This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris.

Hey, gang, back today with one of my favorite repeat guests and somebody who of late I've gotten a chance to know a little bit better and like even more.

And that is Michael Pollan, the great journalist and writer.

He's out with a new book on the subject of consciousness, which I know at first might sound a little abstract, but it is directly related

to happiness and its opposite suffering. In this conversation, we talk about how to reduce

rumination, how to lower the walls of your ego, how to elevate your mundane tasks, the

value of what the Zen folks call don't know mind, how to reclaim your

attention from big tech, who Michael calls the colonizers of consciousness, the value of

MDMA assisted therapy, and his experiences of meditating in a cave. Long way of saying,

this is a rangy and fascinating conversation. You're going to

love it. Before we dive in, two things. First, a quick refresher on Michael Pollan. Many of you know this,

but he has written 10 books, including How to Change Your Mind, in Defense of Food and the Omnivore's

Dilemma. His latest book is called A World Appears. That's what we'll be

spending our time discussing today. Also, Michael has taught at both UC Berkeley and Harvard.

The other thing I want to say very quickly is that if you want to upgrade your consciousness,

I would love for you to check out my app, 10% with Dan Harris. We've got meditations

from the world's greatest teachers. We also do a weekly live video meditation and Q&A session

because the science shows it is truly much easier to boot up and maintain a meditation habit

if you do it with other people. Sign up at danharris.com.

Danharris.com join the party. We'll get started with Michael Pollan right after this.

Going to the gym can be discouraging, especially if you're putting in the work but barely seeing

changes. However, with Tonal, you can actually see your progress with every workout. Tonal provides

...