The Minimalists, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus

#6: David Gelles: The author of "Mindful Work," New York Times reporter David Gelles is a self-described "sporadic meditator." During the day, Gelles says he uses so-called "meditation hacks," such as waiting a beat or two before picking up a ringing phone or practicing walking meditation around the office at work. Earlier this month, he wrote an op-ed for the New York Times Sunday Review called "The Hidden Price of Mindfulness, Inc.," in which he talked about the "mindfulness economy" and the hundreds of products out there, from books to apps to a dairy-free mayonnaise substitute called Mindful Mayo, all carrying a "mindfulness" label. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

55 min listen

Guided Meditation: 'Simply Begin Again': The three most important words for a beginning meditator may be, "Simply Begin Again." This short episode is a bit different. It's a guided meditation from the 10% Happier: Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics app, featuring Joseph Goldstein. Joseph is the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society. He is also Dan's teacher (which means he knows firsthand how crappy a meditator Dan is). Joseph is one of a handful of western teachers who brought mindfulness meditation to the west 40 years ago. So, if you'd like to give meditation a try, this is a great place to start. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

10 min listen

Guided Meditation: 'Struggle as Feedback': Want to give meditation a try? This is a great place to start. If you're struggling, it means something is going on that you're not accepting. The struggle is the feedback. Instead of pushing through, ask yourself "What am I not open to?" Often you'll see that the struggle dissipates right there. This is a guided meditation from the 10% Happier: Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics app, featuring Joseph Goldstein. Joseph is the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society. He is also Dan's teacher (which means he knows firsthand how crappy a meditator Dan is). Joseph is one of a handful of western teachers who brought mindfulness meditation to the west 40 years ago. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

9 min listen

#1: Dalai Lama: How can you live a happier life? In our debut episode, Dan Harris sits down with the Dalai Lama and Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist and founder of the Center for Healthy Minds. His Holiness and Richardson have collaborated for years on research looking at the impact meditation can have on the brain. Please leave us a review! ----> http://bit.ly/2lkYXxT by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

27 min listen

#2: Weezer's Rivers Cuomo: Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo has been writing and singing hit songs for more than two decades. But this Grammy-winning rocker, whose lyrics about relationships, promiscuity and drug use helped Weezer become what some argue is the father of today's emo genre, credits his success and stability to his daily practice of meditation. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

57 min listen

#8: Sharon Salzberg: A towering figure in the meditation world, Sharon Salzberg is part of a small group of people who helped bring meditation over from Asia to the United States. Growing up in New York City, Salzberg had a traumatic childhood and was a sophomore in college when an Asian philosophy class she chose sort of on a whim led her to find a personal and positive connection with Buddhist teachings and practices. Today, she is a meditation teacher, the cofounder of Insight Meditation Society and the author of nine books, including best-sellers "Lovingkindness," "Real Happiness" and "Real Happiness at Work." Salzberg sat down with Dan Harris to talk about her personal history, her meditation practice and her advice to beginners looking to start practicing. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

56 min listen

#21: Arianna Huffington: Arianna Huffington has a multimillion-dollar media website that reacts to world events by the millisecond, she's a mother of two -- and yet she says she always gets a good night's sleep. Not only that, she says wants to help everyone else do the same. Huffington, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, has a new book -- her fifteenth -- called "The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life One Night at a Time." In the book, she traces sleep deprivation back to the Industrial Revolution and argues that our culture's chronic need to be "plugged in" is hurting our health, productivity, relationships and happiness. She started researching the effects of sleep deprivation after she collapsed from exhaustion in 2007, two years after launching The Huffington Post. It was also around this time, Huffington said, that she went back to meditation, a practice she had first started at age 13 while living in her home country of Greece. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

61 min listen

#16: Ali Smith: Ali Smith goes into some of the toughest neighborhoods in one of the toughest cities in America, and teaches yoga and meditation to troubled and at-risk school kids. And the results have been incredible. Smith, a certified yoga instructor, is the co-founder and executive director of the Holistic Life Foundation. His workshops and after-school programs reach approximately 4,500 kids every week – and that number only continues to grow. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

49 min listen

#7: George Mumford: George Mumford has taught mindfulness and meditation to some of the greatest athletes of all time: Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, among others. In partnership with the legendary coach Phil Jackson, Mumford taught meditation to the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, and now works with the New York Knicks. He’s also the author of "The Mindful Athlete: The Secret to Pure Performance." by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

77 min listen

#30: Jesse Israel: A few years ago, Jesse Israel was a sophomore film student who had just signed an up-and-coming college band to a record label he co-founded out of his dorm room. Israel built that record label into a successful company -- then he decided to walk away from all of it and looked into ways he could "bring people together through shared interest." After toying with a few ideas, Israel came up with a plan to start a community for young adults to meet, meditate and "share quiet," he said. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

