Episode 60: Harvard's Dr. Ellen Langer on Mind-Body Unity

 Have you ever had a moment where you get chills up and down your spine while listening to someone's story and how it transformed how they live, work, and exist in the world?

This is what happened to me when I first heard Dr. Ellen Langer speak, and she joins us today on the Cracking Open podcast to impart her wisdom, backed by decades of research and enriched by stories from her latest book, The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health.

Dr. Langer is one of the first women to achieve tenure at Harvard University and has dedicated forty-five years to pioneering research on aging, diabetes, autism, stress management, and overall health. 

Her work underscores the profound connection between our minds and bodies, advocating for mindfulness as a powerful tool to enhance overall well-being. 

Listening to our discussion today will shed light on Dr. Langer's belief that mindfulness not only benefits us personally but is also remarkably easy to integrate into our lives. She emphasizes that all our misery stems from being mindless, and by becoming more mindful and noticing things in our lives, we can alleviate stress and transform our experiences for the better.

Dr. Ellen Langer is not only a professor and researcher at Harvard but a prolific author, with eleven books to her name, including the internationally acclaimed Mindfulness, which has been translated into fifteen languages, and Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility.

Her contributions to psychology have garnered widespread recognition, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest from the American Psychological Association.

With over 200 research articles to her credit, Dr. Langer's pioneering work in social psychology has earned her a place in The New York Times Magazine's "Year in Ideas" issue. Dr. Langer is also an accomplished painter. 

Our lively conversation left a lasting impression on me, especially when she emphasized that "it is not about making the right decisions, it is about making your decisions right". This resonated deeply with me, highlighting the importance of mindfulness in shaping our perceptions and responses to life's challenges. 

Dr. Ellen's teachings have truly transformed my approach to daily living. I now navigate each day with a newfound mindfulness, drawing from her research to navigate life's challenges with greater ease and resilience. Tune in to learn more about how you can bring more mindfulness into your life today.

Love, Molly


Learn more about Dr. Ellen Langer and her work here
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