Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - Getting Out of Your Head | Bonus Meditation with Diana Winston

Episode Date: July 3, 2020

You can find meditations on compassion and much more on our app. Visit tenpercent.com to download the Ten Percent Happier app and kickstart your meditation practice. Visit tenpercent.com to sign up today. Listen to Diana's meditation on the app here: https://10percenthappier.app.link/CompassionForOthers About Diana: Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center where she also teaches mindfulness practices to the general public.  Her easy-on-the-ears west coast style rests on top of a rigorous scientific mind, and a vast amount of teaching experience. She has developed curriculum and taught mindfulness since the early 90’s in a variety of settings including hospitals, universities, corporations, non profits, and schools. She has taught mindful awareness to health professionals, leaders, teachers, activists, seniors, and adolescents in the US and Asia. A published researcher and author, Diana has also written for numerous meditation publications, where her daughter, Mira, often makes an appearance in her examples of bringing mindfulness to daily life. 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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Where did memes come from? And where's Tom from MySpace? Listen to Baby, this is Kiki Palmer on Amazon music or wherever you get your podcast. From ABC, this is the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hey guys, it's Friday, bonus day, and we've got a special meditation for you. This one picks up on the conversation we had on the show on Monday with Emilia and Simon Thomas about all of the science that very strongly suggests that compassion is something that leads to greater happiness and that compassion is a skill that can be cultivated. So how exactly do we cultivate that skill? That brings us to today's bonus. And the meditation is guided by Diana Winston

who's been on the show before and is one of the teachers on the 10th percent happier app. In fact, this meditation can also be found on the app. In it, she guides us through a practice designed to get us out of our own selfish concerns, out of our own heads, and get us focused on the needs of others developing again the skill of compassion. So here we go with Diana Winston. Hi, this is Diana and this is a practice for cultivating compassion. This practice requires that in a very gentle way we make contact with another's suffering. By making contact, it allows us to break down the separation between us and them, the sense that they're suffering, but I'm separate and unaffected.

It also softens the sense of focus on ourself. As we practice this meditation, go slowly and simply be curious about your experience. So let's begin. go slowly and simply be curious about your experience. So let's begin. Line yourself in a comfortable posture. If you wish close your eyes, if you don't want to, you can keep them open, we're just looking downward. And we can begin by settling in and taking a few breaths to just bring some calm and stabilize

our mind a little bit. Notice what you're feeling inside you, letting whatever is here be here. Now let's bring to mind someone you know who's having difficulties in some way. Someone who's been easy to feel compassion for in the past. This could be a human or an animal. Have a sense of or see or feel that person or animal in front of you. And And you might even reflect for a moment on what it is they're suffering from. As you recall this, what do you feel inside? Maybe some sadness or worry? worry. Let yourself take in their suffering in a very simple way. So as you breathe in, imagine making contact with their suffering. And don't worry, you're definitely not really taking it in, just in your mind.

So as you inhale, you're making contact with their suffering. And as you exhale, have a sense of sending out compassion. and And we can say some phrases. May you be free from your pain and your sorrow. May you be free from your suffering. I care about your suffering. You can repeat these phrases a few times. And notice what happens inside you as you do this. How are you feeling as you offer these words and this feeling of compassion? Passion. Let whatever is here be here for you. Now, let's go who else you might want to extend this compassion towards. It can even be yourself.

So imagine another person or animal in front of you. Perhaps a more challenging person, person that it may have been a little bit more difficult to send compassion to in the past. And that could be yourself. What is this person or animal suffering from? offering from. You might have a sense of their suffering surrounding them in some way, and as you inhale gently gently make contact with it.

Let yourself connect with the fact that they're suffering. And then as you exhale, imagine sending out compassion. May you be free from your pain and your sorrow. May you be free from your suffering. I care about your suffering. May your suffering be eased. Use whatever words make sense to you. May you be free from your pain and your sorrow, may you be free from your suffering. I care about your suffering. May you be at ease. May your suffering be eased. You can repeat these phrases a few times. And also notice what you're feeling because you may be feeling compassion and you may also

not be feeling it, or you might be feeling something else. Notice what it is that's present right now. Letting whatever is here be here, and you might say, for whatever is I'm feeling, may I . Cultivating compassion feels like a doable response and can transform us, whether or not the person we're thinking of, feels it. And if it feels challenging or hard to do, it doesn't have to be a practice you continue with at this time. So whenever you're ready, let's notice our feet on the floor, take a breath or two, and you can end the meditation or open your eyes. Big thanks to Diana and I should also say that she is the director of mindfulness education

at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center. And as I've mentioned, she's been on the show before and she's a teacher on the 10% happier app. And if you want to hear more from her, go check out the app. We'll see you back here on Monday with a fresh episode. Hey, hey, prime members. You can listen to 10% happier early and add free on Amazon Music.

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