59 min listen

#12: Thupten Jinpa: Thupten Jinpa may be best known for being the Dalai Lama's longtime English-language translator. But now Jinpa is working to get his own message across. In his new book, "A Fearless Heart," Jinpa touches on the course in compassion training he helped create at Stanford University -- one that has been shown to make people happier, healthier and better able to regulate their emotions. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

60 min listen

#3: Brian Koppelman: The filmmaker and co-creator of the TV show "Billions" talks about his practice of Transcendental Meditation. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

46 min listen

#35: Alan Cumming, Actor, Author, Activist: Alan Cumming is an award-winning actor on the Broadway stage and on-screen, a New York Times best-selling author, director, comedian and activist. He's best known for his roles in Broadway's "Cabaret," TV’s "The Good Wife" and as Nightcrawler in "X-Men 2." During the interview with Dan Harris, Cumming talks about his meditation practice and his new book, "You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams: My Life in Stories and Pictures," out this month. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

35 min listen

#5: Amy Cuddy: Amy Cuddy has created a bonafide sensation in the world of happiness and well-being. A social psychologist at Harvard Business School and a New York Times best-selling author, Cuddy gave a TED Talk that has been viewed millions of times about how to make yourself look, feel and act more powerful, through something she calls "power poses." by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

55 min listen

#14: RuPaul: When he was 28 years old, RuPaul Andre Charles found himself broke and living on his little sister's couch in Los Angeles. "It was a really, really, really dark, dark period for me." That’s when RuPaul, now the world's most famous drag queen, started his meditation practice. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

37 min listen

#17: Chodo and Koshin: Thinking about death can be supremely difficult. Many of us try not to think about it at all – until we have no choice. But two Zen Buddhist monks are using meditation, and a generous dose of humor, to show people that the dying process does not have to be scary, and can even be uplifting. Sensei Robert Chodo Campbell and Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison are the co-founders of the New York Center for Contemplative Care, and have trained doctors, nurses, hospice care workers, and social workers to incorporate meditation and caring into their bedside manner with patients, and in their relationships with loved ones. The duo also teaches people to embrace death’s inevitability as push to live a fulfilling life – Zen Buddhist practice forces followers to look at this reality repeatedly – and how to treat a dying loved one with compassion instead of fear. Chodo and Kosin are the authors of the new book, "Awake at the Bedside: Teachings on Palliative & End of Life Care." by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

66 min listen

#11: Lama Tsomo: Lama Tsomo is one of the first American women to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist lama, or spiritual teacher. Born Linda Pritzker, she is part of the family that built the Hyatt hotel chain. But Lama Tsomo embarked on a very different path, diving deeply into Buddhism, spending months on retreat, learning Tibetan and teaching around the world. She sat down with Dan Harris to talk about her story and to detail some of these Tibetan practices. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

61 min listen

#26: Dan Ryckert: Dan Ryckert works in an industry where you wouldn't imagine there would be a whole lot of meditation: Video games. Ryckert is a senior editor at the popular video game website, Giant Bomb, and he's the author of "Anxiety as an Ally: How I Turned a Worried Mind into My Best Friend." Ryckert's raw memoir details his struggles with anxiety and panic attacks, from trying to find a diagnosis and then with learning how to deal with the attacks in his personal and professional life, and then how he eventually turned to meditation. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

51 min listen

#19: Emma Seppala: Success and happiness: Can you have one without the other? Many may assume that these two things are at cross purposes but Emma Seppala, the science director of Stanford University's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, argues that that assumption is actually dead wrong. The Ph.D. holder and author of "The Happiness Track" sat down with Dan Harris to tackle this subject -- a central theme in Dan's own book, "10% Happier." by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

55 min listen

#22: Dr. Mark Epstein: Buddhist psychiatrist and author Dr. Mark Epstein has for years written about the overlap between Western psychotherapy and Eastern Buddhist philosophies. Epstein sat down with Dan Harris to talk about the impact meditation can have on the mind, both positive and negative, for those looking for an escape from suffering. He also went deep into the Buddhist concept of the "no-self," whether Enlightenment can be reached ... and what it might look or feel like. He has written numerous books on these topics, his most recent being, "The Trauma of Everyday Life." Epstein first discovered meditation in college and one of the "breakthroughs" he said that made the practice click for him happened while he was learning to juggle. "Once I got the three oranges in the air, my mind had to relax in order to keep it going and I understood, 'Oh yeah, this is what they're trying to teach me in mediation.'" Before he found meditation, Epstein said he was a very anxious person who wo by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

