Invest 1% of your day (< 15 minutes) to transform your health & happiness

1% Challenge: Practice Mindfulness and Earn Rewards

The 2025 Hoos Well 1% Challenge begins on May 5!

How’s your mental health, really? This Mental Health Month, take meaningful action to stress less and feel better.  Practice mindfulness in eMLife for 1% of your day (less than 15 minutes) to transform your happiness and well-being and earn rewards along the way. 

The 1% Challenge, offered annually by our partner eMLife, is a perfect opportunity to create a mindfulness habit and learn scientifically proven mindfulness skills to build resilience, ease stress, get better sleep, and be joyfully present in your life. Employees and spouses enrolled in the UVA and UPG Health Plans are eligible for a no-cost eMLife account and can earn a $50 Hoos Well reward by practicing 14 minutes of mindfulness for 25 out of 40 days during the challenge period. 

Read on to learn how to participate, browse FAQs, and hear your UVA colleagues' experience with eMLife and the 1% Challenge.

Learn about the eMLife mindfulness platform Create your free eMLife account Step-by-step guide to signing up

How to Participate

Participation is simple, quick, accessible, and open to UVA employees and spouses on the UVA or UPG Health Plans. 

  1. Activate: Start by registering or logging in to your eM Life account anytime between May 5 and June 3, 2025. You are automatically enrolled in the challenge by attending a live or on-demand session. If you’re creating your account through the eM Life mobile apps (iOS and Android), select “Employee Account” and enter your company code: UVA
  2. Dedicate: Practice at least 14 minutes (1% of a day) in live or on-demand sessions for at least 25 days during the 40-day period from when you start the challenge.
  3. Celebrate: Your $50 Hoos Well reward* will appear in your Hoos Well Portal (Personify Health) account within 2 weeks of the day you complete your 1% Challenge. 

Earn Rewards Along the Way

  • After 10 days: Self-care bingo card
  • After 20 days: Curated affirmation cards
  • After 25 days: $50 Hoos Well Reward*
  • After 30 days: 1:1 focused mentoring session

*To earn an annual maximum of $500 Hoos Well cash rewards, you must be enrolled in the UVA Health Plan or UPG Anthem Plan as a subscriber or spouse and actively earning a paycheck at the time of payout. All rewards are paid quarterly into the Health Plan subscriber’s paycheck and are considered taxable income. Retirees, grant funded post-doctoral fellows, COBRA enrollees, and child dependents are not eligible for rewards.

Create or log in to your free eM Life account Learn more about eM Life
Small changes lead to huge improvements in clarity and emotional balance. Even 1% of your day - 14 minutes - will make a noticeable difference in your overall well-being. Mary Frances Southerland, Chief Administrative Officer, UVA Health

FAQs

Browse additional wellness FAQs not covered on this page.

  • How do I sign up for the 1% Challenge?

    Log in or create an eM Life account. You are automatically enrolled when you practice any  live or on-demand sessions in eM Life for at least 14 minutes between May 5 and June 3, 2025. Since Mindful Dailies are just 14 minutes long, we suggest starting with that!

  • Who can participate in the 1% Challenge?

    Employees and spouses who are enrolled in the UVA Health Plan or UPG Anthem Plan are eligible for a free eMLife account and the $50 Hoos Well reward for completing the 1% Challenge. 

    Employees who are not on the UVA or UPG Health Plan can sign up for a complimentary Seed account to experience the eMLife platform, participate in the challenge, and earn rewards offered by eMLife. eMLife offers several paid subscription options. For more information, email support@emindful.com, call 855-211-1536, or click here to contact the eMLife support team. 

    Please note:

    • Employees on the UVA or UPG Health Plan must be actively earning a paycheck at the time of reward payout.
    • All rewards are paid quarterly into the Health Plan subscriber’s paycheck and are considered taxable income.
    • Retirees, grant funded post-doctoral fellows, COBRA enrollees, and child dependents are not eligible for rewards. For more information, browse FAQs about Hoos Well rewards. 
    • Employees who are not on the UVA or UPG Health Plan are ineligible for the $50 Hoos Well reward, but they are eligible for the 1% Challenge rewards offered by eMLife:
      • After 10 days: Self-care bingo card
      • After 20 days: Curated affirmation cards
      • After 30 days: 1:1 focused mentoring session
    How do I sign up for eM Life and how much does it cost?

