Podcasts by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

437: Unseating the Inner Tyrant | Ajahn Sucitto from 2022-04-11T07:00

Often, we are our own worst critic.

In this episode, Buddhist monk Ajahn Sucitto explores ways to Listen

436: Brené Brown Says You're Doing Feelings Wrong from 2022-04-08T07:00

Brené Brown has found that most people are only able to identify three emotions: happy, sad and pissed off. 

In this episode we explore how better understanding the full sp...

165: How to Argue Better | Oren Jay Sofer from 2022-04-06T07:00

This episode dives into our archives to revisit the notion of communication as a learnable skill. Often some of the most painful situations you encounter are the result of poor communication. Th...

435: Mind-Blowing Sex | Dr. Lori Brotto from 2022-04-04T07:00

What role does mindfulness and meditation play when it comes to sex? It may be the key to alleviating sexual distress in your relationships, and in this episode Dr. Lori Brotto talks about scien...

363: How to Keep Your Relationships On the Rails | Kaira Jewel Lingo (2021) from 2022-03-30T07:00

This episode explores a Buddhist tool for resolving conflict and keeping your relationships on the rails. This tool, known as the Beginning Anew practice, was designed by the Zen master Thich Nh...

433: How to Suffer Well | Brother Pháp Dung from 2022-03-28T07:00

In January 2022, Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen master, peace activist, poet, and auth...

431: The Joys of Insignificance | Ron Siegel from 2022-03-23T07:00

Many, if not all, of us have a nonstop, ambient thought-track running through our minds of: how am I doing? How do I look? Why did I say that? Am I running behind? What do other people think of ...

430: From Evangelical Pastor to Buddhist Nun | Venerable Pannavati from 2022-03-21T07:00

Venerable Pannavati is a former evangelical pastor who has been ordained in three separate Buddhist traditions: Theravada, Chan, and Mahayana. She’s the co-founder and co-Abbot of Listen

429: The Upside of Apocalypse | Lama Rod Owens from 2022-03-18T07:00

We’re now entering year three of the pandemic, and even though we’re in a very different stage of the game, there are still so many questions: Is it safe or ethical to return to “normal”? How do...

428: Is It Possible You Are Irrational About COVID? | David Leonhardt from 2022-03-16T07:00

As we enter year three of the pandemic, the psychology of COVID is no less complex or consequential. This episode features one of the most prominent chroniclers of the pandemic, David Leonhardt ...

427: How Do I Meditate When There’s a War Going On? | Claude AnShin Thomas from 2022-03-14T07:00

How can we meditate when it seems like the world is falling apart? How do we titrate our news consumption? What do we do with our fears about World War III? How can we do anything constructive t...

425: Compassion Is the Ultimate Tool for the Truly Ambitious | Paul Gilbert from 2022-03-09T08:00

Dr. Paul Gilbert OBE is a professor of psychology at the University of Derby, Founder and President of The Compassionate Mind Foundation, the founder of Compassion Focused Therapy, and in 2011 w...

424: Become an Active Operator of Your Nervous System | Deb Dana from 2022-03-07T08:00

We don’t think about it this way, but as we move through the day, the various moods we inhabit — excitement, engagement, aggression, fear, dejection — they’re all dictated by, or correlated with...

423: A Serious Case for Humor | Jennifer Aaker&Naomi Bagdonas from 2022-03-02T08:00

A common denominator among all of the great meditation teachers is a sense of humor. They take the teaching seriously, but they don’t take themselves seriously. So perhaps there’s a link between...

422: Climate Change as an Opportunity | Bhikkhu An?layo from 2022-02-28T08:00

Today’s guest makes an extremely convincing case that there are many self-interested reasons to look squarely at the reality of climate change. Bhikkhu An?layo, who is originally from Germany, i...

421: There’s No Part of Your Life You Can’t Make More Awesome | Jeff Warren from 2022-02-23T08:00

It is very easy to think about your meditation practice as being quarantined to those minutes when you’re dutifully sitting down with your eyes closed. But actually the point is to turn your who...

420: The Elephant in the Meditation Room | Christopher Ford from 2022-02-21T08:00

Today’s episode is the culmination of a long search to find a countervailing force: a Buddhist Trump supporter. This search was born out of the Buddhist impulse to find the other side. What is t...

419: The Good News About Your Inevitable Decline | Arthur Brooks from 2022-02-16T08:00

The unavoidable truth is that our skills change as we get older. We invest so much in our professional success, and then at some point, things change. But there’s good news. While certain abilit...

418: How Not to Ruin Your Relationships | Drs. John&Julie Gottman from 2022-02-14T05:00

If you care about your long term health and happiness, the quality of your relationships is an area you should focus on. And the good news here is that love – as it applies to friends, family, a...

417: Why I’m Not a Buddhist | Evan Thompson from 2022-02-09T08:00

This episode features Evan Thompson, author of the book Listen

416: Hinduism 101 | Swami Tyagananda from 2022-02-07T08:00

One of the most consistent requests we get from listeners is to explore non-Buddhist forms of meditation. That’s what we’re going to do with this episode. Our guest is Swami Tyagananda, who has ...

415: Why Self-Hatred Makes No Sense | Matthew Brensilver from 2022-02-02T08:00

This episode, with Matthew Brensilver, explores a compelling Buddhist question: does self-hatred, or self-love, make sense if the self is an illusion? Matthew Brensilver, PhD, is a clinical soci...

414: What We Can Learn About Happiness from Babies | Alison Gopnik from 2022-01-31T08:00

Dr. Alison Gopnik is a psychologist at UC Berkeley and one of the world’s leading experts in cognitive development. She is also the author of several books, including Listen

Buddhist Lessons on Anxiety | Leslie Booker (2021) from 2022-01-28T08:00

All week, we’ve been running  “best of” episodes as part of our Taming Anxiety series – and this is the final episode in that series. 

Leslie Booker (who goes by Booke...

How to Break Your Anxiety Habit | Judson Brewer (2021) from 2022-01-26T08:00

This week, we’re sharing some of the best episodes in our archives about anxiety. Dr. Judson Brewer is a psychiatrist and deep dharma practitioner who argues that anxiety is a habit, and is one ...

Sara Bareilles: Anxiety, Anger, and Art (2021) from 2022-01-24T08:00

This week, we're posting some of our best podcasts from the archives on a dragon many of us face internally – anxiety. The first episode of the series features Sara Bareilles. 

Listen

413: The Science of Depression | Sona Dimidjian from 2022-01-19T08:00

This episode features one of the world’s leading experts in depression and how meditation can help. Dr. Sona Dimidjian is a professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience ...

412: The Zen of Therapy | Mark Epstein from 2022-01-17T08:00

Psychiatrist Dr. Mark Epstein, discusses his new book The Zen of Therapy, in which he explores ho...

411: Are You Willing to Challenge Your Own Tribe? | Robert Wright from 2022-01-12T08:00

Why, from an evolutionary perspective, is it so terrifying for many of us to contemplate challenging our own tribe? How comfortable would you be hopping on social media and questioning the deepl...

410: Ways to End Bias That Will Also Make You Happier | Jessica Nordell from 2022-01-10T08:00

Jessica Nordell is a science and culture journalist who has written for the Atlantic and the New York Times. She earned a B.A. in physics from Harvard and an M.F.A. in poetry from the University...

409: For the Burned Out, Fried, and Exhausted | Emily&Amelia Nagoski from 2022-01-05T08:00

The final episode of our New Year’s Getting Unstuck Series features Emily and Amelia Nagoski. Our goal with this episode, as it has been with all the episodes throughout the series, is to arm yo...

408: Can You Handle This? | Tara Brach from 2022-01-03T08:00

This is the third episode of our Getting Unstuck Series and we’re kicking off the new year with a giant in the meditation world. Tara Brach holds a PhD in clinical psychology and has been practi...

407: How a Buddhist Teacher Gets Unstuck | Matthew Hepburn from 2021-12-29T08:00

It’s the second episode of our Getting Unstuck Series. In this episode, Buddhist teacher and TPH fan favorite Matthew Hepburn offers a Buddhist lens on getting unstuck across many facets of our ...

406: That Rut You’re In – This One Word Could Pull You Out | Nedra Tawwab from 2021-12-27T08:00

This is the first episode of our Getting Unstuck Series. This episode, featuring social worker and NYT bestselling author Nedra Tawwab has some incredibly practical advice for various forms of s...

Karamo: How to Actually Do Self-Love (January, 2021) from 2021-12-22T08:00

With the approach of the new year (and perhaps New Year’s resolutions) we’ve decided to replay a very popular episode, featuring one of the most prominent proselytizers for self-love, Karamo fro...

