Holistic Performance Resource Hub

Exercises & Tools

• Make your copy of the Habit Tracker Template
• Take the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness

Breathwork Tutorials

• The Doublet Breath (Physiological Sigh)
• Valsalva Maneuver
• Box Breathing
• 4-7-8 Breathing
• Alternate Nostril Breathing
• Kapalbhati Pranayama (Breath of Fire)
• Wim Hof Breathing
• Power Breathing
• Surya Bhedana (Right Nostril Breathing)

How to Meditate in One Page

1. Get Comfortable: Sit upright in a chair or cross-legged on a cushion.
2. Relax: Close your eyes, take deep breaths, and feel the points where your body touches the chair or floor. Notice any sensations like pressure, warmth, or tingling.
3. Focus on Your Breath: Pay attention to your breath. Feel it at your nostrils or the rise and fall of your abdomen.
4. Observe Your Breathing: Just focus on the sensation of breathing, without trying to control it. Let your breath come and go naturally.
5. Return to Breath: Whenever your mind wanders, gently bring your attention back to your breath.
6. Notice Everything: As you focus on your breath, other sensations like sounds or emotions may come up. Acknowledge them and then return to your breath.
7. Catch Your Thoughts: When you notice you’re lost in thought, recognize the thought and then return to your breath or the next sound or sensation.
8. Stay Present: Keep observing everything that comes up—thoughts, sounds, sensations—as they appear and fade away.

Biological Data Trackers

• Oura Ring
• Whoop
• Apple Watch

Guided meditations

• NSDR guided session
• Wheel of Awareness Meditation

Recommended Books

• Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve
• BreathEarthing
• Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World
• Practicing Mindfulness
• Stop Overthinking
• The Circadian Code
• The Nature Fix
• The Oxygen Advantage
• The Primal Connection
• The Truth About Creative Visualization
• The Twenty Minute Break

References: Studies, Articles, and News Reports

• 16 Gratitude journaling statistics - why you should journal
• 40-second green roof views sustain attention: The role of micro-breaks in attention restoration
• 7 Benefits of Having Real Plants in Your Office Workspace or Classroom
• 8 Health Benefits of Getting Back to Nature and Spending Time Outside
• A new model for the HPA axis explains dysregulation of stress hormones on the timescale of weeks
• A pilot randomized study of a gratitude journaling intervention on HRV and inflammatory biomarkers in Stage B heart failure patients
• Communities for cognitive aging: How neighborhoods may protect the cognitive health of older Americans
• Community support and promoting cognitive function for the elderly
• Distress versus eustress: Learn all about the different types of stress
• E. O. Wilson: A Legacy of “Biophilia”
• Examining the links between community participation and health outcomes: a review of the literature
• Global Study Connects Levels Of Employee Productivity And Well Being To Office Design
• Good genes are nice, but joy is better
• Grounding – The universal anti-inflammatory remedy
• Health Effects of Social Isolation and Loneliness
• High-Quality Relationships Strengthen the Benefits of a Younger Subjective Age Across Adulthood
• How to Be More Introspective
• How to Practice Mindfulness: 11 Practical Steps and Tips
• Introduction to the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis: Healthy and Dysregulated Stress Responses, Developmental Stress and Neurodegeneration
• Know Thyself: 3 Essential Skills for Better Self-Reflection
• Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors
• Loneliness and Social Isolation Linked to Serious Health Conditions
• Mental Practice: A Review and Discussion Part II
• Mindfulness
• Mindfulness exercises
• Relationships and Inflammation across the Lifespan: Social Developmental Pathways to Disease
• Shallow Connections
• Social Integration and Diurnal Cortisol Decline: The Role of Psychosocial and Behavioral Pathways
• Social isolation and the brain: effects and mechanisms
• Social Relationships and Health: A Flashpoint for Health Policy
• Social support, social strain and inflammation: Evidence from a national longitudinal study of U.S. adults
• The effect of mental imagery on skill performance in sport: A systematic review
• The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases
• The Effects of Mental Practice on Motor Skill Learning and Performance: A Meta-analysis
• The impact of gratitude interventions on patients with cardiovascular disease: a systematic review
• The Neuroscience of Gratitude and Effects on the Brain
• The Power of High Quality Connections
• The Role of Gratitude in Spiritual Well-being in Asymptomatic Heart Failure Patients
• The Yerkes-Dodson Law Of Arousal And Performance
• Ultradian Rhythm
• Understanding the stress response
• Use Gratitude to Counter Stress and Uncertainty
• Visualization and mental rehearsal
• What Are the Benefits of Sunlight?
• What Is Vagal Tone and How to Improve Yours
• Why plants in the office make us more productive