Happiness Break: A Walking Meditation with Dan Harris of 10% Happier

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2024

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Happiness Break: April 18, 2024 A walking meditation led by 10% Happier Host Dan Harris

How to Do This Practice:

Begin walking.
Bring your awareness to the present moment, noticing sights and sounds around you. When your mind wanders to worries or other thoughts, gently bring yourself back to what you notice around you.
See if you can notice the sensations in your leg as you take each step.
Continue walking this way as long as you wish.

Today’s Happiness Break host:

Dan Harris the host of 10% Happier, a podcast about mindfulness and other practices and thoughts that can support our well-being.

Check out Dan’s podcast, 10% Happier: https://tinyurl.com/48cxcbjm\

Order his most recent book, Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book: https://tinyurl.com/44cmjuvd

Follow Dan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/danbharris

Follow Dan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danharris/

If you enjoyed this Happiness Break, you may also like:

Moving Through Space, With Dacher Keltner - https://tinyurl.com/5n8dj5v6

Check out these episodes of The Science of Happiness about walking and mind-body awareness.

How To Do Good For The Environment (And Yourself) (Walking, With Diana Gameros) - https://tinyurl.com/3zfhhpus

How To Focus Under Pressure (Mindful Body Scan, With Amy Schneider) - https://tinyurl.com/5fkdre2v

We love hearing from you! Tell us about your experiences with mindful walking. Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/6s39rzus

Help us share Happiness Break! Rate us and copy and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/6s39rzus

We're living through a mental health crisis. Between the stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, burnout — we all could use a break to feel better. That's where Happiness Break comes in. In each biweekly podcast episode, instructors guide you through research-backed practices and meditations that you can do in real-time. These relaxing and uplifting practices have been shown in a lab to help you cultivate calm, compassion, connection, mindfulness, and more — what the latest science says will directly support your well-being. All in less than ten minutes. A little break in your day.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Science of happiness was proudly brought to you by the John Templeton Foundation,
0:04.0	funding research and catalyzing conversations that inspire people with awe and wonder.
0:09.0	Discover the latest findings in neuroscience, cosmology, and the origins of life at templeton.org.
0:17.0	Hi everyone, this is Dacker Keltner. Welcome to Happiness Break where we guide you
0:25.2	through practices to help you strengthen the things that can bring you greater
0:28.4	meaning in life from self-compassion to awe and wonder. Today we're going to do a little mindful walking, about six
0:36.3	minutes with my friend Dan Harris. You may know Dan from his podcast 10%
0:41.3	happier. He also wrote a best-selling book by the same name. I recommend
0:45.9	that you check them both out. They've helped a lot of people. Walking in general shifts
0:51.1	our neurophysiology in many different ways, elevating
0:54.2	serotonin levels and as a result can help us with health conditions like
0:57.9	hypertension and inflammation. Adding mindfulness to regular walking, studies show, can reduce our daily stresses, it can lift up our moods and positive emotions,
1:09.0	and it can soften the edges of feeling anxiety and depression depression which are on the rise today.
1:16.0	So open your door if you haven't already, step outside and enjoy your walk with Dan. Most of the time when we're walking or moving around in our daily lives were lost and thought,
1:36.1	were rushing, ruminating, planning, glorious, expletive-filled speeches we're going to deliver
1:41.6	to our boss, whatever. In this walk, we're going to practice
1:46.9	bringing our attention into the body. So as you get moving here, can you feel your hamstrings?
2:00.3	Can you feel your arms swinging?
2:32.0	Can you feel your feet hitting the ground? You're not going to It's easy to get distracted, especially when you're trying to do this out in the real world instead of on the cushion.
2:34.0	That's totally fine. This is great exercise for waking up in your daily life.
2:39.0	Whenever you notice you've wandered off,
2:42.0	just bring your attention back to the raw data of your physical experience.
	...

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