|
Congratulations! You’ve completed Motivated Mondays 2025: A year of mini resolutions!
Today, in honor of our special “brain brawn” edition of Motivated Mondays, we’re sharing a special video looking at Einstein’s brain. Don’t give up on your mini resolutions! As we approach 2026, we hope you feel inspired to keep going with all our past mini resolutions to help you establish and maintain positive lifestyle habits and stave off cognitive decline. You can review all of our 2025 Motivated Mondays content here. For questions or support, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected]. “My Love Affair with the Brain” Earlier this year, we highlighted Dr. Marion Diamond's groundbreaking work on the study of Einstein's brain. For our newest participants of Motivated Mondays, we’re sharing her documentary, "My Love Affair with the Brain." Our OG members have this link and are welcome to revisit it! 🙂 Click this link to view the video on Vimeo. The case-sensitive password is: BRAIN A Final Note from CCP Thank you for your participation throughout this year. We couldn't have done it without you! Next week, we will be sending you a survey asking for your feedback, in hopes of improving future editions of this wellness program. We would love your input. By the way—as a current participant, you'll be auto enrolled into Motivated Mondays 2026.
0 Comments
When people think of mindfulness and mediation, they typically think of the seated version. Up until now we have sought to debunk this as your only option, because let’s be honest, it isn’t for everyone. However, you also really don’t know that until you try it! Here is a very interesting article (an oldie but goodie!) explaining how different types of seated meditation have altogether different effects on different parts of the brain.
Today, we’ll take a look at three types of seated meditation: Awareness Meditation, Non-Judgment Meditation and Metta Meditation. Track Your Progress! We urge you to stick with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track all your progress! Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected]. If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here. Seated Meditation Techniques Awareness Meditation In this type of meditation, we sit comfortably for a period of time and just focus on breathing and the sensations in the body. The brain averages 70,000 thoughts a day, clouding our ability to focus on what’s in front of us. So here, the goal is simply to empty the mind (ironically to be mindless to become more mindful!) and not allow it to wander beyond breath and awareness. If your mind takes a detour, simply guide it back, that’s it. This is probably the style of meditation that is challenging for most people and often taught in guided meditation classes, either in-person or via an app. Because we promised to keep it simple, we will not be addressing this style of meditation, but feel to explore those apps to try it on your own. Non-Judgment Meditation The 70,000 thoughts that run through our minds each day are largely critical, judging everything within our experience: “It’s too hot!” “My shirt itches!” “My back aches!" “The lights are too bright!" “That car is moving too slowly!” And so on, all day long, contributing to the monkey mind experience. Learning to dismiss these thoughts (ironically without judging yourself for your thoughts) helps tie the puppy to the post and focus your attention on what is in front of you. This is called non-judgment meditation, a type of seated meditation. Here is a great 6-minute video for this practice. Metta Meditation, AKA “Loving Kindness Meditation” This type of seated meditation—believed to enhance our empathy and compassion—encourages us to think loving and kind thoughts for ourselves and others through mantra. And really, now more than ever we could use a little more loving kindness. The practice is quite simple: Day 1 starts with you
Playing theta music (from Week One) during a seated meditation will facilitate entrance into a meditative state more quickly and more deeply. You can also consider adding “olfactory enrichment” AKA essential oils. A 2023 RCT on 43 adults aged 60-85 found that using a scent diffuser for two hours a night for 6 months yielded a statistically significant improvement in diffusivity of the major pathway connecting the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, as measured by MRIs. This pathway, the uncinate fasciculus, deteriorates with advanced age and in Alzheimer’s Disease. Another astounding finding, was a 226% improvement in a test of verbal learning and memory, known as the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. We’ll see you next week! We hope you had a great weekend and are feeling more centered and mindful! This week we tune out our “monkey mind” and tune into our food. Track Your Progress! We urge you to stick with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track all your progress! Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected]. If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here. Practicing Mindfulness While Eating What is the "monkey mind?" It's a term meant to convey unsettled, restless, indecisive, and whimsical thoughts which distract us from the present moment. Mindful activities are intended to tame the "monkey mind." How often do you plop on the couch in front of the TV to eat your meal? Or do you not even bother with a plate and stand in front of the refrigerator picking at what’s in front of you? Or maybe you get a plate, even silverware and make it to the dining table even, but then mindlessly scroll through your social media accounts while eating? Typically, in these scenarios we end up not really tasting/enjoying our food or recognizing our satiety, thus consuming far more calories than were necessary. Here is a technique to dial into your meal: First, ask yourself are you hungry or thirsty? As discussed in June when we covered Hydration, hunger is often a mask for thirst. If you aren’t sure, have a glass of water, wait a few minutes and see if you still want to eat. If so, continue. Next prepare your plate and sit at the table with no TV, no music, no cell phones, no computers. Take a breath and enjoy the aroma of your food and the colors on the plate. Appreciate the effort that went into its preparation, farm to table. Set a timer for 20 minutes and allow the full time to complete the food on your plate. This will likely require smaller bites and more thorough chewing of your food. There are theories out there recommending a minimum of 16-30 bites per mouthful. You may even wish to close your eyes to enjoy the flavors and textures on your tongue. Consider: what did you observe/experience? Were you full before the plate was empty? Was this meal more satisfying than most? Before you go back for seconds, ask yourself: are you really hungry? Listening to Theta music may be beneficial during this activity. Once you have mastered this exercise, you may wish to try eating with your non-dominant hand or chopsticks! We’ll see you next week! Happy Monday! We hope you are breathing better after last week. This week we will take our mindful activities up a notch with centering and walking meditation.
Track Your Progress! We urge you to stick with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track all your progress! Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected]. If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here. Centering/Counting Breaths Centering is a very basic, yet powerful technique that helps quiet the mind and body inducing focus either during or prior to a stress-inducing moment. It has been used by professional athletes, public speakers and actors, to name a few. One simple technique is counting breaths. It can be accomplished anywhere, anytime. It is terrific for sitting in traffic and upon retiring to bed at night to extract thoughts from the day: Sit, stand or lay down, whichever position the moment allows or feels right. Take a moment to initiate your diaphragmatic breath (consider using your Theta brain wave music as an adjunct). Count each inhale and exhale up to 30 counts
If your mind wanders or if you are interrupted, start over from the top. It may be challenging at first to get to 30, but don’t be discouraged! The results are in the process! If your mind wanders or if you are interrupted, start over from the top. It may be challenging at first to get to 30, but don’t be discouraged! The results are in the process! Listening to Theta music may be beneficial during this activity. Walking Meditation Sitting meditations are a struggle for people who don’t sit in one place easily, and for others it just may seem too “new-agey.” Walking meditation is an alternative for those folks. As with the other exercises, there are a number of variations available. We have selected what we believe is the most accessible option. The walk is much slower than even a stroll in the park and attention to the breath is again a large part of what makes it beneficial. You can do it indoors or outdoors as the weather permits. Select a straight path that you can maintain for about 30 paces. If outdoors, try to avoid overly loud or congested areas – and, of course, make sure to remain safe. Barefoot provides a better experience if that is available to you.
