Anxiety has long been a massive societal issue that spiked during the pandemic, and many of us are still feeling it in 2025.

In this episode, renowned Buddhist monk Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche talks in detail about how he personally works with anxiety and panic and the practices he draws upon when dealing with these states.

Mingyur began doing long retreats in his teens and now teaches all over the world. He’s written the books The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness and In Love with the World: A Monk's Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying. He also oversees the Tergar Meditation Community, a global network of Buddhist meditation centers.

This episode was originally published in July 2022.

In this episode we talk about:

Working with strong emotions using sound and the breath
Deconstructing your reality to make it workable

Understanding what awareness is in a Buddhist sense
How to make meditation free-range and available to you all times
The simple but also tricky advice of, “stop doing and just be”
When to take a step back or even take a break from meditation
What Mingyur Rinpoche says is the true purpose of the practice.

This interview was recorded in person at the TED conference in April of 2022, where both Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and Dan Harris spoke.

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How a Buddhist Monk Deals With Anxiety | Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

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How a Buddhist Monk Deals With Anxiety | Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche