Frequent guest Sam Harris discusses life after quitting Twitter and the metaphysics of meditation along with special co-host and brother Matt Harris. Sam Harris is a neuroscientist, philosopher, and author of five New York Times best sellers. His work covers a wide range of topics—neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, meditation practice, political polarization, rationality—but generally focuses on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we s...
Dec 13, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep 692•Transcript available on Metacast What the ancient Greek philosophers discovered about how to do life better. Tamar Gendler is dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy, and Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University. Her Open Yale course “Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature” has hundreds of thousands of views. An updated version of this course will be available on the Coursera website this spring. In this episode we talk about: The tension between our ...
Dec 11, 2023•1 hr 21 min•Ep 691•Transcript available on Metacast Not thinking is not the point of mindfulness. We know, shocking! Emotions and thoughts are inextricably linked: know them to know yourself. About Cara Lai: Cara Lai has worked as an artist, wilderness guide, social worker and psychotherapist, but at this point she’s given up on being an adult in exchange for an all-out mindfulness rampage. Her teaching is relatable, authentic, funny and sometimes crass, and is accessible for many people. She teaches teens and adults at Inward Bound Mindfulness E...
Dec 10, 2023•8 min•Ep 691•Transcript available on Metacast The longtime TV host and actor talks about working onscreen with her husband, her fear of public speaking, and what she does instead of sitting meditation. Kelly Ripa is one of the most powerful voices in media with a career at ABC spanning over 30 years. She's the author of the NY Times Bestseller, Long-Winded Short Stories and the host of her new podcast " Let's Talk Off-Camera " on Stitcher Podcasts. In this episode we talk about: What it’s like to work with her husband The value of mar...
Dec 08, 2023•56 min•Ep 690•Transcript available on Metacast One's a legend, the other's a phenom. Together, they offer practical wisdom for maintaining your daily meditation practice, handling conflict, connecting with community, and understanding the limits of the mind. Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, India, and Burma. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. He is the author of 16 books which have sold 2 mi...
Dec 06, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep 689•Transcript available on Metacast A counterintuitive way to become more clear, creative, and persistent, via a writer who calls himself a “human guinea pig.” A.J. Jacobs is an author, journalist, podcaster, and human guinea pig. His new podcast “The Puzzler” is produced by iHeart and is in the Top 20 Apple Podcasts. He has written four New York Times bestsellers that combine memoir, science, humor and a dash of self-help. Among his books are “The Year of Living Biblically” and “The Know-It-All.” He has told several Moth stories,...
Dec 04, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep 688•Transcript available on Metacast Make peace with pettiness through good old understanding. About Oren Jay Sofer: Oren Jay Sofer teaches mindfulness, meditation and Nonviolent Communication. He has practiced meditation since 1997, beginning his studies in Bodh Gaya, India and is a long-time student of Joseph Goldstein, Michele McDonald, and Ajahn Sucitto, and is a graduate of the IMS/Spirit Rock Teacher Training program. Oren teaches retreats across the country and works as Senior Program Developer at Mindful Schools, teaching a...
Dec 01, 2023•8 min•Ep 687•Transcript available on Metacast Buddhist strategies for navigating tumult— and even becoming a node of sanity amidst it all. Oren Jay Sofer teaches meditation and communication internationally and has practiced Buddhist meditation since 1997. He holds a degree in comparative religion from Columbia University and is a Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for the healing of trauma. Born and raised in New Jersey, he is the author of several books, including the best-seller Say What...
Nov 29, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep 686•Transcript available on Metacast This guest says you can thrive with anxiety. And the trick is learning to get comfortable with discomfort. Dr. David H. Rosmarin is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, a program director at McLean Hospital, and founder of Center for Anxiety , which services over 1,000 patients/year in multiple states. His most recent book is Thriving with Anxiety: 9 Tools to Make Your Anxiety Work for You . In this episode we talk about: The difference between anxiety and stress How anxiety and dis...
Nov 27, 2023•54 min•Ep 685•Transcript available on Metacast Learn the skill of not taking sh*t for granted. About Matthew Hepburn: Matthew is a meditation and dharma teacher with more than a decade of teaching experience and a passion for getting real about what it means to live well. He emphasizes humor, technique, and authentic kindness as a means to free the mind up from unnecessary struggle and leave a healthier impact on the world. Beyond Ten Percent Happier, Matthew has taught in prisons, schools, corporate events and continues to teach across Nort...
