Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - 118: Danica Patrick, Racing Superstar

Episode Date: January 17, 2018

Danica Patrick is one of the most successful female drivers in racing history, having been the first and only woman to win an IndyCar race. Since becoming a staple on the race track, Patrick has expanded her repertoire to include owning a winery, launching a clothing line and writing a new lifestyle book called, "Pretty Intense: The 90-Day Mind, Body and Food Plan," which she developed after changing her own diet and exercise routine while going through the process of freezing her eggs. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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This interview with Danica Patrick, I had no or basic, I had to say I had maybe an hour or two's warning that this was going to happen. I didn't have any time. I was in the middle of a bunch of meetings and our intrepid producer Lauren Efron managed to find out that Danica Patrick was in town doing press, talking about her new book, which is called Pretty Intense, in which she discusses meditation.

So Lauren finds this out somehow finagles it so that Danica can come in to our studio and I need to get my butt in the chair by 2.30 in order to sit and talk to Danica Patrick about whom I know almost nothing other than she drives fast cars and it seems really cool. So I showed up here not knowing much, but Danika helped me out. I admitted to her that I don't fall sports. So I don't, man, again, I know she is because she's a big figure in the culture, but I, beyond that, I don't really,

I know next to nothing, but she was, as you will hear, I am fully honest with her about my, thorough going ignorance about her book and about her career, but she turns out to be at the light. She's absolutely delightful and she's really interested in meditation. She talks about it as some of our guests on this podcast occasionally do in a very different way than I do. She's happy to go into sort of new ag territory that I don't usually go into, but she's essentially if you listen to her saying the same thing. And I think that somebody in her position can reach all vast swaths of the population that traditional meditation proponents never could.

So it's really exciting that she appears to be really genuinely interested in this and excited to go further. So here she is, Danica Patrick, who is a very successful NASCAR driver, Indie car driver, I'm sure I'm mangling her qualifications here. She's also a model, she's got a bunch of businesses, she's an advertising spokeswoman, she does a lot,

and she also, as I said, has this new book called Pretty Intense. So here she is, Danica Patrick. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ From ABC, this is the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ I had no idea when I woke up this morning, I was gonna be face-to-face with Danica Patrick. So that's kind of cool. Thank you for doing this. This is just so listeners know, this is absolutely last minute and crazily last minute.

You know, everything happens for a reason though, and the universe just kind of puts things in line. So you, you know, this worked out and timing worked out, and in fact, actually the interview right before you that's been canceled like two or three times got canceled again. And so it was like we got here with plenty of time, and it's on the way to the airport. So to head back and the plane could get moved

by everything worked out, you know, as it does, right? You set your intention for things, and you know, you put out in the universe What it is that you want and everything kind of falls in line. So here I am. So Because as a consequence of not knowing when I woke up this morning that I was ultimately gonna be interviewing you today I want to admit that I know absolutely nothing about your new book So you're gonna have to educate me pretty and you have a new book too So congrats and I don't know enough about that either but I was learning about it on the way over here

Okay, well you. And I don't know enough about that either but I was learning about it on the way over here. Okay, well you, it's, for the purposes of this discussion, anything that I've written is completely irrelevant. So, there's one talk about your... I hope not because I'm gonna ask about stuff. Okay, if you can ask me whatever you want. Okay. Pretty intense, the 90 day mind body and food plan

that will absolutely change your life. So, just can you give me the elevator pitch on this one? Yeah, it's three three-part book. The first five chapters are about the mind and creating good space for yourself and developing good techniques to overcome things and be more confident and get more in touch with your soul side of you.

