Shadowing Practice: 15 Slow Dopamine Habits That Lowered My Baseline Stimulation - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Today, I want to talk about 15 slow dopamine habits that have genuinely been changing my life.
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I really believe that overstimulation doesn't hurt you in the moment.
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Like, you don't notice it.
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You don't notice that you're being overstimulated.
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It feels great when you're doing something that gives you a lot of cheap and fast dopamine.
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But the thing is, it hurts you later.
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There is a quote I absolutely love.
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The cost of your bad habits is in the future, but the cost of your good habits is in the present.
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And I think we can say the exact same thing about dopamine.
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The cost of a fast dopamine habit is in the future.
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Because scrolling feels easier right now.
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There's no friction, so that's why we choose it over doing a puzzle, for example.
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But a week of slowly chipping away at that puzzle is going to make you feel
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so much more proud of yourself and so much more fulfilled than
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if you dedicate all of your free time that week to scrolling.
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So let's get into the video and talk about all the different slow dopamine habits
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that you can gently add to your routine.
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Also, I want to remind you that if you want to create your own dopamine menu, I actually have a document that walks you through the whole process.
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Everything is very clear, so if you want to download it for free, you can click the link in the description.
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Alright, so let's begin our conversation about all the different slow dopamine habits, and I want to start by talking about your body,
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all the different habits that are connected to our bodies.
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That is honestly my favorite place to begin, because when it comes to overstimulation, what really helps me is regulating my body.
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Because I can tell my brain a thousand times to calm down, don't stress about it, but it's not going to work.
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What is going to work is moving all of that energy through my body.
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So the first habit that I want to share here is walking at half your normal pace.
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When you're going somewhere, especially if you're not rushing, you're on time, everything is great, just try to walk a bit slower.
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It sounds too simple to even matter, but your brain has to downshift to match your body.
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And a lot of us are constantly rushing right now, even when, let's say, it's Sunday, you're just going for a walk, there is no reason to rush,
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but you still feel like your body is rushing for some reason.
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So try to consciously direct your attention to your body and walk a bit slower.
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When you're moving slowly in this flowy kind of way,
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your brain is definitely not gonna think in this fast scroll mode.
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Because everything about our lives right now is fast and we're trying to make it even faster every single day.
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So it's natural that once you slow your body down, your brain is gonna be like, what is going on?
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That is very unfamiliar.
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That is a little bit strange.
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Maybe that's even boring, but that's okay.
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It's uncomfortable the first time you try it, but maybe in a few minutes or maybe the next time you actually do it,
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something in your body is going to start to settle.
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It's going to start feeling different because you're giving yourself permission to slow down at least for 10 minutes.
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All right, so habit number two I want to share is hold your stretches 10 seconds longer.
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If you don't even have a stretch routine, start stretching.
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It is very, very good for your body.
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The reason why I love yoga so much isn't just about flexibility.
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I can stretch my body.
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I can become more flexible.
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It's not just about that.
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When you are stretching or you are in a yoga pose that you have to hold for five breaths,
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let's say, you are learning how to become comfortable in an uncomfortable setting.
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And that teaches you how to work with your nervous system, how to regulate yourself.
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Instead of pulling out of this mildly uncomfortable feeling, you're learning how to breathe and how to make it more comfortable,
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which is exactly the skill that we all need to learn nowadays.
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Because right now, the moment we feel slightly uncomfortable, we reach for our phones.
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It has become a digital pacifier.
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It soothes us.
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But the problem, obviously, is that yes, it soothes you, but at the same time, it makes you even more overstimulated.
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So it's not a sustainable habit to have.
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And habit number three that is connected to your body is try yin yoga.
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This type of yoga honestly still humbles me because it is such a good practice for your mind.
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Yin poses are held for three to five minutes.
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They're completely passive.
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There's no muscle engagement.
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You're trying to relax your full body.
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And because of that, because you're not doing anything crazy challenging like a crow pose or a handstand, your mind gets bored.
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It gets restless and it's completely normal.
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Yin yoga teaches you how to embrace that boredom and how to train it.
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Think of it as a muscle that you're trying to train.
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You're sitting in this discomfort.
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Your mind is bored.
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You want to be doing something else, but you stay in it.
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And habit number four is take a movement class in something you love.
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A type of movement where you're not constantly tracking all of your metrics.