Nov 26, 2023•6 min•Ep 684•Transcript available on Metacast Practical tools for regulating your nervous system in stressful times. Deb Dana is a licensed clinical social worker, clinician, and consultant who specializes in working with complex trauma. She is the author of Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory . In this episode we talk about: What polyvagal theory is The case for understanding our nervous system The practical tools and exercises for changing our nervous system and learning to become more regulate...
Nov 22, 2023•58 min•Ep 683•Transcript available on Metacast We deal with difficult people over holiday meals, at work, and online. This guest says there is only one answer. Father Gregory Boyle is an American Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program in the world. He has received the California Peace Prize and been inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2014, the White House named Boyle a Champion of Change. He received the University of Notre Dame’s 2017 ...
Nov 20, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep 682•Transcript available on Metacast Bringing mindfulness to walking is an opportunity to build awareness and relax the mind as you move about your day. About Alexis Santos: Alexis has practiced and taught Insight Meditation in both the East and West since 2001. He has been a long-time student of Sayadaw U Tejaniya (a well respected meditation teacher in Burma whose teachings have attracted a global audience), and his teaching emphasizes knowing the mind through a natural and relaxed continuity -- a style of practice that's particu...
Nov 19, 2023•7 min•Ep 681•Transcript available on Metacast Today we are dropping down our feed a conversation that I listened to recently that had a huge impact on me. It's from a great show that I'm sure many of you have heard of, On Being with Krista Tippett . It's been around for decades, and it explores the question of what it means to be human, how to do life better, how to live with each other in complex times. Krista Tippett is a recent friend of mine, somebody who I have long admired and really, like – she was on the show just recently. They've ...
Nov 17, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep 680•Transcript available on Metacast How getting your sh*t together can make you a better leader in your own personal orbit. It can maybe even change the world. Jerry Colonna is a leading executive coach who uses the skills he learned as a venture capitalist to help entrepreneurs. He is a co-founder and CEO of Reboot , the executive coaching and leadership development company, host of the Reboot Podcast , and author of Reunion : Leadership and the Longing to Belong , and Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up . In this episod...
Nov 15, 2023•59 min•Ep 679•Transcript available on Metacast Plus, what happens if you don't repair, whether it's ever too late to repair, what "boundaries" actually are, and a helpful little tool for avoiding fights called the "MGI." Dr. Becky Kennedy is a clinical psychologist, bestselling author, and mom of three. She is the author of Good Inside and the host of the podcast Good Inside with Dr. Becky . Her new TED Talk is called “ The single most important parenting strategy .” In this episode we talk about: How to repair damage after a fight What happ...
Nov 13, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep 678•Transcript available on Metacast Try this meditation with Alexis to explore an open, easy style of practice‚ which can lead toward more awareness throughout your day. About Alexis Santos: Alexis has practiced and taught Insight Meditation in both the East and West since 2001. He has been a long-time student of Sayadaw U Tejaniya (a well respected meditation teacher in Burma whose teachings have attracted a global audience), and his teaching emphasizes knowing the mind through a natural and relaxed continuity -- a style of pract...
Nov 12, 2023•18 min•Ep 677•Transcript available on Metacast The meditation style that changed Dan’s entire practice. Alexis Santos , has been practicing meditation for twenty years and was a student of a highly influential Burmese monk by the name of Sayadaw U Tejaniya. Alexis is also a core teacher in the Ten Percent Happier app and the lead teacher of our On The Go course. Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/alexis-santos-rerun See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art1...
Nov 10, 2023•55 min•Ep 676•Transcript available on Metacast Nirvana is a culturally confusing and freighted term. It’s the name of the best rock band of the 1990s and also the name of smoothie joints, vape stores and yoga studios. There’s a vape place near me called Nirvana. Nirvana’s been fully co-opted and sometimes corrupted by the culture… and yet it is also the clearly stated goal of the Buddha’s teaching. So what does it really mean? We cover all of that today in what is an experimental episode for us. Not only because the topic is so unusual...
Nov 08, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Ep 675•Transcript available on Metacast How to spend your money in ways that will really boost your happiness and a look at the state of happiness research. Dr. Elizabeth Dunn is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Dunn conducts experimental research examining how time, money, and technology shape human happiness. She is the co-author of “Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending” with Dr. Michael Norton. Her research has been featured in The New York Times, Time, CNN, and mo...