69 min listen

#4: Dr. Jay Michaelson: Dr. Jay Michaelson is a lawyer, a rabbi, a legal/religion columnist for The Daily Beast, an LGBT activist, a professor, and an author of six books. Yet despite his staggering number of day jobs, Michaelson has also found time to intensively practice meditation. In fact, add another job to the resume: He’s also a meditation teacher. And not only does he practice and teach meditation, he says he’s had experiences of enlightenment, or "awakening." by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

53 min listen

Guided Meditation: 'The Training Ground': Want to give meditation a try? This is a great place to start. Meditation can seem simple, even trivial. But the mental muscle we exercise in beginning again (and again, and again) is an excellent training ground for the many times in our everyday lives when things don't go as planned. We've built the skill of beginning again. This is a guided meditation from Dan's "10% Happier: Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics" app, featuring Sharon Salzberg (featured in Episode #8 of this podcast!). A towering figure in the meditation world, Salzberg is part of a small group of people who helped bring meditation over from Asia to the United States. She is a meditation teacher, the co-founder of Insight Meditation Society and the author of nine books. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

10 min listen

#9: Margot Bingham: Actress and singer-songwriter Margot Bingham has moved from playing the role of jazz singer Daughter Maitland in HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" to a highly-respected detective in ABC's "The Family," but in working through these complex roles, Bingham said she finds comfort through practicing meditation. Bingham sat down with Dan Harris and talked about her career, how she dealt with the heaviness of her "Boardwalk Empire" role and how she found meditation. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

48 min listen

#38: Eileen Fisher, Fashion Icon: Eileen Fisher weaves mindfulness and social consciousness throughout her multimillion-dollar clothing company and in her personal life. After being in business for over 30 years, her collections are sold in 65 EILEEN FISHER shops across the country, as well as department stores, and her company backs several initiatives focused on using sustainable fabrics, human rights for garment workers and EILEEN FISHER employee health. But even with the daily stress of managing a clothing empire, Fisher still begins each day with meditation. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

51 min listen

#18: Chade-Meng Tan: Chade-Meng Tan was employee No. 107 at Google. But the software engineer's career took a turn when he began teaching meditation to the company's employees and executives, adopting the job title of "Jolly Good Fellow." While he's no longer at Google, Meng -- as everyone calls him -- continues to meditate and has written a new book, "Joy on Demand," detailing how anyone can access joy through meditation. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

53 min listen

#20: Adam Shankman: Acclaimed movie producer and director Adam Shankman is best known for his upbeat, family-friendly movies, including "Hairspray," "A Walk to Remember" and "The Pacifier," but behind the scenes, Shankman says he spent years grappling with substance abuse and self-loathing. Growing up in Hollywood, Shankman, who is openly gay, remembers being "an incredibly happy kid." But when he was three years old, he says, his parents set him up with a doctor who was doing a study on sexual identity. Unbeknownst to his parents at the time, Shankman says he was placed in "conversion therapy." When he was a teen, Shankman turned to alcohol and later drugs to quiet the "ugly voice" in his head. In 2012, Shankman says, he entered a "really dark" place and the following year checked himself into a month-long rehab program -- where he discovered meditation. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

42 min listen

#33: Chef Eric Ripert: Chef Eric Ripert, of the famed Le Bernardin in New York City, is one of the world's best chefs, an Emmy-winning cooking show host and a cookbook author. But while Ripert was building a name for himself in the heat and the stress of a fine-dining restaurant kitchen, he also became a practicing Buddhist. The chef sat down with Dan Harris to talk about his daily meditation rituals, how he found Buddhism after being raised Catholic, and how he got to where he is today. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

50 min listen

#13: Steve Armstrong: Enlightenment (or, more specifically, exactly how one gets enlightened) has become a somewhat taboo subject. For years, American meditation teachers have largely avoided discussing what's known as "the progress of insight" -- the various stages that lead to Nirvana -- with their students. But why? In this episode, Dan gets clear, candid answers from Steve Armstrong, a long-time meditation teacher and the managing editor of the new book "Manual of Insight." by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

72 min listen

#10: Leigh Brasington: Leigh Brasington has been practicing meditation for decades and is one of the most prominent American teachers of Jhana meditation. The Jhanas are a set of altered states of consciousness associated with profound amounts of bliss, happiness and ecstasy. Entering Jhana is done through meditating with intense concentration and it's considered a controversial topic by many in the Buddhist world. But can regular people access the Jhanas? And are they even real? by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

56 min listen

#32: The Minimalists, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus: Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus have been through a lot together. They grew up together in Dayton, Ohio, both in families that struggled to make ends meet. They went on to climb the corporate ladder together and both made a comfortable living. So when Josh discovered minimalism, a practice in which you rid yourself of excess stuff to focus on personal happiness, it wasn't long before Ryan joined him. Today, the two childhood friends live in Montana and host a podcast, a website and have a film called "Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things," all devoted to capturing their minimalism experiences and to help others discover the practice. by Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

61 min listen

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The Minimalists, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus

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