Zen and mindfulness teacher Henry Shukman guides us in a meditation that invites us to listen deeply and find clarity in quiet.

How To Do This Practice:

1. Find Stillness: Sit comfortably in a quiet space. Close your eyes if you’d like, and allow your body to settle.
2. Bring Your Attention to the Present: Take a few deep breaths. Let go of to-do lists or distractions, gently arriving in this moment.
3. Tune In to the Sounds Around You: Begin to notice the soundscape of your environment. Near or far, loud or soft. Don’t judge or label the sounds, just hear them.
4. Notice Background Silence: Beyond individual sounds, sense the quiet in which all sounds arise. This isn’t just an absence of noise, it’s a felt sense of stillness.
5. Soak in the Quiet: Rest your awareness in this space of quiet. Let it wash over you, soften you, and bring you back to yourself.
6. Gently Return: When you're ready, bring small movements back to your body. Wiggle your fingers or stretch. Open your eyes and carry this quiet awareness into the rest of your day.

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Today’s Happiness Break Guide:

Henry Shukman, is a poet, mindfulness teacher, and author of Original Love: The Four Inns on the Path of Awakening.

Learn more about Shukman’s work: https://henryshukman.com/about

Order his book, Original Love: The Four Inns on the Path of Awakening: https://tinyurl.com/mwv5cuxr

Related Happiness Break episodes:

A Mindful Breath Meditation: https://tinyurl.com/mr9d22kr

A Meditation for When You Feel Uneasy: https://tinyurl.com/4x27ut3p

Find Calm When You Can’t Clear Your Mind: https://tinyurl.com/3u8k2j8h

A Meditation on Original Love and Interconnectedness: https://tinyurl.com/ye6baxv3

Related Science of Happiness episodes:

How To Tune Out The Noise: https://tinyurl.com/4hhekjuh

How To Show Up For Yourself: https://tinyurl.com/56ktb9xc

How Holding Yourself Can Reduce Stress: https://tinyurl.com/2hvhkwe6

Follow us on Instagram: @ScienceOfHappinessPod

We’d love to hear about your experience with this practice! Share your thoughts at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Help us share Happiness Break! Leave a 5-star review and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/3bs7udur

Learn why uncertainty fuels anxiety and how noticing our body’s stress signals can help us find calm.

Summary: One in five adults in the U.S. report living with anxiety, and many of us struggle to control or avoid the feelings that come with it. Science shows that tuning into the body, rather than resisting discomfort, can actually reduce anxiety and strengthen resilience. Join us on The Science of Happiness as we explore what anxiety teaches us about control, uncertainty, and how to care for ourselves with more compassion.

How To Do This Practice:

1. Create a quiet moment for yourself: Find a space where you won’t be interrupted—even just for 30 seconds. Close the door, silence your phone, and step away from distractions.
2. Take a deep breath in: Begin with one slow, steady inhale. On the exhale, let your body soften. Keep your breathing gentle, not forced.
3. Do a quick scan: Where are you holding stress? Maybe in your chest, shoulders, or jaw. Simply notice the tightness or pressure without trying to change it.
4. Breathe into those sensations: With each inhale, imagine sending your breath to the place where stress lives in your body. With each exhale, release a little of that tension—like letting it flow out.
5. Name what’s on your mind: Ask yourself: What am I feeling? Am I anxious about the past, worried about the future, or caught up in uncertainty? You don’t need to solve or fix anything—just acknowledge it.
6. Let it go, even briefly: Tell yourself, I don’t have to fix this right now. Allow the stress to soften as you exhale. Even 20–30 seconds can bring a sense of calm and clarity.

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Today’s Guests:

JENNY LITTLE is a Health and Fitness Director at the East Bay YMCA.
Add Jenny Little on LinkedIn here: https://tinyurl.com/56vkmhrx

DR. ELISSA EPEL is a psychologist and professor at UCSF. Her research shows how chronic stress and anxiety affect our bodies at the cellular level.
Learn more about Dr. Elissa Epel here: https://www.elissaepel.com/

Related The Science of Happiness episodes:

How Holding Yourself Can Reduce Stress: https://tinyurl.com/2hvhkwe6
Hot to Tap Your Way to Calm and Clarity: https://tinyurl.com/psmskjyp
How To Tune Out The Noise: https://tinyurl.com/4hhekjuh

Related Happiness Breaks:

Make Uncertainty Part of the Process: https://tinyurl.com/234u5ds7
A Meditation for When You Feel Uneasy: https://tinyurl.com/4x27ut3p
A Meditation For When You Have Too Much To Do: https://tinyurl.com/5dvk3d7m

Tell us about your experience with this practice. Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or follow on Instagram @HappinessPod.

Help us share The Science of Happiness! Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/mskvfmv4

When was the last time you thought about your ancestors? This guided meditation by Indigenous scholar Yuria Celidwen will help you connect to your heritage and reap the potent benefits of remembering your roots.

How To Do This Practice:

1. Arrive and Center: Find a comfortable position. Close your eyes if you’d like. Place your attention at the center of your chest. Notice how your chest expands as you inhale, pauses, and gently releases as you exhale. Rest in that pause between breaths.
2. Open the Heart Space: Imagine your chest softening and opening. With each breath, sense a feeling of spaciousness there. Let this space become an anchor to return to.
3. Invite Your Lineage: In that pause of breath, bring awareness to your ancestors. Elders of the past, present, and those yet to come. Acknowledge the richness and complexity of your lineage.
4. Remember Origin Stories: Call to mind the stories of your elders and their elders before them. Picture their journeys, the lands they once touched, and the lives they carried forward. Imagine their footsteps across the earth, leading to where you stand today.
5. Connect Land and Heart: Visualize the lands your ancestors belonged to. The soils, waters, and skies that sustained them. Bring those lands into the center of your chest, merging them with your breath, your heart, and your pause. Feel the connection ripple from them to you, and from you back to them.
6. Rest in Home and Belonging: Let the word home echo silently in your heart. With each breath, feel this home expand outward—into belonging, togetherness, and care for all living beings and for the Earth itself. Rest in that pulse of vastness and possibility.

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Today’s Happiness Break Guide:

DR. YURIA CELIDWEN is an indigenous scholar of contemplative studies, and author of the book, Flourishing Kin: Indigenous Foundations For Collective Well-Being.

Learn more about Dr. Celidwen: https://www.yuriacelidwen.com/

Related Happiness Break episodes:

Where Did You Come From: https://tinyurl.com/2y9uyjj6

How To Tune Into Water’s Restorative Power: https://tinyurl.com/2k6ybzrs

How To Ground Yourself in Nature: https://tinyurl.com/25ftdxpm

Related Science of Happiness episodes:

Are You Following Your Inner Compass: https://tinyurl.com/y2bh8vvj

How Water Heals: https://tinyurl.com/utuhrnh3

Follow us on Instagram: @ScienceOfHappinessPod

We’d love to hear about your experience with this practice! Share your thoughts at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Help us share Happiness Break! Leave a 5-star review and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/ycy9xazc