Happiness Break: Contemplating our Interdependence with Nature, with Dekila Chungyalpa

Take ten minutes to renew your connection to the earth through this guided meditation on our interdependence with the ecosystem.

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/mt473u79

How to Do This Practice:

1. Find a comfortable place to do this practice, relax into your body.

2. Wherever you are, start to acknowledge your surroundings, noticing the living and inanimate things around you.

3. Focus your attention on your breath, and how your breathing is interdependent on other life forms, and other life forms are dependent on your breath.

4. Contemplate the Earth’s compassion, and how it provides you with unconditional support.

5. Finish this practice by acknowledging your connection to the natural world.

Today’s Happiness Break host:

Dekila Chungyalpa is the founder and head of the Loka Initiative, which brings together faith leaders and culture keepers of indigenous traditions on environmental and climate issues.

Learn More About Dekila Chungyalpa’s work: https://centerhealthyminds.org/about/people/dekila-chungyalpa

Learn about the Loka Initiative: https://centerhealthyminds.org/programs/loka-initiative

Follow Dekila on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dchungyalpa/?hl=en

Follow Dekila on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dchungyalpa?lang=en

More resources from The Greater Good Science Center:

What Happens When We Reconnect With Nature: https://tinyurl.com/553xwm47

How Nature Helps Us Heal: https://tinyurl.com/2p93682j

Why Is Nature So Good for Your Mental Health? https://tinyurl.com/ycx9ns4p

How Nature Can Make You Kinder, Happier and More Creative: https://tinyurl.com/d2vzpsaj

How Being in Nature Can Spur Personal Growth: https://tinyurl.com/2p822nyj

How Modern Life Became Disconnected from Nature: https://tinyurl.com/bdzzy6pc

Being Around Nature Helps You Love Your Body: https://tinyurl.com/34m7tfre

We love hearing from you! How do you connect with nature? Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

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We're living through a mental health crisis. Between the stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, burnout — we all could use a break to feel better. That's where Happiness Break comes in. In each biweekly podcast episode, instructors guide you through research-backed practices and meditations that you can do in real-time. These relaxing and uplifting practices have been shown in a lab to help you cultivate calm, compassion, connection, mindfulness, and more — what the latest science says will directly support your well-being. All in less than ten minutes. A little break in your day.

This Happiness Break is part of our special series, Climate, Hope & Science. In it, we explore the intersection of environmental well-being and our own well-being, where taking care of ourselves and the planet are one in the same and feeling good is not only possible, it’s helpful. We find the links between crisis, hope, happiness, and action.

Look for the third and final episode May 11. Plus, we’ll share another climate-focused Happiness Break on May 18.