How to Change Your Habits | Katy Milkman (May, 2021) from 2021-12-20T08:00

We’re almost at that time of year where we contemplate making New Year’s resolutions. So we decided to rerun an episode about the blazingly obvious fact that creating healthy habits can be infer...

Ten Percent Happier Presents: Childproof with Yasmeen Khan from 2021-12-17T08:00

Being a parent is really freakin’ hard. Of course, it can also be incredibly rewarding and delightful. Either way, it consumes us. 

Childproof is a show about us, the paren...

405: How You Can Help End Polarization and Inequality – and Get Happier, Too | Robert Putnam&Shaylyn Romney Garrett from 2021-12-15T08:00

In this episode, Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett discuss the recent book they co-authored, The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again.

404: What Is Nirvana? | Robert Thurman from 2021-12-13T08:00

If you want to make change in a world filled with all sorts of horrors and obstacles, does it help or hurt to stay cheerful while you go about your business? Robert Thurman argues passionately i...

403: This Episode Will Make You Stronger | Sister Dang Nghiem from 2021-12-08T08:00

It’s hard to be a human. No matter how good things are for you, being alive is still hard; whatever your life circumstances are, we’re all subject to impermanence and entropy. This episode dives...

402: How To Work Around Your Own Irrationality | Richard Thaler from 2021-12-06T08:00

This episode explores how to make the infernally difficult challenge of habit formation a little easier, with guest Richard H. Thaler, who won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2017 for hi...

401: How to Embrace the Anti-Diet | Christy Harrison from 2021-12-01T08:00

This episode is the second in our two-part Anti-Diet Series, and features guest Christy Harrison. Christy is ...

400: Jameela Jamil on Mental Self-Defense from 2021-11-29T08:00

Our guest for our 400th episode is actor and activist Jameela Jamil, who you may have seen on such shows as The Good Place, The Misery Index, and Legendary. Outside of...

399: How to Get Out of Your Head | Willa Blythe Baker from 2021-11-24T08:00

It is a common desire to get out of our heads, to escape the internal noise, the chatter, the Sturm und Drang, the sound and fury, etc. You hear about it in pop songs and poetry, this u...

398: The Right Kind of Suffering | Paul Bloom from 2021-11-22T08:00

Is there a good kind of suffering? Paul Bloom says, yes -- there is a kind of suffering that you choose. This voluntary suffering can reduce anxiety and make your life more meaningful. This epis...

Best of the Archives: How Your Emotions Are Made | Lisa Feldman Barrett from 2021-11-17T08:00

Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett is at the forefront of understanding human emotions: what they are, why humans evolved to have them, how they’re different from feelings, and what science says about how...

397: How to Benefit From Religion, Even as a Nonbeliever | David DeSteno from 2021-11-15T08:00

Dr. David DeSteno has embarked on a project he calls “religio-prospecting.” In other words, he has been looking at the scientific evidence that many ancient religious traditions can confer all s...

396: Don’t Side With Yourself | Matthew Hepburn from 2021-11-10T08:00

Work can be one of the most difficult places to apply meditative concepts such as mindfulness, patience, and kindness. But work can also be an amazing testing ground for your attempts at meditat...

395: How to Handle Difficult People | Dawn Mauricio from 2021-11-08T08:00

It’s been a problem ever since the dawn of humankind: how do we deal with jerks? What do you say to them? And how do you not make everything worse? And what if the jerk is you? 

<...

394: Staying Sane at Work | Laurie Santos from 2021-11-05T07:00

It turns out you can call up Laurie Santos and ask about any conundrum and she will respond with a veritable treasure trove of scientifically-grounded relatable wisdom. In this episode, we ask t...

393: How to Give Feedback Without Ruining Everything | Kim Scott from 2021-11-03T07:00

One of the hardest things to do in any relationship is give feedback. It’s always dicey. You don’t want to be too aggressive. You don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. But you also don’t want to...

392: How to Fight Languishing (at Work and Everywhere Else) | Adam Grant from 2021-11-01T07:00

This episode officially marks the launch of the Work Life Series, a brand-new, five-part series that’s all about how to live better lives at work. In each episode, we’ll be hosting meditation te...

391: The Benefits of Thinking Like an Entrepreneur | Reid Hoffman from 2021-10-27T07:00

The advice to “think like an entrepreneur” can, from a certain angle, come off as the kind of rote, tech-bro guidance you’d get from a millennial lifehacker. But Reid Hoffman makes a good case t...

390: A Buddhist Recipe for Handling Turmoil | Kaira Jewel Lingo from 2021-10-25T07:00

We all know that change is inevitable and impermanence is non-negotiable. But somehow it can feel surprising, maybe even wrong, when we personally hit turbulence. The Buddha had a lot to say abo...

389: What the Buddha Taught About Friendship | Kate Johnson from 2021-10-20T07:00

Friendship was important to the Buddha. In fact, there’s a whole passage in the Buddhist scriptures, or suttas, about friendship, with seven strategies for friendship, some of which we ...

388: The Science of Training Your Attention | Dr. Amishi Jha from 2021-10-18T07:00

Distraction is one of the top complaints of meditators -- and of pretty much every human being, in this era that has been dubbed the “info blitzkrieg.” In this episode, we’ll hear from Dr. Amish...

387: Twenty Percent Happier | Matthew Hepburn from 2021-10-13T07:00

In this special episode we’re going to do some mindful eavesdropping. You’re going to get a chance to listen in on a process that rarely, if ever, gets aired publicly. You’re going to hear real ...

386: Sitting with Chaos | Zenju Earthlyn Manuel from 2021-10-11T07:00

Very few of us relish chaos and disruption, but they are facts of life, given the nonnegotiable nature of change. In this episode with Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, we’re going to talk about how to tun...

385: The Awesome Power of "Touchy-Feely" | Carole Robin and David Bradford from 2021-10-06T07:00

We talk a lot on this show about social connection, but in this episode we’re going to get super granular on how to actually do relationships better.

Carole Robin and David Brad...

384: What to do About Eco-Anxiety | Jay Michaelson from 2021-10-04T07:00

In the mental health community, there’s a new term: “Eco-Anxiety.”

Our guest in this episode, Jay Michaelson, has been thinking hard about climate change for many, many years....

383: An "Erotic" Approach to the Climate Crisis | Dr. Andreas Weber from 2021-09-29T07:00

In this episode we’re talking about increasing happiness by connecting to nature. 

Guest Andreas Weber is a renowned philosopher, biologist, and writer based in Berlin. He is the auth...

382: Stoicism 101 | Nancy Sherman from 2021-09-27T07:00

You may have heard about stoicism, in the common parlance, as having a stiff upper lip, sucking it up, grinning and bearing it, suppressing your emotions, etcetera. Or you may have heard of Stoicis...

381: What Does it Actually Mean to Be a "Whole Person"? | Scott Barry Kaufman from 2021-09-22T07:00

In this episode, we’re going to demystify concepts such as: self actualization, personal growth, authenticity, and bringing your “whole self” to the table.  Scott Barry Kaufman is a cognitive scien...

380: Psychedelics and Meditation | Michael Pollan from 2021-09-20T07:00

Michael Pollan has done more than perhaps anybody else in recent history to change the conversation on the use of psychedelic drugs, or plant medicine. He is author of the best selling book called ...

379: How to Get the Wisdom of Old Age Now | Dilip Jeste from 2021-09-15T07:00

Happiness levels are really high when we’re young. They then steadily dip through our 20s, 30s, and 40s, and bottom out in our early 50s–at which point, they make a sharp and sudden rise. Then, thr...

378: Life, Interrupted | Suleika Jaouad from 2021-09-13T07:00

Here’s a thought experiment: how would you handle it if you got a terrible diagnosis? Of course, many of us have no choice but to find out. This is the situation Suleika Jaouad faced when she got g...

377: A More Relaxed Way to Meditate | Alexis Santos from 2021-09-08T07:00

A common problem among type-A people is trying to win at meditation. But the practice doesn’t work like that. If you over-effort, if you try to make something happen, it’s pretty much guaranteed no...

376: Letting Go of Perfectionism | La Sarmiento from 2021-09-06T07:00

In this episode, we’re talking about the difference between kindness and what our guest, La Sarmiento, calls “radical kindness,” how to muster the strength to be kind to annoying people while setti...

375: Reversing the Golden Rule | Jamil Zaki from 2021-09-01T07:00

In this episode we’re talking about how what you believe— about yourself, or about the world — can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. So if you believe the world is a cold and unforgiving place, it...

374: The Evolutionary Case for Kindness | Dacher Keltner from 2021-08-30T07:00

Here’s a question: Is there an evolutionary advantage to being kind?  Our guest today is Dacher Keltner, an eminent scientist who will make the case that, contrary to popular conceptions of evoluti...

