Sam Harris, 'Waking Up' Podcast Host, Neuroscientist

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 Better Get Fit Sanely Sleep Better The Anti-Diet | Evelyn Tribole   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://www.meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/wendy-suzuki-888

6 Jan 1h 12min

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.

3 Jan 25min

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 expecting it anytime soon The distinction between the actual conditions of your life and how much you suffer A practice called the five Daily Remembrances, which Dan started doing himself right after we recorded this — and which has made a real difference for him And some of other practices they do in the class, including the “life review” and “housekeeping”   Related Episodes: Three Buddhist Practices For Getting Your Sh*t Together | Vinny Ferraro How Thinking About Death Can Improve Your Life | Alua Arthur Join the waiting list for A Year To Live at Spirit Rock.   Find out more about the Young Adult Retreat at Spirit Rock (taught by Vinny Ferraro, Matthew Brensilver, Cara Lai, and Hakim Tafari).   Use code TENPERCENT for 10% off these two courses at Spirit Rock: Anxiety as Teacher: A Dharma and Yoga Daylong Cultivating the Beautiful Factors of Mind   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: www.meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/vinny-ferraro-a-year-to-live   Additional Resources: Download the Happier Meditation app today.

1 Jan 1h 7min

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), tools for cultivating radical self-love, and the connection between being OK with yourself and the larger society. Full Shownotes: www.meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/sonya-renee-taylor-rerun Additional Resources: Download the Happier Meditation app today.

23 Dec 202459min

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 to be love.” Content Warning: There are brief mentions of assault; spiritual, sexual, and substance abuse; and racism, including an incident Zenju experienced herself.  Full Shownotes: www.meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/zenju-earthlyn-manuel-rerun This episode was originally published in October 2021.

20 Dec 202451min

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 judgment mode  How to operationalize the phrase “am I suffering right now?”  Investigating the motivations behind striving for success  Why owning up to being a jerk is sometimes the exact right answer Full Shownotes: www.meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/la-sarmiento-rerun-2024 Where to find La Sarmiento online:  Website: www.lasarmiento.com Additional Resources: Download the Happier Meditation app today.

18 Dec 202454min

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? The most common misconception about equanimity The near and far enemies of equanimity  The power and limitations of setting intentions Full Shownotes: https://meditatehappier.com/podcast/tph/kamala-masters-rerun Where to find Kamala Masters online:  Website: Vipassana Metta on Maui Additional Resources: Download the Happier Meditation app today.

16 Dec 202459min

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

13 Dec 202436min