Unwinding Anxiety and Addiction with Dr. Jud Brewer

In one of our favorite conversations, Dr. Jud Brewer joins us to explore the habit of anxiety, mindfulness practices to heal addiction, and what we can learn from the brains of the world’s most advanced meditators. About Our Guest: Dr. Jud is a psychiatrist, neuroscientist and New York Times best-selling author. He’s the director of research and innovation at Brown University’s Mindfulness Center, where he also serves as an associate professor, as well as the executive medical director of behavioral health at Sharecare Inc. Dr. Jud is also the author of The Craving Mind and Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind. Watch the Episode: Prefer watching video? You can watch this episode on YouTube. Key Topics: 2:00: What got Jud from psychiatry to studying mindfulness? 5:45: Addiction and the structure of habits. 10:15: Mindfulness as a treatment for addiction. 14:00: Liking without wanting. 19:45: Habit formation and reward-based learning. 24:00: Awareness, and honoring your experience. 26:15: Curiosity. 28:10: The “habit” of anxiety. 32:00: Anxiety’s habit loop. 34:45: The true purpose of worrying. 39:00: Generalized vs. acute anxiety. 41:00: Anxiety and performance. 46:20: Practices for unwinding from anxiety. 54:45: Learning from the brains of experienced practitioners. 1:03:30: Recap Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Sponsors: From Dr. Hanson: The Foundations of Well-Being brings together the lessons of a lifetime of practice into one year-long online program. Podcast listeners can use the code BEINGWELL25 at checkout for an additional 25% off! Please don't hesitate to apply for a scholarship if you're in need. Find the new CBD+ performance gummies and the whole dosist health line-up today at dosisthealth.com. Use promo code BEINGWELL20 for 20% off your purchase. New Day from Lemonada just premiered on September 15th - listen wherever you get podcasts. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Want to sleep better? Try the legendary Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription. Connect with the show: Subscribe on iTunes Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Forrest on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Visit Forrest's website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices