The Mind and Body Are One Thing with Ellen Langer

The Evolving Leader

In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, hosts Jean Gomes and Scott Allender talk to the mother of mindfulness, Dr Ellen Langer. Dr Langer is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard and for over 40 years has studied Mindlessness/Mindfulness, concluding that mindfulness (without meditation) results in improved health, well-being and improved relationships. She has written over 200 research articles and 13 books, the most recent of which is The Mindful Body (2023). Dr Langer is also a gallery exhibiting artist.

Referenced during this episode:
The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Lasting Health (2023)
Counterclockwise: A Proven Way to Think Yourself Younger and Healthier (2010)

Other reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:
Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, 2023)
The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, 2023)
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The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.

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1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. Can you tell us about your career and the significant milestones to give us the big picture of your journey? (00:03:54)

3. Can you just remind us of the definition of mindfulness? (00:09:13)

4. You've given us a definition of what mindfulness is, the basic idea of paying attention, noticing, and how that informs a type of mindset. What is the primary thing that is actually happening that’s translating that belief into a physiological change? (00:19:19)

5. You‘ve written that research on risk misunderstands risk taking. Talk us through the idea that it’s an entirely subjective observer phenomenon and also how our social identity plays a role in our perception of risk? (00:26:44)

6. Can you talk about what you’ve learnt about perspective taking (and how you can benefit from empathy) and how to increase it? (00:33:56)

7. Can you share some of your studies into how we can get better at noticing these unconscious assumptions that shape our lives, particularly in the context of aging? (00:37:54)

8. How have you applied it yourself? (00:40:39)

9. Stress is the major killer (00:41:57)

10. “When you’re not there, you don’t know you’re not there”. In your research did you find differences in how people are mindless and how do they develop their level of awareness? (00:47:44)

11. How can leaders build more mindful organisations? (00:56:08)

12. What else should we be asking you? (01:02:02)