What's It Like To Be You Right Now? | Bonus Meditation with Dan

This one's simple and easy -- and features some of Dan's favorite instructions from Joseph Goldstein. This meditation was originally part of one of Dan's recent Ask Me Anything sessions on Substack – join us as a paid subscriber at DanHarris.com https://www.danharris.com to be a part of these live online events as Dan guides a short meditation then takes your questions.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:04Dan Harris?

  This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris.

• 0:18Dan 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, 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.

• 1:02Dan Harris?

  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 of 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.

• 1:46Dan Harris?

  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.

• 1:58Dan Harris?

  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.

• 2:49Dan Harris?

  Okay, as you

• 2:52Dan Harris?

  finish your three breaths, take your time with them, but as you start to settle,

• 2:59Dan Harris?

  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-toppel. Anyway,

• 3:20Dan Harris?

  dealer's choice, pick your position.

• 3:24Dan Harris?

  Pick something to focus on.

• 3:29Dan Harris?

  Could be your body sitting in the chair.

• 3:34Dan Harris?

  As Joseph likes to say, "There is a body."

• 3:38Dan Harris?

  That's a phrase from

• 3:41Dan Harris?

  Buddhist texts. And the Joseph in question here is my meditation teacher, Joseph Goldstein.

• 3:48Dan Harris?

  You can feel the body sitting in the chair, or lying down, or standing up. You can focus on the breath

• 3:55Dan Harris?

  at one spot, like your belly, or your chest, or your nose. Pick some sounds in your environment.

• 4:04Dan Harris?

  And let's just commit to it. And every time you get distracted, you know the deal just start again.

• 4:37Dan Harris?

  If you're struggling with distraction, it's, first of all, not a big problem.

• 4:44Dan Harris?

  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

• 5:02Dan Harris?

  hot or cold,

• 5:05Dan Harris?

  tingling, pressure.

• 5:09Dan Harris?

  Just a little note

• 5:13Dan Harris?

  once in a while can kind of keep you in the game.

• 5:25Dan Harris?

  Pleasant or unpleasant

• 5:28Dan Harris?

  thinking,

• 5:32Dan Harris?

  sleepy, whatever's happening, just put a little note on it.

• 6:25Dan Harris?

  One question I like to ask when I'm sitting is, what's it like to be me right now?

• 7:45Dan Harris?

  Remember, no matter how many times you get carried away, it's totally fine.

• 7:53Dan Harris?

  Just notice you've gotten distracted and bring your attention back to

• 8:01Dan Harris?

  whatever's happening right now.

• 9:24Dan Harris?

  Feeling the breath, feeling the body's sitting, hearing sounds in your environment. There's nothing to do.

• 9:34Dan Harris?

  It's already happening. The breathing's happening anyway. Body sensations are happening anyway.

• 9:42Dan Harris?

  Your awareness of them is effortless.

• 9:46Dan Harris?

  Can you just notice when the thinking mind or the ego interferes and carries you away?

• 9:56Dan Harris?

  Blow it a kiss, put a label on it, thinking, planning, anger, sadness, and then just come right back.

• 10:54Dan Harris?

  Okay.

• 10:56Dan Harris?

  When you're ready, just open your eyes, or not,

• 11:01Dan Harris?

  and come back into this little virtual room with the rest of us from the Renegade Sangha here.

• 11:18Dan Harris?

  Okay, like I said, that's a taste of what you'll get if you join the Renegade Sangha over at DanHarris.com. Lots of other benefits, including ad-free listening to this podcast and a cheat sheet that comes with every episode, including key takeaways and a full transcript. We'd love your feedback on all the changes that are happening around here. I know some of it can be a little confusing, so if you have any questions, just hit me up at DanHarris.com and we will try to help you out with all of the changes afoot. Before I go, let me just quickly thank everybody who worked so hard to make this show. Our producers are Tara Anderson, Caroline Keenan, and Eleanor Vasili. Our recording and engineering

• 12:02Dan Harris?

  is handled by the great folks over at Pod People. Lauren Smith is our production manager. Marissa Schneiderman is our senior producer. DJ Cashmere is our executive producer. And Nick Thorburn of The Band Islands wrote our theme.

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