For episode 268, Emma Seppälä returns to the Metta Hour for our ongoing Anxiety Series.

In this series, Sharon is speaking with Mental Health experts, providers and different researchers for tools to work with anxiety in increasingly challenging times. This is the eighth episode in the series.

Emma Seppälä is a best-selling author, Yale lecturer, and international keynote speaker. She teaches executives at the Yale School of Management and is faculty director of the Yale School of Management’s Women’s Leadership Program. She is also the Science Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. A psychologist and research scientist by training, Emma’s expertise is the science of happiness, emotional intelligence, and social connection. Her latest book, “Sovereign: Reclaim Your Freedom, Energy, and Power in a Time of Distraction, Uncertainty, and Chaos” came out in 2024.

In this conversation, Emma and Sharon speak about:

• Mental Health study on university students
• How self-compassion figures into wellbeing
• Reflective Best-Self Exercise
• How the Dalai Lama made a mistake
• Sovereignty: awareness + courage + energy
• Suppressing emotions makes them stronger
• Emma’s experience with an Eating Disorder
• Working with difficult emotions
• Different regulation techniques
• Breathing techniques for regulation
• Research on Lovingkindness
• Benefits of meditation
• How intuition can help our anxiety

Emma closes the conversation with a guided breathing practice. To learn more about Emma’s work and get a copy of “Sovereign” on her website right here. Learn about Emma’s 6-week course, the Science of Sovereignty right here.

Check out the first episode in the Anxiety Podcast Series with Dr. Jud Brewer on Ep.260 of the Metta Hour Podcast.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For episode 267, Deb Dana makes her first appearance on the Metta Hour for our ongoing Anxiety Series.

In this series, Sharon is speaking with Mental Health experts, providers and different researchers for tools to work with anxiety in increasingly challenging times. This is the seventh episode in the series.

Deb Dana, LCSW, is a clinician, consultant, author, and international lecturer on polyvagal theory-informed work with trauma survivors and is the leading translator of this scientific work to the public and mental health professionals. A founding member of the Polyvagal Institute, Deb developed the signature Rhythm of Regulation® Clinical Training Series: The Science of Feeling Safe Enough To Fall in Love with Life and Take the Risks of Living. She is also the author of many books, her most recent 2025 release, Glimmers Journal: Reflect on the Small Moments That Bring You Joy, Safety, and Connection.

In this conversation, Deb and Sharon speak about:

• Overview of Polyvagal Theory
• How Deb came to her work
• Understanding our nervous system
• How Polyvagal Theory impacts anxiety
• Being with anxiety vs being hijacked by it
• The spaciousness of Ventral Regulation
• Sympathetic versus parasympathetic
• The biological imperative of connection
• History of co-regulation in PVT
• The Autonomic Ladder
• Impact of a clinician’s compassion
• Transmitting cues of safety to others
• Savoring the practice of 30 seconds
• The difference between inconvenience and danger
• The Rhythm of Regulation
• Breath as a regulatory tool
• Gathering Glimmers
• Building the capacity to face suffering differently
• Breakdown of a glimmer practice
• Having a sensitivity to our trauma

Deb closes the conversation with a guided practice on the Story of the Three States.

To learn more about Deb’s work, you can visit her website right here and checkout her latest books: the Glimmers Journal and the Nervous System Workbook.

Check out the first episode in the Anxiety Podcast Series with Dr. Jud Brewer on Ep .260 of the Metta Hour Podcast

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For episode 266, Amishi Jha returns to the Metta Hour for our ongoing Anxiety Series.

In this series, Sharon is speaking with Mental Health experts, providers and different researchers for tools to work with anxiety in increasingly challenging times. This is the sixth episode in the series.

Amishi is Director of Contemplative Neuroscience and Professor of Psychology at the University of Miami. She studies the brain’s attention system and the effects of mindfulness training on resilience and performance in high-demand professions, including the military, emergency services, and medicine. Her research has been supported by the Dept. of Defense and featured by TED, NATO, the World Economic Forum, The New York Times, and NPR. She led the first large-scale study of mindfulness training with active-duty service members. She is the author of the national bestseller Peak Mind and creator of the Pushups for the Mind app.

In this episode, Amishi and Sharon speak about:

• Mindfulness in mental health

• Cognitive resilience

• Eustress and how it serves us

• Mismatch between capacity and challenge

• Attention as resilience

• Flashlight attention for clarification & focus

• Floodlight attention for situation awareness

• Executive Functioning

• How to begin attention training

• Myths about stress and anxiety

• The participatory nature of the brain

• The attentional decline of burnout

• Compassion Fatigue

• Cognitive versus emotional empathy

• Amishi’s new app, Pushups for the Mind

• The minimum effective dose of meditation

To learn more about Amishi’s work, you can visit her website right here and download her new app right here. Please note that the Pushups for the Mind app is free for all U.S. active service military members.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.