Let’s start with what it is NOT. Positive Intelligence is not some wishy-washy, feel-good, saccharine faith-based system. It is not woo woo (and I know and appreciate the woo, as someone with a deep interest in unexplained phenomena, non-western healing modalities, and other ways of knowing).

Instead, PQ® is a research-backed mental fitness program that was developed from Shirzad Charmine’s synthesis of studies in neuroscience, cognitive behavioral psychology, positive psychology, and performance science that is designed to build your capacity to respond to life’s challenges with a positive mindset. It can help you approach life with peace of mind, improve relationships, and enhance your performance. Charmine’s research is summarized in the NY Times best-selling book, Positive Intelligence.

The program is 8 weeks. We spend the first week getting to know the app and our pod. The next 7-weeks are for PQ® skill building in the app.

Lara offers 1 cohort per season. You may pre-register at any time after speaking with Lara (to ensure that the program is a good fit). You're encouraged to pre-register as soon as possible to save your seat.

Fall 2025: October 27 - December 20

Winter 2026

Spring 2026

Summer 2026

No, the 8-week PQ® program is not like any class you have had in traditional school, especially pre-Covid. While we meet once weekly as a pod, you'll do the rest of the program privately on your own time. There are many different ways to learn–through the videos, reading, talking in our pod, and connecting with the larger community in the app. Much of the learning is experiential.

Clients are often surprised by how little of an interruption to their day the PQ® activities are. There are multiple tasks, and you have flexibility regarding when you complete most of them. The only set time you have is your weekly 1-hour pod meeting during the 8-week program, which will take place on a Monday or Tuesday.

Everything else takes place in the app, and the app will send you notifications so that you can stay on top of your commitment. If you do the work as planned, most of it is in short, 3-minute bursts so that it is not overwhelming or too uncomfortable. The other tasks during the 8-week program include:

Watching a 1-hour video sometime between Saturday and Monday

Completing 15-minutes of daily practice in the app between Monday and Friday:

a. Listen to the 2-minute daily focus in the morning, b. Optional: complete one or two Recharge sessions throughout the day, c. Optional: complete a brief reflection in the evening, d. maybe do some PQ® reps in the gym

Optional: Reading the NY Times Best Selling Book, Positive Intelligence, or listening to the audio book

Your pod is a small group of up to 5 people who are taking this program with you and Lara at the same time.

If you want to make your own pod of 3-5 people, get started early. It often takes people between 3-6 months of lead time. You can start by sharing this website with them. Once everyone in your pod agrees on which cohort to join, contact Lara with your interest. She will want to talk with each person to make sure that the program is a good fit before anyone commits.

The Gym is in the app that you will get when you join the PQ® Core Foundations program. There are a variety of exercises (PQ® reps) for you to do whenever you need an extra boost–before an important meeting, or a potentially tense discussion, for example. They are in 2-minute, 5-minute, and 12-minute chunks so that you can customize them based on what best suits your mood. As you do your PQ® reps in the gym, you will see how charged up your PQ® battery is. The higher the charge, the more easily you will be able to handle whatever challenges come your way.

How much are you spending on self-help or self-care activities that help you cope for a few hours? How much are you spending on alcohol or other substances to calm your anxious mind? Many people spend more money on quick fixes than you will spend to change your habits and mindset through the PQ® Core Foundations program. If you do the work, it works. In fact, if you show up to every pod meeting and do all of the assigned work in the app and do not show an increase in your PQ® muscle in the app, I’ll refund you.

The 8-week program costs $995. It is possible to pay in installments if necessary (50% must be paid upfront). If you are unable to afford the $995 for the 8-week program, please get in touch with me as I do have special rates and I am open to barter. Know that YOU are worth investing in. And your investment in my services will help me to continue bringing PQ to our loved ones and communities.

The 8-week program works best when you can join a pod–a small group of up to 5 people.

If you are a private person who will feel less able to share in pods where you don’t know everyone, please consider sharing this opportunity with a few people you already trust so that you can be in a pod together.

It is possible to do this program individually, if necessary, although there are no special rates available for individual programs.

Please read the question above--"What's a pod?"--for more information.

You will meet with your pod once weekly for an hour over 8 weeks. While we will be discussing our understanding and experiences of each week’s material, pod members are encouraged to share for an equal amount of time, and no preparation is necessary. It’s not as intense as some of my introverted clients initially feared it would be. In fact, it’s often laid back and calming–yet invigorating.

This program works best when you incorporate it into your daily life. You must be able to prioritize your work in the 8-week program, so do not take this if you are absolutely overwhelmed or incapable of getting onto an app daily and meeting weekly with your pod.

If you are generally in a positive mental space, this program can help you keep that sage feeling without getting completely thrown off when life throws its challenges your way.

