Buddhist Hacks for Anxiety and Overthinking | Joseph Goldstein

78 snips

Jan 4, 2026

Joining the discussion is Joseph Goldstein, a leading Buddhist teacher and meditation author known for his practical insights and direct style. He shares unique strategies to combat anxiety and overthinking through mindfulness techniques like 'there is a body' for relaxed awareness and 'walking in a dream' to shift perception. Goldstein emphasizes a flexible approach to practice and introduces the concept of 'cowboy Dharma' to tackle seductive thoughts. Listeners will be captivated by his fresh take on deepening meditation using modern tools and playful language.

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ADVICE

Begin With Whole-Body Awareness

Start meditation with a full-body frame by using the phrase "there is a body" to relax into awareness.
This wider frame lets breath sensations arise without manipulating or over-efforting the breath.

INSIGHT

Wide Angle Vs Zoom Attention

Alternate between a wide-angle and a zoom lens of attention to suit the moment.
Trust your intuition to switch perspectives when the mind gets too tight or too scattered.

ADVICE

Adapt Practices To Your Mind

Use "whatever works" when a given instruction doesn't suit your mind; experiment and adapt.
If a technique fails, either investigate why or modify it until it becomes effective.

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Today we're gonna talk about some Buddhist hacks for two deeply related and all too common ailments: anxiety and overthinking. Most of us have struggled with one or both of these, and one of the people who has helped Dan the most is Joseph Goldstein.

Regular listeners to this podcast will be familiar with Joseph and his very direct, very down-to-earth style, but if you don't know – let us introduce you. He's one of the foremost Buddhist teachers in the west, he's been Dan's teacher for about 15 years, and Dan's recently convinced him to write a book together, using a collection of these little phrases that he's cooked up over the years. Dan's been keeping a list of around a hundred or so tiny, useful phrases – bite-sized wisdom for meditation practice and for daily life. The book won't be out for a few years, but we're conducting a series of interviews with him, each one covering a few phrases, and we'll be releasing those here on the podcast.

The first installment of these interviews about Joseph's phrases just came out on Thursday, Jan. 1, and you don't have to listen to that episode for this episode to make sense, but they are useful together.

Today, we'll be covering:

The practice assessment tapes
Whatever works
Cowboy Dharma
Dead end
Is this useful
And a quartet about walking meditation: sensations moving through space, walking through space, walking in a dream, walking through the mind

Don't worry if those don't make sense right now – stick with us and you'll get a thorough explanation of where those phrases all come from and how they can help.

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