how mindfulness works and should allow more patients and the general population to access the benefits.
The tFUS study is led by Dr. John Allen, but Jay will be on site at the retreat.

SEMA Lab Co-Director, Dr. Jay Sanguinetti

Jay is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona where he co-directs the SEMA (Sonication Enhanced Mindful Awareness) lab. SEMA lab investigates how mindfulness practice impacts the brain and behavior, and whether focused ultrasound neuromodulation can augment mindfulness practice. He is also the Assistant Director at the Center for Consciousness Studies at Arizona. Dr. Sanguinetti received his PhD in Cognition and Neural Systems in 2014 from the University of Arizona.

Transcranial Focused Ultrasound (tFUS) Neuromodulation by SEMA lab, University of Arizona

Mindfulness has many potential benefits, but it is often difficult to maintain a practice to reach those rewards. At SEMA lab, we propose to biophysically operationalize the measurement of mindful awareness. Then, we hope to clarify, by gold standard clinical criteria, how those skills serve to significantly increase physiological and psycho-social well being. 

Our research will give us a better understanding of how mindfulness works and should allow more patients and the general population to access the benefits.
The tFUS study is led by Dr. John Allen, but Jay will be on site at the retreat.

SEMA Lab Co-Director, Dr. Jay Sanguinetti

Jay is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona where he co-directs the SEMA (Sonication Enhanced Mindful Awareness) lab. SEMA lab investigates how mindfulness practice impacts the brain and behavior, and whether focused ultrasound neuromodulation can augment mindfulness practice. He is also the Assistant Director at the Center for Consciousness Studies at Arizona. Dr. Sanguinetti received his PhD in Cognition and Neural Systems in 2014 from the University of Arizona.

Questions about this Retreat?

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