If your mind wanders, bring it back to the sensations in the sole of your foot and your breath. Of course, you can try counting breaths with this exercise to enhance this experience if you find it helpful. We’ll see you next week! Introducing your NEW mini resolution: Mindfulness! Today we’re looking into three facets of mindfulness: Diaphragmatic breathing technique, brain music, and humming! Track Your Progress! We urge you to stick with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track all your progress! Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at [email protected]. If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here. How & Why to Be “Mindful” It seems as though this decade attempts to outdo itself each year with the level of stress generated by the turmoil in the world. As discussed in September, when we resolved to “Best Our Stress,” responding to stress causes a physiological response, which, when chronic, taxes the brain and cognitive health. In that resolution, we learned to manage our physiological response to stress by activating the “Rest and Digest” system, which is the brake on the “Fight or Flight” response. We treated that as a shortcut to the benefits of cultivating a practice of mindfulness. Mindfulness & Cognitive Decline As with our other resolutions, the practice of mindfulness is a non-pharmaceutical intervention that can prevent cognitive decline. How does it work? Mindfulness is about reducing attention distractions and improving focus on the moment, thereby reducing stress and improving one’s quality of life, increasing positivity, and enhancing the mind-body connection. It has a similar physiological impact as meditation and is considered a form of meditation by some but does not necessarily need to involve sitting for hours to clear the mind. In research, mindfulness-based activities have been shown to increase brain thickness in multiple areas, importantly in the hippocampus and amygdala. You may recall the hippocampus is important for memory, learning, and emotion. The amygdala is the stress interpreter and is responsible for managing fear, anxiety, and anger. Thus, mindfulness not only reduces stress, and the physiological actions associated with it, but also how we respond in the moment to stressful situations. As always, we’re starting with the basics this week and progress. We encourage you to try them all and then continue to apply whichever one works for you. Our hope is that you will find a few things that resonate with you and can be kept in your toolbox to use when life feels like it’s getting ahead of you. Our resolution this month is to try one mindful activity each day for 5 minutes a day. Do more if you want! But commit to a minimum of 5 minutes daily. Diaphragmatic Breathing Technique We have covered this technique in our past resolutions to “Sleep Better” and “Best our Stress;” repeated again here due to its significance to overall health, and because it is abundantly absent in stressed individuals. The diaphragmatic breathing technique is the ability to belly-breathe or engage the diaphragm when breathing. In prehistoric times, when faced with a saber-tooth tiger, our ancestors experienced what is known as the stress response, called “Fight or Flight.” When in Fight or Flight mode, the body experiences physiological changes to do just that—run or stand and do battle with the tiger. One of these is a change in the breath where in it becomes more rapid, shallow and occurs through the mouth. Think about how your breathing changes when you are running—makes sense, right? But this primitive system has not adapted to modern living, where all day long we are in “fight or flight” mode due to traffic, work, and other daily stressors. Essentially, this means that all day long we are hyperventilating, using our neck muscles and not our belly (diaphragm) to breathe. (Ironically, this neck breathing stimulates the “fight or flight” response even more!) The diaphragmatic breath is the counter to the stress response; it is what tells the body the threat has gone and it’s OK to relax. So that takes us to your home base for the next five weeks: a diaphragmatic breathing technique. This is where we will often return with other weekly tips and techniques. It is also probably the single best thing you can learn to do for yourself to reduce stress. It is great when driving (leave your hands on the wheel!) or when you retire to bed for the night to help you sleep. Check out this video to learn the technique. Music for Your Brain You have probably heard or read somewhere that the brain operates on five different frequencies. All five are virtually always active, but during certain types of activity, one of the five frequencies will dominate and result in a different physiological effect on the body. For example, Beta dominates when you are active, alert, and consciously thinking. Delta dominates deep, dreamless sleep, while Theta dominates meditation and REM (dreaming) sleep. Physiologically, when Theta dominates, we are less anxious, more creative and we experience less pain. But you don’t have to take a nap or meditate to elevate your Theta brainwave activity. Music can help! Here is a link to eight hours of music designed to enhance your Theta brainwaves. Try listening to it as background music while driving, working, or anytime you feel stressed; it is even a great adjunct to any of the other December Motivated Mondays activities we have planned! If you don’t love what we selected, you can search Google for Theta brainwave music and see what else pops up. Humming Your Theme Song Most people are aware of the physiological benefits of meditation: reduced blood pressure, improved cognition, reduced inflammation, increased creativity, reduced pain, etc. But what is less well-known is that humming produces the same physiological benefits! Select your theme song; it should be a song that puts a smile on your face, a skip in your step, and makes you want to sing the words out loud. Rather than sing the song, when you are unhappy or anxious, hum it. It’s a non-intimidating technique that can be done anywhere, anytime, and no one is the wiser. Can’t think of a theme song? No worries—hum the "Happy Birthday" song! It is the perfect length of time to experience results. We’ll see you next week! |
MICHELE MCCAMBRIDGE, MPH, MSMichele is the Senior VP of Membership Development at Concierge Choice Physicians. She is also a professional in the areas of nutrition, fitness and wellness. Archives
January 2026
Categories |
RSS Feed