373: Optimizing Your Stress | Modupe Akinola from 2021-08-25T07:00

Stress – which many of us despise and try to avoid – does not actually have to be a bad thing. Rather, it’s our relationship to stress, our mindset about stress, that determines whether we are help...

372: The Science of Making and Keeping Friends | Robin Dunbar from 2021-08-23T07:00

Friendship might not necessarily be something you’ve considered to be an urgent psychological and physiological issue. On this show, we spend a lot of time exploring how the quality of our relation...

Improving Your Relationships - Buddhist Style | Martine Batchelor from 2021-08-18T07:00

This great deep-Dharma episode is all about using an ancient, fascinating, and readily-accessible Buddhist concept as a way to improve your interactions with other human beings. The concept in ques...

371: Help, Work Sucks | Cal Newport from 2021-08-16T07:00

A lot of us right now would probably agree that the technologies meant to make our jobs easier are actually stressing us out. (Think: the email and Slack messages that never stop and with which you...

370: How Do You Love Without Being Attached? | Kevin Griffin from 2021-08-11T07:00

In this episode we’re tackling some thorny dharma questions. For example: How do you love someone without attachment? How do you love yourself when the self is allegedly an illusion?  Our guest tod...

369: How To End The War With Your Body | Sonya Renee Taylor from 2021-08-09T07:00

It is incredibly common for many of us humans, whatever our gender, to be at war with our bodies -- trying to live up to the people we see in the movies, on social media, or even the versions of ou...

Escape From Zombieland | Koshin Paley Ellison from 2021-08-04T07:00

Modern life has turned many of us into zombies. We walk around with our noses in our phones, constantly on the hunt. We’re not looking to eat people’s brains, per se, but we are looking for mindles...

368: A Rarely Accessed Source of Joy | Roman Mars from 2021-08-02T07:00

Today’s episode is about finding joy, pleasure, interest, and even gratitude in a surprising source: everyday objects and infrastructure.  Our guest Roman Mars is the host and creator of 99% Invisi...

367: The Price of Secrecy | Michael Slepian from 2021-07-28T07:00

This episode is all about secrets.  Did you know that there are 38 categories of secrets—and statistically, according to Michael Slepian, you probably have about 13 of them right now? Slepian is th...

366: How to Outsmart Your Pain | Christiane Wolf from 2021-07-26T07:00

Sit in meditation for a few minutes and you’re likely to experience pain, either physical or psychological. Hang around the meditation scene for very long, and you are likely to hear the expression...

The Art and Science of Compassion | Thupten Jinpa from 2021-07-21T07:00

It can be incredibly frustrating when life-changing, world-changing concepts such as compassion and kindness are often presented as cliches, because scientific research strongly suggests that learn...

365: The Voice in Your Head | Ethan Kross from 2021-07-19T07:00

The craving, complaining, and comparing voice in our heads can be the source of incalculable suffering, but is it all bad? And are there ways to talk to yourself that can turn your inner voice into...

364: Getting Over Yourself | Joseph Goldstein from 2021-07-14T07:00

For the uninitiated, Joseph Goldstein is one of the cofounders of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) alongside Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield. Since its founding, thousands of people from aro...

363: How to Keep Your Relationships On the Rails | Kaira Jewel Lingo from 2021-07-12T07:00

Today’s episode is about a Buddhist tool for resolving conflict and keeping your relationships healthy. Today’s guest, Kaira Jewel Lingo, was an ordained nun of 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order ...

The Science of Happiness | Emiliana Simon-Thomas (2020) from 2021-07-07T07:00

In a previous interview with Dan, the Dalai Lama said something along the lines of, “everyone’s selfish; that’s the way we’re wired. But if you’re going to be selfish, you should be wisely selfish....

362: Rethinking Your Relationship to 'Stuff' | The Minimalists + Oren Jay Sofer from 2021-07-05T07:00

We’ve been meaning to tackle our relationship to 'stuff' for a while now. This subject can go deep. It’s not just about decluttering (although that can actually be pretty substantial work); it’s ab...

361: Why Men Armor Up | Daniel Ellenberg from 2021-06-30T07:00

Today's episode is a deep dive into the male operating system and how it can be upgraded. Today's guest, Daniel Ellenberg, is a psychotherapist, marriage and relationship therapist, author, and fac...

360: Self-Compassion Ain’t Always Soft | Kristin Neff from 2021-06-28T07:00

There’s a widely held assumption that if you have a warmer, friendlier relationship with yourself, you will not only slack off and be ineffective, but also that you will be a doormat. My guest toda...

359: The Hard Questions That Might Save Your Relationship | Susan Piver from 2021-06-23T07:00

Today we have some counterintuitive relationship advice. If you’re in a tough spot with your loved one, why would you want to have a deep chat about religion, politics, work, or your eating habits?...

358: Buddhist Lessons on Anxiety | Leslie Booker from 2021-06-21T07:00

Taming Anxiety Series - Episode 4: Welcome to the final episode in our Taming Anxiety Series! Today's guest, Leslie Booker – who goes by "Booker" – is one of America’s leading dharma teachers. She ...

357: Strategies for Social Anxiety | Ellen Hendriksen from 2021-06-18T07:00

Taming Anxiety Series - Episode 3: As we move into summer and more and more vaccines go into arms, your town or city (or state or country) may soon be opening back up, if it hasn’t already. Some of...

356: Anxiety, Explained | Luana Marques from 2021-06-16T07:00

Taming Anxiety Series - Episode 2: Anxiety is very common -- but also commonly misunderstood. So today we’re doing a show that you might think of as: Everything You Wanted to Know About Anxiety (Bu...

355: Sara Bareilles: Anxiety, Anger, and Art from 2021-06-14T07:00

Taming Anxiety Series - Episode 1: Today is a big day here on the podcast, both because we have a fantastic new episode, and because this episode is actually kicking off a series we have been wanti...

354: The Surprising Upsides of Self-Deception | Shankar Vedantam from 2021-06-09T07:00

Anyone with a passing familiarity with Buddhism will know that “delusion” is rarely, if ever, mentioned in a positive way. In fact, the Buddha included delusion (aka: confusion about the way things...

353: Chris Bosh: Making Your Inner Voice Your Ally from 2021-06-07T07:00

One of the more surprising lessons I’ve learned as an ambitious person is that perhaps the best recipe for success is... keeping your ego in check. For a long time, I subconsciously believed that y...

352: Why You’re Burning Out -- And How to Fix It | Leah Weiss from 2021-06-02T07:00

Covid appears to have brought on a spike in burnout, especially among women, millions of whom have exited the workplace since the pandemic began. So what is burnout, exactly? How do you know if you...

351: A Buddhist Approach to Patience | Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche from 2021-05-31T07:00

These are not hospitable times for the mental skill of patience. Instant gratification has never been more thoroughly scaled. You can order food, taxis, and shampoo from your phone. Streaming servi...

350: How to Be Courageous | Stacy McClendon from 2021-05-26T07:00

Many of us know that meditation can confer benefits such as self-awareness, calm, and compassion, but what about courage? My guest today says, yes. Meditation can boost your courage quotient. And s...

349: Meditation is Not Just a Solo Endeavor | Pamela Ayo Yetunde from 2021-05-24T07:00

There’s a meditation pitfall that’s pretty easy to fall into. In fact, I’ve fallen into it many times. It’s this idea, which we can hold consciously or subconsciously, that meditation is a solo end...

348: How to Focus | Shaila Catherine from 2021-05-19T07:00

Living as we do in an era that has been called the info blitzkrieg, staying focused can be extremely difficult for many of us. This can be true when we’re working and trying to stay on task. It can...

347: What You Can Learn About Your Relationships from a Former Neo-Nazi | Shannon Foley Martinez from 2021-05-17T07:00

We’ve got a provocative but deeply practical episode today. All of us have people in our lives — whether it be our personal lives, our professional lives, or even just people we see on TV — with wh...

346: The Gospel of Adequacy | Miguel Sancho&Felicia Morton from 2021-05-12T07:00

Often on the show, we bring on incredibly accomplished meditation practitioners or influential researchers who have deep things to teach us, based on their personal experience or professional pursu...

345: How to Change Your Habits | Katy Milkman from 2021-05-10T07:00

To state the blazingly obvious, creating healthy habits can be infernally difficult. But why? And what are the best strategies for getting around this? My guest today has spent nearly two decades r...

344: How to Handle Anger, Uncertainty, and Self-Loathing | Mushim Patricia Ikeda from 2021-05-05T07:00

When somebody wrongs you, what is the wise way to handle your anger? Is forgiveness possible? What about friendliness? My guest today has a lot of thoughts about how to handle anger and how to resp...

