Wellness Minutes
Looking for a short mental health podcast you can actually fit into your day? Wellness Minutes is designed for busy people who know stress, burnout, and overwhelm—but want quick, practical ways to feel better.
Hosted by an Indian Clinical-Community Psychologist based in the U.S., each short episode ( under 7 minutes) offers guided practices and bite-sized wisdom from psychology, neuroscience, and spirituality. Whether you need fast stress relief, a quick mindfulness break, or simple coping strategies for burnout, this podcast gives you tools you can use right away.
Think of it as your pocket-sized wellness companion: short, calming, and grounded in evidence-based mental health practices. Each episode is an invitation to pause, breathe, and bring more balance into your everyday life—no matter how busy things get.
Wellness Minutes
Tricking Your Brain into Loving Movement: A Psychologist's Approach to Exercise (True Crime is involved!)
Exercise doesn't have to be difficult or boring when you approach it with the right mindset. A psychologist shares practical strategies for incorporating movement into daily life, focusing on mental shifts rather than complex routines.
• The best exercise is the one you'll actually do
• Motivation often comes after action, not before
• Keep exercise clothes and shoes readily available for spontaneous activity
• Ask "when will I exercise?" instead of "if I will exercise"
• Use walks as transition time between work and personal life
• Create special incentives like podcast-listening only during exercise
• Focus on being "the boss of your brain" rather than relying on motivation
• Consult with your doctor about appropriate exercise targets for your health
Take care and remember to pause and take a deep breath.
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Opening Music by Jeremiah Alves from Pixabay
Closing Music by Aleksandr Karabanov from Pixabay
Thank you for listening,
much metta,
Dr G
Though we might know the importance of exercise, there are so many things that come in the way, so I just thought I'd do this quick episode to get you thinking about ways you can integrate more exercise in your everyday life. Hello, welcome to another episode of Wellness Minutes. This is just a friendly reminder to pause and take a deep breath. So here's the thing I hate exercise. Newton's law of motion describes my relationship with exercise An object at rest stays at rest. Also, with a busy schedule, the thought of exercise seemed extremely boring, the complete opposite of what I actually wanted to do after a busy day at work. But after a few conversations with my doctor, I realized that I really needed to change something. I realized I needed to implement what I know to be true Motivation is not a necessary prerequisite for us to do something. We often feel motivation after we experience the rewards of doing something. I realized I had to exercise first and wait for the motivation to come later. When it comes to exercising, I'd like to share something I learned from Dr Kelly McGonigal, who's a psychologist and has written this great book called the Joy of Movement. Dr McGonigal talks about how the best exercise for you is the exercise you will actually do. I find that really helpful to remember. I push myself to think about exercise I will do, setting myself up for failure by planning an elaborate routine that I cannot follow.
Speaker 1:I tried to make exercise easy for myself. I started dressing up in clothes that were easy to wear on a brisk walk and I kept my exercise shoes in the car. I could go for a walk anytime, anywhere, I just needed to wear the right shoes. I sometimes kept my swimming clothes in a gym bag in the car so that if I ever was in a place where I could suddenly go for a swim, my bag was right there. If I ever was in a place where I could suddenly go for a swim, my bag was right there. Secondly, I stopped relying on my mood to decide if I will go for a walk. I stopped asking myself will I be able to go for a walk today? Instead, I asked myself when will I walk today? So not if today, so not if, but when.
Speaker 1:Thirdly, when I started working from home during the pandemic, I noticed that a walk was a very good partition between work and home. So after my last meeting, if I went for a walk when I came back the second half you know, the home life part of my day could just start. The walk time also seemed to replace my commute time. I could use it to call my friends or family or listen to podcasts. I made myself promise that I could listen to some podcasts only on my walk.
Speaker 1:Sometimes the suspense over what was going to happen next on a particular podcast episode made me actually look forward to my walk every day. So I'd be sitting in a meeting and then I'd recall oh, I'm supposed to go for a walk today. Oh, wow, I'll get to know what happens on that episode. Also, let me confess I listen to a lot of true crime episodes. So yeah, suspense is real.
Speaker 1:You'll notice all my exercise ideas are about tweaking your exercise mindset, because I'm not a physical trainer, I'm a psychologist. I'll tell you how to get started and develop habits that work for you. I'll get you to figure out ways to be the boss of your brain so that you don't have to rely on your brain to tell you what to do. You can decide what you want to do and have the brain follow. The actual exercise targets that you set for yourself really depend on a conversation with you and your doctor, or maybe you and your Fitbit. Anyway, hope these tips were helpful. Until we meet next time, take care and hope you make the time to pause and take a deep breath.