Untangle

We’re so grateful for the gifts our experts share from their own personal experiences or from the work they do out in the world. We’ve learned tools to help with the grip of anxiety and uncertainty, how to cope with difficult feelings and emotions, and, maybe most importantly, how to be compassionate with ourselves and others. We need this now more than ever. We’ve also learned a lot about our brains and how how to get a better night's sleep and, perhaps, we have a greater understanding of all that it takes to be a human. it helps to know that there is a common humanity that we all share; that we all have a mix of joy and suffering in our lives. We wish you lots of love in the coming year, a measure of peace and tranquility, and, of course, fresh perspectives as you continue to live your very best life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) and the author of several mindfulness books. In this interview, we talk about the importance of forgiveness in our lives and why carrying our anger or resentment around with us is like carrying hot coal. Dropping the hot coal can lead us to more freedom, openness, and joy. It doesn’t mean we have to condone or forget, but it is truly an act of self-compassion. It’s simply good for us and the practices she teaches can be really powerful. The first step, she says, is to have the willingness to even start working on forgiveness — whether it’s forgiving another person for hurting you, asking another person to forgive you, or, also extremely important, forgiving yourself. None of this is easy…but it can make a big difference in our own health and ease. Letting go of these difficult feelings is a great way to begin a new year filled with more open, positive, and productive energy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shannon Harvey is an award-winning Australian health journalist, author, and filmmaker. In her film (and now a book, My Year of Living Mindfully), Shannon committed to meditating every day for 365 days. She enlisted a team of top scientists from around the world to track everything from her stress hormones to her immune function to her cellular aging and gene expression to her subjective wellbeing. Overwhelmed with insomnia, autoimmune disease, and a family history of mental health issues, Shannon was highly motivated to find a way to address the challenges she faced, and those we all face with the growing epidemics of stress, anxiety, depression, and addiction. The results were surprising! She hopes that the film will spark meaningful conversations and help all of us feel more grounded and calm as we face the inevitable challenges of being human. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of our most important podcasts ever, a riveting story that teaches us how to overcome our divides through respect, patience, and recognition of shared humanity. Daryl Davis is a black man who has gotten over 200 KKK clansmen to leave the KKK by becoming friends with them. Daryl tells incredible stories of these meetings and shares his powerful method for conversing with someone from another viewpoint. It is a snapshot of what is possible to achieve in our divided country, and a methodology we can all use to do it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From all of us at Untangle, Meditation Studio, and Muse, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! This special Morning Gratitude Practice is from our brand new Gratitude Collection in the app. We hope you’ll all take a moment to remember what you’re grateful for, what gives you joy, and what fills your love bucket. We wish you much happiness and love throughout all the upcoming holidays. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shelly Tygielski is the author of the book 'Sit Down to Rise Up. How Radical Self- Care Can Change the World'. She’s the founder of the grassroots campaign called Pandemic of Love which is a mutual aid organization she created early on during the Covid pandemic…so that people could help one another. One person needs something; another gives something. Simple! Her organization has had more than 2 million peer-to-peer transactions, worth over $60 mm in donor/recipient transactions. Her mantra is…show up for yourself…with radical self-care and for others…in any way that you can. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Music has the power to move us deeply. Music can shift our energy on demand, organize our thoughts, stimulate our body to move, reset our emotional state, and allow us to pass through the day in a more relaxed harmonious manner. Using audio examples throughout the podcast, In this episode, we learn how to use it to its full potential with multi-platinum Hollywood composer and music expert Frank Fitzpatrick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Ellen Hendriksen is a clinical psychologist whose focus is on helping millions of people calm their anxiety so they can be their authentic selves. She serves on the faculty at Boston University's Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders and is the author of the book we discuss today, How to Be Yourself: Quiet the Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety. In this episode, we talk about the fear of being judged or rejected, and how to manage our somewhat distorted (and often annoying) thoughts. We’ve heard this before…your thoughts are NOT always true. Ellen talks about many ways to quiet the inner chatter that takes us down a rabbit hole and prevents us from living life to its fullest. She shares how we can actually rewire our brains through our behavior and how to truly be our best. It’s not easy…but she has lots of small steps we can take. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Adrian Owen, a renowned neuroscientist, discovered that individuals in a persistent coma could still communicate- and he went one step further and listened to what they wanted to say. He’s also performed the largest sleep and cognition study in the world, and demonstrated why brain training apps are bunk, and what we can do to sleep better and improve our own conscious function. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you lie awake at night, unable to sleep? What if the entire process of sleep was easy, even enjoyable? Dr. Chris Winter, neurologist and sleep medicine specialist, shows us how to re-think a good night's sleep. He offers insights both for adults and for parents dealing with “poor sleeping” kids. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices