Brian Johnson walks through a morning meditation routine using a pulse oximeter to track resting heart rate as a recovery marker. His Heroic app target is '+101': training heart rate at least 101 beats above resting, which he uses to balance deep calm with peak energy. He shares his 43 bpm resting heart rate and a 17-year meditation streak.
Questions this video answers
He has missed only a single day over the last 17 years.
Training heart rate at least 101 beats per minute higher than resting heart rate.
Having his last bite four hours before bed.
43 beats per minute.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Heroic plus one. As you know, if you've been following along Every morning I start my day with my AM Meditation Fun Stat for Curious souls. I've only missed a single day of meditation over the last 17 years. Now the first thing I do when I start my meditation is get my posture right. To do that, I think of Jon Kabat Zinn's brilliant advice as we discuss in Meditation 101. He he tells us that we want to sit with dignity. Now I have his wisdom in mind as I get myself comfortable in Hero's pose, relaxing my body and slowing my breathing down as I lengthen my spine and think chest up, chin down. Then I relax my body as I reach for my pulse oximeter to measure my resting heart rate and see how low I can get, using that as a rough measure for both how relaxed I am and how recovered I am. Now, if I ate late poorly the night before and or didn't sleep particularly well because I blew through a digital sunset or shutdown complete and or am fighting something usually the result of the prior lapses, I might have a hard time getting my resting heart rate into the 40s. Thankfully, that rarely happens. I reflect on how blessed I am to be healthy as I bring my resting heart rate down with each deep breath I take. In through my nose, down into my belly, back out through my nose, exhaling slightly longer than my inhale as we discuss in breathing 101. Now, if I'm well recovered and executed my protocol the night before note, having my last bite four hours before I go to bed is the number one driver here. I'll easily get my resting heart rate down to 45 and typically down to 44, 43 or 42. If I'm really well recovered, I might even get the old resting heart rate down to 40 or break the 40 barrier and hit 39. Now that rarely happens, but it's always fun when it does. Now with my mind and body calm, I'm ready to practice my meditation. This always starts with a Patrick McKeown inspired breath training. Then it moves on to our Virtue Compass as I silently recite the declarations from the app and the back cover of Arete. Then I chat with my heroes before envisioning our 2051 mission and the steps I will take today to help fulfill it. But none of that is the point of this +1. This is once I've snapped a picture of my lowest resting heart rate, I know that I will snap another picture of my training heart rate when it is at least 101 beats higher. And that's how I hit my plus one equals energized tranquility target in the app. And every day, that heroic target is tied for first as one of my favorite targets. It represents my commitment to being able to flip the switch in any given moment to embody either the super energized version of me or the super tranquil version of me. It's also really hard to have a really bad day when I've deliberately found that stillness and that peak energy. And that's today's plus one. If you feel so inspired, perhaps you can join me in hitting the 101 equals energized tranquility target in our heroic app. It's a fun and powerful way to cultivate our discipline as we forge antifragile confidence with every action we take. It's day one. We're all in. Let's go hero. Plus 101 plus 101 plus 101 P.S. i got this morning's resting heart rate down to 43.
