10% Happier With Dan Harris

The science and dharma of mindful eating. How it can stop over eating—and how to actually make the habit.   Brother Pháp Lưu is an ordained monk in the Plum Village tradition started by Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh. He’s worked with scientists at Dartmouth College and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to develop research on the effect of Plum Village mindfulness practices on children.   This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series.    We talk about: The health benefits of mindful eating The line between moderation and restriction  The five contemplations before eating  The basic steps of mindful eating  How to ensure mindful eating doesn’t feel like a chore or burden Fasting and our culture's dysregulated relationship to food Mindful consumption in general The four nutriments And much more   Related Episodes: Do Life Better Get Fit Sanely The Anti-Diet | Evelyn Tribole The Science of Why You Eat When You're Not Hungry–And How to Stop | Judson Brewer   Sign up for Dan’s newsletter

What exercise does to your brain—and how to actually do it regularly.   Wendy Suzuki is a Professor of Neural Science and Psychology at New York University, where she is also the first Asian-American Dean of the College of Arts and Science. She is the author of two books, Good Anxiety and Healthy Brain, Happy Life.   This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series.   We talk about: How exercise not only enhances cognitive function but also protects against age-related cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases.  The difference between cardio and strength training Whether it matters if you track your steps How to sustain your motivation to exercise And practical tips on how to start, restart or increase an exercise habit We also talk about the brain benefits of sleep, meditation, and healthy eating (with a detour into ways to counteract the potentially unhealthy obsession with being healthy) And finally, we talk about the counterintuitive benefits of anxiety   Related Episodes: Do Life Bet

Dan briefly whittles down his top 10 takeaways from the science of behavior change. In this episode we talk about: How our brain’s evolution for short-term survival makes long-term goals harder Picking the right goals Making it easy Leveraging fresh starts How to make goals a team sport The crucial role of mindfulness and self-compassion   This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series.   Related Episodes: The Science of Making – And Keeping – New Year’s Resolutions | Hal Hershfield How To Change Your Habits | Katy Milkman Why Your Bad Habits (And Addictions) May Be Getting Worse – And How Mindfulness Can Help | Dr. Jud Brewer   Sign up for Dan’s newsletter here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Ten Percent Happier online bookstore Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes   Full Shownotes: www.meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/dan-solo-habit-formation   Additional Resources: Download the Happier Meditation app today.

Contemplating your own death can feel like a massive bummer at first, but there’s good news: how you react to that inescapable fact really matters.  Vinny Ferraro has practiced insight meditation (vipassanā) since the mid-90s. He’s the Guiding Teacher of the Big Heart City Sangha in San Francisco and has led a weekly sitting group for almost two decades. As a fully empowered Dharma Teacher thru Spirit Rock/IMS, he has taught residential retreats at Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, and the Esalen Institute. Currently, he leads Spirit Rock's Year to Live course and teaches retreats and daylongs through Big Heart City and meditation centers across the country. He is a respected leader in developing and implementing interventions for at-risk populations. leading groups in schools, juvenile halls and prisons since 1987. He has led emotional intelligence workshops for over 100,000 youth on four continents.   In this episode we talk about: Why it’s important to think about your own death even if you’re not

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- “Radical self-love” — what it is and how to do it. 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 ourselves in old pictures. This never-enough-ness can lead to an ambient level of self-loathing that can be incredibly destructive. That's where "radical self-love" comes in. Our guest today is Sonya Renee Taylor. She is the author of three books, including The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love. She is the Founder and Radical Executive Officer of The Body is Not An Apology. She has come to this work as a result of her own personal pain, as a Black woman inhabiting a body that she says does not conform to societal norms.  In this conversation, we talk about defining radical self-love (and why she believes it's our natural state

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- 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 tune into the value of disruption, and learn how to sit with the chaos.  Zenju Earthlyn Manuel is an ordained Zen priest, holds a Ph.D., and worked for decades as a social science researcher and development director for non-profit organizations. She is also a prolific author. In this conversation we’ll explore: what to do with the unknown and not having any answers the power of a “sip of silence” (her term) what she means by the phrase “death as a doorway to tenderness” how she defines tenderness - a word that can easily get bogged down in sloppy sentimentality and what she meant when she wrote “I'm not advocating love as an answer to all of the ills of the world. Then again, it is just that simple t

