Hypervigilance often protects police officers on the street, but it can erode their relationships off of it.

A 2-minute meditation found to boost connection and prosocial behavior could be a tool for positive policing.

The Just-Like-Me meditation offers law enforcement a simple, evidence-based tool for this human reconnection.

In 1555, English Reformer John Bradford watched a group of Protestant prisoners being marched to their execution under Queen Mary I and reportedly said, "There but for the grace of God, go I." Not long after, he too was arrested and executed—which makes those words something more than a historical footnote. Bradford saw something of himself in the condemned before he became the condemned.

That instinct—recognizing your own humanity in the person standing across from you—may be one of the most powerful and most unspoken tools in law enforcement. And a new study points to a simple intervention that could help police officers tap into its power.

Research on the Just-Like-Me Meditation

The study, led by Dr. Vera Ludwig and published in the journal Mindfulness, found that a simple two-minute dyadic meditation produced measurable increases in closeness, warmth, prosocial behavior, and even synchronized heart rates between strangers (Ludwig et al., 2025).

The practice is called the Just-Like-Me (JLM) meditation. Two people sit facing each other in silence, holding eye contact while contemplating phrases like "just like me, this person has felt sadness, loneliness, and pain." Nobody speaks. Minimal training is required. Just two people, two minutes, and a willingness to build something........

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