This is the 10% Happier Podcast.

I'm Dan Harris.

Hello everybody, we're running a few experiments on this show today.

First, you may have noticed we're trying out some new theme music.

For many, many years, many of you have been complaining justifiably about how terrible our theme music has been.

And I have wanted to fix this for a long, long time, but somehow I never got around to it.

Anyway, I finally reached out to Nick Thorburn, who is the frontman of one of my favorite bands, Island.

Nick also did the theme music for cereal, the mega hit podcast.

And now he has whipped up a little something for us.

I hope you like it. Send me some feedback on Twitter if you've got it.

The other major experiment we're running today is what I hope will be the first edition of a recurring feature right here on this show.

By way of background, as some of you may know, I retired from my job as a morning news anchor back in 2021.

And ever since then, my wife Bianca has been gently pointing out that I might want to find a new outlet for on air banter, which was really one of my favorite parts of my old job.

I really do miss messing around with my friends on the air and was intrigued by the notion of finding a new outlet for this kind of camaraderie.

So I reached out to two very good friends, Seven A. Celassie and Jeff Warren, who both happened to be meditation teachers and frequent flyers on this show.

And I asked them if they'd be game to try out a new format.

We are calling it meditation party. Why?

Because meditation is too often sold to us as a solo death march.

But we, meaning Seb, Jeff and I think that is the wrong way to view it.

And we happen to have history on our side for several thousand years.

The Buddhists have talked about the three jewels, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.

The Buddha represents the possibility of training your mind, perhaps towards enlightenment.

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