July & August

I will be on the road for much of the summer. If you are interested in learning to meditate during this time, please visit the new site www.vedicnetwork.com to be connected to some of my excellent teaching colleagues in LA and beyond. You can also write to me for advice about where to start, at info@twentyminutemeditation.com. If you've already learned from me, use this network to find follow-up support and drop into some meetings around town while I'm away! I look forward to seeing you on my return and will gather some stories from the road to share with you, too. Happy summer.

July 4th Meditation in Los Angeles

For those who'd like to learn to meditate over the holiday weekend, a small meditation course will be offered over Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Monday in Laurel Canyon. It requires attendance for one 60-90 minute session per day. Please contact me for more information on 323 309 1671. If you haven't yet come to meet me, you'll be invited to come over for an hour on Thursday evening to hear more about this meditation and decide if you'd like to join in.

Vancouver: New Course, June 19th

It will be great to bring Twenty Minute Meditation to Vancouver, BC next week. The experience starts by attending my free introductory talk on Friday June 19th at 7pm. This will be at The Space Vancouver, 305-1008 Homer Street, Vancouver V6B 2X1 and will last about an hour. Those who'd like to learn will be invited to join a new course starting the next day, which will require attendance at one session per day, Saturday through Tuesday. Please click on the "Why Meditate?" link and more at right for further information about this practice.

Thank you to The Space, Vancouver’s premier Pilates and Yoga Wellness Studio, for hosting me. For more info visit thespacevancouver.com

D.I.Y. Age Reversal, Stress Resistance

A client has challenged me to say more with less. So here we go.

When you meditate, it's like you have a new power tool in your kit. Once you learn to operate it, this tool is your go-to for demolishing stress, building a stronger foundation against disease and anxiety, and renovating your exterior so it looks and feels radically younger. (8 years younger on average over time.)

There are lots of tools on offer today to make life better. Meditators love this one because it is easy, effective, reliable, and totally portable. They take it with them wherever they go.

Come find out more this Friday night, June 5th, when I will use a few more words to tell you what Vedic meditation is, why we do it, and how we easily master it.

ADDRESS: 505 Huntley Drive, West Hollywood, CA 90048
TIME: Friday June 5th at 7pm. I will talk for about one hour. Please RSVP via email (info@twentyminutemeditation.com) or phone (323 309 1671).

You will be invited to attend one session per day, Saturday through Tuesday, in order to become your own expert in repairing, renovating--and maybe even redecorating--body and mind. Click on "Why meditate?" and other posts, far right, for more background information.

Meditation Builds a Bigger Brain

We go to the gym to build up our body strength—but what can we do to increase our brain power? This week UCLA's Lab of Neuro Imaging released its findings on meditation's brain-building effects. Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of meditators and non-meditators. Science Daily reported, "Meditators showed significantly larger volumes of the hippocampus and areas within the orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus — all regions known for regulating emotions.

"We know that people who consistently meditate have a singular ability to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability and engage in mindful behavior," said Eileen Luders, lead author and a postdoctoral research fellow at the Laboratory. "The observed differences in brain anatomy might give us a clue why meditators have these exceptional abilities."

In my experience, meditators frequently report how their responses to the challenges and demands of life become clearer, calmer, more confident and less reactive. They'll report that emotional state is steadier and more optimistic. Cognitive function increases--work gets done quicker and decisions made swifter--and productivity rises. Science is therefore confirming what anecdotal reporting has said for eons; that the brain's remarkable plasticity lets it reshape, reorganize, and upgrade itself throughout adulthood.

This study reminds me of a fascinating piece in National Geographic magazine four years ago, which explains brain plasticity in detail and ends up explaining how meditation increases activity in the prefrontal cortex, contributing to greater happiness. Researchers claim, rather wonderfully, that the noble, hooked-up Tibetan monk above has such heightened activity in that area, he may just "quantifiably" be the happiest person on earth.

Survey Says...

It's been such a joy to share this practice with all sorts of people from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Nashville, and the UK. Here are some comments that recently found their way into my inbox, from freshly-minted meditators, and from one who has been on the program for a year now.