343: What Everyone Who Meditates Should Know | Chenxing Han and Duncan Ry?ken Williams from 2021-05-03T07:00

If you meditate (or do yoga, for that matter), you may have been taught by a Westerner, but you owe a gigantic debt of gratitude to the giants and geniuses in Asia who developed these practices. Th...

342: The Science of Building Better Relationships | Marissa King from 2021-04-28T07:00

The idea of networking can be fraught. For some people, it might, at times, seem either icky or pathetic to deliberately try to make friends, either in a personal or professional context -- especia...

341: The Art and Science of the World’s Gooiest Cliche | Barbara Fredrickson from 2021-04-26T07:00

One of our primary missions on this show is to rescue vital ideas that have lapsed into cliches. There are so many important concepts out there that many of us might be tempted to dismiss because t...

340: The Science of Hope | Jacqueline Mattis from 2021-04-21T07:00

Today we’re talking to a renowned psychologist who has come up with five strategies for cultivating hope. Dr. Jacqueline Mattis is a clinical psychologist from Rutgers University, where she is also...

339: Why Buddhism Is Inherently Hopeful (Despite All the Talk of Suffering) | Oren Jay Sofer from 2021-04-19T07:00

Buddhism can get a bad rap as being hopelessly pessimistic -- in no small measure because one of the Buddha’s first principal pronouncements was, “Life is suffering.” But if you listen to the rest ...

338: Discomfort: A Counterintuitive Source of Hope | Sebene Selassie from 2021-04-14T07:00

As you may know, we are in the midst of a two-week series on hope – a concept we are trying to rescue from the realm of rote cliche and empty bromides. Our belief is that hope, when properly unders...

337: Hope Is a Skill | George Mumford from 2021-04-12T07:00

Spring is here. Vaccines are entering arms. But for many of us, hope can feel slippery and fleeting. Even with the pandemic seeming to abate, there's still a lot of uncertainty and suffering. That’...

Three Mindfulness Strategies from Joseph Goldstein (2020) from 2021-04-07T07:00

To inject a little sunshine, perspective, and wisdom, we thought it might make sense to repost one of our favorite conversations of the last year. This is a straight up meat-and-potatoes meditation...

336: How Your Emotions Are Made | Lisa Feldman Barrett from 2021-04-05T07:00

Today’s guest is at the forefront of understanding human emotions: what they are, why humans evolved to have them, how they’re different from feelings, and what science says about how to manage the...

335: A Pressure Cooker for Insight | Bart van Melik from 2021-03-31T07:00

The great meditation teacher Ram Dass once said, “If you think you’re enlightened, go spend a week with your family.” My guest today comes with tools to help you keep your cool when interacting wit...

334: Three Lessons from Happiness Research | Emma Seppälä from 2021-03-29T07:00

People in the mindfulness meditation world often note that what we’re teaching is not a breathing exercise; the goal is to just feel the breath as it naturally occurs (if you’ve chosen the breath a...

333: The Self-Interested Case for Examining Your Biases | John Biewen from 2021-03-24T07:00

Too often, the process of looking at your biases can be presented like eating your vegetables. But one of the most fascinating and rewarding things I have attempted to do in recent years is to take...

332: The Profound Upside of Self-Diminishment | George Saunders from 2021-03-22T07:00

There is a powerful scene in a novel called Lincoln In the Bardo, where President Abraham Lincoln has come to the cemetery where his young son, Willie, is soon to be buried. Willie had passed away ...

331: How to Understand Oneness | Roshi Norma Wong from 2021-03-17T07:00

Today we’re diving into a concept that is simultaneously one of the oldest contemplative cliches and one of the most profound head scratchers — oneness. Can *you* be one with everything if *you* do...

330: How This Plague Ends (and What It Tells Us About Human Nature) | Nicholas Christakis from 2021-03-15T07:00

We all remember that fateful week, almost exactly a year ago, when it all seemed to sink in for so many of us–when Tom Hanks got sick, the NBA suspended games, and the (now former) President addres...

329: How to Break Your Anxiety Habit | Judson Brewer from 2021-03-10T08:00

To mark the first anniversary of the week in March 2020 when Covid fundamentally altered our lives, we’re launching a special two-part series. Today, we’re going to be talking about anxiety, which ...

328: A Conversation about Abuse, Agency, and Mindfulness | Tanya Selvaratnam from 2021-03-08T08:00

Before we dive in, a warning: this conversation includes descriptions of abuse and violence. As you may know, March 8th, the day we’re dropping this episode, is International Women’s Day. We have a...

327: Uprooting Your Delusions | Andrea Fella from 2021-03-03T08:00

I know you guys, and it is pretty clear you love deep dharma episodes. Today we’ve got a dharma episode that is quite timely. As you all know, we live in a time when most people are getting their n...

326: How to Make a Masterpiece | Pete Docter from 2021-03-01T08:00

We’re all creatives, whether we think of ourselves that way or not. In so many aspects of your life, from planning your future to planning a meal to curating your social media, you need to be able ...

325: A New Way to Think About Addiction | Annie Grace from 2021-02-24T08:00

The stereotypical depiction of fighting addiction makes it seem highly unpleasant: White knuckling, sweating it out, detoxing, going cold turkey–you get the picture. This applies to classical addic...

324: Your Craving Mind | Kevin Griffin from 2021-02-22T08:00

This is an episode about our craving, grasping minds. Whether you have struggled with a classic addiction or not, we all have addictive tendencies; we all wrestle with desire. I often think about a...

Making it RAIN | Tara Brach from 2021-02-17T08:00

Today we’re going to talk about a massively useful acronym, which can be used both on the cushion and in your free-range living. The acronym is RAIN -- R-A-I-N -- and rather than explaining it myse...

323: How (and Why) to Hug Your Inner Dragons | Richard Schwartz from 2021-02-10T08:00

How do you relate to the more difficult— and even ugly— aspects of your personality? How do you feel about yourself when you are, say, in a judgmental or vengeful or jealous mode? Is that an opport...

322: A Deeply Healthy Kind of Perfectionism | Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo from 2021-02-08T08:00

We have talked a lot on this show about how perfectionism can have pernicious impacts on your psyche. Today we’re going to talk about how, by contrast, a certain kind of perfection is very much wor...

321: The Joy of Being Wrong | Adam Grant from 2021-02-03T08:00

My guest today makes a fascinating and potentially life-changing case. He argues that we need to reconsider how we view intelligence. He says that instead of viewing intelligence as the ability to ...

320: The Buddha’s 8-Part Manual for a Good Life | Brother Pháp Dung from 2021-02-01T08:00

Today we’re talking about one of the Buddha’s first and most important lists: the Eightfold Path. I’m kinda surprised we’ve never done a deep dive into this list on the show before, but better late...

#295: How To Be Grateful When Everything Sucks | DaRa Williams from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

In the face of the seemingly unremitting horrors of 2020, is it possible -- or wise -- to generate gratitude? My guest today argues: yes. DaRa Williams is a longtime practitioner and teacher of med...

#294: Vitamin E: How To Cultivate Equanimity Amidst Political Chaos | Election Sanity Series | Roshi Joan Halifax from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

#294: Vitamin E: How To Cultivate Equanimity Amidst Political Chaos | Election Sanity Series | Roshi Joan Halifax It’s part four in our Election Sanity series. Throughout October, we have been try...

Earth, Wind, and Fire (Not the Band) | Bonus Meditation with Tuere Sala from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Find resilience and self-regulate by connecting with physical sensations that evoke the universal elements of fire, earth, & wind. Quick reminder: our Free Election Sanity Meditation Challenge sta...

#293: A Star, Utterly Unguarded | Brett Eldredge from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

We’ve backed away from celebrity interviews on the show of late, because we got a lot of feedback from listeners saying they had trouble relating to some of our more famous interviewees. I am confi...

#292: The Opposite of Schadenfreude | Election Sanity Series | Tuere Sala from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

There’s an old expression: “Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little bit.” I love that saying, because it speaks to how hard it can be to take pleasure in other people’s happiness. That said, w...

Fear Itself | Bonus Meditation with Sharon Salzberg from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

When you’re stuck in fear and other strong emotions, intentionally feeling what’s happening with acceptance can be a game changer. To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, visit htt...

#287: Can You Change Your Relationship With Fear? | Dr. Abigail Marsh from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

There’s no shortage of fear these days -- the virus, the climate, racial injustice, political tumult… I could go on. But can you change the way your brain reacts to fear? Moreover, can you train co...