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You're not doing it for fitness.
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You're not doing it to lose weight or burn calories.
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You're not using your Apple Watch.
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You're not using your Aura Ring because you're just doing it to enjoy it.
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And that is what yoga is like for me and also dance.
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When movement isn't tied to a specific goal, your brain can experience it in a completely different way.
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It becomes play again.
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There is this like air around you.
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You don't feel restricted by anything.
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And play is slow dopamine in its purest form.
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For many of us right now, even walking has become something that we need to track.
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You can't just go outside and enjoy the weather and walk and,
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you know, people watch or just look at all the trees and the birds.
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No, you have to make sure you hit 10,000 steps or else it doesn't count.
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And when you're tracking so many things in your life, like at work, you have to track all of your metrics,
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you know, the goals and the plans and all of those different things.
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And then when you get to take care of your body and do something just for you, you're again tracking.
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Everything has to be tracked.
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Where is the fun in it?
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Where is that play, that joy?
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And just doing it just because.
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So I highly encourage you to take movement classes just for fun, just for you, not because you're tracking something.
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Now let's move to the next category of all the slow dopamine habits
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that are going to help you slow down through your senses.
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So habit number five is using a gua sha, maybe a face roller, or maybe dry brushing your skin.
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When you add a sensory experience like this to your morning routine or your evening routine,
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you tell yourself that it's okay to slow down.
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Again, for me, when I do my gua shao or my face roller, I mostly do it because it helps me slow down.
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It helps me reconnect with my body, like, you know, touch my skin in a different way.
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I'm not doing it because, again, this is another way to be more productive.
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Absolutely not.
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This habit works when you give yourself time to go slow.
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Because rushing through it defeats the entire purpose.
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So if you feel like adding a face roller,
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dry brushing, or a gua sha into your routine is going to make you feel even more overwhelmed, then okay.
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Maybe you should scale back and just do your skincare routine super slow.
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And that's it.
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That is going to be step one.
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Not adding more things, but slowing your current routine down.
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The next habit I have here is listen to a full album, eyes closed, front to back.
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This idea came to me when I learned that in my city, there are places called listening bars,
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where you come in and they take your phone away,
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they lock it somewhere, you go to a dark room and you listen to a specific album front to back.
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There's no phone, nothing is distracting you, you're listening to music.
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And I really like this experience because in a way, if you really think about it,
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right now we don't really listen to music as a separate focused experience.
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You usually listen to music when you're going somewhere,
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when you're cleaning your apartment when you're cooking it's always with something else so you're kind of listening to
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all of these songs but you're also not really fully there
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because you're doing a different thing music now is often just background noise to something else
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and i think those listening bars
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or maybe you can even create this whole experience at home just put on a playlist maybe wear headphones,
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you know, close your eyes and just listen to it.
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Listen to the full album.
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It is such a nice experience and it helps you stay away from your phone
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because for 30 or 40 minutes you're not going to be using your phone.
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And habit number seven is people watch or look out of the window while you're commuting.
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Right now when I need to go somewhere one thing
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that I changed is I no longer use earbuds and I'm also no longer on my phone.
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What I try to do is I sit down, I people watch or I look out of the window and I let my mind get bored.
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I let my mind wander without directing it anywhere because for
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so many of us this commuting time is the only time
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that you can allow your brain to just process instead of consume instead of being constantly entertained
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and to be honest when I do that I get
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so many different ideas
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and I'm always like okay I need to write it down
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like this is a great idea maybe for a video maybe for something else
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or I just remember like a thing
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that I really wanted to do like oh I wanted to
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buy a new pot for my plant like really random ideas pop into my head when I allow my brain to process.
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Alright so now let's talk about all the habits that reward you slowly over days and weeks months, or maybe even years.
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Habit number eight is build something with your hands over days or weeks.
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It could be a puzzle that you leave on the table and you slowly chip away at it every single day.
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Or maybe you're building a Lego set.
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Maybe you can get into cross-stitching or learn how to mend your own clothing.
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All of those things are so great because again, you're reconnecting with your body, you're doing something with your hands, and it's not something that you finish quickly.
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You get to watch progress happen in front of your eyes, and this is just so satisfying.
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Well, maybe in the beginning, it's going to feel a little bit weird, because now we're so used to,
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you know, fast and cheap dopamine that makes us feel satisfied immediately.