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Can mindfulness really pull you out of a spiral of self-judgment? Don’t you need to be judgmental sometimes? What’s the difference between being discerning and judgmental? Description:  Meditation and mindfulness doesn’t uproot your capacity to be judgmental, but it can help you see the value in being judgmental by learning how to work with the judging mind.  La Sarmiento has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1998. La is a mentor for the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, a teacher with Cloud Sangha, and a contributor to the Happier Meditation app. In this episode we talk about: How mindfulness can help us identify when we’re being judgmental The difference between discernment and judgment How it can be so delicious to be judgmental of others – but why it’s actually harmful to ourselves and others The four questions to ask when we notice ourselves going into

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Equanimity: what it is, what it isn’t, and how to get it.  Guest Kamala Masters was one of the teachers at Dan’s first ever meditation retreat. In this episode she dives into how to develop equanimity and shares her story of learning how to practice meditation during her everyday life while raising three children on her own.  Kamala Masters has been meditating since the 1970s, first with Anagarika Munindra, who was Joseph Goldstein’s first teacher, and then with the Burmese master Sayadaw U Pandita with whom she twice temporarily ordained as a Buddhist nun. More recently, she’s been training with another Burmese master we’ve talked about here on the show, Sayadaw U Tejaniya. She is a Guiding Teacher at the Insight Meditation Society, and the co-founder of the Vipassana Metta Foundation, which developed the Maui Dharma Sanctuary. In this conversation we talk about:  What is equanimity? Th

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Dan and Executive Producer, DJ Cashmere, pull back the curtain on what we do, how we do it—and what’s coming next. In this episode we talk about: An exciting New Year's series reveal and upcoming meditation challenge What goes into making the show–and why we do it The ins and outs of starting a new business And much more Sign up for Dan’s newsletter here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Ten Percent Happier online bookstore Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes Full Shownotes: https://meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/bts-878

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- How your blindspots hurt your decision-making— and how to fix it. Anu Gupta is an educator, lawyer, scientist, and the founder and CEO of BE MORE with Anu, an education technology benefit corporation that trains professionals across corporate, nonprofit, and government sectors to advance DEIB and wellness by breaking bias. His work has reached 300+ organizations training more than 80,000 professionals impacting over 30 million lives. Gupta holds a JD from NYU Law, MPhil in Development Studies from Cambridge University, and BA in International Relations and Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies from NYU. As a gay immigrant of color, he came to the work of breaking bias after almost ending his life due to lifelong experiences with racism, homophobia, and Islamophobia. The realization that bias can be unlearned helped lead him out of that dark point and inspired a lifelong mission to build a

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- The upside of the often misunderstood "tribalism". Michael Morris is the Chavkin-Chang Professor of Leadership at Columbia Business School as well as a Professor in its Psychology Department. Outside of academia, Professor Morris has consulted with and conducted executive training workshops for hundreds of clients across the globe, including Fortune 100 firms, governments, and the Obama and Clinton campaigns. He lives in New York City. His latest book is called Tribal: How The Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together. Related Episodes: How Turning Habits Into Rituals Can Help You At Home, At Work, And When You're Anxious | Michael Norton Sign up for Dan’s newsletter here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Ten Percent Happier online bookstore Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes Full S

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- A famed author and humorist takes a deep dive into grief (with Dr. Bianca Harris as co-host). Sloane Crosley is the author of The New York Times bestselling books Grief Is for People, How Did You Get This Number, and I Was Told There’d Be Cake. She is also the author of Look Alive Out There, Cult Classic and The Clasp, both of which have been optioned for film. She served as editor of The Best American Travel Writing series and is featured in The Library of America's 50 Funniest American Writers, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Phillip Lopate’s The Contemporary American Essay and others. She was the inaugural columnist for The New York Times Op-Ed "Townies" series, a contributing editor at Interview Magazine, and a columnist for The Village Voice, Vanity Fair, The Independent, Black Book, Departures and The New York Observer. She is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. She has ta

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Smart strategies that emerged from a brutal year.  Sam Sanders is an award-winning reporter, radio host and podcaster. He co-hosts the podcast Vibe Check with Zach Stafford and Saeed Jones. He also currently hosts The Sam Sanders Show from KCRW. Check out the album he mentioned in the episode, Caroline Rose’s The Art of Forgetting.  This is part 2 in a 3-part series we’re running on grief. In this episode we talk about: The fact that there is no right way to deal with grief  The value of feeling your feelings — even though it sucks  Why it can be helpful to take breaks from your grief without guilt The importance of joy and play  The changing nature of grief What it means to be “anointed” by grief And what it looks like to maintain a relationship with someone even after they’ve died Related Episodes: How (and Why) to Hug Your Inner Dragons | Richard Schwartz Kryptonite for the Inn