#286: Feeding the Mind | Dr. Mark Hyman from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Today we’re going to get a deep take on the old cliche, “You are what you eat.” Usually that expression speaks to the impact of food on our bodies, but what is often overlooked is the impact nutrit...

Happiness Doesn't Have to be an Accident | Bonus Meditation with Diana Winston from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Happiness doesn't have to be an accident. In this session from Diana, train your mind to become more and more joyful. To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, visit https://10percen...

#285: What’s the Point of Joy Right Now? | James Baraz from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

In my opinion, purveyors of joy can come off as oily and unctuous, even in the best of times. Like walking impersonations of Rainbow Brite. But in hard times, arguing for joy can seem pollyanna-ish...

#284: How To Handle A Narcissist (Including, Maybe...Yourself) | Keith Campbell from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

“Narcissist” is a word that gets thrown quite a bit, including by me -- often, semi-facetiously, about myself. But until this conversation, I didn’t actually know what the word meant. My guest toda...

Anxious? Listen to This. | Bonus Meditation with Joseph Goldstein from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

During major life transitions your emotional and mental world can kick into overdrive. Learn how to stay in the eye of the hurricane. In the Ten Percent Happier app, you'll find this same meditati...

#283: The Buddha’s Foundational Listicle | Phillip Moffitt from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Way before Buzzfeed, the Buddha was creating listicles: The Seven Factors of Enlightenment, The Three Jewels, The Eight Worldly Winds... I could go on. He wasn’t using these lists as clickbait, obv...

#282: The “Lifequake” Survival Guide | Bruce Feiler from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

We have another themed week for you, with two episodes about how to navigate major life changes-- clearly a resonant theme, given the various dumpster fires that are raging in our world right now. ...

What To Do When You Get Angry? | Bonus Meditation with Jessica Morey from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Go from "seeing red" to seeing the value in anger without being carried away by it and doing or saying things you'll regret later. About Jessica Morey: Jess Morey is the executive director and le...

#281: What a Buddhist Monk Learned from Nearly Being Assasinated | Bhante Buddharakkhita from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

When you first encounter Bhante Buddharakkhita, the wise and affable Abbot of the Ugandan Buddhist Center, you might be tempted to think: this guy’s been a meditator since shortly after exiting the...

#280: One Man’s Planetary Quest for Happiness | Ravi Patel from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

How do you strike work/life balance when you feel overwhelming pressure to provide for your family? How do you balance gender roles in a modern marriage? How close should we live to our parents whe...

Try This Meditation Before You Try to Change the World | Bonus Meditation with Sharon Salzberg from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Following on from our episode with Sharon Salzberg on Wednesday we’re dropping a bonus meditation from the set of new meditations she has within the Ten Percent Happier app related to her new book ...

#279: How To Stay Politically Engaged Without Losing Your Mind | Sharon Salzberg from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

In the heat of an election that is both incredibly nasty and hugely consequential, it might be tempting to try to shut out all the feelings of anger, frustration, and powerlessness. But my guest to...

#278: How To Stay Centered When You’re Skiing Off a Cliff | Angel Collinson from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Angel Collinson is a badass in every sense of the word. She’s one of the world's best extreme skiers, a meditator, and a climate activist. In this conversation we explore Angel's mindfulness practi...

Reflecting on Your Life | Bonus Meditation with Sebene Selassie from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Growing up, Sebene felt like a big weirdo. Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and raised in white neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., she was a tomboy Black girl who loved Monty Python and UB40. She neve...

#277: This Conversation Actually Explains Oneness With The Universe | Sebene Selassie from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

I grew up with that famous Groucho Marx joke, “I wouldn’t want to belong to a club that would have me as a member.” It always resonated with me. As my grandfather would say, “I resemble that remark...

#276: Are We All Traumatized? | Dr. Pat Ogden from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

It’s a human urge to return to normalcy after a cataclysmic event. But if we rush back to normalcy without taking a beat, without metabolizing what we’ve all been going through, that can create pro...

How Not To Be Yanked Around By Your Emotions | Bonus Meditation with Joseph Goldstein from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Joseph Goldstein is one of the most respected meditation teachers in the world -- a key architect of the rise of mindfulness in our modern society -- with a sense of humor to boot. In the 1970's, ...

#275: Improving Your Relationships, Buddhist Style | Martine Batchelor from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

This episode is a mix of the technical, the practical, and the delightful. We’re talking about a meditation technique that can impact relationships, your biases, and how you handle things such as l...

#274: The Case for Optimism | Dr. Jonathan Salk from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

The virus has exploited so many weaknesses of our culture. But having exposed the weaknesses, such as inequities and reckless individualism, could the current crisis lead to a fundamental shift for...

Three Resilience Tools for Stressful Times | Bonus Meditation with Sebene Selassie from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

About Sebene: Growing up, Sebene felt like a big weirdo. Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and raised in white neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., she was a tomboy Black girl who loved Monty Python and ...

#273: A Master Class in Resilience | George Mumford from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Today we have a master class in resilience. My guest is George Mumford, who has overcome some towering difficulties in his own life, including an addiction to drugs. He went on to become a legendar...

#272: The Secrets of Gritty People | Angela Duckworth from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

This week on the show, we’re exploring the interrelated themes of grit and resilience -- both massively resonant and relevant issues in the era of Covid and BLM. Today, my guest is Angela Duckworth...

You Are Not Your Thoughts | Bonus Meditation with Joseph Goldstein from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Joseph Goldstein is one of the most respected meditation teachers in the world -- a key architect of the rise of mindfulness in our modern society -- with a sense of humor to boot. In the 1970's, ...

#271: The Antidote to Burnout | Leah Weiss from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

At a time when work has become more challenging than ever, we’re going to explore one myth and one revelation. The myth -- which many of us, myself included, have consciously or subconsciously inco...

#270: You Don’t Exist. But You Actually Do. Wait, What? | Guy Armstrong from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

In this episode, we take a simple, useful, and down-to-earth stroll through one of the most confounding -- but liberating -- concepts in Buddhism. On the one hand, Buddhists tell us the self is an ...

Soothe Anxiety to Sleep | Bonus Meditation with Matthew Hepburn from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Today (7/31) is the last day to join the Summer Sanity Challenge: a free 21 day meditation challenge. The goal here is to help you build resilience so that you are less buffeted by circumstances yo...

#269: The Sex Episode | Devon and Craig Hase from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Buddhists don’t tend to shy away from talking about body parts -- but usually it’s more along the lines of meditating on things like spittle, defecation (otherwise known as poop) and the inevitable...

#268: How to Get Sleep in Anxious Times | Dr. Donn Posner from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

I don’t know about you guys, but my sleep has suffered quite badly during the last few months. Today’s guest really got me thinking about this issue in a whole new way. First, he normalizes the sle...

Performance Anxiety | Bonus Meditation with Oren Jay Sofer from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

On July 27, we're launching the Summer Sanity Challenge: a free 21 day meditation challenge. The goal here is to help you build resilience so that you are less buffeted by circumstances you can’t c...

#267: How Do You Optimize Your Performance When Everything Sucks? | Pete Carroll & Michael Gervais from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

How do you optimize your performance when life is utterly disrupted by a pandemic? Are optimism and confidence trainable skills? Can we get over our fear of other people’s opinions? These are some ...

#266: The Case for "Doing Nothing" in a Time of Crisis | Sebene Selassie & Jeff Warren from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

At a time of multiple, mutually-reinforcing dumpster fires, meditation can seem counterintuitive. Instinctively, many of us might prefer to rush to the barricades, or Twitter, or the fetal position...

How Not to Be Owned by Desire | Bonus Meditation with Joseph Goldstein from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Learn how to become mindful of desire, creating more room for choice instead of automatically reaching for the thirtieth cookie. You can find Joseph's meditation and much more on our app. Visit te...

#265: The Upside of Desire | Cara Lai from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

In Buddhism/meditation circles, desire or wanting is often considered a no-no. But is this line of thinking sometimes taken too far — or simply misunderstood? Can we turn our desires — for food, se...

#264: The Brain Science of Enlightenment | Rick Hanson from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Today we’re going to nerd out about what enlightenment (or, if that word is triggering, let’s just call it “high doses of meditation”) can do to your brain — and, more practically, how we can deriv...

An Infinitely Portable Meditation Technique | Bonus Meditation with JoAnna Hardy from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

You can find meditations on relaxation and much more on our app. Visit tenpercent.com to download the Ten Percent Happier app and kickstart your meditation practice. Visit tenpercent.com to sign up...

#263: The Buddha's Four-Part Strategy for "Ultimate Happiness" | Sally Armstrong from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

"Mindfulness" has become a buzz phrase. There are books on mindful parenting, mindful lawyering, even mindful sex. But what does the word even mean? And how do you actually do it? In one of his mos...

