Happiness Break: Smiling From The Inside Out

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Just a soft smile and a few minutes of breath can shift your mood, lower stress, and deepen your sense of connection.

How To Do This Practice:

Settle In: Find a comfortable seat, rest your hands gently, and soften your gaze or close your eyes.
Breathe and Soften: Take a few slow, deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth, relaxing your face, jaw, and neck.
Form a Gentle Smile: Let a soft, effortless smile form at the corners of your mouth. Think of something or someone that makes you smile.
Turn the Smile Inward: Imagine that smile radiating inside your body, through your face, throat, and chest.
Send the Smile Through Your Body: With each breath, guide the smile to your heart, lungs, digestive system, and spine, acknowledging and appreciating each part.
Close Gently: Let the smile spread throughout your whole body, take one final deep breath, and slowly open your eyes, carrying the smile into the rest of your day.

Scroll down for a transcription of this episode.

Today’s Happiness Break Guide:

DACHER KELTNER is the host of The Science of Happiness podcast and is a co-instructor of the Greater Good Science Center’s popular online course of the same name. He’s also a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Related Happiness Break episodes:

Take a Break With Our Loving-Kindness Meditation: https://tinyurl.com/2kr4fjz5

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

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

Related Science of Happiness episodes:

Are You Remembering the Good Times: https://tinyurl.com/483bkk2h

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

Why We Should Seek Beauty: https://tinyurl.com/yn7ry59j

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/s4wk4x4y

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Dacher Keltener. Welcome to Happiness Break, where we take a few minutes to guide you through
0:07.0	science-back practices that can bring more joy, connection, and ease into your day.
0:14.0	Today we're exploring the Inner Smile Meditation, a practice rooted in Taoist traditions. This technique invites us to soften our facial expression, deepen our breath, and direct a warm, gentle smile inward toward our body.
0:31.6	In a now famous study, psychologist James Laird discovered something fascinating.
0:36.6	When people were unknowingly made to smile,
0:39.1	they consistently felt happier. And when they mimicked a frown, their mood shifted toward anger.
0:44.3	More recent studies have confirmed this effect. Holding a subtle smile can shift our emotional
0:50.6	state, lower stress, and even help us feel more connected to the world around us.
0:57.0	This practice of interception invites ease and a deeper sense of connection within.
1:04.0	Let's begin.
1:13.6	Find a comfortable seat. Rest your hands gently in your lap or next to you.
1:18.6	Close your eyes if that feels comfortable or soften your gaze.
1:24.6	Now take a deep breath through your nose and slowly exhale through your mouth.
1:36.3	With each ensuing breath, allow your face to soften your jawbones, the back of your neck.
1:52.0	Now bring your attention to your face. Let a gentle, effortless smile form, not a forced grin,
2:01.6	just a soft, subtle lift at the corners of your mouth.
2:09.6	Maybe think of someone or something that makes you smile.
2:20.3	Feeling the corners of your lips
2:22.1	gently turned upward.
2:26.6	Hold that smile,
2:28.9	allowing your jaws and head to relax even more.
2:42.0	Okay. and head to relax even more. With your next inhale, direct this inner smile toward your heart.
	...

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