Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - How To Meditate If You Have ADHD (Or Are Simply Fidgety And Distractible) | Bonus Meditation with Jeff Warren

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

Tap into your ADHD superpowers with a meditation that celebrates your unique wiring. Embrace exploration and self-acceptance.About Jeff Warren:Jeff is an incredibly gifted meditation teacher. He's trained in multiple traditions, including with renowned teacher Shinzen Young. Jeff is the co-author of NY Times Bestseller "Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics," and the founder of the Consciousness Explorers Club, a meditation adventure group in Toronto. He has a knack for surfacing the exact meditation that will help everyone he meets. "I have a meditation for that" is regularly heard from Jeff, so we've dubbed him the "Meditation MacGyver."More information on the group retreat (AKA Meditation Party) at the Omega Institute is here. To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “Meditating with ADHD.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Heads up that I was recently on the Untangle podcast hosted by Patricia Carpus. She called the episode, High Five Your Demons, which is one of my little self-compassion taglines. And in addition to talking to me, she also interviewed my son, Alexander, who was really likes to be on camera. He's nine years old. She wanted to ask him whether his dad really walks his talk. So you'll hear him at the end of the episode. It was very fun to talk to Patricia. Her show is an award-winning podcast. She talks about all kinds of stuff, optimizing brain health, finding your purpose, sleeping

better, harnessing the power of anxiety. I've been on the show several times. Many of the people who've been on this show have also been on her show. Sharon Salzberg, Rick Hansen, Robert Waldinger, Semenay Selassie, Jeff Warren, many more. Anyway, if you like this show, you might like that one. Go check it out. It's called Untangled. The Untangled podcast is available wherever you listen to your podcasts. Hi, I'm Anna. And I'm Emily. And we're the hosts of Terribly Famous, the show that takes you inside the lives you listen to your podcasts. A beautiful woman. Your words? Not mine. Someone who came out of Croydon and took the world by storm. Ke'ana, don't tell them where I live.

A muse, a mother and a supermodel who defined the 90s. I don't remember doing the last one. Wow, Emily, not you. Obviously I mean Kate Moss. Oh, I always get us confused. Because you're both so small. How dare you. We are going to dive back into Kate's 90s heyday and her insatiable desire to say yes to absolutely everything life has to offer.

The parties, the Hollywood heartthrobs, the rockstar bad boys. Have I said parties? You did mention the parties, but saying yes to excess comes at a price as Kate spirals out of control and risks losing everything she's worked for. Follow Terribly Famous wherever you listen to podcasts or listen early and ad free on Wandery Plus on Apple Podcasts or the Wandery app. This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hey guys, happy Friday.

Time for a bonus meditation. A lot of people say they have trouble concentrating during meditation. This is something that I hear from people all the time. I mean all the time. I mean, all the time. And this is true for people who have quote-unquote normal brains, and it's triply true if you're a person with ADHD or related conditions. So today we've got a great teacher who actually himself has ADHD and knows a lot about how to teach people with that condition or who just

happen to be naturally fidgety and distractible like me but don't have a diagnosis. He knows a lot about how to teach us to meditate. Jeff is a great friend. He and I wrote a book together called Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics. He's the founder of the Consciousness Explorers Club which is a meditation adventure group in Toronto. And if you want to meditate with Jeff in person, you can come to the Meditation Party retreat that he and I are co-hosting with our mutual friend, Sebene Selassie, at the Omega Institute, which is outside of New York City. We'll put links in the show notes. We've got one event in May and another coming up in October. Here we go now with Jeff Warren.

Hi, this is Jeff. I have ADHD. Maybe you do too. Even if you don't, you may still have similar challenges. Meditation helps, but it has to be the right kind of meditation. So in this practice, we're going to keep the guidance continuous and fresh, and hopefully we will help you play to your strengths. So let's go. Okay, so you can start this meditation either sitting or standing, whenever you prefer.

When I feel restless, I like to shake it out a bit. That means lightly bobbing my knees and flopping my arms around like a ragdoll. Your eyes can be open or closed. And it can feel kinda good, like flop, flop, flop, arms flapping around like you're shimmying out some of the agitation in your body. Okay, good. And now stop. And sit down and close your eyes.

And right away, notice if there's any slight swirly energy feelings in your body. We'll do a short body scan here to explore how it is we feel the life of our body. So start up at your head. You can take a big inhale and then a big out breath. The out-breath. With your next out-breath, really relax your shoulders and your arms. Bring your attention now to your chest and your core. Sometimes, especially with the ADHD thing, there can be a bit of raciness there. So just feel in what's true for you. If there is anything you're not trying to change it, you're just curious about it.

And we'll keep the attention flowing down to your belly now and your hips. I'll just be curious. Down into the legs all the way to the feet and the toes. What do you notice? Okay, and now is there any place in the body that you kind of find yourself drawn to, that you want to pay attention to? You can let your curiosity guide you here. This practice of just noticing our sensations and feelings can be very helpful for ADHD folks. It can help slow down some of that impulsivity and some of the emotional reactivity. So get curious.

What are you feeling in your body? Okay, so let's switch it up one last time and practice a little acceptance and self-compassion here at the end. So maybe you wanna rest a hand on your chest or on your belly. And then you can do some breathing exercises. Practice a little acceptance and self-compassion here at the end. So maybe you wanna rest a hand on your chest or on your belly. Maybe repeat a phrase, it's good being who I am. No need to change, just resting in exactly who you are. Okay, when you're ready, go ahead and open your eyes if they've been closed.

Thank you, my friend, for your practice. I'll see you next time. Thank you Jeff. 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. And just to say again, if you want to come meditate with Jeff and with me and with our mutual friend Sabine Selassie in person. We're doing two meditation party events. One is in May, the other is in October. They're both at the Omega Institute which is a couple hours outside of New York City. There are a few tickets left. You can get them by going to eOmega.org or just click the link in the show notes. If you like 10% happier, and I hope you do,

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