Lady Gaga does it for five minutes a day. Her guru suggests doing it for up to fifteen minutes a day. They both say that it is partially credited for sculpting Gaga’s diminutive body and giving her the energy to perform during her Monster live shows. So, what is it? Some illicit drug, a weird ritual or something that you dare not mention out loud? Perish the thought, Mother Monster only wants us to slow down and use some positive self talk before we kick off our day.

According to the yoga instructor that inspires not only Lady Gaga but Robert Downey, Jr, Chelsea Clinton and others,. when we feel more connected we become less isolated and more aware of ourselves, physically and spiritually. Being able to slow down and pay attention to our bodies allows us not only to make better food choices but to recognize the signals that are body is sending to us. Racing around every day is one of the reasons that we don’t eat correctly- we don’t eat when we are hungry and end up overeating.

The act of loving kindness is only one of the principles that people in the high stress, high speed United States are forgetting about. The others are being rather than always doing, and getting restorative rest over complete exhaustion. We don’t always seek out movement for the joy of moving our bodies or to become more flexible or for additional strength but because we are so driven by our own self loathing and criticism. Silencing our negative, inner voice can be key to giving us the ability to have less stress, sleep better and even to lose weight without all of the effort that we normally need to use.

Tricia Donegan, the yogini behind Lady Gaga and the other celebrities, suggests that spending the first few minutes of your day with a peaceful, quiet mind so that you can focus on kind thoughts for yourself is a goal to set right along with getting more exercise, eating more vegetables and fruits and trying to avoid processed foods. Most people, including Lady Gaga balk at the idea of sitting still and quiet for fifteen minutes, but the benefits can be achieved with as little as five minutes each day. If you can strive for five minutes each morning for three weeks, it will become second nature.

While the act of loving kindness is certainly not a new concept, it has been gaining more support from main stream media, including in the movie, Eat, Pray, Love which starred Julia Roberts. All out weight loss programs are not accomplishing their goals, often because they are overlooking the spiritual effect that starting these programs might have. Most people start looking to lose weight, not to gain better fitness but because of the negative impression they have of themselves. The more that they criticize themselves, the less effective exercise will become.