# “Flaky breakthroughs” pervade inner work — but almost no one tracks them

*2026 Feb 10: This post has been updated for accuracy.*

Has someone you know ever had a “breakthrough”… only to be no different a few weeks later?

![Ulisse Mini @MiniUlisse
after my @[redacted] retreat I was like "I'm never going to be depressed again!" then proceeded to get depressed again because I was no longer meditating 8hrs/day isolated from everything in my life, lol
2:42 PM · May 10, 2025 · 23.9K Views](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/acf65f58199de96248b6c7782bf04469cde66b0265484c5e.jpeg)

Just as “flaky breakthroughs” are pervasive with psychedelics, they’re also pervasive with coaching, retreats, meditation, and bodywork.

![Chris Lakin @chrislakin
your friend had a “breakthrough” at that retreat
they felt amazing for 2 weeks
and now they’re exactly the same

almost no one tracks this

Oct 28, 2025 · 224K Views](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/5231728d11a59e0df5d2ebfb2706cd067334671f883465ff.png)

Flaky breakthroughs can set people back *years*.

![QC @QiaochuYuan
yes, maybe 3-4 times now, various durations. the stories are too long to summarize but i think basically the mechanism was "aha! i've figured out all my problems and now i will never fail ever again" which felt good but was never robust and broke down the next time i failed

Quote
Chris Lakin @ChrisChipMonk
Aug 29, 2024
Have you ever had Big psychological growth that lasts 1+ months and then basically reverts? Please share your story I'm trying to figure out how common this is
7:28 PM · Aug 29, 2024

7,129 Views](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/b4f00d404de3ea4057d312f46ce2e6f4032086b43ec67d70.png)

Some give up believing more is possible.

**This investigation discovered almost no inner work practitioners in my network track long-term outcomes.**

Discovering practitioners ignore outcomes
=========================================

In early 2025, I attempted to make a list of the best practitioners on [my area of twitter](https://x.com/chrislakin). 20+ coaches reached out, and I asked each to share the best evidence that they had helped coachees improve their lives.

I was hoping for stories like: “worked with a man who had never asked women out. hundreds of hours of IFS and meditation didn’t do it for him. after our first session, he asked out multiple easily… several months later he was in a [happy relationship](https://chrislakin.blog/p/sid).”

Instead, the coaches shared testimonials like:

> The session I just had was *really* nice. I felt a big release near the end!

and:

> They have such a kind presence. Best coach I’ve ever worked with!

Evidence of life improvement was almost not referenced.

I discovered that even well-respected practitioners don’t track results. For example, a well-known coach posted a video stating he’d discovered “how procrastination can completely dissolve” for a man. When the coach was asked how this claim had been verified (*did the effect last? did the man ever launch the site he was procrastinating on?),* the coach explained: “I do not follow up on folks after coaching as that would feel intrusive to me.”

Several months later, the man’s site still could not be located.

In another case, a popular inner work retreat calls itself “data-driven” and “life-changing”… but doesn’t track data on whether alumnis’ lives change. When an alumnus of the retreat offered to competently handle this tracking for them, for free, the retreat declined. They did not provide an explanation.

**In the end, I found one—possibly two—practitioners who track how they’re helping people live better lives.**

*Thanks to* [*Brian Toomey*](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZsQ79DUAAAAJ&hl=en) *for the conversations that prompted this post.*

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