Happiness Break: A Meditation for When You Feel Uneasy

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this guided meditation with poet and teacher Henry Shukman, learn how allowing discomfort, rather than resisting it, can open the door to greater calm and self-compassion.

How To Do This Practice:

Find a Comfortable Position: Sit comfortably, either upright with your head balanced or reclining, and relax your jaw, shoulders, and hands.
Invite Warmth and Softness into the Body: Gently bring awareness to different parts of your body—chest, belly, seat, legs, and feet. Imagine a gentle sweep of rest and quiet spreading through you, like a soft, warm wave.
Notice Any Unease Without Trying to Change It: See if you can detect any subtle unease or restlessness. Instead of pushing it away, simply acknowledge it.
Soften and Warm the Whole Torso: Move your awareness to the shoulders, sides, back, chest, and belly. Imagine each area softening like warm wax. Let this warmth frame your torso, surrounding even areas of tension or discomfort.
Hold What You Find in Loving Awareness: Rather than trying to “fix” or remove unease, allow it to be held by your warmth and softness.
Return Gently: When you feel ready, slowly bring small movements back into your body. Open your eyes and notice your surroundings, carrying a sense of warmth and acceptance with you.

Scroll down for a transcription of this episode.

Today’s Happiness Break Guide:

Henry Shukman, is a poet, mindfulness teacher, and author of Original Love: The Four Inns on the Path of Awakening.

Learn more about Shukman’s work: https://henryshukman.com/about

Order his book, Original Love: The Four Inns on the Path of Awakening: https://tinyurl.com/mwv5cuxr

Related Happiness Break episodes:

Loving Kindness Meditation: https://tinyurl.com/2kr4fjz5

Embodying Resilience: https://tinyurl.com/46383mhx

A Meditation on Original Love: https://tinyurl.com/5u298cv4

Related Science of Happiness episodes:

Make Uncertainty Part of the Process: https://tinyurl.com/234u5ds7

How To Show Up For Yourself: https://tinyurl.com/56ktb9xc

How Holding Yourself Can Reduce Stress: https://tinyurl.com/2hvhkwe6

We’d love to hear about your experience with this practice! Share your thoughts at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Help us share Happiness Break! Leave a 5-star review and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/4x27ut3p

Transcript

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0:00.0	How much awe and wonder do you experience in your life?
0:03.6	From the John Templeton Foundation, our sponsors at the Science of Happiness,
0:07.3	the Templeton Ideas Podcast, explores the most awe-inspiring ideas in our world
0:12.4	with the people who investigate them.
0:15.0	Host Tom Burnett sits down with inspiring thinkers like Alison Gopnik, David Brooks,
0:20.2	Tyler Cowens, and Gretchen Rubin
0:22.4	to discuss how their investigations have transformed their lives and how they may transform yours.
0:29.2	Learn more at templeton.org slash podcast.
0:36.3	Hi, everyone. I'm Shuka Kalantari, and this is Happiness Break, where we share short,
0:41.8	science-backed practices to help you find more peace and ease.
0:45.9	We all know what it's like to feel restless in our bodies and minds.
0:50.1	With so much to do and so much going on in the world, it can be hard to find a sense of calm.
0:55.2	But research shows that trying to push restlessness away
0:58.2	can actually backfire, making it even stronger.
1:01.8	The stress piles up and before long,
1:04.2	it starts taking a toll on your body and mind.
1:07.3	So today we bring you author, poet, and teacher Henry Shookman to guide you in a practice of allowing restlessness.
1:15.6	Here's Henry.
1:20.6	I've come to a place in practice where I'm a real believer in the effectiveness of allowing.
1:31.3	And that allowing seems to switch on a more inclusive awareness.
1:38.3	A really sweet, inclusive place of awareness where it's okay for us to be troubled and anxious and restless.
1:52.1	It's okay to tend to ourselves with a kind of loving awareness. So I'm going to invite you now to come into a comfortable seated position.
	...

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