10% Happier with Dan Harris

Daniel Pink, 'When' Can Make a Big Difference

<p>"All of us in our lives make decisions about when to do things. 'When should I work out? When should I do this kind of work, when should I do that kind of work? When should I start a project, when should I abandon a project?' ... and the best time of day to do something depends on what that something is," said Daniel Pink, a New York Times bestselling author whose new book is called "When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing." Pink, who was trained as a lawyer and now runs his own company as an organizational management expert, argues that doing certain tasks either during the "peak, trough or recovery" periods of our energy levels, can be more effective, whether it's when to hold a meeting to get the best ideas or when to exercise to get a fulfilling workout.</p>

Andrea Petersen, Untangling from Anxiety

When author and Wall Street Journal reporter Andrea Petersen was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder at age 20, she was relieved to finally have a name for the thing that had controlled most of her life to the point where she feared walking up a flight of stairs or standing in line at the store. But understanding and overcoming her anxieties was a different odyssey, one she describes in "On Edge: A Journey Through Anxiety," a memoir she was inspired to write after interviewing college students about their mental health struggles.

Lewis Howes, Former Pro-Athlete on Removing 'Mask of Masculinity'

As a former pro-football player and two sport All-American, world-record holding athlete, Lewis Howes built his life around being the tough, "get back up and play" jock, and it took him a long time to learn how to shed "The Mask of Masculinity," to realize that stamping out emotion was causing him great suffering. The 34-year-old entrepreneur and best-selling author had a breakthrough a few years ago when he opened up for the first time about a horrific childhood trauma and now Howes shares inspiring stories from brilliant business minds, athletes and influential celebrities on his podcast, "The School of Greatness."

Hansa Bergwall, Reminding Us That We Die So That We Live

The WeCroak app, which sends reminders that you're going to die -- five times a day, is not meant to be morbid, founder Hansa Bergwall said, but to make us stop and appreciate the moment we're living in. "Remembering that you're going to die is really important," said Bergwall, a publicist, writer and meditation teacher in Brooklyn, who was 11 years old when his mother died. "Sometimes that's all it takes to take a deep breath, change the program and do something different, feel something different."

Lt. Col. Jannell MacAulay, Teaching 'Mental Push-ups' in US Air Force

Dr. Jannell MacAulay, a lieutenant colonel and flight instructor in the United States Air Force with over 3,000 flying hours as a combat veteran, sees mindfulness meditation as national security asset. A former commander of the 400-member joint 305th Operations Support Squadron, MacAulay teaches mindfulness to her fellow commanders and other Airmen in order to improve their leadership and mission-focused performance, as well as change the culture within a high-stress military organization.

Rhonda Magee, Law Professor Using Mindfulness to Defeat Bias

<p>"Part of what I have decided for myself - it's a decision - I don't want to be part of the pain, creating more pain in the world, for myself or for others," said Rhonda Magee, a law professor at University of San Francisco. "So it's that capacity with mindfulness to get a sense into ... what my own experience of feeling vulnerable, feeling afraid, what it does to me, how I start to look at the world through the lens of that ... now [I'm] at a place where I'm not reacting from a place of fear." A law professor for 20 years and a mindfulness teacher for lawyers and law students, Magee argues that mindfulness can be a solution to combating bias and discrimination.</p>

Brad Katsuyama, Wall Street Reformer

Brad Katsuyama's blood pressure levels were "out of control" and he decided to make a significant change in his life. The Canada native left his job at Royal Bank of Canada, began a regular meditation practice and started IEX, a stock exchange that took on predatory high-speed trading and was the subject of Michael Lewis' best-selling book, "Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt."

Bob Roth, Meditation Teacher to the Stars

Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks and David Letterman are just some of the dozens of celebrities who sought out Bob Roth to learn Transcendental Meditation (TM), a mantra-focused meditation practice. Roth, who has been a meditation teacher for over 40 years and has a new book out called, "Strength in Stillness," talks about how he found TM and addresses the criticism and suspicions some former members have raised around TM.

Susan Kaiser Greenland and Annaka Harris, Teaching Mindfulness to Kids

Susan Kaiser Greenland, an author and former corporate attorney, and Annaka Harris, an author and editor, work together to teach mindfulness meditation to children and their families through Greenland's Inner Kids Foundation. They offer advice for parents on introducing meditation to their kids and starting group sessions with other families, but they also share their views on the controversial topic of teaching meditation in schools and how they tackle concerns many parents have about teaching kids a practice that evolved from Eastern spiritual traditions.

