10% Happier with Dan Harris

A Harvard doctor on how she went from stress patient to stress expert.   Dr. Aditi Nerurkar is a Harvard stress expert, and the author of The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body For Less Stress and More Resilience.   In this episode we talk about: Healthy stress vs. unhealthy stress  The distinction between stress and burnout What Dr. Nerurkar calls “toxic resilience” Finding quiet in a noisy world  The relationship between scrolling and sleeping The gut-brain connection Key breathing exercises Dealing with your inner critic  How to avoid what she calls “revenge nighttime procrastination”  Exercises to help you get into your “future self” The rule of two strategy And much more   Related Episodes: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Creator of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Stress Better, Modupe Akinola How to Thrive Under Stress | Elizabeth Stanley, PhD The Science Of Journaling: How Writing Reduces Overthinking, Rumination, And Anxiety | Dr. James Pennebaker (Co-Interviewed By Dr. Bianca Harris)   Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes   Additional Resources:  Aditi on Substack

10 Mars 1h 6min

Dan and executive producer DJ Cashmere talk about how we’re putting “sanely ambitious” into action on our team; plus, an important update on how to listen to the podcast ad-free.   In this episode we talk about: How rest and productivity are two sides of the same coin What psychological safety looks like on a small, creative team Having a “parking lot” for great ideas that we aren’t ready to do Other ways we’re navigating some big changes in our business Related episodes:  Work Less, Get More Done | Alex Soojong Kim-Pang Digital Minimalism | Cal Newport Help, Work Sucks | Cal Newport How to Be Productive Without Burning Out | Cal Newport BIG NEWS: Paid subscribers can now listen to the 10% Happier podcast ad-free by going to podcast.danharris.com! If you’re not a paid subscriber, you will be prompted to sign up there. It’s another one of our perks for our paid subscribers, including transcripts and cheat sheets for every episode, plus live guided meditations and Q&A sessions with Dan.   Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes

7 Mars 27min

Secrets from the massively popular Stanford business school course on interpersonal hygiene. Carole Robin and David Bradford taught the most popular elective course at the Stanford Graduate School of Business for a combined total of 75 years. Officially, the name of the course is Interpersonal Dynamics, but everybody calls it “Touchy-Feely.” Together they have written the new book, Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues. We dive into the six hallmarks of what they call “exceptional relationships,” how to be honest and vulnerable without overdoing it, why the questions “how am I feeling?” and “how are you feeling?” are central to improving our communication, the inevitability of risk when you set out to deepen a relationship, and why meditation is helpful in all of this. This episode originally aired in 2021.   Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes   Additional Resources:  Brené Brown https://connectandrelate.com/

5 Mars 1h 9min

Why knowing your tendency can improve your life. Susan Cain is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, and Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole. Her Kindred Letters newsletter is read by people in all 193 countries and all 50 American states. Join her at TheQuietLife.net. In this episode we talk about: How to know if you’re an introvert or extrovert The strengths of introversion – and how these can you no matter where you are on the introvert / extrovert spectrum  Techniques to improve your relationships and work life  How to design your life around where you do your best – including figuring out your true goals The perks of exposing ourselves to the things we fear the most The paradox of anxiety and shyness And why introverts and extraverts often get along so well—something Susan calls “introvert/extrovert synergy”     Related Episodes: What Is Sadness Good For? | Susan Cain   Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes   Additional Resources:  The Quiet Life with Susan Cain | Substack

3 Mars 56min

What it is, how beginners can get a taste, the dangers of striving, and whether tech can make it easier.   Dr. Matthew D. Sacchet, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Meditation Research Program at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General). Since 2012, he has authored more than 120 publications, presented more than 150 times at international, national, regional and local conferences and speaker series, and been cited more than 8,000 times.     In this episode we talk about: What Matthew's learning about advanced states of meditation, and what they do to the brain What relevance advanced meditation might have for the rest of us How we might get a taste of these states ourselves Whether technology might ultimately help some of us advance more quickly The psychological risks of practicing deep end meditation   Related Episodes: Dr. Richie Davidson, Daniel Goleman – Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain and Body Nirvana | Joseph Goldstein A Meditator in the Arena | Sam Harris Willoughby Britton, Jared Lindahl -- Does Meditation Have a Dark Side   Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes   Additional Resources: Meditation Research Program at Harvard Matthew Sacchet on X (Twitter) Matthew Sacchet’s LinkedIn

