Cultivating Awe & Emotional Connection in Daily Life | Dr. Dacher Keltner

April 6, 2026·2 hr 21 min·5 clips

A minute of awe a day reduced long COVID symptoms in patients, a finding that's shifting how doctors prescribe nature and music.

Awe is not treated as rare. The episode opens with a blunt claim for a science conversation: a minute of awe a day is tied to reduced long COVID symptoms, lower inflammation, and higher vagal tone. Huberman sets up Keltner as a Berkeley psychologist who studies emotion, social dynamics, bonding, and awe, then keeps pulling the idea back toward daily life. Awe here is something people can practice through nature, music, and attention, not just wait around for. The social side gives the conversation some bite. Embarrassment and teasing are treated as part of bonding, which makes awkwardness feel less random and a little more useful. Music carries a lot of the episode. Keltner talks about growing up with Ted Nugent and ACDC, then hearing the Sex Pistols in England and feeling something immediate. Huberman follows that into the strange place where music can work on the body before language catches up. Iggy Pop shows up in a grounded way, through the detail that he is apparently into Qigong breathing. The conversation then gets more physical. Huberman brings in boxing and sparring through Sam Sheridan's A Fighter's Heart, while still saying clearly that getting hit in the head is bad for the brain. That keeps the point from drifting into macho romance. The idea is that shared intensity can create a bond that ordinary talk may not. The guest-host rhythm is steady. Huberman keeps translating stories into questions about emotion, physiology, language, and affiliation. Keltner keeps the science from floating away by giving lived examples. After the interview, the episode moves into housekeeping with a newsletter reminder and a Holland and Barrett ad, so the strongest material comes before the promotional tail.

As heard by us

A conversational look at awe as an everyday emotional practice, with intriguing claims about social connection and bodily health.

Awe is presented here as a trainable shift in attention, less a grand experience than a change in scale: a vista, music, or a minute spent noticing something larger than the self.

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Why you'd press play

A calm case for making awe part of your day.

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