Resisting What You Don’t Want To Feel Just Makes It Worse. Here’s A Different Strategy. | Ofosu Jones-Quartey and Cara Lai

Resisting What You Don’t Want To Feel Just Makes It Worse. Here’s A Different Strategy. | Ofosu Jones-Quartey and Cara Lai

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

---

What you resist persists. Buddhist strategies for acceptance and equanimity.


Ofosu Jones-Quartey, a meditation teacher, author, and musician hailing from the Washington DC area brings over 17 years of experience in sharing mindfulness, meditation and self-compassion practices with the world. Holding a bachelor’s degree from American University and certified by the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, Ofosu is a graduate of the Teleos Coaching Institute and is the male voice on the Balance meditation app, reaching over 10 million subscribers.


Ofosu leads meditation classes and retreats nationwide, having taught and led retreats at the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, The Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock, Brooklyn Zen Center, Cleveland Insight, Inward Bound Mindfulness and more.


As an accomplished hip hop artist under the name “Born I,” Ofosu released the mindfulness-themed album “In This Moment” in 2021. His most recent album is “AMIDA”, a spiritual, Lo-Fi Hip Hop album exploring life, death and his Buddhist faith.


Beyond music, Ofosu is an author. His self-published children’s book “You Are Enough” debuted in 2020 and his next work “Love Your Amazing Self” via Storey Publishing in 2022. Ofosu’s latest book: “Lyrical Dharma: Hip Hop as Mindfulness” will be released in 2025 via Parallax Press.


Ofosu lives in Rockville, Maryland, with his wife and four children.


Cara Lai has worked as an artist, wilderness guide, social worker, and therapist before becoming a full time meditation teacher. She teaches teens and adults at Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, and Ten Percent Happier.


To find out more about what Cara does, you can go to her website, www.caralai.org – where she’s got some online meditation classes, including one called Meditate Your Face Off. She also has a monthly class for parents, co-led by Ofosu Jones-Quartey.


Speaking of podcasts, Cara also co-hosts a podcast called Adventures in Meditating (For Parents), along with Jess Morey and Jon Roberts.


Cara lives in Vermont with her husband and their 2-year-old son.

***

Want to study and practice with today's guests? Please check out these Spirit Rock offerings:

Cara Lai: Steadying the Heart (April 1-8; opens Dec 3)

Ofosu Jones-Quartey: BIPOC Voices: Weekly Sunday Sangha (Nov. 24)

All 10% Happier listeners receive a discount code for our December Insight Retreat (Dec. 8-18) with the code TENPERCENT


Related Episodes:

The Upside of Desire | Cara Lai

Can You Get Fit Without Self-Loathing? | Cara Lai

Rewire How You Talk To Yourself | Ofosu Jones-Quartey

What It’s Like To Do A Year-Long Silent Meditation Retreat—By Yourself | Cara Lai


Sign up for Dan’s weekly 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://happierapp.com/podcast/tph/cara-ofosu-848


Episoder(899)

Handling Holiday Stress (Bonus Episode!)

Handling Holiday Stress (Bonus Episode!)

From the pressures of buying and receiving gifts to surviving awkward office parties, the holidays can be a stressful time of year. On a special edition of the "10% Happier" podcast, our host Dan Harris leads a roundtable discussion with two meditation teachers, Sharon Salzberg and Kate Johnson, as well as David Gelles, an author and New York Times business reporter who covers the meditation scene, on how meditation can help us get through the holidays.

19 Des 201655min

Joe DiNardo, Grief and Meditation

Joe DiNardo, Grief and Meditation

Joe DiNardo, a businessman and attorney from Buffalo, New York, was married to his wife Marcia for 15 years when she was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. DiNardo used to his years of meditation practice to help get through the grief of losing her and in his new book, "A Letter to My Wife," he shares anecdotes about the relationship they had and the love he found.