#262: Why We're All Suffering from Racial Trauma (Even White People) -- and How to Handle It | Resmaa Menakem from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

It’s easy to think of racism as a virus that lives in your head. But my guest today makes a compelling case that it also lives, in very profound and often unseen ways, in your body. Resmaa Menakem ...

Getting Out of Your Head | Bonus Meditation with Diana Winston from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

You can find meditations on compassion and much more on our app. Visit tenpercent.com to download the Ten Percent Happier app and kickstart your meditation practice. Visit tenpercent.com to sign up...

Increasing your Attention Awareness | Bonus Meditation with Rev. angel Kyodo Williams from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

In this potent meditation on one point, hone your capacity to direct your attention where you want without shutting out the rest of the world. Good News everyone, our Free Election Sanity meditati...

#291: Three Mindfulness Strategies from Joseph Goldstein from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

There will be no talk of election or pandemic on this episode. This is a straight-up, meat-and-potatoes meditation talk from the one and only Joseph Goldstein. In this chat, we explore three profou...

#290: The Immense Power of Giving a Crap | Election Sanity Series | Rev. angel Kyodo williams from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Do you remember that band, The Shins? They had a popular song that appeared on the soundtrack for that Zach Braff movie Garden State. Anyway, they also had a song called “Caring is Creepy.” I alway...

Reset Your Nervous System | Bonus Meditation with JoAnna Hardy from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

If you enjoyed this meditation, sign up for our Election Sanity Series email guide. It will recap all of the podcast episodes each week. It’ll include helpful tidbits such as key terms and concept...

#289: Fun Is a Trainable Skill (And It Doesn't Involve Your Phone) | Catherine Price from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

At a time like this, fun may seem frivolous. But our guest today is going to argue — convincingly, in my opinion — that fun is absolutely essential to a well-lived life. She has thought deeply abou...

#319: How to Do Nothing | Jenny Odell from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

For an audience of meditators (or aspiring meditators), the idea of doing nothing shouldn’t be foreign. But, speaking from personal experience, it is very possible, especially for Type A people, to...

#318: A New Way to Think About Your Time | Ashley Whillans from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

For many of us, in this pandemic, our relationship to time has become particularly fraught. You may be noticing that, with no limits on your work time, you are going into overdrive and feeling more...

Everything You Wanted to Know About Self-Love But Were Afraid to Ask | Bonus Q&A with Jeff Warren and Susan Piver from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Today, expert meditation teachers Jeff Warren and Susan Piver return to respond directly to the questions that you, our listeners, have been submitting to us about self-compassion. It’s a tricky co...

#317: Non-Preachy Ethics | Jozen Tamori Gibson from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

We’re diving in on another Buddhist list today. One of the many things I like about the Buddha is that, as far as I can tell, he pretty much always aims his messages, even the hard-to-swallow ones,...

#316: How to Call People In (Instead of Calling Them Out) | Loretta Ross from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

On this Martin Luther King day, it’s tempting to fear that America, and the world, may never have been further away from the kind of inclusive society that Dr. King called for so eloquently. So tod...

How to Work with "The Comparing Mind" | Bonus Meditation with Jeff Warren from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Nothing compares to now. Let Jeff help you find freedom and ease from constant comparing by embracing this very moment.   Take a few minutes to help us out by answering a survey about your experien...

#315: A Big Dose of Perspective | Jack Kornfield from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

This is exactly what I needed right now: a huge, helpful dose of perspective in the midst of the political crisis gripping America -- a crisis which, of course, has ripple effects for the whole wor...

#314: A Wise and Counterintuitive Way to Meditate in a Crisis | Lama Rod Owens from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

If you’re either seething or scared — or both — in the aftermath of the attack on the US Capitol, this one’s for you. In times of national and international strife, we’ve made it a habit of turning...

#313: National Trauma–Now What? | Jon Kabat-Zinn Special Edition from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

I don't know about you, but I felt a lot of anger, fear, and sadness while watching those horrifying images from the United States Capitol on Wednesday. So how do we handle this with some degree of...

#312: You're Doing Resolutions Wrong. Here’s How to Fix It. | Dr. Laurie Santos from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

New Year’s Series Episode 4. Today we’re going to dive into the science behind why so many of us get New Year's resolutions so wrong -- and how we can do better. My guest is Dr. Laurie Santos. As y...

#311: Karamo: How To Actually Do Self-Love from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

New Year’s Series Episode 3. We talk with Karamo about how to practice self-love--and why doing so is the opposite of selfish.   Karamo was the first out gay Black man on reality TV when he appeare...

#310: The Scientific Case for Self-Compassion | Chris Germer from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

New Year’s Series Episode 2. We talk with Chris Germer about the scientifically-proven benefits of self-compassion; how to practice self-compassion in your life; the disutility of shame; and the co...

#309: The Ultimate New Year's Resolution | Susan Piver and Jeff Warren from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

New Year’s Series Episode 1. We talk with expert meditation teachers Susan Piver and Jeff Warren about a radical approach to the new year: self-compassion. Susan and Jeff help introduce the New Yea...

A Shortcut to Gratitude | Bonus Meditation with Jay Michaelson from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Feel the sweet happiness of gratitude for those who have helped you over the years, the kind benefactors in your life. Excited about our upcoming New Year's Challenge? Download the Ten Percent Hap...

A Counterintuitive Remedy for Stress | Bonus Meditation with Sebene Selassie from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Being kind to ourselves in hard times bolsters our resilience, so we can learn from setbacks rather than getting stuck in rumination. About Sebene: Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and raised in Wash...

Kryptonite for the Inner Critic | Kristin Neff from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

I don’t know about you, but there have been many times during this wrenching year where I have made my pain even worse by adding on layers and layers of self-criticism. There’s a notion that is dee...

#308: Manure for Enlightenment | Fleet Maull from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

The notion of transmuting the difficult stuff in your life into something positive has become a cliche. Turning lemon into lemonades, making your mess your message, etcetera. But, as I have said ma...

A Great Way to Get Out of Your Head | Bonus Meditation with Joseph Goldstein from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Caring about others' well being actually enhances our own. Practice and see how this beautiful quality begins to transform your experience. About Joseph Goldstein: Joseph is one of the most respec...

#307: The Science of Emotional Intelligence | Daniel Goleman from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

How much would your relationships improve if you could up your emotional intelligence game? That phrase -- emotional intelligence -- entered the lexicon 25 years ago, when my friend Daniel Goleman ...

#306: A Meditator in the Arena | Sam Harris from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Sam Harris (no relation to me, by the way -- although I wouldn’t mind it) has had a formative impact on my contemplative development. He was one of the first “normal” (at least that’s how I compute...

What is Happiness? | Bonus Meditation with Jay Michaelson from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

What is happiness? Investigate how happiness is created, what it’s really like, and learn to access the simple happiness of right now. About Jay Michaelson: Dr. Jay Michaelson is the Editor of Wis...

#305: Secrets from the Happiness Lab | Laurie Santos from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

2020 has already sucked extremely hard, but we may now be entering even more difficult months ahead, as winter sets in. So we asked Professor Laurie Santos to come on. She is overflowing with scien...

#304: What You Can Learn from the Buddha’s Wife and Aunt | Pamela Weiss from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

The women around the Buddha dropped a ton of useful wisdom, but I suspect you haven’t heard much about that. Why? Why have these women been largely written out of history? And what do these hidden ...

Generosity | Bonus Talk with Norman Fischer from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Is it possible--or even wise--to stay generous and open right now, given the perennial stresses of the holiday season and the unique stresses of 2020? In today’s bonus talk, Norman Fischer helps us...

#303: Depression and Anxiety: Your Old Enemies, Your Best Friends| Zindel Segal from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Winter is coming. Not to get all Game of Thrones on you, but... while there are some optimistic signs on the horizon in the form of vaccines, it looks like we could be heading into some dark months...

#302: The Words of the Buddha | Bhikkhu Bodhi from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

When I first got interested in meditation, all the talk of the Buddha that I encountered in the various books I was reading and lectures I was attending seemed like more of a bug than a feature. I ...

Flipping the Stress Switch | Bonus Meditation with Jeff Warren from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Release the grip of stress by playing with perspective, zooming in and waaay out, and feeling into the wild weather patterns of life.   We hope you enjoyed this meditation. If you're thinking, "You...

#301: A Holiday Survival Guide for Difficult Conversations | Bill Doherty from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

What to do if you find yourself marooned at your Thanksgiving meal, facing a voluble uncle who is spewing political ideas you find abominable? Our guest today is overstuffed (see what I did there?)...

