10% Happier with Dan Harris

Latest Episodes:

An Owner's Manual for Your Body | Juliet and Kelly Starrett Jun 12, 2023

Show notes

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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From the way we sit while watching TV to the way we put on our shoes, our days are filled with opportunities to improve our mobility–without getting all sweaty. That's according to today's guests, who are here to teach us about some simple ways to keep our bodies durable for as long as possible.

Kelly and Juliet Starrett are the authors of the new book Built to Move: The 10 Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully. Their book covers 10 tests you can do to assess your mobility "vital signs" and 10 practices you can do to improve those vital signs and make your body work better.

In this episode we talk about:

What the Starrett's see as the shortcomings of "the fitness industrial complex"
What mobility is, and why working on it is different from working out
Why you should practice getting up off the ground without help
The importance of your hip range of motion
Why the Starrett's recommend a minimum of 8,000 steps per day, not 10,000
The 'Old Man Balance Test'
The 'SOLEC test'
The Starretts' recommendations on nutrition, sleep, and breathing

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/juliet-and-kelly-starrett-611

Can A Buddhist Want A Beach Bod? | Behind the Scenes with TPH Producer DJ Cashmere Jun 09, 2023

Show notes

Editor's Note (March 2026): This episode contains a brief reference to Peter Attia. Since this episode was published, documents released by the Department of Justice have revealed Peter Attia's connection to Jeffrey Epstein. We find these revelations deeply troubling and do not condone any association with Epstein or his activities. Please know that we have removed our interviews with Peter Attia from our library.

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Starting next week, we're launching a six part series where we're going to talk to a vast array of experts on longevity, exercise, and diet — we're calling it Get Fit Sanely.

To kick the series off, I wanted to have our senior producer DJ Cashmere on, who's the architect behind this project. You're gonna hear him get really personal about how these issues have affected his own psychology, and you'll hear a very thoughtful person talk about what he's taken away from the months of research he's done on these subjects. And, we'll give you a taste of what it's like here behind the scenes at Ten Percent Happier.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/buddhist-beach-bod

Other Resources Mentioned:

No Excuses: Race and Reckoning at a Chicago Charter School — DJ's audio documentary about his time as a teacher

Additional Resources:

Download the Ten Percent Happier app today: https://10percenthappier.app.link/install

Can You Really Live to 150 Years Old? | Dr. Mark Hyman Jun 07, 2023

Show notes

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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Everyone from the Buddha to the Stoics have exhorted us to remember that we're going to die. So what are we to make of Dr. Mark Hyman? He's a physician and a student of Buddhism who is just out with a new book, called, "Young Forever." In it, he argues that your biological age can be reversed even as you grow chronologically older. So we decided to have him on, learn about his approach, and gently grill him on some of the things that made us most skeptical.

This is the second part of our new six-part series, Get Fit Sanely series, where we are trying to help you to make sense of the noise around getting fit–and to do so without losing your mind.

A little bit more about Dr. Hyman: He is a practicing family physician, the Founder and Senior Advisor for the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, and a fifteen-time New York Times best-selling author. He also has his own podcast, called The Doctor's Farmacy.

In this episode we talk about:

Whether there's a tension between Mark's approach and Buddhism
Whether it's realistic for people alive today to think that we could make it to 150 or 200 years old
Mark's contention that he is in better shape at 63 than he was at 40
His take on intuitive eating
His top line recommendations on exercise
The benefits of cuddling
His response to critiques of functional medicine
Whether his longevity routine is something regular people can do
The research on cold plunges and saunas
His advice on alcohol

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/dr-mark-hyman-609

A Personal Story from Dan May 31, 2023

Show notes

As you might already know, May is Mental Health Awareness Month – and, while mental health is important every month, it's an important opportunity to share resources that can help one another.

So, in that spirit – we're going to bring you a bonus episode from a podcast we love called Meditative Story. We're going to share my episode of Meditative Story with you, where I tell a personal story about a father-son trip that I went on with my son, Alexander, when he was four years old. And how this trip really changed our relationship.

If you're not familiar with Meditative Story, it provides immersive storytelling with mindfulness prompts embedded right into the narrative, woven with a wonderful musical soundtrack.

I hope you enjoy this episode of Meditative Story.

This Episode Will Make You Stronger | Sister Dang Nghiem May 31, 2023

Show notes

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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It's hard to be a human. No matter how good things are for you, being alive is still hard. Whatever your life circumstances are, we're all subject to impermanence and entropy.

This episode dives into a five-part Buddhist list for being stronger in the face of whatever life throws at you.

Sister Dang Nghiem, who goes by Sister D, is a nun in the Plum Village tradition and a disciple of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. She was born in Vietnam during the war, and is the daughter of a Vietnamese mother and an American soldier. Sister D experienced an unfathomable amount of loss before relocating to the US, where she became a doctor and later, after experiencing more loss, became a nun. She's written several books and her most recent is Flowers in the Dark.

In this conversation, Sister D shares her story, and then walks us through The Five Strengths of Applied Zen Buddhism which include trust, diligence, mindfulness, concentration, and insight.

Content Warning: This episode covers difficult topics including death, mental illness, and sexual abuse.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/sister-dang-nghiem-403-rerun

9 Strategies for Managing Your Time | Laura Vanderkam May 29, 2023

Show notes

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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So many of us suffer over the issue of time management.

Our guest today approaches the topic from research and personal experience and dives into how we can think more strategically about our time and aspire to build resilient schedules, rather than perfect ones.

Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books. Her latest is Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company. Laura's TED Talk on "How to Gain Control of Your Free Time" has been viewed more than 12 million times, and she also hosts the podcast Before Breakfast. Her previous books include Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done, I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think.

