Podcast Summary: The Neuroscience of Reducing Chronic Pain and Everyday Addictions

Podcast: 10% Happier with Dan Harris
Episode: The Neuroscience of Reducing Chronic Pain and Everyday Addictions | Eric Garland
Date: March 9, 2026
Guest: Dr. Eric Garland, PhD

Brief Overview

In this episode, Dan Harris interviews Dr. Eric Garland, a neuroscientist and professor at UC San Diego who developed Mindfulness Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), a clinically tested protocol weaving mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy, and positive psychology. This compelling conversation explores how MORE helps treat chronic pain and a spectrum of addictive behaviors, from substance use to everyday habits like doom scrolling and overeating, highlighting practical techniques and the clinical science behind them.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Origin Story of MORE

Timestamps: 05:17 – 10:02

• Personal Roots: Eric Garland describes a lifelong attraction to meditative states, beginning in childhood and later formalized through mindfulness meditation in college and clinical hypnosis.
• Founding MORE: Motivated by a lack of mind-body integration in psychology and informed by ancient wisdom traditions (e.g., Vajrayana Buddhism, Taoism), Garland started clinically applying mindfulness within psychotherapy for patients suffering from overlapping challenges: pain, addiction, and mental health disorders.
• Breakthrough Moment: His initial research, supported by a Mind & Life Institute grant (signed by the Dalai Lama), gave promising early results in treating alcohol use.

“I just started winging it and integrating mindfulness meditation into my cognitive behavioral therapy practice... That really became the living laboratory, my clinical practice with these patients, where the genesis of this new therapeutic approach came.”
— Eric Garland (09:37)

2. What Is MORE?

Timestamps: 10:14 – 11:33

• Elevator Pitch:
  • An evidence-based, mind-body therapy rooted in ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience.
  • Treats addictive behaviors, emotional distress, and chronic pain in one integrated system.
  • Backed by 16 clinical trials and $90 million in research funding:
    • Reduces opioid misuse by 45% at nine months.
    • Drug relapse by 42%, and cravings by 50%.
    • Significant effects on depression, PTSD, and pain.

“You don’t need a separate type of therapy for each one of these problems... you have one integrated therapy that can simultaneously address addictive behavior, emotional distress and chronic pain.”
— Eric Garland (11:07)

3. MORE’s Structure: Mindfulness, Reappraisal, Savoring

Timestamps: 12:38 – 13:36

• Designed for severe addiction but applicable for everyone: Everyday habits (scrolling, shopping, eating), emotional distress, and physical pain.
• The Three Core Components:
  1. Mindfulness
  2. Reappraisal
  3. Savoring

3.1 Mindfulness in MORE

Timestamps: 12:48 – 22:01

• Definition: Awareness and acceptance of present thoughts, emotions, and sensations; becoming an objective observer.
• Mechanics: Mindfulness is deautomatization—identifying and interrupting automatic, habitual behaviors.
• Practice Details:
  • Mindful breathing and body scans, with MORE-specific twists:
    • Broadening awareness to rest in space, pointing towards non-dual, self-transcendent states.
    • Ending practice with attention to positive mental states for neural retraining.

“You could think of mindfulness as a form of deautomatization—making the unconscious conscious.”
— Eric Garland (15:41)

• Self-transcendence & Non-duality: Fading of subject-object boundaries, periods where you feel interconnected with the world (e.g., during music, in nature, or meditation).

"The purpose was to gain insight into the fundamental nature of reality, which is this non-dual continuum." 
— Eric Garland (23:16)

3.2 Practical Mindfulness Off the Cushion: The STOP Practice

Timestamps: 34:55 – 37:41

• S.T.O.P. Practice Steps:
  1. Stop before engaging in addictive habit.
  2. Take mindful breaths (30 seconds to 3 minutes).
  3. Observe your thoughts, emotions, sensations, and craving itself.
  4. Proceed with intention—either act mindfully or allow the craving to pass.

“By stopping and interrupting this automatic addictive habit and practicing a few moments of mindfulness instead, the desire to do it is starting to fade away.”
— Eric Garland (37:15)

3.3 Mindfulness for Pain: Zooming In & Out

Timestamps: 37:51 – 43:03

• Pain in the brain: Emotional states amplify pain; positive, calm states turn it down.
• Practice:
  • Begin with mindful breathing.
  • Zoom in: Direct attention to pain and break it down into subcomponents (e.g., heat, tingling, tension).
  • Notice the spaciousness, or moments of neutral/pleasant sensations among the pain.
  • Zoom out: Shift focus back to the breath or the space around the body to reground when overwhelmed.
• Effectiveness: An acute session of this technique often relieves pain by 30%—comparable to low-dose opioid relief.