Nov 06, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep 674•Transcript available on Metacast Setting intentions regularly can be an incredibly effective and deeply satisfying tool to map out how you want to live your life. About Dawn Mauricio: Dawn Mauricio discovered the practices of Buddhist meditation in 2005, and from then on, did what any well-intentioned perfectionist would do — plunge in head first! Since then, she's graduated from several teaching programs, including Spirit Rock's four-year Teacher Training. Her teaching style is playful, dynamic, and heartfelt, and she teaches ...
Nov 05, 2023•7 min•Ep 673•Transcript available on Metacast A former nun explains how to deal with doom-scrolling, despair, and rage in the face of world events. Kaira Jewel Lingo spent fifteen years as a monastic in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village tradition. She is now a lay dharma teacher and is the author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons for Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption . In this episode we talk about: How to stop doom-scrolling and what to do instead Why it’s more important, not less, to take care of yourself in times of cri...
Nov 03, 2023•42 min•Ep 672•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: Why Lama Rod is "no longer interested in being a good person," why we need to let go of perfectionism, and the selfish case for sainthood. Lama Rod Owens is making his fifth appearance on Ten Percent Happier. He describes himself as “a Black Buddhist Southern Queen” and is an authorized lama in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism with a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard. His new book is The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors . In this episode we talk about: What Lam...
Nov 01, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Understanding the difference between ‘normal’ forgetfulness and actual memory loss, practical ways to stave off Alzheimer’s disease, and meditation’s role in brain health. Lisa Genova has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She is the New York Times bestselling author of several novels including Still Alice —which was adapted into a film starring Julianne Moore who won the 2015 Best Actress Oscar for her role as Alice Howland, Love Anthony , and Every Note Played. ...
Oct 30, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’ve been trying to do a bunch of experiments here on this show, and our latest is a weekly newsletter, which you can sign up for here! To celebrate this new endeavor, we’ve put together a whole episode about risk taking and experimenting. We thought this would be helpful and educational while also giving you a fun peek behind the scenes (and also allowing us to be blatantly self-promotional in the process—a win/win!). In fact, this episode itself is experimental in its format, because we don’t...
Oct 27, 2023•45 min•Ep 666•Transcript available on Metacast One of our most frequent and popular guests talks about how to develop the character skills to discover your hidden potential. Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist at Wharton, where he has been the top-rated professor for seven straight years. His books have sold millions of copies, hisTED talks have been viewed more than 30 million times, and he hosts the hit podcastRe:Thinking. His viral piece on languishing was the most-read New York Times article of 2021. He has been recognized as on...
Oct 25, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast The host of On Being shares lessons learned from 20 years of interviews, including: how to live with open questions, counterprogramming against your negativity bias, and getting over the God question. Krista Tippett is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, a National Humanities Medalist, and a New York Times bestselling author. She grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, attended Brown University, and became a journalist and diplomat in Cold War Berlin. After studying theology at Yale Divinity Schoo...
Oct 23, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast You can use awareness of walking as a touchstone to help feel more connected to the moment in this simple walking meditation. About Sharon Salzberg: A towering figure in the meditation world, Sharon Salzberg is a prominent teacher & New York Times best-selling author. She has played a crucial role bringing mindfulness and lovingkindness practices to the West. Sharon co-founded the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) alongside Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield and is the author of nine books, ...
Oct 22, 2023•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Our friend Dr. Michael Gervais at the Finding Mastery podcast is a renowned sports psychologist who found meditation by happenstance. We wanted to share this conversation he had with Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn about the mind/body interactions for healing and clinical applications for mindfulness meditation training. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn is a Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where in 1995 he founded the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, ...
Oct 20, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast The difference between ADHD and human distractibility, and strategies for managing ADHD that can improve your focus, even if you don’t have it. Today’s guest is Dr. Mark Bertin, a developmental pediatrician who specializes in ADHD and developmental disorders. He’s the author of How Children Thrive , Mindful Parenting for ADHD , Mindfulness and Self-Compassion for Teen ADHD , and The Family ADHD Solution , which integrates mindfulness into pediatric care. For more information, please visit his we...
Oct 18, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
