For episode 273, we are continuing a new series on the Metta Hour, centered on kids, in honor of Sharon’s first children’s book, Kind Karl, coming out on December 9th!

Co-authored by Jason Gruhl, this illustrated picture book is for 4-8 year-olds and is a new children’s adaptation of Sharon’s beloved book Lovingkindness.

For this podcast series, Sharon speaks with educators, caregivers, and researchers about the ways meditation, mindfulness, and lovingkindness can impact children of all ages and the family systems that support them. For the second episode of the series, Sharon speaks with Dr. Christopher Willard.

Chris is a clinical psychologist at Harvard Medical School and author of numerous publications for children and adults. An internationally sought-after speaker and mindfulness educator, his books include Growing Up Mindful, Raising Resilience, and Alphabreaths.

In this conversation, Sharon and Chris speak about:

• The benefits of mindfulness in family systems
• Chris’s personal journey with mindfulness
• How mindfulness can be accessible for kids
• Emotional growth and connection at any age
• Simple at-home practices
• Modeling calm compassion
• How kids can emotionally regulate
• The benefits of meditation in schools
• Challenges of technology in family life
• How self-compassion prevents burnout
• Nurturing empathy, presence and resilience
• The goal of presence, not perfection

The episode closes with Chris leading guided practice. You can learn more about Chris’s work on his website, right here.

To learn more about Sharon’s forthcoming children’s book, Kind Karl, and pre-order a copy with a special pre-order gift, you can visit Sharon’s website, right here.

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For episode 272, we are launching a new series on the Metta Hour, centered on kids, in honor of Sharon’s first children’s book, Kind Karl, coming out on December 9th!

Co-authored by Jason Gruhl, this illustrated picture book is for 4-8 year-olds and is a new children’s adaptation of Sharon’s beloved book Lovingkindness. To learn more about Sharon’s forthcoming children’s book, Kind Karl, and pre-order a copy with a special pre-order gift, you can visit Sharon’s website, right here.

For this podcast series, Sharon speaks with educators, caregivers, and researchers about the ways meditation, mindfulness, and lovingkindness can impact children of all ages and the family systems that support them.

For the first episode of the series, Sharon speaks with Susan Kaiser Greenland. Susan is a mindfulness educator and bestselling author, specializing in distilling global wisdom traditions and scientific research into straightforward everyday practices. In the early 2000s, she helped pioneer the introduction of secular mindfulness into classrooms through her Inner Kids model. After decades of working with children and adults and writing two widely translated books, Susan’s latest book, Real-World Enlightenment, was published in 2024 by Shambhala.

In this conversation, Susan and Sharon speak about:

• Susan’s journey with meditation
• Meditation’s effect on Susan’s son
• Inspiration for writing The Mindful Child
• Volunteering in schools
• Creating the Inner Kids program
• The importance of storytelling
• The playful approach for young ages
• The positive effects of mindfulness in schools
• The “Pink Bubble” compassion exercise
• Mindfulness for family dynamics
• Susan’s UCLA research findings
• Susan’s most recent book, Real World Enlightenment

The episode closes with Susan leading guided practice. You can learn more about Susan’s work on her website, right here.

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For episode 271, Sharon sits down with poet, author and Zen master Henry Shukman.

After a spontaneous spiritual awakening at the age of 19, Henry embarked on a long journey of healing and deeper awakening through meditation. Since then, he has been leading a growing number of practitioners in Europe and the US. He is the Spiritual Director Emeritus of Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Henry has also created the app, The Way, and is the author of several books, including his latest 2024 release, “Original Love.” This is Henry’s first appearance on the podcast.

In this conversation, Sharon and Henry speak about:

• Henry’s challenges in early life
• Discovering Zen teachings
• Henry’s new book, Original Love
• Mindfulness, Support, Absorption, Awakening
• Original Love versus Original Sin
• Mental health in spiritual practice
• The power of community and connection
• Henry’s meditation app, The Way
• How to microdose lovingkindness

The episode closes with Henry leading a guided meditation.

You can learn more about Henry’s books and teachings on his website right here. You can also learn about his app, The Way, right here.

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For episode 270, we bring you the second of a two-part episode from the archives.

Recorded in the early 2010s in a visit to Asheville, North Carolina, Sharon is teaching on Lovingkindness in Difficult Circumstances.

In this teaching, Sharon speaks about:

• Brief History of IMS

• The word Lovingkindness

• the cultural baggage of “love”

• The reality of interconnection

• “Never throw anyone out of your heart” - NKB

• Looking for the good

• How to make a gratitude list

• Sharon’s only joke

• Making different choices

Sharon then takes some questions from the audience on

• Feeling the sorrow of the world

• Balancing concentration in practice

• How do we open despite our conditioning

• Learn to let go of grievances

• The spaces between the breath

You can listen to the first part of this teaching in Episode 269 of the Metta Hour, released on September 3, 2025 entitled Lovingkindness in Difficult Circumstances Part 1.

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For episode 269, we bring you the first of a two-part episode from the archives.Recorded in the early 2010s in a visit to Asheville, North Carolina, Sharon is teaching on Lovingkindness in Difficult Circumstances.

