Interested in meditation, but allergic to New Age-y nonsense? 

Despite its PR problem, mindfulness meditation is a simple, secular, scientifically validated exercise for your brain. 

In this two-week course you’ll learn how to meditate with skeptical newsman Dan Harris and one of the greatest American meditation teachers, Joseph Goldstein. 

Every day, delivered straight to your mobile device, you’ll get video lessons that teach the essentials, and guided audio meditations that walk you through the practice in the simplest possible way. Also, because self-discipline isn't always enough, you’ll also get a living, breathing coach to help you follow through.

Just in case you’re worried, meditation does not require a lot of the things people fear it might. For example, you don’t have to sit in a funny position. (Unless you want to, of course.) You also don’t have to: light incense, chant, or believe in anything in particular. There’s nothing to join, no special outfits to wear.

To be clear, meditation is not going to solve all your problems. But it might make you 10% happier. Give meditation a try by listening to a sample guided meditation from the course below.

About The Course

After having a nationally televised panic attack, Dan *knew* he had to make some changes. A lifelong nonbeliever, he found himself on a bizarre adventure involving a disgraced pastor, a mysterious self-help guru, and a gaggle of brain scientists. Eventually, he realized that the source of his problems was the very thing he always thought was his greatest asset: the incessant, insatiable voice in his head, which had propelled him through the ranks of a hyper-competitive business, but had also led him to make the profoundly stupid decisions that provoked his on-air freak-out.

He stumbled upon an effective way to rein in that voice, something he always assumed to be either impossible or useless: meditation, a tool that research suggests can do everything from lower your blood pressure to essentially rewire your brain.

Dan wrote 10% Happier because, when he was getting started as a meditator, he couldn't find many introductory books that were geared towards skeptics -or people raised in the age of irony. Since the book came out, a lot of people have been asking how they, too, can get started. Hence this course.

The (scientifically proven) benefits of meditation

Dan had always assumed that meditation was bullshit.

But then he heard about the explosion of scientific research into mindfulness. This research is still in its early stages, but it's strongly suggestive of an almost laughably long list of benefits. These include: lowering levels of stress hormones, reducing your blood pressure, and boosting your immune system. Meditation has also been shown to mitigate depression, anxiety, ADHD, and age-related cognitive decline.

A study at Harvard found that beginners who meditated for just eight weeks literally grew their gray matter in the areas of the brain associated with self-awareness and compassion. Meanwhile, the area of the brain associated with stress shrank.

Meditation can also be kryptonite for the voice in your head – your ego, your inner narrator, the nonstop conversation you’re having with yourself. This is the voice that compels us to do the stuff we’re most ashamed of – like eating the 18th cookie, firing off that angry email or – in Dan's case - going to warzones without considering the psychological consequences, getting depressed without even knowing it, and then blindly self-medicating.

Over two weeks, this course will teach you how to meditate in the simplest way possible, without any of the woo-woo, and without using the word 'namaste'. Along the way, your personal coach will help get your questions answered and help you stick to your goals.

Watch a Sample Lesson from Day 1 ("Am I Doing it Wrong?"):

This course is for anyone interested in the benefits of meditation, without any of the baloney.

In the 1940’s, if you told someone you were going running, they probably would have asked, "Who's chasing you?"

Then what happened? The scientists swooped in, proved the benefits of exercise, and now we all do it – and if we don’t, we feel guilty about it.

Right now, meditation is where exercise was several decades ago; it’s the next big public health revolution. As a result of the new science, meditation is now being adopted by some surprising people: corporate executives, elite athletes, the US Marines - and even this fidgety, skeptical newsman.

Used effectively, meditation can be kryptonite for the voice in your head. If it can work for a fidgety, skeptical newsman… it can work for you.

About The Experts

Dan Harris
Co-anchor of Nightline and Good Morning America. Author of 10% Happier.

Dan Harris is  co-anchor of both Nightline and the weekend edition of Good Morning America on ABC News. Before that, he was the anchor of the Sunday edition of World News. He regularly contributes stories for such shows as Nightline, 20/20, World News with David Muir and the weekday edition of GMA. Harris has reported from all over the planet, covering wars in Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine and Iraq, and producing investigative reports in Haiti, Cambodia, and the Congo. He has also spent many years covering America's faith scene, with a focus on evangelicals.

After having a nationally televised panic attack on Good Morning America, Dan found mediation and then wrote  10% Happier, as a way to convince fellow skeptics to give the practice a shot.

Dan has been at ABC News for 15 years. Before that, he was in local news in Boston and Maine. He grew up outside of Boston and currently lives with his wife, Bianca, and baby boy, Alexander, in New York City.

Joseph Goldstein
One of the first American teachers of a form of meditation known as Vipassana, and co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society.

Joseph first became interested in Buddhism as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand in 1965. Since 1967 he has studied and practiced different forms of Buddhist meditation under eminent teachers from India, Burma and Tibet.

He has been leading meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. He is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, where he is one of the organization's guiding teachers. In 1989, together with several other teachers and students of insight meditation, he helped establish the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.

 He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom, The Experience of Insight, and co-author of Seeking the Heart of Wisdom and Insight Meditation: A Correspondence Course.

Meet Your Personal Coach

You'll be matched with a personal coach to help you get off to a great start and stay on track to reach your goals. Every Change Collective coach is trained in the principles of behavior change and on the course itself. Your coach will be available by SMS any time, day or night.