#300: Six Words to Get You Through a Bad Day | Bonnie Duran from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

It feels like the right time to drop a deep Dharma episode. And this one has a twist. Bonnie Duran is a professor in the Schools of Social Work and Public Health at the University of Washington, wh...

Antidote to Overwhelm | Bonus Meditation with Oren Jay Sofer from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Take the edge off out-of-control overwhelm and gain some agency in how you respond when everything feels like it’s crashing down. About Oren Sofer: Oren Jay Sofer teaches mindfulness, meditation a...

#299: Relationship Advice from a “Mega Monk” | Haemin Sunim from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

My guest today does a fantastic job of speaking in a not-at-all-annoying way about the inarguably important yet potentially very cheesy concept of self-love. Haemin Sunim is a Korean “mega monk” wh...

#298: How (and Why) to Hack Your Empathy | Jamil Zaki from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Kindness and empathy are loaded propositions right now. When you hear those words, you might think: Eh, those are soft skills that won’t help me get ahead. Or: If I’m too nice, I will get trampled....

Post-Election Uncertainty | Bonus Meditation with Oren Jay Sofer from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

During this wild moment of uncertainty, join Oren to ease your anticipation anxiety and soothe the troubling tumult of the unknown. We hope you enjoyed this meditation. If you're thinking, "You kn...

#297: Dealing with Uncertainty, Anxiety, and Anger | Special Post-Election Edition | Lama Rod Owens from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

In the wee hours of election night, we consult Lama Rod Owens on uncertainty, anxiety, rage, and self-care. Join Dan and Rev. angel Kyodo williams today, Wednesday, November 4 at 3 PM for a live c...

#296: How to Use Social Media without Losing Your Mind | Randy Fernando from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Given that social media has been blamed for rising levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and political polarization, is it possible to use this technology wisely? That’s the question we dive i...

An Acronym To Keep You Sane | Bonus Meditation with Roshi Joan Halifax from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Use Roshi Joan’s GRACE tool to not just engage with difficult people in your life, but genuinely know your personal integrity along the way. We hope you enjoyed this meditation. If you're thinking...

313: National Trauma–Now What? | Jon Kabat-Zinn Special Edition from 2021-01-08T08:00

I don't know about you, but I felt a lot of anger, fear, and sadness while watching those horrifying images from the United States Capitol on Wednesday. So how do we handle this with some degree of...

The Anti-Diet | Evelyn Tribole (January, 2020) from 2020-12-23T08:00

I, like many people, have the potential to get pretty dysregulated around food and body image. A lot of men don’t talk about this stuff, but there is plenty of evidence that this is a unisex issue....

Vulnerability: The Key to Courage | Brené Brown from 2020-12-21T08:00

Vulnerability is not something I ever personally considered to be a valuable skill to cultivate. That is, until I met today’s guest, Brené Brown-- who helped me understand that being vulnerable is ...

260: The Science of Happiness | Emiliana Simon-Thomas from 2020-06-29T07:00:17

In this episode, at this fraught moment in history, we're bringing on a leading scientist to help us tackle one of the most pernicious misconceptions that humans have ever fostered. The very roots ...

259: How You Can Help Transform America's Racial Karma | Dr. Larry Ward from 2020-06-24T07:00

What can you, as an individual, do to help break the cycles of rage, pain, fear, and violence that continue to grip America - and many other parts of the world - relating to the issue of race? Even...

258: Why Your Bad Habits (and Addictions) May Be Getting Worse - and How Mindfulness Can Help | Dr. Jud Brewer from 2020-06-22T07:00:34

Do you find yourself overeating during this stressful time? Maybe drinking or smoking more than you would like? What about shopping or gambling? And how's your relationship to your phone these days...

257: The Dharma of Harriet Tubman | Spring Washam from 2020-06-17T07:00:10

I had always known Harriet Tubman as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, repeatedly risking her own life to lead slaves out of the South. But in this episode, my friend, the great meditation t...

256: White People, Drop the Shame and Get Curious | Shelly Graf from 2020-06-15T07:00:25

In this episode, we go there. All the way there. All those horrifying little thoughts that white people might have - eg: Have you ever felt superior to, or suspicious of, black people? - let's drag...

255: The View of American Turmoil from the Other Side of the World | Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche from 2020-06-10T07:00:18

We have spent the past few episodes talking with black and white Americans about race. But for this episode I wanted to get the view from outside. So I called up a man on the other side of the plan...

254: White People Talking About Whiteness | Eleanor Hancock from 2020-06-08T07:00:14

Many, if not most, white people don't think of themselves as racialized. Race, we might tell ourselves, is an issue for people who have different skin colors than ours: black people, Hispanic peopl...

253: An Uncomfortable (But Meaningful) Conversation About Race | Lama Rod Owens from 2020-06-03T07:00

Many of us come to meditation for comfort. But, especially for white people, right now is a time to embrace our discomfort. Lama Rod Owens encourages me to step way out of my comfort zone in this c...

252: You Can't Meditate This Away (Race, Rage, and the Responsibilities of Meditators) from 2020-06-01T11:00:47

There is fury in America's streets - and we, as meditators, have the opportunity to use our practice to do the hard work of seeing things clearly (including the ugliness in our own minds), and resp...

251: The Dalai Lama's Advice for Right Now from 2020-05-27T07:00:53

How do we handle pandemic-induced anxiety or grief? What does a spiritual guru do to relax while on lockdown? We put those questions - and more - to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The man needs littl...

250: Holding it Together When Things Fall Apart | Pema Chodron from 2020-05-25T07:00:47

Pema Chodron has seemingly been trying to prepare us for this pandemic for years, through a series of popular books, with titles such as When Things Fall Apart, Welcoming the Unwelcome, and The Wis...

249: Don't Let This Crisis Go To Waste | Roshi Joan Halifax from 2020-05-20T07:00:06

Roshi Joan Halifax is definitely not arguing the pandemic is a good thing, but she also believes we shouldn't let this crisis go to waste. It's a wake-up call, she says - a chance for us to really ...

248: How to Be a Good and Sane Citizen in Ugly Times | Ezra Klein from 2020-05-18T07:00:44

Rest assured, this is not an episode where we're going to argue about politics. Instead, it's about how to maintain our happiness, calm, sanity, generosity, and compassion in the face of an increas...

247: Weird Dreams, Family Relationships, and Collective Trauma | Dr. Mark Epstein from 2020-05-13T07:00:13

Why are so many of us having such weird dreams these days? How do we successfully interact with family members while on lockdown? Are we all experiencing some sort of trauma? These are just some of...

246: Losing Your Patience? Here's How to Get it Back from 2020-05-11T07:00:25

This pandemic is a colossal test of our patience - from dealing with family to interminably long wait times on calls with the unemployment office to just wanting this whole nightmare to evaporate s...

245: The Other Side of the Pandemic | Rev. angel Kyodo williams from 2020-05-06T07:00:40

What will we be like when this thing is finally over? Will we be even more fearful and divided? Or is there a realistically rosier scenario? This is just one of the subjects we explore in a wide-ra...

244: Small Ways to Improve Your Everyday Life Right Now | Gretchen Rubin from 2020-05-04T07:00:34

I call Gretchen Rubin the "Swiss Army Knife for Happiness." Present her with a problem, and she will flood you with practical, customized solutions. I love having Gretchen on this show not only bec...

243: Can You Be OK With Uncertainty? | Jack Kornfield from 2020-04-29T07:00:10

On this episode, a bad news / good news situation. Let's start with the bad news: human beings are not wired for uncertainty. It short circuits our system. The mind wants to plan, to work things ou...

242: A Buddhist Approach to Money Worries | Ethan Nichtern from 2020-04-27T07:00:28

No matter what your economic situation is, you have likely experienced some money worries during this pandemic. I know I have- and I say that as someone who is in an extremely fortunate position. S...

241: Crisis Advice from "Meditation MacGyver" | Jeff Warren from 2020-04-22T07:00:45

Jeff Warren is someone for whom I have a special affection. We chronicled our friendship in a book we co authored, called Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, in which we took a gonzo cross-country bus...

240: Why We're All Grieving - and How To Deal With It | David Kessler from 2020-04-20T07:00:32

Most, if not all, of us are experiencing a cocktail of challenging emotions these days - whether in the background or in the foreground of our psyche. Speaking personally, I thought my primary issu...

239: How to Go Easy on Yourself in a Pandemic | Dr. Kristin Neff from 2020-04-15T07:00:14

It's easy to add insult to injury in this pandemic by beating ourselves up. Why are we not exercising more? Eating less? Or boosting our productivity? Kristin Neff, an associate professor at the Un...