In this teaching, Sharon speaks about:

• Her travel adventure to North Carolina

• Her first impressions of Asian philosophy

• Changing our relationship to joy & delight

• Transforming our relationship to suffering

• Awakening to the realm of neutral experiences

• Sharon’s first time meditating

• The three skills of meditation

• Sharon’s mantra of “something will happen”

• The deepening of concentration

• Our tendency to project into the future

• Mindfulness is not passive

• The magic moment in meditation

The episode closes with Sharon leading a guided meditation practice. Stay tuned for the second half of this teaching, which will be released in two weeks' time in Part 2 of Lovingkindness in Difficult Circumstances.

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For episode 268, Emma Seppälä returns to the Metta Hour for our ongoing Anxiety Series.

In this series, Sharon is speaking with Mental Health experts, providers and different researchers for tools to work with anxiety in increasingly challenging times. This is the eighth episode in the series.

Emma Seppälä is a best-selling author, Yale lecturer, and international keynote speaker. She teaches executives at the Yale School of Management and is faculty director of the Yale School of Management’s Women’s Leadership Program. She is also the Science Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. A psychologist and research scientist by training, Emma’s expertise is the science of happiness, emotional intelligence, and social connection. Her latest book, “Sovereign: Reclaim Your Freedom, Energy, and Power in a Time of Distraction, Uncertainty, and Chaos” came out in 2024.

In this conversation, Emma and Sharon speak about:

• Mental Health study on university students
• How self-compassion figures into wellbeing
• Reflective Best-Self Exercise
• How the Dalai Lama made a mistake
• Sovereignty: awareness + courage + energy
• Suppressing emotions makes them stronger
• Emma’s experience with an Eating Disorder
• Working with difficult emotions
• Different regulation techniques
• Breathing techniques for regulation
• Research on Lovingkindness
• Benefits of meditation
• How intuition can help our anxiety

Emma closes the conversation with a guided breathing practice. To learn more about Emma’s work and get a copy of “Sovereign” on her website right here. Learn about Emma’s 6-week course, the Science of Sovereignty right here.

Check out the first episode in the Anxiety Podcast Series with Dr. Jud Brewer on Ep.260 of the Metta Hour Podcast.

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For episode 267, Deb Dana makes her first appearance on the Metta Hour for our ongoing Anxiety Series.

In this series, Sharon is speaking with Mental Health experts, providers and different researchers for tools to work with anxiety in increasingly challenging times. This is the seventh episode in the series.

Deb Dana, LCSW, is a clinician, consultant, author, and international lecturer on polyvagal theory-informed work with trauma survivors and is the leading translator of this scientific work to the public and mental health professionals. A founding member of the Polyvagal Institute, Deb developed the signature Rhythm of Regulation® Clinical Training Series: The Science of Feeling Safe Enough To Fall in Love with Life and Take the Risks of Living. She is also the author of many books, her most recent 2025 release, Glimmers Journal: Reflect on the Small Moments That Bring You Joy, Safety, and Connection.

In this conversation, Deb and Sharon speak about:

• Overview of Polyvagal Theory
• How Deb came to her work
• Understanding our nervous system
• How Polyvagal Theory impacts anxiety
• Being with anxiety vs being hijacked by it
• The spaciousness of Ventral Regulation
• Sympathetic versus parasympathetic
• The biological imperative of connection
• History of co-regulation in PVT
• The Autonomic Ladder
• Impact of a clinician’s compassion
• Transmitting cues of safety to others
• Savoring the practice of 30 seconds
• The difference between inconvenience and danger
• The Rhythm of Regulation
• Breath as a regulatory tool
• Gathering Glimmers
• Building the capacity to face suffering differently
• Breakdown of a glimmer practice
• Having a sensitivity to our trauma

Deb closes the conversation with a guided practice on the Story of the Three States.

To learn more about Deb’s work, you can visit her website right here and checkout her latest books: the Glimmers Journal and the Nervous System Workbook.

Check out the first episode in the Anxiety Podcast Series with Dr. Jud Brewer on Ep .260 of the Metta Hour Podcast

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For episode 266, Amishi Jha returns to the Metta Hour for our ongoing Anxiety Series.

In this series, Sharon is speaking with Mental Health experts, providers and different researchers for tools to work with anxiety in increasingly challenging times. This is the sixth episode in the series.

Amishi is Director of Contemplative Neuroscience and Professor of Psychology at the University of Miami. She studies the brain’s attention system and the effects of mindfulness training on resilience and performance in high-demand professions, including the military, emergency services, and medicine. Her research has been supported by the Dept. of Defense and featured by TED, NATO, the World Economic Forum, The New York Times, and NPR. She led the first large-scale study of mindfulness training with active-duty service members. She is the author of the national bestseller Peak Mind and creator of the Pushups for the Mind app.

In this episode, Amishi and Sharon speak about:

• Mindfulness in mental health

• Cognitive resilience

• Eustress and how it serves us

• Mismatch between capacity and challenge

• Attention as resilience

• Flashlight attention for clarification & focus

• Floodlight attention for situation awareness

• Executive Functioning

• How to begin attention training

• Myths about stress and anxiety

• The participatory nature of the brain

• The attentional decline of burnout

• Compassion Fatigue

• Cognitive versus emotional empathy

• Amishi’s new app, Pushups for the Mind

• The minimum effective dose of meditation

To learn more about Amishi’s work, you can visit her website right here and download her new app right here. Please note that the Pushups for the Mind app is free for all U.S. active service military members.

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