Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - When You Can’t Follow Your Breath | Bonus Meditation with Sharon Salzberg

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

An alternative for people who have trouble meditating on the breath.About Sharon Salzberg:Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. She is among the first to bring mindfulness & lovingkindness meditation to mainstream American culture fifty years ago, inspiring generations of meditation teachers and wellness influencers.A co-founder of The Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, Sharon is the author of thirteen books, including the New York Times bestseller, Real Happiness, now in its second edition, and her seminal work, Lovingkindess.In 2023, Sharon released two new books: Real Life, available from Flatiron Books, and Finding Your Way, a small gift book from Workman.To find this meditation in the Happier app, you can search for “Meditating with Touch Points.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to 10% happier early and ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. It's the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hey everybody, time for a bonus meditation. A lot of us, when we first get into meditation, we hear the instructions to focus on the breath and those instructions can work for some people and for others, they don't quite land for one reason or another. So today, we're gonna explore an alternative or maybe even an augmentation. We're gonna focus on something called touch points.

I let our teacher du jour, Sharon Salzberg, explain, but I have found this to be a really helpful technique, especially when I'm struggling to focus on the breath. Many of you know Sharon, but for those of you who don't, she is one of the co-founders of the Insight Meditation Society in Barrie, Massachusetts. She's also written 13 books, including a New York Times bestseller called,

"'Real Happiness' and her seminal work, "'Loving Kindness.'" Here we go now with Sharon Salzberg. Hi, this is Sharon. This meditation serves as a skillful alternative to the breath. There's a great practice in and of itself. If you have asthma or emotional experiences that somehow affect your breathing, you might find that the breath is not actually serving as a good concentration object, in which case it's fine to choose another object. To begin with, you can sit comfortably or lie down, and you can close your eyes or not.

Bring your attention to your hands. Notice that the direct experience we have is not of fingers. It's different sensations. Pulsing, throbbing, warmth, coolness. You don't have to name these things, but feel them. Now bring your attention to the soles of your feet. Go through the same exercise. Can you feel the direct sensations you're actually experiencing? You don't need to name them the distinct elements of sensation, but you can feel them and watch them change.

And if you observe your mind attaching, holding on, pushing away, projecting into the future. You can release that and return your attention to the your whole body, as though you were sweeping attention in a flash throughout your sitting posture. You might discover pleasant sensations or unpleasant ones, but it's all okay. We're just trying to get an impression of our overall posture through sensations. And turn your attention to one spot at the size of a quarter where your body is already in contact. For example, your hand is touching your knee, or your back is touching the chair. Just as we did with our hands and feet, pay attention to the actual sensation. If you find you've become lost in thought, spun out in a fantasy, or you fall asleep,

don't worry about it. One of the great skills we are developing is the ability to gently let go and begin again. And when you feel ready, you can open your eyes. Remember you have the option of moving your attention through this kind of pattern when you have a few moments in your day and you want to center your attention and get more in touch with your body's sensations. Thank you for your practice. Thank you, Sharon. You can find more meditations like this one over on the Happier app. Just

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