14 Des 201656min

Robert Thurman, Renowned Buddhist Scholar

Robert Thurman, Renowned Buddhist Scholar

Bob Thurman, the father of actress Uma Thurman, was one of the first Americans to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. He later gave up his robes and is now one of the most famous Buddhist scholars around, having worked with the Dalai Lama for over 50 years and traveled the world lecturing on Buddhist teachings.

7 Des 20161h 12min

John Mulaney, Comedian Turned Broadway Star

John Mulaney, Comedian Turned Broadway Star

John Mulaney, known for his stand-up comedy and his work on "Saturday Night Live," first turned to meditation while filming a short-lived sitcom that bore his name, "Mulaney." He now has a daily meditation practice, which he often practices in a dark dressing room before he goes on stage for "Oh, Hello," the two-man Broadway show he co-wrote and stars in with fellow comedian Nick Kroll.

30 Nov 201651min

Jessica Morey, Teaching Meditation to Teenagers

Jessica Morey, Teaching Meditation to Teenagers

Jessica Morey has turned what some may see as the impossible -- teaching teenagers how to meditate -- into her life's work. Morey, who attended her first meditation retreat at age 14, is the co-founder and current executive director of Inward-Bound Mindfulness Education, or iBme. It’s a non-profit organization that takes teens to residential retreat centers and out into the woods for hiking and meditation across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

23 Nov 201654min

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Renowned Indian Yogi and Mystic

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Renowned Indian Yogi and Mystic

Born and raised in India, Sadhguru says he spent his childhood and adolescence as a "super skeptic" who didn’t grow up "with anything spiritual or religious." He spent his days crisscrossing the country on his motorcycle, he launched successful businesses, but then he had an experience in his 20s that changed the direction of his life forever. Sadhguru is now a world renowned yogi and mystic who talks about how ancient yogic practices can be relevant and helpful in contemporary times. He's the founder of the Isha Foundation and the author of "Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy."

16 Nov 201645min

Colin O'Brady, Pro-Endurance Athlete

Colin O'Brady, Pro-Endurance Athlete

Fewer than 50 people have accomplished the Explorer's Grand Slam, a challenge of summiting the highest peaks on each of the seven continents and completing treks to the North and South poles. Colin O'Brady not only completed the EGS this summer, he shattered the world record for it, finishing in just 139 days. O'Brady also set the world record for climbing the seven summits -- summiting Kilimanjaro in just 11.5 hours. Five years ago, a friend suggested he try mediation and recommended a 10-day silent vipassana retreat. At first O'Brady said he looked at meditation like an elite athlete, hoping to train his body and mind for peak performance, but soon discovered meditation gave him a much greater benefit for his daily life.

9 Nov 201642min

Duncan Sheik, '90s Rocker Turned Broadway Composer

Duncan Sheik, '90s Rocker Turned Broadway Composer

Duncan Sheik first made a name for himself in the mid-90s with the hit song, "Barely Breathing," and has since reinvented himself as a Broadway composer. He won two Tonys and a Grammy Award for music he composed for the smash Broadway hit, "Spring Awakening," and he also composed music for Broadway's "American Psycho." But when Sheik first started out, performing on stage made him very nervous and it wasn't until he was introduced to Nichiren Buddhism, which involves the practice of a form of mantra meditation, that he got over his fears.

2 Nov 201645min

Populært innen Helse

fastlegen
hvordan-har-du-det-mann
leger-om-livet
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
rss-garne-damer
psykodrama
baarli-og-benjamin-gar-i-terapi
morten-ramm-lar-kakla-ga-til-du-sovner
fremtid-pa-frys
foreldreradet
bak-fasaden-en-reise-i-livet-med-sykepleier-ine
hjernesterk
klimaks
g-punktet
rss-kunsten-a-leve
biohacking-girls-din-podcast-for-optimal-helse
hormonelle-frida
rss-baarli-og-benjamin-gar-i-terapi
fryktlos
rss-sunn-okonomi