The next five chapters are about the body and why the program is structured like it is. And then after that is a 12 week program that I wrote, tested, and then also focus group tested one year ago at this time. And then the last section of the book is another five chapters on food and how to, you know, use spices and oils

and all kinds of different things, just, you know, how to be more daring with those things and educate people on them, how to, you know, use spices and oils and all kinds of different things, just, you know, how to be more daring with those things and educate people on them, how to cook certain items and tips and tricks for that. And then 50 recipes that I wrote and photographed. So. It's a shame we only have 30 minutes because I'm really interested in each part of this book. Okay, good. Well, my dream is that it sells so well that they want to do a three book deal and I have a book for each section. So do you want to be like a transition from driver to guru? Now I love that. That'd be, that's like, I don't know if that's achievable. Well, it could be your own guru, I guess, right? But it's more of what's happening. And it's not because

I decided that's what I wanted to happen. Just like I didn't want to, I didn't know how my life was going to look as a race car driver. But I set some high intentions and goals and things happen. You know, you shoot for the stars and land on the moon, and you do pretty well. So the same thing goes for the rest of it, which is all the other businesses that have wonderfully started

all about the same time and in the same vein. So the first one that's the oldest company I have is my wine. So that launched at the beginning of this year project I started in 2008 actually was when I saw the property. But started with that dream in 2006. And then my clothing line started a year ago called Warrior and this book finally launches now which I've been working on for two years. So ironically just everything's kind of happening

at the same time and so somebody asked me they're like, oh these all backup plans if racing doesn't you know if something doesn't happen in racing and I'm like I don't need a backup plan. I've got I've got plenty of money. I don't. I do them because I like to do them. You know, I think at some point in your career, you reach the point where you're like, well, I'm not going to do that anymore because it's not worth it to me.

These things are all just things that I do anyway. So I love to cook, I love to work out, I love to take care of myself, I love to travel, I love wine, I love the arts. So yeah, it's all just happened. It's really cool. So, let's dive in on the first part of the book, which is, I think you said mind body. Yeah, that's kind of the mind body connection with working out food, all of that stuff.

And creating a space for you to learn about yourself a little bit more. I think one of the hardest things that we can work on and figure out, and it's like that it seems like it would be the easiest is figuring out who you really are. Because I think we end up trying to be what we need to be sometimes. We are what someone expects us to be sometimes. We're what we kind of expect ourselves to be sometimes, which isn't always accurate. So I think one of the hardest things to do is to figure out who you really are and what you really stand for, what you really love and enjoy regardless of everything else.

So in your world, that the world that you come from race car driving, can you talk about the mind freely? Can you talk to your pit crew about your mind and setting intentions and meditation and stuff like that? Or not really show those words that we all that anyone really uses on a regular basis in that world, you know. But look, you set goals. So I think at the beginning of the year there are certain things, you know, teams and crew chiefs and drivers and whatnot will set goals. So I guess that's somewhat similar. Of course, they're a little bit less of a deep thought to it as other than we want to win this year, we want top tens every weekend, but they're still intentions for sure.

So you can talk about it, you have to put it in different language. Yeah, it's more layman's terms, less big words. I mean, that's the. I often say that when I talk about meditation, my only real innovation is that I use the F word a lot, and is to make it accessible to people I just swear a lot. Yeah. It's so funny. I do that too. I swear just to make people feel relaxed. Yes. Yes. Especially if they are intimidated by me. You know, you just kind of soften it up. You know, I'm just like you. Yeah. We're all the same. Absolutely. Well, we're really all are all way more

similar than we are different. So given this culture that we're talking about here, how did you personally get into meditation? How did that even happen? You know, it's funny because it's been going a lot faster for me. In the recent last two years, I'd say getting into meditation and the spiritual side of things, metaphysics. But if I look back in time and also I'm told little stories by my mom or my dad or my sister maybe even where they're like, oh, yeah, you bought a horoscope book back when you were like a Linda Goodman's horoscope book back when you were a kid. And, you know, I called in astrologer.