Tim Ferriss, Host of 'The Tim Ferriss Show,' Author

Tim Ferriss, the host of "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast and the author of several best-selling books, including "The 4-Hour Workweek" and "Tribe of Mentors," has built an entire empire around offering life-hacking advice, but when someone suggested he try meditation, he resisted for a while. He tried various forms, then eventually dove head first into doing a 10-day silent retreat, where he came face-to-face with a long-buried childhood trauma that made him re-evaluate how he cared for himself.

Yael Shy, Helping College Students Fight Stress and FOMO

<p>Yael Shy, the author of "What Now? Meditation for Your Twenties and Beyond," says she came to meditation from "a lot of suffering" as a student at New York University in 2001 -- the same year the World Trade Center towers fell near her New York City dorm during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Today, Shy helps college students tackle stress, anger and FOMO (fear of missing out) around academics, relationships, sex and social media in her role as the senior director of NYU Global Spiritual Life and the founder and director of MindfulNYU.</p>

Danica Patrick, Racing Superstar

Danica Patrick is one of the most successful female drivers in racing history, having been the first and only woman to win an IndyCar race. Since becoming a staple on the race track, Patrick has expanded her repertoire to include owning a winery, launching a clothing line and writing a new lifestyle book called, "Pretty Intense: The 90-Day Mind, Body and Food Plan," which she developed after changing her own diet and exercise routine while going through the process of freezing her eggs.

James Altucher, Master of Reinvention

James Altucher, an entrepreneur, writer and host of "The James Altucher Show" podcast, is a master of reinvention, so much in fact that the title of one of his 18 books is "Reinvent Yourself." Altucher has built and sold numerous companies (and made and lost a few fortunes in the process), once gave up all of his possessions and was homeless for a time, dabbles in stand-up comedy, and all the while has maintained his long history with meditation.

Manoush Zomorodi, Host of 'Note to Self' Podcast

Manoush Zomorodi, the host of WNYC's "Note to Self" podcast, is an advocate for boredom because allowing our minds to wander, she says, can lead to problem solving and fresh ideas. Her book, "Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self," stems from an experiment in which she convinced more than 20,000 listeners to try to disconnect from their phones, just be bored for a moment and jump-start their creativity.

Your Meditation Questions, Answered!

We close out the year by hearing from you, our loyal listeners! We recently set up a voicemail where listeners left questions for our host Dan Harris and he answers a selection of them that range from how to start a practice, how to tell your friends it's not "weird" to meditate and how to afford retreats. Dan's new book, "Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-To Book," is on sale Dec. 26.

Dr. Bianca Harris

Dan interviews his wife, Bianca Harris, who is a big part of the storyline in his new book, "Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book." She resisted starting a meditation practice for years, but has recently made a change. The book is on sale Dec. 26 and available for pre-order now.

Jeff Warren, After the '10% Happier' Road Trip

Meditation teacher and writer Jeff Warren and our host Dan Harris reflect on their January 2017 road trip, in which they traveled from New York City to Los Angeles to talk with people about what keeps them from meditating, and in the process, the two friends discuss how meditation has helped them work through their own personal struggles. Their new book on their journey, written with Carlye Adler, is called "Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book," which is on sale Dec. 26 and available for pre-order now.

Dr. David Vago, This Is Your Brain on Meditation

There has been an explosion of research in recent years on what meditation does to the brain, but as neuroscientist Dave Vago points out, the science of putting meditation under neuro-imaging is still quite young. Vago, the research director for the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, studies brain scans of meditators to analyze changes in brain activity, blood flow, size and function of certain areas in the brain, and he was part of a group of scientists who published paper aiming to define "mindfulness" and its neurological impacts.

Ginger Zee, ABC News Chief Meteorologist (Bonus!)

On "Good Morning America," Ginger Zee is known as ABC News' bright, always-smiling chief meteorologist, but now she is sharing that, in reality, she has long battled storms within herself. Zee, who was born Ginger Zuidgeest, discusses her new memoir, "Natural Disaster: I Cover Them. I Am One."

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, 'The Lost Art of Good Conversation'

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the head of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage and Shambhala International, has a new book out called, "The Lost Art of Good Conversation: A Mindful Way to Connect with Others and Enrich Everyday Life" -- poignant for this time of deep divisions in the U.S. and abroad. Born in Bodhagaya, India but bought up in the West, Sakyong Mipham who talks about how conversation is powerful because it begins with recognizing that "there's another person" with you, and he says, as a married father of three, getting frustrated with your kids is just "part of the path."