“Some people can drop their pain to zero during the practice, but on average, it’s cutting it by about a third.”
— Eric Garland (42:45)

3.4 Reappraisal

Timestamps: 43:03 – 51:59

• Definition: Challenging and changing negative thought patterns to regulate emotion and curb self-destructive behavior.
• ABC(DE) Technique:
  • Activating event, Beliefs, Consequences, Dispute, Evaluate.
• Clinical & Neuro Evidence: Elevates prefrontal cortex activity, dampens fight-or-flight responses, reduces trauma, PTSD, pain catastrophizing.
• Integration with Mindfulness: Injecting a minute of mindfulness before reappraising to create mental space and increase psychological flexibility.

“Reappraisal is really useful in those moments to stop yourself and to recognize your own inner coping resources and to reframe the negative thoughts, to remind yourself that actually you do have the inner strength to deal with these challenges.”
— Eric Garland (48:07)

3.5 Savoring

Timestamps: 55:48 – 64:46

• Definition: Focusing mindful attention on pleasant, positive experiences—relishing sensory pleasures or meaningful moments.
• Why it matters: Addiction and pain dull sensitivity to natural pleasures. Savoring retrains the brain’s reward system, making healthy pleasures rewarding again.
• How-to:
  • Notice something enjoyable (warmth of sun, child’s laughter, taste of food).
  • Focus on sensory details, let positive emotions arise, turn attention inward, and “let the good feelings seep in like water into soil.”
  • Just 20 seconds to a minute is enough; savor the feeling and move on.
• Clinical data: Savoring relieves cravings and pain, measurably improving mood and motivation.

“The cycle can be reversed... by teaching people how to use mindfulness to savor natural, healthy pleasure, then we help the brain regain its sensitivity to these natural, healthy rewards.”
— Eric Garland (56:23)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Mindfulness on Autopilot:

  “I don't know if you've had this experience. I certainly have. Walking around, all of a sudden I find myself looking at my phone. I wasn't even intending to pull my phone out.”
  — Eric Garland (15:02)

• Practical Savoring:

  “Why do we give the stress and the suffering and the pain all the air, all the attention? ...We can use mindful savoring to expand the scope of our awareness and to start to notice some of the other parts of our life that are not painful...”
  — Eric Garland (63:15)

• Reframing Problems:

  “We are disturbed not by events, but by the views which we take of those events.”
  — Quoting the Stoics, Eric Garland (43:32)

• On The Brain’s Negativity Bias:

  “Our brains have evolved over millennia to detect threat... But if all you pay attention to in life is stress and pain, what kind of quality of life do you have?”
  — Eric Garland (63:11)

• On Spreading MORE:

  “Now that I've spent 20 years trying to study this therapy and show that it works, I want to get it into the communities where people are suffering from addiction and emotional distress and chronic pain to help alleviate the opioid crisis.”
  — Eric Garland (65:09)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction to MORE and Eric Garland: 05:17 – 11:33
• The Three Parts of MORE: 12:38 – 13:36
• Mindfulness & Addiction Habits: 14:25 – 18:18
• STOP Practice: 34:55 – 37:41
• Mindfulness for Pain (Zooming In & Out): 37:51 – 43:03
• Reappraisal Techniques: 43:03 – 51:59
• Savoring and Brain Rewiring: 55:48 – 64:46
• Resources & Where to Learn MORE: 65:02 – 66:25

Resources and How to Learn More

• MORE Protocol: Full program info, online training, upcoming app: moretherapy.com
• Eric Garland’s Book: Published by Guilford Press, 2024
• Contact Info: Training opportunities available for therapists and interested individuals.

Summary Takeaways

• The MORE protocol offers practical, evidence-backed tools to regulate cravings, reduce pain, and increase daily well-being, blending mindfulness, cognitive reframing, and positive psychology.
• Brief, actionable practices like STOP, mindful savoring, and ABCDE reappraisal provide gateways to changing both behavior and emotional experience—even for people without clinically defined addiction or pain.
• By teaching ourselves to pause, reframe challenges, and consciously enjoy life’s “roses,” we can retrain our brains’ reward pathways and expand our capacity for joy, resilience, and meaning.

Final Words

"Life is a target-rich opportunity for savoring. And why would we pass that opportunity up?"
— Dan Harris (62:49)