10% Happier with Dan Harris

Why forcing the breath backfires and how to use the four elements to get out of your head. Breath meditation sounds simple in theory. In practice, many meditators find that the moment they pay attention to their breathing, it starts to feel forced, shallow, or just plain weird. In this live session, Dan and Sebene Selassie dig into why that happens — and what to do about it. They also answer subsc...

Plus: Navigating the "dark night of the soul," the power of saying "no," and how to be more present. Rosa Lewis is a mystic, awakening guide, artist and writer. She is the author of many books, most recently Unlocking the Depths of Being: Wholehearted Presence for a Mystical Reality . The last two meditations on this playlist are related to her book.   Join Dan and Emmy Award-winning journalist Al...

Using your senses to reduce overthinking, turn down the voice in your head, and get out of what these scientists call "the house of habit." Dr. Zindel Segal is Distinguished Professor of Psychology in Mood Disorders at the University of Toronto Scarborough and a cofounder of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy.  Professor Norman Farb, PhD , is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University...

How to do your best work, reframe life's bullshit, and stop making your happiness hostage to outcomes. Maria Semple is the bestselling author of Today Will Be Different, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, and This One Is Mine. Before writing fiction, Maria wrote for TV. Her newest book is called  Go Gentle . In this episode we talk about: Cognitive reframing tools to shift your mindset  Maria's daily Sto...

Plus: maximizing the benefits of sleep, exercise, and meditation. To celebrate the show's 10th anniversary, we're producing episodes that share top 10 lists of practices, strategies and more from our favorite experts. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has listened and supported the show over the years. None of this would be possible without you. Amishi Jha, PhD is the Director of Contemplative...

The way you talk to other people (and yourself) can reduce dysregulation and distraction--and lead to better decisions. Maryellen MacDonald is the Donald P. Hayes Professor (emerit) of Psychology and Language Sciences at the University of Wisconsin−Madison. She is a cognitive scientist with a focus on psycholinguistics, the study of how we comprehend, produce, and learn languages. Her latest book...

What does it actually mean to "trust life" — especially when life is handing you something genuinely hard? In this Meditation Party episode (originally aired in 2024), Dan, Sebene Selassie , and Jeff Warren dig into that question from multiple angles: as a personal mantra, a philosophical stance, and a daily practice. Plus: listener questions on rumination, work-life balance, and the eternal nappi...

Strategies for getting out of your head and thriving in a chaotic world. Prentis Hemphill is a writer, political organizer, therapist and somatic facilitator. They are the author of the national bestseller What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World , and host of the acclaimed podcasts Finding Our Way and Becoming the People . Prentis is also the Co-founder of The Embodi...

Practical tools to break "automatic habits" and take back your agency.   Gabor Maté is a retired physician who, after 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, worked for over a decade in Vancouver's Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of five books, including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts , Ga...

Buddhist tools for forgiveness, boredom, worry, and getting out of your head. Meditation teacher Bart van Melik leads a live community Q&A — and the questions that come in are ones most meditators have quietly wrestled with for years. Bart is the guiding teacher at Community Meditation Center in New York, where he leads weekly sessions grounded in Buddhist tradition. In this episode, he takes on f...

Six steps to reclaim your brain, find purpose, and escape the doom loop.   Arthur Brooks is a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard Business School, where he teaches courses on leadership and happiness. Brooks is the author of 15 books, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers, Build the Life You Want , co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, and From Strength to Strength: Finding Suc...

The Dalai Lama's longtime collaborator on achieving fundamental okayness, transforming daily annoyances, and rewiring your brain. Richard J. Davidson , PhD, is a Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also the Founder & Director of the Center for Healthy Minds and Founder of the non-profit Humin . Cortland Dahl , PhD, is a scientist, author, translator...

What if the most meaningful thing you did for your mental health wasn't something new — but a return to what already brings you joy? Dan recently sat down with journalist and broadcaster Sam Sanders on the Sam Sanders Show to explore exactly that idea. Sam has a concept he calls "modern scriptures": the movies, albums, and TV shows you return to again and again because they ground you, center you,...

