Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - How to Practice When You’re Fidgety or Anxious | Bonus Meditation with Sharon Salzberg

Episode Date: December 24, 2023

Sometimes we feel like we have too much energy to meditate. Make space for all of that energy by listening to sounds as they come and go.About Sharon Salzberg:A towering figure in the meditation world, Sharon Salzberg is a prominent teacher & New York Times best-selling author. She has played a crucial role bringing mindfulness and lovingkindness practices to the West.Sharon co-founded the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) alongside Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield and is the author of thirteen books, including Lovingkindness, Real Happiness, and the most recent Real Life. Sharon lives in New York City and teaches around the world.To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “When You Have Too Much Energy.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello listeners, this is Mike Corey of Against the Odds. You might know that I adventure around the world while recording this podcast. And over the years, I've learned that where I stay when I travel can make all the difference. Airbnb has been my go-to place for finding the perfect accommodations. Because with hotels, you often don't have the luxury of extra space or privacy. Recently, I had a bunch of friends come down to visit in Mexico. We found this large house and the place had a pool, a barbecue, a kitchen, and a great big living room to play cards. Watch movies and just chill out. It honestly made all

the difference in the trip. It felt like we were all roommates again. The next time you're planning a trip, whether it's with friends, family, or yourself, check out Airbnb. To find something you won't forget. This is the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Happy Sunday, everybody. Time for a bonus meditation. A lot of people, myself included, have issues with restlessness during meditation. It can be hard to sit still, but there are techniques for that. And our teacher, DuJour, Sharon Salisberg has a lot of tricks up her sleeve. And today we've got a guided meditation that goes right at the issue of restlessness.

If you don't know Sharon, she was among the first to bring mindfulness and loving kindness meditation to mainstream American culture nearly 50 years ago. She's the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society. She's written 13 books and she's got her own great podcast called The Meta Hour. Here we go now with Sharon Salzburg. Hi, this is Sharon. Restlessness in meditation is a time when the energy we experience at ways the calm or tranquility that is present. In this meditation, the way we will practice with restlessness has to do with creating an expanded sense of spaciousness. To begin with, you can take a

comfortable posture. You can close your eyes or keep them open. To help create a different container for restlessness. We're going to be listening to sound in this meditation. It's a way of relaxing deep inside, allowing our experience to come and go without interference. You can start by hearing the sounds around you. Sounds that arise and pass away as though they're washing through you. There's nothing you need to do about them. You don't even have to understand them. Whether it's the sound of my voice or other sounds, some near, some far, some welcome, some not so welcome.

You don't have to send your ears out to listen. Relax deep inside. Our mind is like open space, and sounds appear and disappear. Arise and pass away. Recognize that sound is continually coming and going outside of our control. One of the ways this meditation is used is to show us that we can actually meet any experience with greater clarity, openness, spaciousness, kindness. Notice how effortlessly each sound is known in the moment that it appears. We're not looking around for sounds, rather we're simply receiving them. Create a vast sense of space in which sound is arising and falling, arising and falling. Remember, if you start to feel restless during your day's activities, pausing for a moment and opening to sound is a way of creating space for that energy.

And when you feel ready, you can open your eyes, noticing the sounds around you. Thank you for your practice. Thank you Sharon, 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. Hi there, I'm Guy Ross. And I'm Mindy Thomas. Wait. And we're the host of the number one podcast for curious kids and their grownups.

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