Ready to begin or deepen your meditation practice? Join Dan Harris and world-class meditation teachers on the 10% with Dan Harris app here: https://app.danharris.com/membership If you walk around with a hair-trigger nervous system — anxious since sentience, scanning for threats, exhausted by the ambient dread of modern life — today's episode is a toolkit. Two sisters based in London have put together a book of specific, tiny, doable practices that regulate your nervous system in the small cracks of your day. No gurus required. Nadia Narain is a longtime yoga and breathwork teacher (and a personal friend of Dan's). Her sister Katia Narain Phillips is a body worker and somatic practitioner. Their new book is Glimmers: Tiny Moments to Transform Your Life. In this episode: – Nervous System 101 in plain English — autonomic, sympathetic, parasympathetic – Why "shutdown" (doom-scrolling, numbing out) isn't the same as rest and digest – Glimmers vs. triggers — the frame coined by the polyvagal practitioner Deb Dana – Why your evolutionary negativity bias makes glimmers so easy to miss – "If it's hysterical, it's historical" — childhood protective patterns running your adult relationships – The real goal isn't to be calm all the time — it's to be flexible enough to handle whatever comes – Practice 1: The glimmer check-in — a short, repeatable noticing exercise – Dan's own pre-bed shower practice as a kind of glimmer scan – Practice 2: Facial tension release — tongue in the cheek, jaw rub (yes, really) – Why Kristin Neff's self-compassion-via-touch research isn't as woo-woo as it sounds – Practice 3: Shake it off — the thing animals do after a stressful event, and most of us don't – Practice 4: Open your visual field (and why Dan's plane claustrophobia responds to this) – Practice 5: Daily chores as meditation — the lesson from a Thai Vipassana retreat – Why "speediness" is one of the most problematic aspects of modern life – The classic Good Samaritan seminarian study — and what it means for all of us – British-vs-American vocabulary interlude (pram, loo, tube, pee) – Practice 6: Using your domestic space as a glimmer-generator (without becoming obsessive about tidiness) – Practice 7: How you eat — and the breakfast that saved a stressful college-move morning – Practice 8: The many flavors of rest (and why "being creative" counts) – Practice 9: Saying no — plus the George Stephanopoulos heuristic ("would I do it if it were today?") – Practice 10: Reparenting yourself — the kindness you offer your kids and withhold from yourself Subscribe to watch more 10% Happier videos: https://www.youtube.com/tenpercenthappier Follow Dan Harris on Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/danharris/ https://www.tiktok.com/@danbharris https://www.facebook.com/DanHarrisABC https://twitter.com/danbharris https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-harris-91ba5716b/ #10PercentHappier #Glimmers #NervousSystem This episode is brought to you by Cash App. The Cash App Card is available to teens 13 to 17 with sponsorship by an eligible parent or guardian, with intuitive educational tools and instant access to money from family and friends. Download Cash App today and sponsor your teen. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partners. Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. See terms at cash.app/legal/podcast. This episode features a promo for Planet Visionaries. Emily Titesworth, executive director of the Honnold Foundation, works to expand access to solar energy in communities around the world. On Planet Visionaries, professional climber Alex Honnold goes beyond the headlines with Emily to explore practical solutions for a more equitable future. In partnership with the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative — listen or watch wherever you get your podcasts.