In this episode we talk about:

Why time is the great leveler
Why time management strategies aren't only for people lucky enough to set their own schedules
Why Laura's number one rule in her book is to "give yourself a bedtime"
Why she is a big believer that that weekends and evenings do not have to be work free zones
How to use exercise as a reset button during your day
Why creating a habit doesn't have to mean doing it everyday
The time management rule that Laura gets the biggest pushback on
And the rule Laura says all the other rules are jealous of

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/laura-vanderkam-606

A Three Part Plan for Anxiety | Dr. Luana Marques May 24, 2023

Show notes

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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The notion of "being your authentic self" might sound like too much of a tired trope, but getting real and stripping away your fears and hang-ups can help you live a more meaningful life.

In her new book, "Bold Move: A 3-Step Plan to Transform Anxiety into Power", Dr. Luana Marques shares her story about growing up in chaos and learning early skills of cognitive behavioral therapy that helped her cope with anxiety and live boldly.

Dr. Luana Marques is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School, a former president of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), and a renowned mental health expert, educator, and author.

In this episode we talk about:

Luana's personal story growing up in Brazil and struggling with anxiety as a child
What it means to live boldly
What is psychological avoidance and the 3 R's of Avoidance
Luana's three step plan to transform anxiety into power
How to be comfortably uncomfortable
Why the brain is a faulty predictor
Why being bold is not the same as being fearless
Why social support is the number one buffer across any mental health issue
How aligning your daily actions with your values can help you deal with anxiety
How to identify your values by looking at pain
And what Luana means by "being the water not the rock"

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/dr-luana-marques-604

Why Dwight from The Office (Rainn Wilson) Is Calling for a "Spiritual Revolution" May 22, 2023

Show notes

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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Why, you might fairly ask, am I interviewing Rainn Wilson, best known for his star turn on the sitcom The Office playing Dwight Schrute, the hilariously dysregulated paper salesman with a lust for power and a tragic haircut? Why, you may ask, am I interviewing that dude about mental health and spirituality?

Because in real life, Rainn Wilson has spent many, many years wrestling with religion, sobriety, and marital ups and downs, and he's got a new book called Soul Boom in which he cracks a lot of jokes and also makes a dead serious case for a spiritual revolution. (I'll explain exactly what he means by that.)

In this episode we talk about:

the role of the Baha'i faith in his life
why he was so miserable at the height of The Office's popularity
what he considers his greatest achievement in life
the importance of spiritual pilgrimage
the ingredients of the perfect religion, which he insists must include potlucks.

A little bit more about Rainn: he won three Emmys for his work on The Office. He hosts a podcast called Metaphysical Milkshake, and he's got a new travel series on Peacock called Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/rainn-wilson-603

The Cost of Living With a Secret | Geena Rocero May 19, 2023

Show notes

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

We're going to start experimenting with these Friday episodes. Historically on Fridays, we've dropped guided meditations – and we will still do that – but we're also going to try some different formats, including some shorter episodes with guests that might not be a fit for our traditional Monday and Wednesday shows.

Today we've got Dan's new friend Geena Rocero. She has an incredible story about what it's like to live with an all-encompassing secret.

Geena was born and raised in the Philippines. There, she became a star on that country's thriving transgender beauty pageant scene. Then she moved to America to launch her modeling career. But here, in this new country, she was justifiably very worried about letting anybody in the fashion world know that she was transgender. So for many many years, she lived with a secret -- one that could destroy her livelihood at any moment. In 2014, she decided to come out publicly in a TED Talk that now has more than 4 million views. She's now a public speaker, trans rights advocate and an award-winning producer/writer/director.

She is also an author, just out with a new memoir, called Horse Barbie. You'll hear her explain what that title means. We also talk about the cost of living with a secret, why she decided to come out, and the overlap between gender and spirituality.

Where to find Geena Rocero online:

Twitter: twitter.com/geenarocero
Instagram: instagram.com/geenarocero

Book Mentioned:

Horse Barbie: A Memoir

Other Resources Mentioned:

Geena's TED talk: Why I Must Come Out

Download the Ten Percent Happier app today: https://10percenthappier.app.link/install

Meditation Party with Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren: Psychedelics, ADHD, Waking Up From Distraction, and Singing Without Being Self-Conscious May 17, 2023

Show notes

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

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Welcome to Round II of the Meditation Party. The feedback we got from our first episode was overwhelmingly positive, so we're going for it again. Meditation Party is an experiment we're running with a chattier format – more of a morning zoo vibe, but way deeper, of course. The real agenda here is to show that meditation doesn't have to be a solo death march; it is vastly enhanced by having friends.

Dan's co-hosts in this episode are his two close friends: the great meditation teachers Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren. Sebene Selassie is based in Brooklyn and describes herself as a "writer, teacher, and immigrant-weirdo." She teaches meditation on the Ten Percent Happier app and is the author of a great book called, You Belong. Jeff Warren is based in Toronto and is also a writer and meditation teacher who co-wrote the book, Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics with Dan Harris. Jeff also hosts the Consciousness Explorers podcast.

In this episode, we talk to Jeff about what it's like to be a meditation teacher who has ADHD. And even if you don't have ADHD, there's a lot of practical value to this conversation, because we all have unruly minds, and Jeff has found some great ways to work with this condition.

We also take listener questions, discussing topics like drugs. Specifically, psychedelics — and whether you're violating Buddhist precepts if you take them. We also talk about how frustrating it can be to repeatedly wake up from distraction in meditation.

And finally, we have a segment talking about the stuff we're psyched about right now… in which Sebene sings for us.

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/sebene-selassie-jeff-warren-601

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