238: You Don't Have to be Alone to be Lonely | Former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy from 2020-04-13T07:00:44

Our guest this week gives a bracingly candid account of loneliness - one made all the more remarkable by the fact that he is a former surgeon general. Even before the current coronavirus pandemic, ...

237: Is It Still OK to Be Happy? | Sylvia Boorstein from 2020-04-08T07:00

Even in the middle of a pandemic, it's still OK to experience delight. That's per legendary meditation teacher, Sylvia Boostein. In fact, she says, moments of happiness can fortify you to deal with...

236: Love in the Time of COVID | Esther Perel from 2020-04-06T07:00:42

The coronavirus outbreak may pose one of the greatest challenges to romantic relationships in modern memory. For those of us living in close quarters with spouses or partners, how do we live our da...

235: Joseph Goldstein | Meditating In A Pandemic from 2020-04-01T07:00:17

A statement of the blazingly obvious: we are living in stressful times. A statement of the slightly less obvious: meditation, while not a panacea, can help. In this episode, we're bringing you one ...

234: How to Engage Corona-Deniers (and Other Ethical Dilemmas) from 2020-03-27T07:00:55

So many of us have people in our lives who we feel are not taking this pandemic seriously enough. How do we handle them? Yell, lecture, call them out on Twitter? What about flooding them with artic...

233: Sharon Salzberg Makes Me Feel Better from 2020-03-25T07:00:37

If, given the deeply suboptimal circumstances in which we find ourselves right now, you are cycling through anxiety, depression, anger, and apathy, I suspect this conversation with legendary medita...

Jack Kornfield on Ten Percent Happier Live | Bonus Episode from 2020-03-23T07:00:42

In times like these, we need practical, actionable ways of coping with stress, fear, and anxiety. Hence my new project -- Ten Percent Happier Live. Every weekday, we'll offer a free live sanity bre...

232: How to Actually Get Work Done at Home | Rasmus Hougaard&Jacqueline Carter from 2020-03-20T07:00:41

We are in the middle of a giant, global experiment in remote work. Even in the best of times, working from home is tricky. You're surrounded by distractions: pets, laundry, Netflix. But in the mids...

231: Parenting in a Pandemic | Susan Kaiser Greenland from 2020-03-18T14:00:23

We're in the middle of one of the greatest tests for parents in modern memory. Tens of millions of us, cooped up in our homes with our kids, as a consequence of the coronavirus. Susan Kaiser Greenl...

How to Handle Coronavirus Anxiety | Special Edition from 2020-03-13T07:00:54

We're all being inundated with unsettling news about the new coronavirus, but there isn't a lot of information out there about how to stay sane, balanced, and calm in the midst of this pandemic. So...

230: Work Less, Get More Done | Alex Soojung Kim-Pang from 2020-03-11T07:00

Many of us can feel burnt out, tired or stretched too thin. It can be hard to balance everything on our plates, especially in work environments that require long hours and multi-tasking. But Alex S...

229: Buddhism Without Beliefs | Stephen Batchelor from 2020-03-04T08:00:20

Stephen Batchelor is a Buddhist teacher who takes an unconventional approach to the practice. He was more of a scholar, studying logic and philosophy rather than mantras and deities. In his early l...

228: The Medieval Executioner in Your Head | Valerie Brown from 2020-02-26T08:00:53

Valerie Brown grew up in poverty in Brooklyn, New York. When she was a teenager, her mother passed away and her father left her to fend for herself. Valerie was forced to become an adult before any...

227: Race is Not Tangential to Meditation | Rhonda V. Magee from 2020-02-19T08:00:28

Rhonda V. Magee is a Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco and an internationally-recognized thought and practice leader focused on integrating mindfulness into higher education, law ...

226: The Dharma of Instagram | Yung Pueblo from 2020-02-12T08:00:16

Yung Pueblo (Diego Perez) grew up in poverty after his family immigrated from Ecuador to Boston, Massachusetts. He fell into heavy drugs in his college years, consumed in misery and sadness, before...

225: Happiness Takes Work | Sonja Lyubomirsky from 2020-02-05T08:00:42

Sonja Lyubomirsky has been studying human happiness for 30 years. As a professor at the University of California Riverside, her research has centered around things people can do to become happier. ...

224: Tara Brach: Making it RAIN from 2020-01-29T08:00:22

Being open to the feelings of anxiety and fear can be terrifying, but Tara Brach, a clinical psychologist and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC, has a method to guide us...

223: Jon Kabat-Zinn | Meditation as a Love Affair from 2020-01-22T08:00

Jon Kabat-Zinn has been a key player bringing mindfulness meditation to the mainstream. In 1979, he introduced the now world-renowned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, a meditation therap...

213: Mating in Captivity, Esther Perel from 2019-11-13T08:00:46

Psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author Esther Perel is recognized as one of today’s most insightful and original voices on modern relationships. Perel provides her insight on such to...

209: Kryptonite for the Inner Critic, Self-Compassion Series, Kristin Neff, PhD from 2019-10-16T07:00:33

Life can be challenging. It’s comforting to have kind, supportive people around you to help you through it. Dr. Kristin Neff believes it’s equally important to cultivate a kind, supportive inner vo...

197: Escape from Zombieland, Koshin Paley Ellison from 2019-07-24T07:00:12

Human beings are wired for social connection. Sadly, thanks in large part to the internet, mobile phones and social media, we are seeing an increase in social isolation. Zen teacher and psychothera...

#190: The Fundamental Mystery of the Mind, Annaka Harris from 2019-06-05T07:00:59

As a child Annaka Harris suffered from migraines. Searching for ways to cope with that pain, she became curious - wondering "what is this pain" and "where is it coming from?" The line of questionin...

Bonus: Ten Percent Happier Talks “Just This,” Diana Winston from 2019-05-29T07:05:16

Experiencing bliss is easy - so easy you might miss it.

185: Brené Brown, Vulnerability: The Key to Courage from 2019-05-01T07:00:35

Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston and has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. She is also the author of five #1 New York ...

170: Ellen Hendriksen, Rising Above Social Anxiety from 2019-01-16T03:00

You remember that old commercial where the guys says, "I'm not only the Hair Club President, but I’m also a client."? That's kind of how Ellen Hendriksen sees herself. She's a clinical psychologist...

85: Mark Coleman, Meditating in the Great Outdoors from 2017-06-21T03:00

Renowned mindfulness teacher Mark Coleman, founder of Awake in the Wild and The Mindfulness Institute, has led wilderness meditation retreats from Alaska to Peru. Coleman talks about making peace w...

82: Cory Muscara, Mindfulness Teacher, Former Monk from 2017-06-07T03:00

Cory Muscara, 27 years old, admits he first tried meditation because he wanted to impress his college girlfriend -- but it changed his life forever. Muscara, an econ major who considered a finance ...

81: Sharon Salzberg, 'Real Love' from 2017-05-31T03:00

"I think people do things motivated by love, certainly more strongly sometimes, and more successfully, than when motivated by hate... I think love is actually the force that keeps us going," said r...

80: Bellamy Young, TV's "Scandal" Star from 2017-05-26T03:00

ALERT: This episode contains "Scandal" spoilers! Bellamy Young, best known for playing Mellie Grant on ABC's hit show, "Scandal," said making meditation part of her daily routine has helped improve...

79: Willoughby Britton, Jared Lindahl -- Does Meditation Have a Dark Side? from 2017-05-24T14:00

Many of us get into meditation because we want to be calmer, less stressed and less yanked around by our emotions, but sometimes there are unwanted effects. Brown University researchers Willoughby ...

78: Lodro Rinzler, Meditation for the Heartbroken from 2017-05-17T03:00

Buddhist meditation teacher Lodro Rinzler, who had been meditating for most of his life, found himself dealing with multiple, heartbreaking tribulations in his 20s and he fell into despair for a wh...

77: Jen Kirkman, Comedian, Author from 2017-05-10T03:00

Stand-up comedian Jen Kirkman was introduced to meditation at a young age and over the years has tried a bunch of different outlets, from 'body scan' practice to mantra to meditation classes, to he...

75: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Creator of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction from 2017-05-03T03:05

Jon Kabat-Zinn was on a meditation retreat in the late '70s when he had an idea to marry science with mindfulness and bring the practice into hospitals, which then led to his redefining an importan...

2: Weezer's Rivers Cuomo from 2016-03-11T05:05

Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo has been writing and singing hit songs for more than two decades. But this Grammy-winning rocker, whose lyrics about relationships, promiscuity and drug use helped Weez...

1: Dalai Lama from 2016-03-11T05:00

How can you live a happier life? In our debut episode, Dan Harris sits down with the Dalai Lama and Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist and founder of the Center for Healthy Minds. His Holiness and ...