I remember I was living in England. I called an astrologer when I was 18 I mean like silly stuff like that and I can remember being really interested in that and I can also remember being really interested in the spiritual side of things but also not believing any of it like always being the interested skeptic like always asking questions but never asking questions, but never Crossing things off, but never circling it really and just asking more questions. I just I really question everything Yeah, interested skeptics is a nice way to put that exactly how I describe myself But you did ultimately not with standing your skepticism adopt a meditation practice or yeah, so what does that look like? um You know for I would get this is a great topic and we rest probably spend of course 30 plus

many hours on it but um you know I've always prayed since I was young um don't know why I never went to church um my mom would pray with us before we went to sleep um but always had a real connection and an emotional connection like I remember giving a little speech to a homeless shelter actually and I was helping feed them and I did it for a friend. Anyway, I was giving a little bit of background and talking about religion and God and all that stuff. I choked up and I can't even get the words out. It's been quite big and deep, but it just never really went into it. That led me more into spirituality.

I've always been interested in yoga. Yoga is kind of like, to me, it's like a gateway because the lingo and the thoughts are really spiritual, broad thoughts. They're nothing fear-based, which I think is what religion tends to lean towards is fear-based things. So I've always done that. And so I've always been interested and kind of heard those words and concepts. And, you know, me and my girlfriends are quite similar.

So we went on a trip to Sedona probably three years ago, or so, three and a half years ago. And it was like this, it was like just cracking it wide open. probably three years ago or so, three and a half years ago. And it was like this, it was like just cracking it wide open. We went on like these vortex tours and we went to, what is the, where you walk around the path, hang on, I'm trying to remember what those were. I always is like a labyrinth.

Labyrinth, we went to labyrinth. We, you know, we're like picking up male and female rocks on Kachina and Sedona like this special place and we went and saw psychics and You know, we're burning Palo Santo and sage and we're looking at pictures and thinking we're seeing like Angels and orbs and I'm like it's later to find out. It's a lense lens flare but we all we were going way there and And it just kind of was one of those trips that for me kind of was like wow them into this like I live I want to know more and so meditation is kind of just a natural

Evolution I feel like of it because it's probably the hardest part about it because the hardest thing do is to really shut everything off and I'd still not very good at it, but It's really interesting when you can start to get to the point where you can get lost like the time escapes you, which doesn't happen to ton for me, but it can. Other times it's a little bit more force, but it's a practice, and you have to get good at it, and identify with certain techniques that get you a little bit deeper, which is what I want to ask you about. But for me, it's like it's a deep breath, like I usually take 10 deep breaths, and then I start to,

at least just visualize the breath or breathing in white and out black. I've done that for a really long time. I'm actually, I don't even know why I did that, but... I think the Cubs do that too. It's like a breathing in red, breathe out blue or something like that. Oh, really? Yeah. I could be wrong about that. Sorry to come. I got that wrong, but it's something I've always done. And so I've gotten to the point where I see things. I hear things, you know, I hear not like literally audio, but I receive messages or words or certain things and it helps me get more in touch with sort of that small voice within on a regular basis when I'm not in a meditation state where I can hear the hear my spirit is what I would call it saying things to me

and it's usually spoken to me in one or two words as all and they're repetitive and but visions too like I see things me and my girlfriend have been laying down And it's usually spoken to me in one or two words as all and they're repetitive. But visions too, like I see things. Me and my girlfriend have been laying down because these girls trips I'm referring to that we go to Sedona and all these other places. We sleep next to each other because we're a bunch of girls. And me and this other girl, Amanda, we, I can see what she sees. Like we're able to sort of telepathically see the same visions.

It's really interesting. On our last trip, she was like, oh, hey, sorry for all those flashes last night. I'm like, what? Because I was going to sleep and all I saw was just this flashing light with my eyes closed. That's just one of a few things that we've had that with. Anyway, the subconscious,

the spirit, the universal connection is freaking interesting. Has it helped you at all race driving? Not sure. I mean, you can talk about the sort of more far out end of it, which you just did, but there's also the fact that just simply trying to focus on breathing can help your ability to focus and your job requires an enormous amount of focus. So that's insightful and smart that that would be the first thing that helped in it was. Long, long time ago, just from yoga and breathing, I'd learned sort of the in through the nose,

out through the mouth kind of, and exhaling like, you know, ujai restriction of like, you know, just slowing it down. I would use that practice a long time ago. While on the track. I mean, because I don't, I mean, I'm thoroughly ignorant about racing, because I grew up in Massachusetts. Like the Northeast is actually doesn't know a ton of reason that's fine.

