It's the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris.

Hello, my fellow suffering beings, how we're doing today.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the human brain is that it is suggestible, which is not to be confused with weak-minded.

There are actually some quite solid reasons why we evolved for this suggestibility.

Moreover, there are some great ways to hack your own suggestibility, both to the benefit of your

inner life and to the benefit of your relationships with other people.

Obviously, there are also ways to misuse this stuff, and we'll talk about that too.

Anyway, my guest is Dr. Amir Raz, who's a world-renowned expert on the science of suggestion.

He's had positions as the Canada Research Chair, Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Neurosurgery and Psychology at McGill University, and as the founding director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Sciences at Chapman University.

His most recent book is The Suggestable Brain, The Science and Magic, of How We Make Up Our Minds.

And in this conversation, we talk about how Dr. Roz transitioned from her career in magic.

He was a magician to neuroscience.

He's now a neuroscientist.

We talk about the science of suggestibility, how it's defined, and its relation to hypnosis. We talk about the difference between stage hypnosis and actual medical

hypnosis, how the power of suggestion could be therapeutically harnessed to impact your

physiology, your behavior, and your well-being, practical exercises for increasing thought

control, the magical ingredient

when it comes to dealing with life's challenges, why placebos may work even when you know

that what you're taking is a placebo, how you can protect yourself against miss and disinformation

and much more. Just to say, before we dive in, the meditation teacher and friend of the pod, Don Maricio, has crafted a guided meditation specifically to accompany this episode. It's about a practice called Mental Noting. Don is crafting meditations for all of our Monday, Wednesday episodes this month. And if you want to access them, you can head on over to Dan Harris.com to become a paid subscriber.

These meditations are now the norm here at 10%.

And we will be releasing an entirely new batch in August with a new teacher of the month.

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