In a world surrounded by demands and distractions, it is getting harder and harder to focus, unwind and, well, unplug. While I have no shortage of tasks on my growing to-do list, the time and energy to get them is getting shorter. In the push of everyday life, it is easy to become overwhelmed and shift my focus to what is going wrong versus what is going right. I am healthy, with a job I enjoy, and a family I love. So why do I feel like something is missing?
While I lead a relatively healthy lifestyle, there is one aspect that I have neglected over the years: my well-being. A stronger mind-body connection can grow a better sense of overall life satisfaction and happiness or well-being. Doing this can lead to a longer, healthier, and more fulfilling life.1
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Well-being concepts.
And of all the things I’ve worked on through the years, that has not been one of them. So how does one go about cultivating well-being?
I started with a search of recommended apps, and the one that caught my eye was Healthy Minds. It was created by Richard Davidson, PhD, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he leads the Center for Healthy Minds and has been researching the source of positive feelings and qualities, such as happiness and kindness, and developing ways to cultivate them to improve well-being. As a result, the app, available on iOS and Android, purports to guide users toward a better relationship with themselves through a series of short lessons that offer insight into the science behind why the brain does what it does. The lessons are put into practice through meditations that can be customized by length, type (active or sitting), and even narrator.
And the best part? The entire program is free. It’s funded entirely by donations, allowing it to reach anyone regardless of socioeconomic circumstances or standing. This is a significant plus in my eyes and supports the validity and mission of the company. So with nothing to lose but a few minutes a day, I dove into the Healthy Minds Program, hoping it would help me create and strengthen my mind-body connection and get on the path to a more satisfying and happy life—and it absolutely did. Read on to learn more about my experience with the Healthy Minds Program.
How Does the Healthy Minds Program Work?
Dr. Davidson’s research suggests that, like the physical body, the brain can be changed and molded through regular training exercises. As a result, he believes that the more people like me use the app’s mindfulness exercises, the easier it becomes to break out of automatic negative patterns formed through years of stress and emotions.
The Healthy Minds Program Curriculum
The program consists of a series of lessons and exercises following the four pillars Dr. Davidson claims are crucial to having a healthy mind:
- Awareness
- Connection
- Insight
- Purpose
The neuroscience research cited on the Healthy Minds website indicates that these pillars are associated with actual pathways in the brain that can be made stronger through meditation and mindfulness exercises.2 Both intend to enhance well-being but go about it in different ways. Meditation aims to calm the brain by gaining control over thoughts to create a sense of inner peace. Mindfulness challenges us to remain aware of our surroundings and their impact on the way we feel.3
My Experience With Healthy Minds
The app is easy to sign up for and use. The program itself begins with a questionnaire aimed at getting to the root of where I stood on day one.
This baseline assessment took about four minutes and measured how I felt I was doing in each of the four pillars. Questions included how well I could focus on tasks, how I felt about others and treated them, whether I believed I could change a situation by altering my thoughts, and how strongly I believed in my purpose. I then received a report indicating low scores in Awareness and Insight and middle scores in Connection and Purpose.
I was then asked to complete an additional and optional questionnaire about my stress levels intended to help scientists learn whether the app can aid with that as well. Once finished, my Healthy Minds course map was generated.
My Healthy Minds course map began with starting with a Foundation module, which introduced the Awareness, Connection, Insight, and Purpose pillars, with a mix of short lessons explaining the science behind each and their associated meditation exercises. The Foundation module was informative and did an excellent job setting the stage for the rest of the program. One element I loved in the Foundation module is that I could view a transcript of the lessons after completing them. As a visual learner, this allowed me to absorb the content even better.
After completing the introduction, I could access the modules for each of the pillars—and the next module was for Awareness. This built on what was introduced in the Foundation module and contained three chapters of lessons and meditation exercises. The lessons range from four to seven minutes. However, I discovered that, unlike the Foundation, there were no transcripts available for the other pillar lessons, which was a little disappointing.
The lessons are followed by meditation exercises that expand on and let you practice what you’ve learned. One of the most unique parts of the Healthy Minds program compared to other meditation apps I’ve tried is that it allowed me to cater guided meditation exercises based on length (in five-minute intervals, up to 30 minutes), speaker (there are four), and, most significantly, either an active or resting meditation.
Active meditation meant I could participate while engaged in something else, like cleaning the kitchen or walking on the treadmill.
This opened up more opportunities during the day to train my brain. (Note: These meditations should not be attempted while driving a car or undertaking an activity that requires attention.)
The Healthy Minds Program is not customizable, which may not appeal to some, but it worked for me. It is a program that intends those who participate to move through the pillars and associated lessons in a prescribed order, though the assessment at the beginning helped me know which pillars I might want to focus more on. However, this didn’t mean I had to do an exercise or lesson if I didn’t want to or didn’t have time.
I previewed the curriculum in each module and decided to jump into some that purported to help with focus. While I didn’t necessarily need the exercises and teachings that came before, I understood how they built upon each other. I am a linear person in general, so I decided to commit to going back and doing the program in the recommended order instead of jumping ahead.
I thought it was interesting how easy it is to flow from one lesson and meditation into another. At various times throughout the day, I would plunge ahead with the program, completing at least one lesson and related meditation. There is no need to rush, nor does the program require you to only complete one session per day. During the month I reviewed the app, I generally did a session (one lesson and one exercise) each morning and one in the evening. By the beginning of week three, I found it a nice way to start and end each day and looked forward to it.
Doing it this way still only got me through a fraction of the program in the month. But it did give me enough content to solidify my positive opinion about it.
Of all the lessons and exercises I have tried thus far, I haven’t come across one that I didn’t get something out of.
For instance, I am easily distracted, even when doing something I enjoy. When I remove myself from an environment that tends to distract me, like my house, I still can’t seem to focus or concentrate on getting tasks done in a timely manner.
Two of my favorite lessons in the Awareness module of my Healthy Minds Program deal with distractions and have taught me a great deal about how I could change my perception of them—the Transforming Distraction lesson and the Wandering Mind lesson.
In the Transforming Distraction lesson, I learned that my efforts to drown out distracting sensations actually wind up causing more of an emotional and mental burden. In the Wandering Mind section, I found that trying to reign in my meandering musings requires me to lean into the thoughts as they come up rather than ignoring them. The meditation exercises for these components involved keying in on the very distractions I was trying to ignore. The more I’ve practiced these, the better I’ve become at moving my emotions from frustration and chaos into calm and acceptance.