Yes. I don't care. I love it. It's more interesting to me when you don't know a ton of breathing. That's fine. I don't care. I love it. It's more interesting to me when you don't know. But yeah, so we have about the heart rate of a runner when we're racing. So it's kind of like a marathon every Sunday. Wow. So yeah, the breathing is really important. And also focus because you lose focus, you actually could hurt yourself or others. Yeah, absolutely. Or yeah, absolutely. And I would imagine given the culture from which you emerged, the fact that you're willing to embrace these

tactics could give you a competitive edge, because other people would reflexively reject them, say, oh, no, that's weird stuff. I'm not going to do it. No, it's true. That connection to myself to be able to slow things down and calm myself as well as kind of feel the energy around me.

So I don't know. People talk about like walking into a room like oh, bad juju in here, whatever, like everybody, everybody senses these things and is capable. It's just whether or not you're really listening or paying attention or not. So I can sense these things on track too. Like I can tell when things are ramping up

and like I can call it out to my spot or like be ready. Like this is gonna get a little crazy and sure enough it does. Interesting. So I would say I mean my guess of why, out to my spot or like be ready like this is going to get a little crazy and sure enough it does. Interesting. So I would say I mean my guess of why, my guess if I had to guess, I'm not, I don't know much about telepathy or under or get or understanding things that you have no objective reason to understand, but if I had to guess what the mechanism is, meditation helps you lower

the volume on your internal chatter, pull you out of the dark hole of self-absorption. Less ego. Yes. Always less ego. Yes. And actually, that's probably one of the first things that happened in this sort of transition for me

is that identifying the difference between soul and ego was very valuable. Because the soul's not completely pointless. Or the ego is not completely pointless, or the ego's not completely pointless, it's somewhat motivating, just a matter of how you use it. You have to be able to separate the good parts of the ego from the bad parts of the ego. What's I often talk about, you constructive anguish? There is such a thing, is like if you want to be graded anything, you've been proven

to be great at many things. It requires stress, a certain amount of stress, but at some point that stress is no longer useful. And the self-awareness that you generate through meditation can help you discern. All right, am I engaged in like a stupid amount of self-lesseration, self-questioning right now, or actually, does this help me? And just being able to toggle back and forth

makes it huge different. Yeah, absolutely. It's a tough thing to identify. Most of us live in an ego state, but it's, it's, it also gets you out of flow, out of flow. Like, I think, again, getting back to what you're really supposed to be doing and who you really are. If you are constantly led by the ego, it's so self-serving immediately.

It wants instant gratification. And so that's not always ideal for the long-term well-being of where you should be or what you should be doing. So when you take the ego out, you allow yourself to flow in the right direction for what you really, your real purpose. Like the short, and it's full of a lot of interesting questions. What does happiness really mean?

How do I get the most out of my time here on Earth? And what really is the best cereal? These are the questions I seek to resolve on my weekly podcast, Life is Short with Justin Long. If you're looking for the answer to deep philosophical questions, like, what is the meaning of life? I can't really help you. But I do believe that we really enrich our experience here by learning from others. And that's why in each episode, I like to talk with actors, musicians, artists, scientists, and many more types of people

about how they get the most out of life. We explore how they felt during the highs and sometimes more importantly, the lows of their careers. We discuss how they've been able to stay happy during some of the harder times. But if I'm being honest, it's mostly just fun chats between friends about the important stuff.

Like if you had a sandwich named after you, what would be on it? Follow Life is short wherever you get your podcasts. You can also listen to Add Free on the Amazon Music or Wondering App. Before we get to the other part of the book, I wanna harken back to something you said that I feel like maybe there's some chance

I can be useful on. Meditation? Yes. Please. You said, I'm not good at it. Well, I don't have a lot of practice, but I would like to be better. I just want to liberate you from, or try to liberate you from the idea that you have to be good at it.

