How to Co-Opt All the Stuff That Gets in the Way of Your Meditation | Christiane Wolf

10% Happier with Dan Harris

10% Media, LLC

Dan Harris, Health & Fitness, Mindfulness, Dharma, Mental Health, Meditation

4.6 • 12.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 November 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It's one of those ideas that sounds kind of like a Zen riddle, but actually turns out to be incredibly useful: what's in the way is the way.

If you've ever sat down to meditate and thought, "Ugh, I can't focus — my mind's all over the place," or, "If only this restlessness would go away, then I could really meditate," this one's for you. Christiane's going to show us how those so-called obstacles — the distractions, the boredom, the racing thoughts — can actually become the practice itself.

All this month, we're sharing custom guided meditations from our teacher of the month, Christiane Wolf exclusively available at DanHarris.com. Like any good drug dealer, the first taste is free – so today, we're giving you a sample of what you can expect for the rest of the month.

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Tickets are now on sale for a special live taping of the 10% Happier Podcast with guest Pete Holmes! Join us on November 18th in NYC for this benefit show, with all proceeds supporting the New York Insight Meditation Center. Grab your tickets here!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris.
0:19.0	Happy Sunday party people. Today we are bringing you a meditation from Cristiana Wolf.
0:25.5	And it's about one of those ideas that kind of sounds like a Zen riddle, but actually turns
0:29.9	out to be incredibly useful.
0:32.1	What's in the way is the way?
0:34.7	The obstacle is the way.
0:37.1	If you've ever sat to meditate and thought, I can't focus.
0:40.0	I'm totally distracted. I'm incredibly physically restless and it's driving me nuts.
0:45.4	If you've ever sat and bumped into a barrier like that, this one's for you.
0:50.4	Christiana is going to show you how to turn these obstacles, these distractions, these powerful emotions into the practice itself.
0:58.7	As you may know, Christiana is our teacher of the month over at Dan Harris.com.
1:03.3	That means she is very busy creating custom guided meditations for all of our Monday, Wednesday episodes here on the podcast.
1:10.4	For the most part, these guided meds
1:12.1	are only available for paying subscribers, but we're dropping this one for free, the strategy
1:17.0	pursued by drug dealers everywhere. Subscribers also get access to our weekly live
1:21.6	meditation and Q&A sessions. The next one is coming up with Christiana Solo. We're doing this one on Wednesday at 4 Eastern, Wednesday, November 12th.
1:31.0	We usually do these on Tuesdays, but Tuesday, November 11th is a holiday in the U.S.
1:36.2	It's Veterans Day, so we're moving our session to Wednesday.
1:40.3	Quickly, if you want to meditate with me in person, I've got two events coming up.
1:44.1	I'm doing a live taping of this podcast on November 18th in New York City.
1:48.5	My guest will be the comedian Pete Holmes.
1:50.8	It is a benefit for the New York Insight Meditation Center.
	...

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