Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - A Very Simple, Very Effective Meditation | Bonus Meditation with Cara Lai

Episode Date: April 26, 2024

Cara introduces you to the magic of doing less. These gentle no-frills instructions get right to the heart of meditation practice.About Cara Lai:Cara Lai spent most of her life trying to figure out how to be happy, or at least avoid total misery, which landed her on a meditation cushion for the majority of her adulthood. Throughout many consciousness adventures including a few mind-bendingly long meditation retreats, she has explored the wilderness of the mind, chronic illness, the importance of pleasure, and a wide range of other things that she might get in trouble for mentioning publicly. In the past, Cara has worked as an artist, wilderness guide, social worker and psychotherapist, but at this point she’s given up on being an adult in exchange for an all-out mindfulness rampage. Her teaching is relatable, authentic, funny and sometimes crass, and is accessible for many people. She teaches teens and adults at Inward Bound Mindfulness Education, Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, and UCLA; ultimately hoping to become as good of a show-off as Dan. And to help people be happier.To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “Put It All Down.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Heads up that I was recently on the Untangle podcast hosted by Patricia Carpus. She called the episode, High Five Your Demons, which is one of my little self-compassion taglines. And in addition to talking to me, she also interviewed my son, Alexander, who was really likes to be on camera. He's nine years old. She wanted to ask him whether his dad really walks his talk. So you'll hear him at the end of the episode. It was very fun to talk to Patricia. Her show is an award-winning podcast. She talks about all kinds of stuff, optimizing brain health, finding your purpose, sleeping

better, harnessing the power of anxiety. I've been on the show several times. Many of the people who've been on this show have also been on her show, Sharon Salzberg, Rick Hansen, Robert Waldinger, Semenay Selassie, Jeff Warren, many more. Anyway, if you like this show, you might like that one, go check it out. It's called Untangled. The Untangled podcast is available wherever you listen to your podcasts. I'm Afua Hirsch. I'm Peter Frankopan. And in our podcast, Legacy, we explore the lives of some of the biggest characters in

history. This season, we delve into the life of Alan Turing. Why are we talking about Alan Turing, Peter? Alan Turing is the father of computer science. And some of those questions we're thinking about today around artificial intelligence. Turing was so involved in setting and framing what some of those questions were, but he's also interesting for lots of other reasons, Afro. He had such a fascinating life. He was unapologetically gay at a time when that was completely criminalised

and stigmatised. And from his imagination, he created ideas that have formed the very physical, practical foundation for all of the technology on which our lives depend. And on top of that, he's responsible for being part of a team that saved millions, maybe even tens of millions of lives because of his work during the Second World War using maths and computer science to code break. So join us on Legacy wherever you get your podcasts. This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris.

Hey everybody, happy Friday. Time for a bonus meditation. We've got a very simple, yet very effective practice for you today. The teacher is one of my favorites, Kara Lai. She's got a very straightforward approach to the practice, nothing too complicated or heady. Today, in her words, she's going to encourage you to put it all down, to be right here right now without trying to change or fix anything. A little bit more about Kara, she has worked as an artist, wilderness guide, social worker,

and psychotherapist, but at this point she's given up on being an adult in exchange for an all-out mindfulness rampage. Her teaching is relatable, authentic, funny, and sometimes crass, which is one of my favorite things about her. She teaches teens and adults at Inward Bound Mindfulness Education, Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, and UCLA. Here we go now with Kara Lai. Hey, this is Kara. Nowadays, our lives are so full of activity and distraction that most of us can't even

remember what it's like to not be doing stuff all the time. Here's a meditation to help us figure out how to put it all down and just be. You can start by finding a position that feels comfortable and awake. If it feels supportive you can close your eyes. Notice how your body breathes whether you think about it or not, and see if you can just allow it to come in and out naturally. Just take some time to settle in and relax. Find something that's happening right now that feels okay to be with, like some place in the body that feels kind of nice. Or the feeling of the breath coming in and out. Or maybe the world of sounds around you. Start to settle in with this anchor and just rest there. Receiving this moment. What's happening now?

Over and over, we can put down the impulse to do anything other than simply be with what's happening right now. No need to do, like a piece of music. We're not trying to get or extract anything from it. Shifting out of a doing mode and into a receiving mode. What if we could be okay, no matter what was happening? What if we could trust this moment and trust ourselves to meet it? When we stop struggling to change it or make it better, we might find the kind of peace that is not dependent on circumstances. What is here if nothing needs to be fixed? If your eyes are closed, you can gently open them. Just remember that any time, you can see what it's like to drop the resistance to what's

happening and just be. Have fun with this today. Bye for now. Thank you, Kara. You can find more meditations like this one over on the 10% Happier app. Just download the app wherever you get your apps to get started. If you like 10% happier, and I hope you do, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts.

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