That I actually think this is one of the rare activities for, especially for type A people and I think we both are, but you are a real achiever that people like us, and particularly you, you do a thing and you expect certain results, expect a win. This is a rare activity where that attitude is actually not helpful. And so it requires like an attitude shift where the moment you wake up, the moment you notice, oh yeah, I'm distracted right now, I'm not with the breath, I'm not winning at meditation. Actually, you need to reframe that as a victory,

because as soon as you wake up to your internal chaos, as soon as you see how easily distractable you are, that is when you are less like, that is the first step to not being- Identify. Yeah, not being owned by all of your urges and impulses and crazy chaotic desires. So I just want, when next time you meditate,

whenever that is, when you notice you've become distracted and you're tempted to tell yourself a story of, oh, I'm failing, actually flip the script and be like, no, no, no, this is the victory. This is the act of meditation, over and over and over again. That's great. Again, positive, it's about positivity, right? Yes.

And positive self-talk. over and over and over again. That's great. Again, positive. It's about positivity, right? Yes. And positive self-talk. And yeah, obviously, if you're recognizing a need for a little something different, then it's recognizing your disconnect from what you're trying to achieve, which is a victory. It can also be, you know, in the moment when you see how like you're distracted, you can see there's a certain, I mean, I don't know about whether it makes sense to talk about positive, negative and what I'm about to say, that you can see that you're actually maybe engaged in an unhealthy mental habit.

You may notice, oh, I've been distracted by jealousy or anger. And then you can say, oh, that's in me. That exists in me. I should see that clearly so that when it ambushes you later in the day, when you're not meditating and you're tempted to say something stupid or go off into a bout of road rage, you can let it pass.

And that is a game changing skill. So more identifying. Oh, yeah. Not saying it shouldn't be there. Yes. It's totally there. It's identifying that becomes the real victory. Seeing clearly.

Seeing clearly. That's great. Because yeah, it's impossible to think that it doesn't exist. It does. It's human nature. Yes. That's where we are as beings.

Absolutely. This is what the mind, this is the mind we've been given by evolution. And so you might as well see it clearly because when you don't, it owns you. So the rest of your book, so the second part of the book has to do with body. Yeah, the fitness part, the body part is the chapters are to explain the style, but it's a 12-week program. I really believe that the first sort of month, you're going to notice

a difference, first two to four weeks, you're like, oh my God, this is so great, wonderful, it's working. And then you spend sort of six weeks in the middle going what's happening, I'm not seeing any changes. And it's just your body acclimating to its new set point position, and it's gonna evolve again, as you continue to challenge it, and you give it this consistent workout and food.

Now, I think that in the last few weeks, you really notice the final difference. Again, you kind of reach a new spot, a new set point. So it's seven workouts a week. I encourage two a day workouts. So to do two days of two a days and how two days off, every workout except for one is designed to be 20 to 25 minutes.

But so they're not that long. Right, exactly. Could you do the two? Together? Back to back? Yeah, absolutely. I they're not that long, right? Exactly. Could you do the two together? Back to back? Yeah, absolutely. I said I'd love for you to separate them because it's good for your metabolism.

It's good for a lot of things. But if you can't, then I'd rather see the, I'd rather you get them in. So you do two a day and then you take two days off subsequently. So it's not, you know, it's like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, off Friday, and then Saturday, long workout, Sunday off.

Like that's the example of a workout week. But what I was surprised about when I wrote the example week was that people followed that, and I was like, oh, shoot. I was just trying to say, like, this is a guideline, but people really followed that, and it worked very well for them, but maybe your day off is a better day for a two day,

maybe that's a Sunday, you know what I mean? I mean, or maybe that's your long workout. So, it's really about your schedule, but it's five days on, two days off, and two two days. And so there's three cardio workouts a week, which are interval training. So it starts off with not quite such high intervals. So they're broken into three categories. The first month is about jogging.