26 Feb 1h 22min

Featuring a meditation teacher, author, professor, and dedicated experimenter with these molecules.   Jay Michaelson is a journalist, meditation teacher, rabbi, and professor of religious studies whose work for the last several years has been focused on psychedelics, meditation, and spirituality. Jay is a field scholar at Emory University’s Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality, and a fellow at Harvard Law School’s project on Psychedelic Use, Law, and Spiritual Experience. He is currently a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, teaching courses on psychedelics, law, and religion.   In this episode we talk about: Everything you should know about psychedelics if you’re wondering whether to give them a try What the research shows thus far The differences among various compounds The overlap between meditation and psychedelics The difference between spirituality and healing The dizzying question of whether these medicines have a separate consciousness  And more   Related Episodes: Psychedelics and Meditation | Michael Pollan - by DB - Dan Harris What to do About Eco-Anxiety | Jay Michaelson   Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes   Additional Resources: Both/And with Jay Michaelson A special guided meditation from Jay to accompany this episode  Two free upcoming events: Emory Science on Spiritual Health Conference (free, online)  Harvard Symposium on Psychedelics in Monotheistic Traditions (which Jay co-chairing)

24 Feb 1h 20min

A node of sanity in these challenging times.   Bill Weir is America’s leading climate reporter. His new book is a celebration of our planet and human brilliance. It is a hopeful plea for communities to rally around nature, new ideas and each other, to create the kind of resilience that lasts generations.   In this episode we talk about: How a hotter earth is increasingly changing our lives Why some experts say the climate issue is half physics, half psychology How to work with feelings like rage and despair Why so many of us look away from the climate crisis Why acceptance is not surrender And the utility of class psychological frameworks, including Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ Five Stages of Grief   Related Episodes: What to do About Eco-Anxiety | Jay Michaelson   Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes   Additional Resources: Order Life as We Know It (Can Be)

21 Feb 1h 13min

One of my favorite episodes that we’ve recorded in a long while.   Joseph Goldstein is a cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, both in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation and The Experience of Insight: A Simple and Direct Guide to Buddhist Meditation. Joseph has studied and practiced meditation since 1967 under the guidance of eminent teachers from India, Burma, and Tibet and he leads Insight Meditation retreats around the world.   This year, IMS printed a collection of Joseph’s poetry, titled Dreamscapes of the Mind: Poems and Reflections. The book includes 21 poems and almost a dozen short verses. We have made copies available for a suggested donation of $12 to support IMS’s Retreat Center scholarship fund (shipping to U.S. addresses only).   For a copy of Joseph’s book, visit give.dharma.org/JGpoetry    In this episode we talk about: Impermanence, impersonality, and the vast spaciousness of the mind Mortality  How we can use mindfulness to be more creative Joseph reads one of his favorite poems (and a couple others) Thoughts on how to approach death What Joseph means by dreamscape of the mind Deep Dharma topics like Nirvana, rebirth, taking refuge and more   Related Episodes: Joseph Goldstein + Mark Epstein On: How To Handle Unwanted Experiences, How Not To Waste Your Suffering & The Overlap Between Buddhism + Therapy I Just Did A 10-Day Silent Meditation Retreat With Joseph Goldstein. Here’s What I Learned Dr. Mark Epstein On: How To Transform Your Neuroses Into “Little Shmoos” Nirvana | Joseph Goldstein   Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes   Additional Resources: For a copy of Joseph’s book, visit give.dharma.org/JGpoetry

19 Feb 1h 12min