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- A journalist explores one of humanity’s most brutal and unavoidable experiences. Cody Delistraty is a writer and speechwriter, most recently working as the culture editor at the Wall Street Journal Magazine. He has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and was the European arts columnist for The Paris Review. He has degrees in politics from New York University and in history from the University of Oxford. British Vogue named him a best young writer of the year, and he has given talks about art and creativity to companies like PwC. He lives in New York City. In this episode we talk about: Why our culture is so repressed when it comes to grief We dive into the many experiments that Cody launched to help cope with loss; from book and laughter therapy, to psilocybin and AI The concept of grief as an addiction  The importance of rituals  The scientific possibility of

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- This scientist says that walking is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Here are some ways you can incorporate it into your life. Today we're going to talk about something so obvious, but so incredibly powerful. Walking. This is the third of a three part mini-series we're doing focused on the benefits of spending time outdoors. Dr. Keltner is one of the world’s foremost emotion scientists. He is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the director of the Greater Good Science Center. He has over 200 scientific publications and six books, including Born to Be Good, The Compassionate Instinct, The Power Paradox, and Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. He has written for many popular outlets, from The New York Times to Slate, and has consulted extensively for Google, Apple, and Pinterest, on issues related to emotion and well-being. H

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Buddhist megastars in conversation.   Today, we’re dropping a recording of a live event we held earlier this year, during which Joseph Goldstein and Dr. Mark Epstein came on stage for a fascinating set of conversations. We did this event to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Dan’s first book, also called 10% Happier.    The night was structured like a late night show, so there was a monologue, and live music with the band Mates of State.    Dr. Mark Epstein is a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City, and is the author of a number of books about the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy, including Thoughts without a Thinker, Going to Pieces without Falling Apart, Going on Being, Open to Desire, Psychotherapy without the Self, The Trauma of Everyday Life and Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself, and The Zen of Therapy: Uncovering a Hidden Kindness in Life. He rec

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- How learning to apologize can upgrade your life. V (formerly Eve Ensler) is the Tony award-winning playwright, author, and activist. Her play The Vagina Monologues is an Obie award-winning, Olivier-nominated theatrical phenomenon that has been translated into 48 languages and performed in 140 countries. She is the author of numerous books, including the recently released bestseller Reckoning (2023), heralded by the Washington Post as “gutting and gorgeous.” Other best-selling books include The Apology (2019), translated into 20 languages, In the Body of the World, and The New York Times bestseller I Am an Emotional Creature. She starred on Broadway in The Good Body and, most recently Off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club in the critically acclaimed In the Body of the World. She helped create That Kindness: Nurses in Their Own Words, presented by the Brooklyn Academy of Music in collabor

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- Practical tips for accessing the healthcare of nature no matter where you live. It’s very possible that you've heard the long list of physiological and psychological benefits that one can derive from getting out into nature. Those benefits include improved mood, boosted immune system, lowered blood pressure and more. That being said, 80 percent of Americans live in urban areas. So today, we're going to talk to an expert about how to derive the many benefits of nature, no matter where you are. Dr. Keltner is one of the world’s foremost emotion scientists. He is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the director of the Greater Good Science Center. He has over 200 scientific publications and six books, including Born to Be Good, The Compassionate Instinct, The Power Paradox, and Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. He has written for many popul

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. A journalist-turned-Buddhist-nun shares six phrases – or mantras – to help keep your relationships on the rails.  Relationships can be tricky. Especially if you find yourself upset with someone, and instead of talking it through, you let it fester until one moment you completely lose it and end up having to apologize. If you’ve ever felt like you had friction with the people in your life, or that you’ve been taken for granted, today’s episode offers you solid strategies to cope.  Sister True Dedication is a Zen Buddhist nun and teacher ordained by the great meditation teacher and author, Thich Nhat Hanh. She edited several of Thich Nhat Hanh’s books, including The Art of Living and Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet. She was born in the United Kingdom, studied history and political thought at Cambridge University, and worked for BBC News before ordaining as a nun at the age of 27. In th

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. A compendium of expert advice on handling all the complications — and pleasures — that the holiday season brings. I have whipped up a holiday survival guide for you, a series of evidence-based strategies for navigating what can be a tricky time of year.   During the course of this episode, I'm going to talk about nine pain points, including navigating political differences around the dinner table, overeating, overwhelm, travel indignities, social anxiety, difficult family members, etc. I'm going to share with you a bunch of strategies pulled from ancient wisdom and modern science.   In this episode we talk about practical strategies for dealing with nine pain points of the holiday season: The expectation of perfection Overwhelm Difficult family dynamics Grief Loneliness Social anxiety Overeating Holiday travel Financial worries Related Episodes: How to Feel Less Enraged And Hopeless When Y