Then the second month is running. And then the third month has to do with sprinting. So literally, it's just an increase in your intensity, hence the name of the book, called Pretty Intense. So, you just jack it up as you go. And so those are fun. There's like one minute on, one minute off running.

It might be like five air squats and five broad jumps, 30 seconds of running, one minute off. So it breaks it up so that it goes really fast. It's only, it's like about a five minute warm-up of sort of light, light jogging or walking and then you're 20 minute workout. And then there's upper body, lower body and an abs day. So those are your base six and then there's seventh workout is long circuit. So that one's designed to be 30 to 45 minutes of, I call it more of like a stacked workout. So it might be like three different things or it might be one really long one.

Just to do something different and what's funny is that most people really love that day actually. I call it more of like a stacked workout. So it might be like three different things, or it might be one really long one, just to do something different. And what's funny is that most people really love that day actually. People to do cardio really like the interval running because it was fresh and different, but a lot of people really love the long circuit. So that's how it's broken up. And it's tough, man.

I remember when I tested everything because I mean, I wrote and tested everything before the focus group and I had to make sure it was good and And I was like man I hope these workouts are hard enough and I would do them and I'd be like oh yeah, they're hard And if they're hard for me. I'm I'm I'm I'm just being honest. I'm I'm very fit So I was I was glad so let me ask a question that is gonna again reveal my fast

Oceanic ignorance about your sport. Not a problem. Why do you need to be this healthy to drive a car? I don't, I don't, I'm just interested in it. So you could, could you be overweight and compete in your sport? Yeah, you could. I mean, you've seen the whole field.

I mean, some are more in shape than others and some are less in shape than others. So you, that's not, you don't need to be like peak fitness at all. Especially for NASCAR NASCAR is physically not hard from a strength standpoint even from a stamina your heart rate is not that that high But because you're not including strength, right? That's why you got to use weights right when you're working out because it really really helps get the heart rate up But it's it's it's repetition and it's very hot.

So the cars are 130 or at least 130 degrees a lot at the time. Right, although I would have had because your sport is so mental that have been fit in terms of taking care of your body. It keeps that sharp. Yeah, absolutely. And the food and that has to do with food too. It does.

So let's talk about the food part of this. So what are you? It's not really quantifiable though, you know. It's kind of working in the metaphysics area of racing, right? You can quantify it by how much you win. It's true. Paul's ****. I say that. You can swear. I didn't win enough. I didn't win enough then. I guess I should wasn't healthy enough. So tell me about your food advice. Well, so about four years ago I cut out Dary and gluten.

I did a blood test where... Not sugar. No, it didn't say sugar, necessarily no. Oh, you did say it. I just... Well, it was called IgA and IgG was the test code, and it tested for the 96 or 8 most common foods that people eat. And so, I mean, I just deposited for eggs, gluten,

dairy, all kinds of stuff that I ate normally. And so, that shifted everything. And I noticed a great increase in energy, not feeling full after I ate. And then, two years later, I actually did freeze my eggs and so I had to do hormones. And everything was fine. I mean, I stayed working out.

And then at the very end, they tell you not to. So like, what? I mean, 10 days I didn't work out for, which is not nearly enough to gain four pounds. So I did. I gained like four or five pounds and it was just hormones. It was just hormones.

And after a month or six weeks, I was like, they said, I'd go back to normal after a few weeks and it didn't. And so I'm like, I guess I got real, real things to deal with here. So I decided to change my program and I had already been doing CrossFit and it worked great and it was a wonderful program.

But I decided to sort of kick it up a notch and that's when I started doing, I was walking the dogs actually and I decided that I would work out and then another time of the day I'd go take up the dogs for a walk and I was like, well, why don't I work out while I'm walking the dogs? That would make a lot of sense.

So that's where the two days kind of started. And I decided to try paleo, which was cutting out greens and beans as well. And I didn't think it was sustainable because driving on the weekends for four hours, every Sunday was going to be taxing and I didn't want to be out of energy for that, but two years later I'm still paleo. Is that what you recommend everybody to? Yeah, in the book I do, it's about the things to cut out, the things to limit, and then the things to eat. So the food to limit would be gluten-free grains and beans.

