YOUR 2025 BRAIN BRAWN MINI RESOLUTION MINDFULNESS • WEEK 1

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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!