"I'm constantly so amazed and happy with the way my practice has just woven itself into my life. It's usually so hard for me to sustain any new routine, but this one has definitely stuck with me and created such subtle yet profound changes. All I can say is thank you!!!!!"

"Somehow, I feel as though I have created a bit more space between my inner awareness and the outer me that faces the world everyday."

"It's been an incredible experience so far. I've been able to keep up with my practice and make time for those 20 minutes, which is a really wonderful respite amid my hectic days."

"Meditation has allowed me to shed a tiny bit of what was enabling me to hide out and not step into myself fully. It has spiraled into all facets of my life in such a short period of time and I am so
happy that I chose to have you point me in the right direction."

Thanks for all you comments, and keep sending them, along with your questions.

Bloom Where You're Planted

The writings of the ancient sages can be very illuminating, but sometimes the most profound truths arise from everyday conversations. The other morning, I attended a breakfast-time social event here in Los Angeles, organized by hostess extraordinaire (and Vedic meditator) Audrey Bernstein as a kind of "cross-pollination" event, a way for people to meet and talk in the broad light of day instead of smokey, dark nights. One of the attendees, a striking English film director, was asked, "Where do you live?" "Well, it seems like I live here in L.A. now," she replied. "I never officially moved here, but apparently I've ended up here." She paused for a moment and then added, with equanimity, "I suppose you bloom where you're planted."

"Eureka!" I thought. That is it. The wisdom of the ages captured in the kind of common-sense lingo our grandmother would have used. You bloom where you're planted. We spend so much energy today distracted by thoughts of how much better life might be if we lived somewhere else; how we might hit on enduring, all-solving happiness if we just changed everything (job, city, partner, lifestyle).

Yet the truth is the simple, wake-up-every-day-and-
feel-content-where-I-am happiness doesn't come from juggling and re-jigging the external circumstances. Sure, sometimes change is necessary and new chapters worthy of starting. But we're mistaken if we think that mythical "other place" will deliver the unconditional sense of quiet fulfillment we seek. We're erroneous if we think that by ploughing through Craigs List for new apartments across the country, we'll no longer be seeking.

We need to locate that stable happiness where we are today (clue: it's inside us, and meditation is a vehicle to go discover it) and then draw off that fulfillment--really use it--by taking action in our lives, using our inner reserves of creativity, our compassion, our humor and grace in all sorts of everyday ways. Like attending breakfasts with strangers on a Thursday morning.

And then we find, almost magically, we're blooming. We're unfolding. Our happiness has been located at its source--literally, its roots. And in not always running "somewhere else, somewhere else," we've given it a chance to bloom.

Simple Truths

In reading mystic and scholar Andrew Harvey's wonderful book, 'Dialogues with a Modern Mystic,' I came across this quote. Harvey's use of words, especially when describing the mysterious realms of those things that can never adequately be described, but only experienced, are exquisite—and as close to capturing the ineffable as anyone gets. (Amongst other things, he is an expert on the sublime poetry of Sufi mystic Rumi.) This paragraph stands out in its simplicity; I expect all those with an ongoing practice will agree, his words sound somewhere deep and subtle in their bodies with the sweet ring of truth.

"It is very important to realize that there is a person inside who is not dying, who is not anxious, who doesn’t need anything, who is calm, tender, confident and far more deeply himself or herself than this bundle of contradictions and repetitions we confuse with our truth. The one way to remember this person and your origin is through a sustained and patient practice of meditation. As you learn to slowly quiet the mind, your divine identity shyly steps forward.”

C is for Calm

Thanks to C Magazine for letting me spread the word about this practice, ("the ultimate preventative measure" as I say in the piece) to a new audience. Sometimes people know at some quiet inner level of feeling that they want to meditate, but just aren't sure how to find their way to it. Press stories like this make it easier to find. (Their "C" stands for California, by the way.)

“The Revolution Will Not be Televised”*

I was asked to speak about meditation at an “inspired cross-pollination” salon called Mindshare, held in LA’s Brewery art district—a sprawling complex of giant warehouses, occupied by artists and designers, in an industrial part of downtown. The challenge? To win over the crowd in only five minutes. The gritty-yet-beautiful setting was a loft overlooking a ghostly train yard, illuminated by the light show of trucks flying down the adjacent interstate. No yoga pants and raw-food smoothies at this party, so I spoke to what I felt in the room.