Guided Meditation: 'A Reflection On the Important Things' by The Minimalists

With the holidays (and shopping season) upon us, we asked our friends The Minimalists (Ep. #32) for a short meditation to help us focus on what's truly important.

Bonnie St. John, Former Olympic Skier, Motivational Speaker

<p>Author, motivational speaker and former pro-skier Bonnie St. John had her right leg amputated at age 5, but that has never slowed her down. The San Diego native made a Paralympics run in 1984 and became the first African-American to win medals in Winter Olympics competition. A Rhodes Scholar, St. John went on to serve on the White House National Economic Council and has written seven books, including one with her husband called "Micro-Resilience," which outlines five frameworks for small "life hacks" to help boost focus and energy.</p>

Charles Raison &amp; Vladimir Maletic, Tackling Depression with a Mind-Body Approach

Chuck Raison, a psychiatrist and a professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, and Vlad Maletic, a clinical professor of neuropsychiatry and behavior science at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, wrote a book together called, "The New Mind-Body Science of Depression," in which they offer research on the mind-body connection, such as looking at the immune system, as a way to tackle depression. But their conversation also delves into the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of tummo, psychedelics and "dark" retreats.

Andrew Scheffer, The Wharton Monk

Andrew Scheffer's decision to try meditation after his freshman year of college launched him on a journey where he traveled the world, spent over a year training as a Buddhist monk and worked with the famed Buddhist master, Sayadaw U Pandita, before going on to earn an MBA from the prestigious Wharton School of Business. After working in finance, Scheffer founded and leads "Mindfulness Matters," a corporate training program that applies meditation practices to leadership skills, teaching all sorts of groups from hotel workers to financial managers.

Shiza Shahid, Malala Fund Co-Founder

Growing up in a post-9/11 Pakistan, Shiza Shahid had what she called an "activist childhood," where she volunteered in prisons, refugee camps and disaster relief efforts after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. When the Taliban issued an edict banning girls from going to school, the then-Stanford University sophomore created a secret summer camp in Pakistan for girls, one of which was a 12-year-old Malala Yousafzai. When Malala was shot in 2012 by a Taliban gunman, Shahid co-founded the Malala Fund to promote Malala's story of perseverance and advocacy for girls' education.

Leslie Booker, Activism and the Dharma

Leslie Booker was working as a wardrobe stylist, dressing models for a living, and was looking for a way to transition out of the industry and her winding path -- she lives a nomadic lifestyle -- eventually brought her to becoming a meditation teacher. A Navy brat who grew up in Virginia and Japan, Booker is also an activist who was involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement and has worked with incarcerated youth, and she shared her thoughts on how the Dharma has changed the way she approaches activism.

Adam Levin, X Ambassadors Drummer

As the X Ambassadors' fame grew, drummer Adam Levin noticed he was always waiting for something to go wrong. With more success, came more anxiety, "and that's not a fun way to live," he said. Levin talks about how the rock star life drove him to meditation, as well as how the band works together, what lead singer Sam Harris goes through to care for his voice, and why Levin thinks the band's next album is "the best work" they've "ever done."

Sally Quinn, Walking the Labyrinth

When author and journalist Sally Quinn needs a moment of peace or clarity, she said, "I walk the labyrinth." A labyrinth walk has long represented a journey or pilgrimage and Quinn uses it for walking meditation -- her late husband, legendary Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, even built one for her at their Maryland estate. Quinn, who launched the Post's 'On Faith' website as a self-proclaimed atheist, talks about her new memoir, "Finding Magic," her notorious D.C. dinner parties and discovering meaning in her life through the years she spent caring for Bradlee as he suffered with dementia, their son, who had heart defect and severe learning disabilities, and her ailing parents.

Anderson Cooper, CNN Anchor

Anderson Cooper, a 23-year news veteran, is the anchor of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" and a contributor to CBS News' "60 Minutes." His reporting for a "60 Minutes" piece on mindfulness led him to start his own meditation practice, and he talks at length in our interview about how it has brought him some peace and perspective after dealing with the deaths of his father and brother, being "incredibly introverted" and being a good journalist in the age of Twitter.

Nicholas Hoult &amp; Danny Strong, 'Rebel in the Rye'

The new biopic about reclusive author J.D. Salinger explores his formative years, from struggling writer, to serving in World War II, to publishing his famous and controversial 1951 novel, "The Catcher in the Rye," to using meditation to deal with PTSD. Actor Nicholas Hoult, who plays Salinger, and Danny Strong, who wrote and directed the film, are both meditators themselves and talk about diving into this tortured author's mind to bring his story to the big screen.