For episode 261, Dr. Jenny Taitz returns to the Metta Hour for our Anxiety Series.

Jenny is a clinical psychologist and an assistant clinical professor in psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles. She completed her fellowship in psychology at Yale University School of Medicine and achieved board certifications in cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy. In addition to treating clients in her private therapy practice, LA CBT DBT, she is the author of How to Be Single and Happy and End Emotional Eating. Her new book, Stress Resets: How to Soothe Your Body and Mind in Minutes, is now available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

Join Sharon for a free live conversation and interactive Q&A exploring the power of real connection—with ourselves, each other, and the world around us. Throughout the discussion, Sharon, Jackie Dobrinska, and Raghu Markus will weave in the wisdom of Ram Dass, reflecting on how intimacy can be a profound path to awakening. Join this free live call on April 7th: Click Here To Learn More

In this episode, Sharon and Jenny discuss:

• Jenny’s approach to anxiety
• Emotions are contagious
• The superpower of emotional regulation
• Cultivating an inner life
• Three-point check-in
• How to break-up with overthinking
• Getting grounding
• Cognitive diffusion
• Naming your inner critic
• Sitting with uncertainty
• Building a hope kit
• Box-breathing
• Lovingkindness
• Doing good deeds
• Examining assumptions
• Surfing emotional urges

Sharon closes with a hypothetical situation about anxiety which Jenny advises on. You can learn more about Jenny’s work and get a copy of her book, Stress Resets, on her website.

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For episode 260, we are launching a new Anxiety Series on the Metta Hour. Sharon is speaking with Mental Health experts, providers and researchers for tools to work with anxiety in increasingly challenging times. To launch the series, Sharon sits down with Dr. Jud Brewer MD, Ph.D.

Dr, Jud is a New York Times best-selling author and thought leader in the field of habit change and the “science of self-mastery,” who blends over 20 years of experience with mindfulness training and a career in scientific research. He is passionate about understanding how our brains work, and how to use that knowledge to help people make deep, permanent change in their lives — with the goal of reducing suffering in the world at large. Dr. Jud is the director of research and innovation at Brown University’s Mindfulness Center, where he also serves as an associate professor in Behavioral and Social Sciences at the School of Public Health and Psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Brown University, and a research affiliate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In this episode, Sharon and Dr. Jud discuss:

• The neuroscientific definition of anxiety
• Fear of the future
• How we simulate the future
• The difference between planning and worrying
• Anxious feeling versus thought
• Qualifiers for mental health diagnoses
• The research behind Mental Noting
• The antidote to anxiety is curiosity
• Exploring gratification to its end
• How much does worrying help?
• Thinking isn’t what changes behavior
• We’re wired for happiness
• Neuroscientists don’t talk about willpower
• Internet myths about anxiety
• Deprivation curiosity
• How misinformation fuels anxiety
• Collective anxiety
• Default Mode Network
• Five Finger Breathing
• Noticing our “oh no” moments
• Kindness and curiosity are best friends
• The Unwinding Anxiety App

The conversation closes with a short guided curiosity practice. You can learn more about Dr. Jud’s work and get a copy of his book, Unwinding Anxiety, right here and learn more about his Mindshift Recovery App right here.

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For episode 259, we bring you the second half of a two-part series on the Force of Kindness.

Listen to the first part of this series released earlier in February of 2025 right here.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has stated, “My true religion is kindness.” Although frequently denigrated in our culture as simplistic and weak, the quality of kindness has an inherent power to transform our worldview from one of fear and isolation to one rooted in clarity, courage and compassion in action. Kindness is the fuel that helps us truly “walk our talk” of love. Recording in December or 2024 by the Drepung Gomang Center for Engaging Compassion.

In this recording, Sharon teaches on:

• The aspiration of kindness
• Brahma Viharas as a basis for aspiration
• Lovingkindness as Connection
• Our Subway Car
• Reflection on Interconnection
• The definition of Compassion
• Sympathetic Joy
• Gratitude as the energizer
• Equanimity as the secret ingredient
• The eight vicissitudes
• The episode closes with Sharon taking some questions from the audience

Join Sharon’s upcoming ten-day wisdom course exploring Equanimity starting March 5th. Learn more right here.

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