“Meditation is an act of cultural resistance,” I said. “It’s a silent, yet potent action of refusal.”

The beer-toting artists and architects with black-rimmed glasses looked intrigued.

“When we meditate and give our bodies the chance to restore order and optimize health, we are saying “No!” to some pervasive cultural norms. Those messages telling us that it’s inevitable to be on multiple prescription drugs by your sixties; that it’s ‘part of the deal’ of modern life to have sleepless nights and take Ambien; that depression or anxiety needs the magic bullet of medication.“ I went on, “When we commit to a meditation practice, we’re saying a big “No!”to the idea that we can mortgage our way to happiness and find permanent fulfillment through buying the next gadget; and “No!” to the idea that some expert with a book to sell holds our keys to happiness.”

I told them how 72 million Americans are said to have cardio-vascular disease, if you include the 50 million with high-blood pressure, and how Vedic meditators have been shown to have 87% less cardio-vascular disease than non-meditators. How cancer is the second biggest killer in our country, yet meditation helps the body organize to stay cancer free, with 55% fewer incidences in those who practice. And I told them how one of my recent students, who claimed to have been sleep deprived for “37 years” (she’s 37) reported on the second day of her meditation course, “I slept like a rock last night!”

It’s not a miracle nor a panacea for every ill, but it is a foundational tool for optimal health and personal transformation. Vedic meditation allows the body to unwind the stress that manifests as disease, and lets us locate the ocean of happiness that lies within. In this era, a practice this self-empowering seems like nothing short of a radical act.

*At the exact moment I was debating whether to take “radical meditation”as my thesis, the 1974 Gil Scott-Heron song, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” came on the radio. Green light.
**Some may think this blog post contradicts the “Meditation as Modern Luxury” post below? Different crowd; different way into the subject; same benefits.

The price of happiness: A round-the-world airline ticket?

“What did you think of ‘Eat, Pray, Love'?” is an unavoidable question when you’re a meditation teacher. My personal response? On the one hand, extremely glad to see meditation, one of the themes of the book, given such tremendously wide exposure via a personality with whom many people easily relate. (Oprah devoted an entire show to the author Elizabeth Gilbert, and they spent several minutes discussing her practice—which if you’re wondering, is different from Vedic meditation.)

On the other hand, the incessant chattiness of the book drove me to distraction. Irony of ironies: in meditation, we learn to pay no attention to the meaning of thoughts as they arise. In this book, we’re forced to get a replay of every wisp of content passing through the author’s mind. Some reviewers called Gilbert’s voice, and its constant monologue, “irresistible”; I confess that by page 200 I deemed it just a little “aggravating.” (And just wait until it’s paired with Julia Roberts’ “irresistible” grin in the upcoming movie version!)

What’s most interesting about the book, though, is the debate it’s inspired in the blogosphere, between those readers who call Gilbert’s journey—one that takes her through the dark night of the soul and out the other side to tropical sunsets—“self-indulgent” and “self-absorbed” and those who say it’s inspirational, triggering their own inner voice to whisper, “Could my life be better than this?” This thread on Amazon gets quite impassioned.

Love it or resist it, 'Eat, Pray, Love' is hugely significant for generating such lively conversation about whether, and how much, each one of us deserve happiness. For that, I raise my hat and give profound thanks to Gilbert--a one-woman catalyst sparking rumblings of change amongst so many. Yet I’d love to know how many of its fans have found a way to their own meditation practice. Does the author’s year-long odyssey around the globe subtly reinforce the idea, so dominant in our culture, that true peace and quiet is acquired only by escaping to other, “more peaceful,” or even “more spiritual” locations (whatever that means)? Do readers become armchair travelers on one woman’s exotic pilgrimage—then dub her self-realization out of reach for themselves? I hope not. The point of meditation is that the meditator need not go anywhere drastic or change her or his whole life to experience peace, fortitude, and joy: the direction is, sit down on the sofa and let the senses turn within. We don’t want to be waiting until we can organize that once-in-a-lifetime trip to Bali to acquire the bliss that is our birthright!