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But when you're working on a puzzle, well, of course, sometimes you're going to get frustrated.
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Sometimes something is not going to work out and it's going to take you days, weeks, or maybe even months to understand how to put all the pieces together.
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And that is okay.
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That is exactly something that gives you that slow dopamine that makes you feel so proud of yourself.
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That is the definition of hard work.
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Habit number nine that I put here is pick a skill that helps you reconnect with your younger self.
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Think about something that you loved to do as a kid before you even cared to be good at it.
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Like you weren't thinking, okay, this is my level, this is someone else's level, that person is so great on social media, they're perfect and I could never become like that.
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No, think about something that you love to do just because.
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And give yourself some time to actually reconnect with that skill and truly enjoy it.
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That skill for me now is makeup.
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it's doing my own nails it's everything connected to beauty
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because as a kid I love to dress up
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and do like modeling I don't know experiences for my family I would sit my family down on the couch
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and I would pretend that I was a model like a runaway model with different outfits
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that I would create for myself using my mom's clothes my grandma's clothes and I would create a show for my family.
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Habit number 10 is get plants and take care of them for years.
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Watch them grow.
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It's also really interesting for me right now how in the past I never wanted to get plants for myself
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because I was like okay it's another thing I need to take care of.
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I was so overstimulated.
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I was so tired, exhausted.
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I didn't want to do any of it but now I do.
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Like I have this genuine desire to take care of plants
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and I actually have one plant for now in my apartment that I love to take care of.
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I've had this plant for like three years and it's grown so much
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and I think in a few days I actually want to buy a slightly bigger pot for it
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because I want to change the soil.
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Like I really really want to get into it.
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All right, so now let's transition into your kitchen
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because I think food is one of those areas where you can really practice slow dopamine.
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Marinate something before cooking.
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When you try to marinate things instead of just throwing everything straight into the pan from your fridge,
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it's a different type of cooking because you have to think about it beforehand.
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I love to marinate my tofu, I love to marinate my seitan.
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And speaking of seitan, yesterday I actually purchased like an online masterclass to learn how to make seitan in different ways.
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It helps me work on my cooking skills, but mostly what I really enjoy about it is it helps
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me understand the science of why certain things work together in terms of the textures
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and the flavors and how to make something that genuinely tastes delicious.
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Habit number 12 is ferment something.
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You guys know that I love pickling.
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I love fermenting and pickling my own things, my own vegetables.
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And again, it's crazy because five years ago, I was not like that.
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And now I just feel so drawn to all of those slower activities, activities that reward me later.
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Because fermentation can take days or even weeks and you can't really rush the bacteria along.
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I've already made my own kimchi.
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I pickled cucumbers and also radishes and also my own sauerkraut.
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And habit number 13 here is cook one long traditional meal with people every few months.
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If you really think about it, every culture has some recipes that are meant to be made with other people.
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They take a very long time to cook if you decide to cook them by yourself.
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And in my Slavic culture, there are so many examples of that.
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Draniki, pelmeni, like so many different things.
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And so, a few months ago, I invited my friends over to my house, and we made draniki together.
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It was really fun.
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Draniki are basically potatoes that you cook in a very specific way, and they taste really good.
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But if you try to make it yourself, it's going to take you probably like four hours because it's a lot of work.
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And this habit isn't just about slow dopamine.
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It's also about connecting with people around you.
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Something that we lose when we spend a lot of time online.
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Being on social media and seeing your friends' stories on social media is very different from actually,
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you know, meeting your friends in real life and doing something together.
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This habit is about connection, tradition, and making something with your hands all at once.
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And now let's close down the video with two of my favorite habits.
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So habit number 14 is read the book before watching the movie.
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I think it could be a really great fun thing you could try, especially if you want to build a reading habit.
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So you can see There's so many shows and movies that are based on books.
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And so you can tell yourself that, okay, first I'm going to read that book and then I'm going to watch the movie.
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Reading the book first obviously takes longer, but it makes the story feel very different
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because you actually got to read it first instead of just seeing someone else's version of it on screen.
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And again, when it comes to building a completely new habit from scratch, it's always better to make it fun,
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to ask yourself what would it look like if it were easy.
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So a great motivating factor for you could be watching the movie later.
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First you read the book and then you watch the movie.
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And habit number 15 that can help you get that slow dopamine is write a letter to your future self.
