Episode August 13, 2025

Think You Suck at Meditation? This Conversation Could Help. | Ofosu Jones-Quartey

From 10% Happier with Dan Harris 10% Happier

How to (constructively) lower the bar on your meditation practice.

Ofosu Jones-Quartey is a meditation teacher, hip-hop artist, and author based in the DC area. He's a certified teacher with over 20 years of experience bringing mindfulness, self-compassion, and creativity to people of all ages. His stage name is "Born I,", and his new book is called Lyrical Dharma: Hip-Hop as Mindfulness.

In this episode we talk about:

The definition of open-awareness meditation
How it differs from classical concentration practices (such as focusing on your breath, or loving kindness phrases)
Why Ofosu chose open-awareness meditation (in direct response to his struggles with OCD)
How you can practice open-awareness meditation
The benefits of a technique called "mental noting"
The "practice self-assessment tapes" that we run in our mind
Self-compassion and "lowering the bar" in your meditation practice
The relationship between neurodiversity and meditation in general
How to depersonalize the experience of suffering
And we hear some of Ofosu's music and the life experiences that inspired it

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Additional Resources:

Lyrical Dharma Music Playlist

Get ready for another Meditation Party at Omega Institute! This in-person workshop brings together Dan with his friends and meditation teachers, Sebene Selassie, Jeff Warren, and for the first time, Ofosu Jones-Quartey. The event runs October 24th-26th. Sign up and learn more here.

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