It's the 10% happier podcast. I'm your host, Dan Harris.

Hello, everybody. How we doing? We don't often think about it this way, but as we move through

the day, the various moods we inhabit, excitement, engagement, aggression, fear, dejection, depression,

they are all dictated by or correlated with our nervous system, or to be more specific, our autonomic nervous system.

And the cool thing is, as you're about to hear, you can become an active operator of your nervous

system. My guest today is Deb Dana. She's a clinician and consultant who specializes in

working with complex trauma, although to be clear, the advice

you're going to hear her give today is not specific to people dealing with trauma.

Deb is the author of a book called Anchored, How to Befriend Your Nervous System using Polyvagal

Theory.

We talk about what polyvagal theory actually is, practical tools and exercises for changing your nervous

system and learning to become more regulated generally, and how to take a little bit of responsibility

for the nervous systems of people in your orbit. This interview is part of our deep cuts series

where we resurface popular episodes from our extensive archive that deserve a second listen.

Enjoy.

Before we dive in, just to say, we've got some exciting things happening in the 10% happier

universe.

We are now offering bespoke guided meditations to go with every podcast episode.

Those meditations will be guided by a teacher of the month,

all people who you know from the 10% cinematic universe, people who have been on this podcast before.

I like to think of the podcast as the lecture and then the guided meditations as the lab.

These meditations are available only for paid subscribers over at danharris.com.

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