Transcript
Dan Harris (0:00)
Foreign.
Dan Harris (0:04)
This is the 10% Happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Happy Friday, everybody. As you may have heard, I am in a new phase of my career after a wrenching three year transition slash divorce after I am no longer part of the app formerly known as 10% happier. And I'm now trying a bunch of new stuff both here on the podcast and also on my new substack community, which is called danharris.com specifically here on the pod. As you may remember, we used to bring you guided meditations from my erstwhile app every Friday. But now we're going to try out a bunch of new stuff. Sometimes it's going to be an interview with a celebrity. Sometimes it'll be an older episode from the archives that I want to resurface. I think I've done nearly 800 episodes and some of those deserve to be reposted. And very often what we'll be doing on Fridays are super short episodes targeted on a specific issue and taken from the live Q and A sessions that I do over on Substack. Just to provide some context here, as some of you may know, a couple times a month I do a live AMA or Ask me Anything session over on Substack. It's on video. I lead a short meditation and then I take your questions. Sometimes we call this group the Renegade Sangha. These sessions are mostly just for paid subscribers, so that's your reminder to become a paid subscriber if you're not already. In the meantime, right here on the pod, we're going to be regularly giving you some tastes of the AMAs on Fridays. And that's what we're going to be doing today. In today's session, I'm going to lead a guided meditation, a very simple 10 minute session that anybody can do. So get comfortable. Let's do this together. Here we go.
Dan Harris (1:58)
All right, assume the position, everybody. Let's start with a couple of deep breaths. I like to do straw breathing, so deep, deep breath in through the nose. And then you want to exhale with your lips pursed as if you're breathing through a straw. And the exhale should be two or three times the length of the inhale. So really take your time with it. And this, let's do three of these. And it really can reset the nervous system, which is useful in so many ways. Okay, as you finish your three breaths, take your time with them. But as you start to settle, find the right position for your body in the chair or if you're lying down. That's cool. If you're feeling super sleepy. One thing that can be helpful is just to stand up and do this. Although I have fallen asleep standing up just for a second or two, but I've woken up in mid topple anyway. Dealer's choice Pick your position. Pick something to focus on. Could be your body sitting in the chair. As Joseph likes to say, there is a body. That's a phrase from Buddhist texts, and the Joseph in question here is my meditation teacher, Joseph Goldstein. You can feel the body sitting in the chair or lying down or standing up. You can focus on the breath at one spot, like your belly or your chest or your nose. Pick some sounds in your environment and let's just commit to it and every time you get distracted, you know the deal. Just start again. If you're struggling with distraction, it's first of all, not a big problem, totally normal. Second, one little thing that might help is a mental note. Just softly whispering in your mind in and out with every in and out breath. Or if you're not focusing on the breath, just notice hot or cold tingling pressure. Just a little note once in a while can kind of keep you in the game. Pleasant or unpleasant Thinking Sleepy Whatever's happening, just put a little note on. One question I like to ask when I'm sitting is what's it like to be me right now? Remember, no matter how many times you get carried away, it's totally fine. Just notice you've gotten distracted and bring your attention back to whatever's happening right now.