# DL Ep.29: Daniel Goleman on Practicing Before Life's Challenges

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/dharma-lab-7434763/dl-ep-29-daniel-goleman-on-practicing-before-life-s-challenges
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/dharma-lab-7434763/dl-ep-29-daniel-goleman-on-practicing-before-life-s-challenges.md
Podcast: [Dharma Lab](https://stenobird.com/podcast/dharma-lab-7434763)
Published: 2026-03-27T11:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.dharmalab.co/p/dl-ep29-daniel-goleman-on-practicing
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/191134581/9a5269938aaa3daafe04b7afdb564eed.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/dharma-lab-7434763/episodes/dl-ep-29-daniel-goleman-on-practicing-before-life-s-challenges
Duration seconds: 3143

## Resource

Dr. Richie Richard Davidson, Cortland Dahl, Dan Goleman Discussion Chapter Summary: 00:05:51 — Dan Goleman returns from India and meets Richie Davidson at Harvard00:06:38 — Studying meditation in academia when the field dismissed it00:07:11 — Their careers diverge: journalism at the New York Times and neuroscience research00:08:08 — The Mind & Life Institute and first meetings with the Dalai Lama00:09:20 — Paul Ekman’s surprising transformation after meeting the Dalai Lama00:12:03 — Richie’s quiet strategy: exposing scientists to contemplative practice00:13:09 — The birth of a new generation of contemplative scientists00:14:37 — Cort Dahl discovers meditation research in graduate school00:16:10 — Jon Kabat-Zinn teaching yoga in a Harvard Square basement00:17:35 — “The after is the before for the next during” — meditation changes baseline states00:18:43 — The breakthrough 2004 meditation brain study00:20:26 — The Dalai Lama’s lifelong assignment to study and share these practices00:21:47 — Shifting psychology from pathology to human flourishing00:26:09 — Emotional intelligence as a path to well-being00:31:16 — Why practice—not theory—is what actually changes people00:32:37 — Cort Dahl’s experience with social crisis and emotional complexity00:35:31 — The Dalai Lama’s advice on skillfully working with anger00:38:28 — Two contemplative approaches to difficult emotions00:45:24 — “Feel what you are feeling” — a simple practice that changes awareness00:46:11 — Dan Goleman on Vipassana meditation00:47:10 — Scaling well-being beyond formal meditation practice00:50:04 — Mingyur Rinpoche after retreat: “the same, only more so” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dharmalab.co/subscribe

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