  • How Do I Participate?
    1. You are automatically enrolled in the challenge by logging into your eM Life account between May 5 - June 3, 2025 and engaging in an eM Life activity for at least 14 minutes (1% of a day).
    2. Earn $50 in Hoos Well rewards by participating in live or on-demand sessions in the eM Life app or website for at least 14 minutes a day, for 25 out of 40 days from the day you begin the challenge.
    3. Your activity in eM Life will be tracked for you automatically, and your completion will be recorded automatically. Your $50 reward will appear in your Hoos Well Portal account within 3 weeks from the day you complete your 1% Challenge. 

  • What Skills Will I Learn and What Benefits can I expect?

    You'll build skills from the eMCC™, the first ever scientifically validated framework of mindfulness skills, including Awareness, Focus, Cognitive Flexibility, and Curious Observation. 

    Benefits You Can Expect:

    • Increased ability to manage stress, anxiety, difficult emotions, and pain 
    • Enhanced happiness, sleep, overall well-being, and life satisfaction
    • Greater gratitude, patience, kindness, compassion, and connectedness  
    • Improved ability to watch your experience from a helpful distance, without judgment or reactivity
    • Improved focus, attention, performance, and ability to expand or change your perspective
    • Sustained access to your values, intentions, intuition, and deeper wisdom

  • What types of programs qualify for the 1% Challenge?

    All of eM Life’s live sessions (such as Mindful Dailies, guided practices, applied programs, Ask A Teacher) and on-demand content qualify for the 1% Challenge – just make sure to watch the minimum of 14 minutes per day!

  • How do I track my progress?

    Log in to your eM Life account and go to the 1% Challenge page. If you have started your challenge, this page will display your dashboard and show you the days you missed, attended and still have left in the 1% Challenge. If you have not started your challenge it will give you more information to get started.

  • What Are The Activities?

    Invest 14 minutes a day in any of eM Life’s offerings:

    • “Mindful Daily” sessions: Live, 14-minute mindfulness sessions every day of the week, multiple times per day. eM Life's expert instructors deliver fresh approaches to learning new skills that help you integrate presence into your daily life.
    • Live, 30-minute guided practice sessions with expert teachers
    • Interactive “Ask A Teacher” sessions where instructors engage in an open dialogue with participants. This is an opportunity to connect with eM Life's expert instructors to ask questions about the skills you are working on.
    • Hundreds of hours of on-demand programs to support your mental well-being
    • Multi-week immersive programs on diverse topics such as “Skills to Thrive in Anxious Times,” and “Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Training (MBCT)”

  • Why does it show I missed a day in the progress bar? I don’t think I have missed a day.

    Please make sure that the content you participated in falls inside the 24-hour range of the time zone you’ve selected in your Profile and is 14 minutes or more. If you believe there is an error, please contact support@emindful.com.

  • What if I miss a day?

    That’s ok, setbacks happen. You can still earn the $50 Hoos Well reward by reaching the 14-minute threshold on nonconsecutive days. 

  • When do I earn rewards?

    Your $50 reward will appear in your Hoos Well portal (Personify Health) account within 3 weeks from the day you complete your 1% Challenge. 

  • When will I receive my rewards?

    Earned rewards are deposited directly into the Health Plan subscriber’s paycheck on a quarterly basis. Learn more about receiving rewards in your paycheck

The 1% Challenge really helped kickstart a regular meditation practice for me that I’ve carried into my daily life... When I completed the challenge, I felt empowered to be more present in each moment and observe my thoughts and emotions without judgment. Jessica Clark, Director of Technology, UVA Student Affairs

Hear Your Colleagues' Experience in the 1% Challenge

Many of your UVA colleagues were happy to share their thoughts on the 1% Challenge. Here are a few of them!

Michelle Roszell

Hear from Michelle

J.D. Brown

Hear from J.D.

Jaelyn Munson

Hear from Jaelyn

Lachen Parks

Hear from Lachen

Marianne Daughtrey

Hear from Marianne

Emily Cain

Hear from Emily

Sandy Seidel

Hear from Sandy

Renee Brett

Hear from Renee

Annette Liskey

Hear from Annette
The intentionality and accountability that the 1% Challenge provided me was transformative for my mental wellbeing. Every morning I started my day out with a moment of reflection and intention, and it translated to not only my productivity but by lessening my anxiety throughout the weeks. Giving yourself the gift of time each day truly can make an impact in the best of ways, and I would encourage any considering it to take the plunge. UVA participant in the 1% Challenge