Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - How To Co Opt All The Stuff That Gets In The Way Of Your Meditation Christiane Wolf

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

It's one of those ideas that sounds kind of like a Zen riddle, but actually turns out to be incredibly useful: what's in the way is the way. If you've ever sat down to meditate and thought, "Ugh, I can't focus — my mind's all over the place," or, "If only this restlessness would go away, then I could really meditate," this one's for you. Christiane's going to show us how those so-called obstacles — the distractions, the boredom, the racing thoughts — can actually become the practice itself. All this month, we're sharing custom guided meditations from our teacher of the month, Christiane Wolf exclusively available at DanHarris.com. Like any good drug dealer, the first taste is free – so today, we're giving you a sample of what you can expect for the rest of the month. Related Episodes:  Is Your Ambition Rooted In Trauma? | Christiane Wolf Peak Performance at Any Age | Christiane Wolf (Dharma Teacher/Doctor/Ultramarathoner)     Tickets are now on sale for a special live taping of the 10% Happier Podcast with guest Pete Holmes! Join us on November 18th in NYC for this benefit show, with all proceeds supporting the New York Insight Meditation Center. Grab your tickets here! Join Dan's online community here Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Thanks to our sponsor:  Airbnb: Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com/host. To advertise on the show, contact [e-mail] or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris

This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Happy Sunday party people. Today we are bringing you a meditation from Christina Wolf. And it's about one of those ideas that kind of sounds like a Zen riddle, but actually turns out to be incredibly useful. What's in the way is the way? The obstacle is the way. If you've ever sat to meditate and thought, I can't focus. I'm totally distracted. I'm incredibly physically restless and it's driving me nuts. If you've ever sat and bumped into a barrier like that, this one's for you. Cristiana is going to show you how to turn these obstacles, these distractions, these powerful emotions into the practice itself.

As you may know, Christiana is our teacher of the month over at Dan Harris.com. That means she is very busy creating custom guided meditations for all of our Monday, Wednesday episodes here on the podcast. For the most part, these guided meds are only available for paying subscribers, but we're dropping this one for free. The strategy pursued by drug dealers everywhere. Subscribers also get access to our weekly live meditation and Q&A sessions. The next one is coming up with Christiana Solo. We're doing this one on Wednesday at 4 Eastern, Wednesday, November 12th. We usually do these on Tuesdays, but Tuesday, November 11th is a holiday in the U.S. It's Veterans Day, so we're moving our session to Wednesday.

Quickly, if you want to meditate with me in person, I've got two events coming up. I'm doing a live taping of this podcast on November 18th in New York City. My guest will be the comedian Pete Holmes. It is a benefit for the New York Insight Meditation Center. Then coming up on November 23rd, I'll be doing an intimate Sunday afternoon meditation and Q&A session at a lovely hotel in the Hudson Valley

in New York called Troutbeck, If you want a nice day trip from the city, come and say hi. I've put links to both events in the show notes if you want to get tickets. Okay, after a quick break, a guided meditation from Cristiana Wolf. So in this meditation, we will explore how to work with something in your life where you find yourself saying something like, if only this wasn't here, then dot, dot, dot. for example, then I could really meditate. We will use the example of meditation,

what we believe gets in the way of us meditating, but of course the principle is applicable for anything that we feel gets in the way of filling your own blanks. So make yourself comfortable for this meditation. if you're seated, placing your feet firmly on the ground and sitting with your back pretty upright. If you like, close your eyes or simply lower your gaze. Start by feeling into the areas where your body has contact with the ground or your chair.

Simply feeling into those areas where your body has contact and Sensing, is it hard or soft, warm or cold? Find an anchor for this meditation to, which you will return to again and again, whenever you get lost in thinking. The breath is a good anchor if it feels pleasant or neutral to you. If not, then maybe staying with the sensations in your feet could be a good alternative. If you're using the breath, then now just allow the breath to become a little bit longer and deeper, becoming aware of the body just sitting here and breathing deeply,

giving yourself a little bit of time to arrive and settle into this meditation. Now asking yourself, what do you expect from a meditation? or what is a good meditation for you? Maybe you've heard the phrase, a good meditation is one you do. But having heard this doesn't necessarily mean that your mind gives up its expectations that a good meditation should be or feel a particular way.

We often have the expectation that a good meditation should feel good in some way, ideally even blissful, or at least somewhat calming and relaxing. Why would we even meditate if we wouldn't expect this, right? So be curious and find out what it is for you. What makes you feel disappointed in the meditation or maybe even in yourself if that doesn't happen? Mindfulness has the wonderful qualities of curiosity and openness. We can turn mindfulness like a flashlight onto anything,

including something that we don't fully understand. So you can now shine mindfulness onto what you're struggling with in meditation. What would you like to have gone, where you find yourself thinking, if only this wouldn't be here, then I could meditate. What is it? Is it restlessness, raising thoughts, boredom, the noise around you? Make this now the focus of your attention.

Getting really curious about it. Can you explore it? If it is within you, where does that show up? Is that in your body or mainly in your head or both? Does it have any particular qualities? Is it solid or is there some movement to it? Is it still the same or has it changed? Or can you imagine bringing the breath into what is challenging?

Breathing some space into or around whatever you're working with right now. What are you noticing? What if this wasn't a problem but just a part of this meditation today? What if what you're doing right now is exactly what makes a good meditation? As best as you can, allowing what you think is in the way to be here and actually be part of the way, allowing yourself to be restless, having racing thoughts, to be bored, or having the sounds around you. That is just how things are right now. So giving yourself some credit for showing up today and doing the work. And when you're ready, bringing this meditation to an end, inviting some movement back

into the body and open your eyes when you're ready. Thank you for meditating with me. Thanks again to Christiana. Don't forget, I'll be doing a live taping of this podcast, which will also double as a fundraiser for the New York Insight Meditation Center that's coming up on November 18th in New York City. There's a link in the show notes if you want to get tickets. Also, as always, a reminder to sign up at Dan Harris.com. You'll get guided meditations that come along with all of our Monday, Wednesday episodes plus weekly live meditation and Q&A sessions. Our next session is on Wednesday, November 12th. We're skipping Tuesday, which is when we usually do meditations because it's Veterans Day

in the United States. We do these always at 4 Eastern. So Wednesday, November 12th at 4 Eastern with Christiana Wolf, who's our teacher of the month, and then we'll be back to our regular Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern schedule. Finally, thanks so much. everybody who worked so hard to make this show. Our producers are Tara Anderson and Eleanor Vassili. Our recording and engineering is handled by the great folks over at Pod People. Lauren Smith is our managing producer. Marissa Schneiderman is our senior producer. DJ Kashmir is our executive

producer and Nick Thorburn of the band Islands wrote our theme.