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I do it every single year.
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Usually in December or in January, I love to use this website futureme.org and I basically write a letter for myself,
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an email, that I'm going to get in a year.
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I think this habit explains slow dopamine the best.
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You get nothing right now and you need to do some work, obviously crafting that email.
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You have to just trust that in a year, future you is going to open that email and feel something great.
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And I can promise you guys, I think I've done it already for the last three years.
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And every single time I received that email, I just feel so excited.
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Because obviously by that time, I already don't remember what I actually wrote.
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And so opening that email and reading that email just feels so exciting.
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So I think that's gonna be it.
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These are all of your 15 slow dopamine habits.
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Please remember that you don't have to do all of them all at once.
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Pick one, maybe two that interests you the most and start from there.
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I just love to give you a lot of different ideas but I also don't want to make you feel overwhelmed.
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If you decide to try any of these, please let me know in the comments which ones you're starting with.
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And if you like this video, please don't forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my YouTube channel.
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If you want to get the free document that walks you through the process of creating your dopamine menu, and you want to watch the video on how to create that menu,
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you can click right here.
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Otherwise, I'll see you in my next video.
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Bye!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “15 Slow Dopamine Habits That Lowered My Baseline Stimulation”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: habit, slow, dopamine. This video has 246 sentences and 3262 words to shadow. The speech runs for 20:38. The speaker talks at a natural 158 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| dopamine noun | /ˈdoʊ.pəˌmin/ | A monoamine C₈H₁₁NO₂ that is a decarboxylated form of dopa, present in the body as a neurotransmitter and a precursor of other substances including adrenalin. |
| yoga noun | /ˈjoʊ.ɡə/ | Any of several Hindu or Buddhist disciplines aimed at training the consciousness for a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquillity; especially a system… |
| marinate verb | /ˈmæɹɪneɪt/ | To allow a sauce or flavoring mixture to absorb into something; to steep or soak something in a marinade to flavor or prepare it for cooking. |
| reconnect verb | /ˌɹiː.kəˈnɛkt/ | To connect again or differently. |
| bore verb | /boɹ/ | To inspire boredom in somebody. |
| puzzle noun | /ˈpʌzəl/ | The state of feeling confused or mystified because one cannot understand a complicated matter, a problem, etc.; bewilderment, confusion; (countable) often in… |
| uncomfortable adjective | /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/ | Not comfortable; causing discomfort. |
| dranik noun | A Belarusian potato pancake. | |
| overstimulated adjective | Excessively stimulated | |
| pickle noun | /ˈpɪkəl/ | A cucumber preserved in a solution, usually a brine or a vinegar syrup. |
| seitan noun | /ˈseɪtən/ | Specially processed wheat gluten, used as a protein-rich food. |
| scroll noun | /skɹoʊl/ | A roll of paper or parchment; a writing formed into a roll. |
| roller noun | /ˈɹoʊlɚ/ | Any rotating cylindrical device that is part of a machine, especially one used to apply or reduce pressure. |
| pose verb | /poʊz/ | To place in an attitude or fixed position, for the sake of effect. |
| ferment verb | /fɚˈmɛnt/ | To react, using fermentation; especially to produce alcohol by aging or by allowing yeast to act on sugars; to brew. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| slow down verb | To decelerate. | |
| calm down verb | To become less excited, intense, or angry. | |
| close down verb | /kləʊzˈdaʊn/ | To stop trading as a business. |
| dress up verb | To put on special or fancy clothes. | |
| hand over verb | To relinquish control or possession of something to someone. | |
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. | |
| work out verb | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | To calculate. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You don't notice that you're being overstimulated.
- You're trying to relax your full body.
- You're sitting in this discomfort.
- You're not doing it for fitness.
- You don't feel restricted by anything.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being overstimulated · are connected · is connected |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has become · I've had · I've already made |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 74 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: soothe /suːð/, thumb /ˈθʌm/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: downshift /ˈdaʊnˌʃɪft/, fermentation /ˌfɜɹmənˈteɪʃən/, radish /ˈɹæd.ɪʃ/, friction /ˈfɹɪkʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, fermentation /ˌfɜɹmənˈteɪʃən/, unfamiliar /ˌʌnfəˈmɪli.ə(ɹ)/, flexibility /ˌflɛksɪˈbɪlɪti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like dopamine, yoga, marinate.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.