Get Sensate
Sensate is a palm-sized device that pairs soothing soundscapes with gentle vibration to calm your nervous system. Here's how it works, the research behind it, and how to try it — here in the room, or at home.
Have a group code? Enter STAFFORDGROUP at checkout for your discount.
A gentle reset for a busy nervous system
Sensate was developed in a London clinic by a therapist working with stress and trauma. You lie back, rest the smooth, palm-sized device on your breastbone, and press play. Paired with headphones, it layers calming soundscapes over subtle infrasonic vibration you feel through your chest.
Together, sound and vibration gently tone the vagus nerve — the body's built-in calming system — guiding you toward the kind of settled, meditative state that can otherwise take years of practice to reach.
Stafford & Associates clients: use code STAFFORDGROUP for your group discount.
Two minutes with Sensate
Watch how the device works and what a session actually looks like.
Measurable calm, backed by science
Sensate has been studied in clinics and research labs using validated questionnaires alongside EEG, ECG, and biometric data. A few of the headline findings:
Maastricht Pilot Study
25 adults · Sensate daily for 14 days · validated questionnaires
- ✓One extra hour of sleep per night, on average
- ✓Time to fall asleep cut from over an hour to under 30 minutes
- ✓Average stress score fell from 23.0 to 16.2
- ✓Anxiety dropped from high to low levels
Lisbon Pilot Study
24 adults · a single 20-minute session · EEG, ECG & biometrics
- ✓26% increase in meditation-like theta brainwaves
- ✓27% decrease in stress-like beta brainwaves
- ✓Heart rate dropped nearly 5 bpm
- ✓Significant decrease in anxiety and sadness
New Medicine Group
London clinic patients · a single 20-minute session
- ✓Immediate improvement in HRV coherence
- ✓Significantly improved perceived well-being
McDoniel Efficacy Study
Adults using Sensate 5–6× a week over ~3 months
- ✓Significant reduction in stress levels
- ✓Increased well-being reported
- ✓Reduced general symptom severity
Sensate has seriously changed my life. The sounds and vibrations would take me away — often I'd fall asleep within five or six minutes.
Findings drawn from the Maastricht and Lisbon pilot studies, the New Medicine Group clinical audit, and the McDoniel efficacy study. Pilot studies with small samples — promising, not a substitute for medical advice.
Support that continues between our sessions
So much of healing happens in the ordinary hours between appointments. We recommend Sensate because it gives your body a simple, reliable way to down-regulate on its own — no meditation practice to master, no willpower required.
Try Sensate the next time you're in
You're welcome to arrive fifteen minutes before your appointment — or stay fifteen minutes after — to unwind with Sensate in our Relaxation Room. It's a quiet way to arrive settled, or to carry the calm of your session home with you.
Bring a little more calm home
If you're curious whether Sensate could help you, we'd love to talk it through — or you can explore it for yourself.
Stafford & Associates is a Sensate affiliate. If you purchase through the links on this page, we may earn a small commission — at no additional cost to you. We only recommend tools we believe in and use in our own practice.