Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 12, 2026

We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data responsibly. This Privacy Policy outlines our practices regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of your information through the IMBR meditation study application, the GoDeeper meditation app (including the GoDeeper AI Coach), and IMBR Academy at academy.imbr.org, including its courses, assessments, certificates and purchases.

1. Information We Collect

  1. Application Information: When you apply to join our meditation EEG research project, we collect information such as your name, contact details, and details about your meditation practice.
  2. Onboarding Information: During the onboarding process, we gather additional data about your meditation history and preferences to tailor your experience with the app.
  3. EEG and PPG Data: During meditation sessions, the app collects electroencephalogram (Brain EEG) and photoplethysmogram (Heart PPG) data, along with signals you provide when you feel changes in your meditation depth.
  4. Session Notes: After each meditation session, we collect the notes you write, which may include your personal insights and experiences.
  5. AI Coach Conversations: the questions you ask the GoDeeper AI Coach and the reports it writes for you.
  6. IMBR Academy Account: username, email address, password (stored only in encrypted form) and, if you add it, your first and last name for your certificate. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address and Google account ID, but never your Google password.
  7. IMBR Academy Learning Data: lessons you complete, your progress, answers to lesson questions, notes you write in lessons, lesson ratings and feedback, assessment attempts, answers, scores and certificates.
  8. Purchases: what you bought, when, the price, any coupon or access code used, and the payment status. Payments are processed by Stripe (see “Payments on IMBR Academy”). We never receive or store your full card number or security code.
  9. Technical data: IP address, browser and device type, and pages visited, kept in server logs for security.

2. Use of Information

We use the information collected to support our research into meditation practices and their effects on the brain and heart. By analyzing this data, neuroscientists aim to understand the correlations between brain and heart metrics and the perceived depth and shallowness in meditation across various types of meditation and levels of experience.

We also use your information to:

  • provide IMBR Academy: your account, courses, assessments and certificates;
  • process purchases, apply coupons and access codes, and send receipts;
  • keep purchase records as tax and accounting law requires;
  • generate GoDeeper AI Coach reports from your session data;
  • keep our services secure, prevent fraud and fix errors.

IMBR Academy learning and assessment data is not used for brain research.

3. Data Anonymization

All personal data is anonymized before it is used for research purposes. Your identity will not be linked to the research findings or shared externally.

4. Sharing of Information

We do not share your personal information with third parties, except as required by law or as necessary for technical reasons, such as data storage and management through third-party service providers. Any such providers will be obligated to protect the confidentiality of your data.

We do not sell your personal data. The service providers we use include Stripe (payments) and Google (if you use Google sign-in). The service that generates AI Coach reports may not use your data to train its own models.

Payments on IMBR Academy

Payments on IMBR Academy are handled by Stripe, Inc. You enter your card details on Stripe’s secure checkout page, not on our website. Stripe receives your name, email address, card details and billing country, and processes them for payment and fraud prevention under its own privacy policy. Stripe tells us whether the payment succeeded, the amount, and limited card details such as the card brand and the last four digits.

Cookies

IMBR Academy uses cookies that are needed for it to work: to keep you signed in, to remember your progress and to secure checkout. Stripe and Google set their own cookies when you use checkout or Google sign-in. You can control cookies in your browser.

5. Your Rights and Choices

  1. Opt-Out: You may opt out of the program at any time by discontinuing using the app.
  2. Data Expungement: You have the right to request the deletion of your data. To do so, please send an email to info@IMBR.org with the subject line “Delete my data.”
  3. IMBR Academy Account: To close your IMBR Academy account, email info@imbr.org.

6. Data Security

We implement various security measures to ensure the safety of your personal information. However, please note that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure.

7. Legal Compliance

GoDeeper is committed to full compliance with all applicable privacy laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for our users in the European Union and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) for residents of California. We adhere strictly to the principles of data protection by ensuring transparency, user control over personal data, and robust security measures to protect user information. Under these regulations, users have the right to access, correct, delete, and restrict the processing of their personal data. We also implement suitable safeguards when transferring data internationally, ensuring that all user information is handled with the utmost care and respect for user privacy.

For users in the EU and UK, we process data to perform our contract with you (account, courses, purchases, AI Coach), to meet legal obligations (purchase and tax records), on the basis of your consent (research, and on the basis of our legitimate interests (security, improving lessons). You can also complain to your local data protection authority. California residents: we do not sell or share personal data for advertising.

8. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

9. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. EEG, PPG, and session data may be retained in anonymized form for research purposes without time limitation. If you request deletion of your data, we will delete or anonymize your personal data within a reasonable timeframe, unless retention is required by law.

IMBR Academy account, progress, assessment results and certificates are kept while your account is active, and up to 12 months after you ask us to close it. Purchase records are kept as long as tax and accounting law requires, usually 7 years. Server logs are kept for up to 90 days.

Children

Our services are not meant for anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect data from children.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Institute for Meditation Brainwave Research (IMBR)
Email: info@imbr.org
Mark McDonough
P.O. Box 205
Gloucester, MA 01931