Plus, how the bestselling author writes his way out of despair.   John Green is the award-winning, #1 bestselling author of books including Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars, Turtles All the Way Down, and The Anthropocene Reviewed. With his brother, Hank, John has co-created many online video projects, including Vlogbrothers and the educational channel Crash Course . His most recent book...

Practical strategies for navigating difficult relationships and building new connections.   Shankar Vedantam is host of the Hidden Brain podcast and radio show, where he explores the hidden patterns that drive human behavior. He is the author of the books, The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Wage Wars, Control Markets and Save Our Lives , and Useful Delusions: The Power a...

Let go of your thoughts, stop getting caught in your stories, and try the ancient practice of walking meditation. Walking meditation is one of the most practical and underrated tools in mindfulness — and in this episode, Dan shares a guided practice from his new audiobook, Even You Can Meditate (co-authored with Sebene Selassie ), out now on Audible. The practice is led by Sebene herself. The prem...

Plus, staying sane in a crazy world, giving tough feedback, and how to orient to the dumpster fire of the news. Ajahn Kovilo Bhikkhu and Ajahn Nisabho are North American-born, Theravada monks who founded Clear Mountain Monastery in Seattle, Washington.  In this episode we talk about: How to get stuff off your chest How to live with less shame and regret How to give feedback without pissing people...

Yale emotional intelligence expert on how to deal with other people's emotions (and your own). Marc Brackett, Ph. D. is the author of Dealing with Feeling: Use Your Emotions to Create the Life You Want and the bestselling Permission to Feel . He is the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor in the Child Study Center at Yale University. You can watch Marc's...

What Anderson learned from losing everyone he loved, what we owe our parents, and how grief shapes all of us--a conversation from the podcast "IMO." On IMO, siblings Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson aim to bring you candid perspectives on the everyday questions shaping our lives, relationships and the world around us. Each week, they're joined by a guest to tackle real questions from real folks j...

Practical Buddhist strategies to focus the mind.   Shaila Catherine is a dharma teacher and author of the book titled " Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind ." She authored two additional books on the concentration practices called jhana and approaches to insight meditation. She has practiced for more than 45 years, including nine years, cumulatively, of silent retreat. Shaila...

Plus: How to "turn down the volume" on suffering, how to reframe your problems, and the clinical evidence for "stopping and smelling the roses."   Eric Garland , PhD, LCSW is Endowed Professor in Health Sciences at the Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the Center for Addiction Science and Treatment at University of California San Diego (UCS...

Plus: How to find practices that work for you, what "mindfulness" actually means, and a new audiobook out now. Sebene Selassie has been meditating for decades, survived cancer three times, and still says the practice isn't a magic bullet. That honesty is kind of the point. Today we're sharing a sneak preview of Dan's new audiobook, Even You Can Meditate , co-authored with Sebene. Think of it as a...

The comedian on: connecting instead of separating, feeling whole, and the upside of being an affirmation addict. Pete Holmes is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actor. He created and starred in HBO's Crashing and hosted The Pete Holmes Show on TBS. He has released stand-up specials on HBO, Netflix, and Comedy Central, hosts the popular You Made It Weird podcast, and is the author of Comedy Sex God...

The brain benefits of self-disclosure, the costs of staying silent, and how to know what to reveal and when. Leslie John is the James E. Burke Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Her new book is called Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing . In this episode we talk about: Why self-disclosure can feel risky but is often socially rewarding The psychological...

If you struggle with the terrifying reality that everything changes, this conversation is for you. Bart van Melik is a meditation teacher, psychotherapist, and our Teacher of the Month for January. In this live session recorded on Zoom with subscribers to the 10% with Dan Harris app , Bart and Dan explore one of Bart's favorite teachings: "Keep calmly knowing change"—four words that supposedly dis...