If you are burnt out, hopeless, clinically depressed to the point of being unable to do anything, it’s better if you seek therapy and wait to do PQ® once you are feeling able to focus. 

If you are seeking more peace and calm, if you wish to have more control over how you react to life’s challenges, and you are willing to do the hard work of stretching and growing, this is for you.

If you want to help yourself so that you can better help your family, friends, clients, and community, this is for you.

To do this well, you must be able to commit to doing this 8-week program like an A or B student.

You must also be open-minded and willing to recognize some of the more difficult ways that you have been reacting to the world. Looking your Saboteurs square in the eye can be a humbling experience, especially if you–like most of us–have the habit of beating yourself up, despite your kindness and compassion for other people, plants, and animals. Lara will help you, and your pod will help, as long as you are willing to share vulnerably in this safe space. 

I will be your pod facilitator, your personal cheerleader, your accountability nudge, and your sparker of insight. I’ll share PQ® reps that are not included in the app so that you can expand your practice. I will also serve as a coach, guiding you from the side instead of talking at you. This app-guided program will feature weekly video lessons and daily practice activities led by the founder of Positive Intelligence, Shirzad Charmine.

No. This is not therapy. But it is therapeutic. Positive Intelligence is an operating system that will help you introduce more ease and flow into your life through a combination of knowledge and practice. Specifically, PQ® will help you to identify when you are self-sabotaging, and will give you tools and practice strengthening your ability to shift away from self-sabotage towards self-command so that you can face your daily challenges with a sage mindset. 

No. We will not be opening “the trauma box” in PQ®. You will not be spilling your guts. You will only examine and share what you wish. While what you learn in PQ® will help you to manage your reactions to daily challenges and even equip you to handle potentially traumatic situations with more calm and clarity than you would have before, we will not be dealing directly with your trauma. Past clients have found it beneficial to work with a therapist for processing their trauma.

Past clients who were diagnosed with ADHD who have been able to prioritize completing the daily requirements of the 8-week program and who have consistently done their work in the app have benefited greatly from this program. Those who have been unable to prioritize the work, stick to a schedule, or consistently work in the app have not experienced much of a benefit.

The bottom line is that if you do the work, it will work. 

You will have access to the app for a year so that you can move from skill building and neural pathway development to application of Sage powers. Working in the app and continuing learning allows you to continue learning and building your PQ® muscles.

Lara offers an Embodied Sage 5-week course available to graduates. In it, we explore and practice each of the 5 sage powers in more depth than you could in the Foundations program.

You also have the option to work with Lara as a coach so that you get personalized support to life's difficult questions. She helps you tap into your sage powers during these sessions--facilitating your breakthroughs.

Coaching is great for getting personalized, actionable guidance for your struggles and questions. It's a collaborative creative process that helps you maximize your potential, usually by examining the present and setting goals around the future. As explained in an article in Positive Psychology, "Rather than giving advice, coaches gather information in the co-created process of change. A coach’s job is to ask questions from a curious stance that will provoke thought in a growth-oriented direction. Coaches see their clients as whole and having the answers inside of them." It is NOT counseling, it is not therapeutic, and it is not diagnostic. Working with both a counselor and a coach can be quite beneficial!

PQ®-Powered Coaching is for anyone who would like some guidance on life's challenges. While it is helpful for you to have completed the PQ® Core Foundations program, it is not necessary. Lara uses her coaching skills to guide you towards answers for all kinds of issues, such as "what are the next steps I must take in my busy schedule to accomplish this goal" to "how can I love my body when I don't even recognize it" to "how do I deal with this difficult person in my life without it draining me."

In these 60-minute sessions, we begin with PQ® reps (grounding exercises), then you share your goal for the session--what you would like to accomplish. Lara then guides you using the Positive Intelligence® coaching framework to find the answers to your questions. She coaches you through using your relevant Sage powers of Explore (to get a full sense of what's going on in the situation), Empathize (so you can demonstrate kindness towards yourself and others), Navigate (so you can discern what's truly important), Innovate (to generate multiple solutions), and Activate (so that you know your next steps). Depending on the situation and your comfort level, there are other less conventional tools she can bring in as well to assist you in finding peace and solving your problems.

Let's talk! First, let's figure out if it is a one-time coaching session, or if you would like to meet regularly. You can contact Lara by email at [email protected] with "PQ Coaching" in the subject line. While having just one coaching session works for some, I typically meet with my clients weekly or every other week for 60 minutes. In this way, we can follow up on your progress and you can gain clarity on how to get past obstacles. For multiple meetings, I will tell you how to arrange them when we speak. If you would simply like to schedule a one-off session, you can do so by clicking this link (click here).