So I don't say cut it out completely, but it's encouraged. We'll win. There's a couple of recipes in the back that include corn tortillas and things like gluten-free grains and beans. So I don't say cut it out completely, but it's encouraged. There's a couple recipes in the back that include like corn tortillas and things like that. You're not like militaristic about this. Right. I mean, maybe I am, but I'm trying to be realistic. Not to your readers. Well, I mean, I have a corn tortilla chip every now and again dipped in guacamole, so you know, every now and again.

Do you rely yourself a cookie? I love cookies, but I have to make cookies the way I want them, which is my style. I don't need a regular cookie that's got, I almost never eat gluten. Gotcha. Makes me feel terrible. Sugar makes me feel terrible. I've tried to figure out, I limit my gluten. Unnatural sugar or even like fruit. Fruit sugar, fine. Okay. So just unnatural, so cane sugar and artificial sweeteners and stuff. Yeah, I can't deal with artificial sweeteners. Even honey and agave, I don't. Really?

Even honey. Yeah. You ever tried manuka honey? No. Okay, that's like, I actually think it's like, came from, I thought it was a New Zealand thing, but it's a, it's a really, it's actually tastes much more smooth and naturally sweeter and less bitter than regular honey, but it's known for its sort of bioactive ingredients that are more, I think they're a little more antibacterial.

So I don't know, try Minuka honey, maybe something that wouldn't bother you. It's a little more expensive. Like I buy, when I buy them at the store, there's a certain amount of activeness that they have. So one says like plus 10, plus 15, plus 40 I buy them at the store, there's a certain amount of activity that they have. So one says like plus 10, plus 15, plus 40, I'm like the plus 40, like of course, and you know, I mean, old jar of it's like $40. Well, you're Danica Patrick, that's how you roll. I mean, I can afford it.

Everyone can afford it. Well, being actually I read something that said that the average person spends, it's either $300 or $600,000 in the last six months of their life trying to save it. Really? Thank you for doing this. Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you. Incredibly fun to talk to you.

So wait, I need a, I need a, I need a, I need a, not a meditation. You gave me great information and great perspective and a great mindset position. But tell me what you do when you meditate. Just finish off by telling me a great intro, how you do. So the kind of meditation I do is called mindfulness meditation. It's like the simplest in my view kind. And it's also the kind of meditation has been studied the most in the labs. My parents are scientists, my wife is a scientist.

I'm really, I was too bad at math to be a scientist, but I'm interested in like knowing that there's some research there. And so it's really simple. You, basically, three steps. The first is you sit in a reasonably quiet place. It doesn't have to be pristine. The second, and you close your eyes, or you can keep them open a little bit if you want. The second step is you try to just bring your full attention to the feeling of your breath.

You're not breathing in a special way, just like whatever your breath feels like. Pick one spot, like your nose, your chest, your belly. And you just feel your breath coming in and going out. And the third step is the key, because as soon as you try to do this, as you know, you're going to get distracted. Your mind will mutiny. You're going to think about, you know, what's for lunch, whatever. The whole game is just to notice when you become distracted and to start again and again and again.

And that is a bicep curl for your brain. It shows up on the brain scans and you're rewiring your ability to focus. And in the moment you see you become distracted and you let it go, you're learning how to be what we call mindful. You're seeing your inner chaos without biting the hook and acting on it. And that changes your whole life because there's so many times during the day where the voice in my head gives me a terrible idea like, you know, eat a million cookies or say something that your wife will take 72 hours to travel.

Make sure you'll bet about it. Yes. About yourself for it. Yes. Well, this is also definitely I've read a little bit, but I want to keep reading more. I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I have quite a few books now,

and I really want to read a bit more. And you can help me with the pronunciation, because I always said Eckhart Toll, but is it Tolly? Tolly, yes. It's very Eckhart Tolly, right? So it's present, you know? Yes. Which, tell me if you agree with this.

