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0:59

I'm Dan Harris. Hello, everybody.

1:01

Happy Sunday. I hope you're enjoying these bonus meditations

1:04

that we're

1:05

dropping on the weekend instead of Friday. Let us

1:07

know what you think. Today we're celebrating the release

1:09

of a new book, The Story of a Man

1:11

Who Couldn't Be Released. It's a book that I've been

1:14

reading for the past two years. It's

1:16

called The Story of a Man Who Couldn't Be Released. It's

1:18

a book about a man who couldn't be released because

1:21

he was in a relationship with his ex-wife. Today

1:24

we're celebrating the release of a new book by one of my

1:26

favorite humans, the great meditation

1:28

teacher, Sharon Salzberg. It's called Finding Your

1:30

Way. It's a little gift book with pithy

1:33

entries and colorful illustrations, but don't let

1:35

that fool you into thinking it doesn't have

1:37

substance. It is loaded with wisdom bombs.

1:40

And to commemorate Sharon's new

1:42

book, we're making one of her courses over

1:44

on the 10% Happier app free

1:46

until October 23rd. 10% Nicer

1:49

is a starter course

1:51

on loving kindness meditation. And

1:53

today we're dropping the first meditation in that series, which

1:56

is an intro to loving kindness. So

1:58

here we go now with Sharon.

1:59

Salzburg. Hi,

2:02

this is Sharon. The

2:04

first thing we say about loving kindness practice

2:07

is be comfortable. See

2:10

if you can relax physically and also

2:13

relax emotionally. This

2:15

isn't a practice where we're striving to make

2:17

something special happen or seeking

2:20

to fabricate a state or manufacture

2:22

anything. But instead,

2:25

we're getting in touch with a more natural

2:27

space within us. The

2:31

practice of loving kindness is done by

2:34

resting our attention on the silent repetition

2:37

of certain phrases. The

2:39

phrases are the way that we guide

2:41

our attention. It's the conduit for paying

2:43

attention differently. We

2:46

silently repeat the phrases with enough

2:49

space and enough silence to

2:52

have a rhythm that's pleasing to us. The

2:57

phrases themselves need to be very general

3:00

because this is like gift giving. This

3:02

is a practice of generosity. We're offering

3:05

these phrases to ourselves and

3:07

then to others, ultimately to all forms

3:10

of life. Certain

3:12

phrases are things like, may

3:15

I be safe, be happy,

3:19

be healthy,

3:20

live with ease. You

3:24

don't need to use these phrases, but

3:26

something that is big enough that

3:29

you can make this offering to yourself and

3:32

then to others. Today

3:36

we're going to begin this practice with offering

3:38

loving kindness to ourselves. So

3:42

as we begin this meditation, you can

3:46

sit comfortably. In

3:50

sitting, we talk about having our back be straight

3:53

without being strained or over arched.

3:56

You want to have some energy in your body? You

4:00

also want to be relaxed and at ease.

4:05

So you feel your way into what feels

4:07

like a balanced posture for you. You

4:14

can close your eyes or not, however you

4:16

feel most at ease. Take

4:22

a few deep breaths, relax

4:24

your body. So

4:35

choose three or four phrases that

4:38

seem to work for you. Something

4:41

like, may

4:43

I be safe, be

4:47

happy, be

4:49

healthy. Live

4:52

with ease. And

4:55

begin repeating them over and over again.

4:58

Enough space and enough silence

5:02

so that you feel completely present one

5:04

phrase at a time. You

5:26

don't have to try to force anything to happen

5:29

or make up anything. The

5:33

power of the practice is in that complete

5:35

wholehearted gathering. You're

5:38

fully there behind one phrase and

5:42

then the next. May

5:46

I be safe, be

5:49

happy,

5:51

be healthy.

5:53

Live with ease. Or

5:56

whatever phrases you may be using. If

6:19

you find your attention wandering, truly

6:22

don't worry about it. And

6:25

actively practice kindness toward yourself

6:27

in that moment when you realize

6:30

you've been distracted. See

6:34

if you can let go and come back. It's

6:38

just one phrase at a time.

6:43

May I be safe. Be

6:46

happy. Be

6:48

healthy. Live

6:50

with ease. You

7:29

don't have to worry about what you might be feeling

7:31

or not feeling. See

7:35

if you can gather your attention fully behind

7:39

one phrase and then

7:41

the next. And

8:28

you can play as well in this practice.

8:32

Imagine yourself at different ages,

8:38

younger, currently

8:42

older. And

8:46

see what happens as you offer the phrases of

8:49

loving kindness to yourself. Some

9:44

people may be quite familiar with meditating,

9:46

but this particular type, loving kindness,

9:49

may not be so familiar to them. It's

9:53

understandable that this would feel

9:55

somewhat different. But

9:58

I'd encourage you to make the experiment. This

10:01

particular practice works in a way, in

10:04

what I call a stretch. We

10:07

find that we're accustomed to paying attention

10:09

to ourselves and to others through

10:12

a particular lens, often very critical.

10:16

And in doing this practice, we stretch. We

10:19

look at ourselves from a different angle. We look

10:21

at others from a different angle. And

10:24

that takes intentionality, it's purposeful,

10:26

it's experimental, and it's a way it's

10:31

creative, and

10:33

even though challenging, it can be a lot of fun.

10:40

When you feel ready, you can open your eyes or

10:43

lift your gaze and reconnect

10:46

to the world around you. We've

10:53

come to the end of today's session. We'll

10:56

continue our practice tomorrow. Thank

11:01

you to Sharon. You can find more meditations

11:03

like that one over on the 10% Happier app. Just

11:06

download the app wherever you get your

11:08

apps to get started, and remember that

11:10

the 10% Nicer course is free

11:13

in the app until October 23rd. We'll

11:15

see you right back here on Monday for a brand

11:17

new episode with Shane

11:20

Parrish. He's got a new book about

11:23

clear thinking.

11:32

Hey, hey, Prime members. You can listen

11:34

to 10% Happier early and

11:37

ad-free on Amazon Music. Download

11:40

the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen

11:42

early and ad-free with

11:44

Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts. Before

11:48

you go, do us a solid and tell us all about yourself by

11:51

completing a short survey at

11:53

wondery.com slash survey.