I feel like if you were present all the time, you would literally do nothing. Ha, ha, ha. Uh, so I have a lot of complicated feelings about that card tolli. I, I sort of make fun of him in my book, although I, I don't think. Perfect topic then. Yes, I don't think he's full of it though. I actually think, this is my opinion. I don't have any evidence, but I actually think that he truly has had a shift.

It's just my, my sense of shift. Yes, but I think he's speaking to us from a place where he's had this shift and it's not accessible to most of us, and that's why what he says is very hard to understand. Well, it's hard to do. I mean, if you literally live in the present and you're thinking not about the future,

you're not thinking about the past and not attached, you're doing nothing. And there is a certain expansion you can feel when you feel that for a second. It is a great job. And the things I've listened to have like start right now to now and like practice that length and feel it. And you're like, whoa, you can kind of feel it,

but you can't, you're not doing anything. So it's a good awareness to have, but so maybe a little bit of Eckhart Tolly and meditation, but once you start walking, you need to start thinking about where you're going. Look, I think there's a lot to be learned from reading Eckhart Tolly books.

I would say that reading one of his books changed my life. But he does- Well, this is the power of now because that's the one I have. It's a new earth, but he says the same thing in both books. Okay, and the word. Got it, right. So how many times can you say the same thing? Well, because he's saying something that takes a hard,

that is very hard for human beings to absorb. It actually is worth reading and rereading. My problem with him is that he says it in ways that I find like it almost like you can hear a pan flute playing in the background. I find it very off-putting and hard to understand. I think he sometimes uses pseudoscientific language and so I my whole sort of meditation career subsequent to reading Eckhart Tully's been about putting it in my own language. That's wonderful. Something more accessible. I think that's kind of what I'd like to do to

round this off since then. I know we need to get going, but this is very interesting. I don't need to get going. There's no playing waiting for me at theater where I'm going to be. Well, it's not a commercial playing, so I'm just going to wait a little bit. But is, you know, while it's easy enough to get sort of swallowed up in woo woo land and get to the point where you nobody can understand you anymore, I would love to make mindfulness more accessible, digestible, usable, but you have to start somewhere with people. So that's kind of the intro to the book with the first five chapters is kind of literally just scratching the surface on getting more in touch with yourself and creating spaces that let you feel more and get to know yourself.

So there's little like exercises in there about writing things down in the book and asking thought-provoking questions. And even just simple things. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? List your top three plays. Starting to manifest things. Starting to create intentions and let words on paper be, you know, the beginning of manifestations. You, you, because of the platform you occupy, because of who you are, your ability to reach

audiences that could never be reached with a message of meditation is in, is probably greater than you even know. And so I would, I think that's a really interesting. I had an astrologer tell me that the beginning of last year. There you go. Like I see writing and like you can reach a crowd that not many can. Yes. Anyway, a lot of times I've talked to an astrologer a couple of times.

A lot of times things don't make sense. Then you go back and listen and you're like, holy. It's not everything, but we just had a superman. Why wouldn't you go ahead? I was looking at the moon the other night. There's a meme that I always see on social media and it says it says, Oh, wow, look at the moon. Literally me every night. That's me. Well, look at the moon.

The moon is the feminine energy. So I connected that. I have a lot of masculine energy, obviously. So, you know, got to connect with the moon. Yeah, and then yeah. Thank you very much for coming. Yeah, really appreciate it. Yeah, it's fun. We should do it again. Anytime. Let me know. We have an open guest pass here.

Awesome. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Okay, that does it for another edition of the 10% happier podcast. If you liked it, please take a minute to subscribe. Rate us. Also, if you want to suggest topics, you think we should cover or guests that we should bring in hit me up on Twitter at Dan B Harris. Importantly I want to thank the people

who produced this podcast Lauren Efron Josh Cohen and the rest of the folks here at ABC who helped make this thing possible. We have tons of other podcasts you can check them out at ABCnewspodcasts.com. I'll talk to you next Wednesday. Hey, hey, prime members. You can listen to 10% happier early and add free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today.

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