I'm back on the West Coast after a few months on the road, teaching, writing, and exploring a few metaphysical corkscrew moments, everywhere from windswept Wiltshire, England to ultra-green Jamaica. Exciting News: Last minute San Francisco Meditation Course starts this Sunday, October 18th. I am helping my dear colleague and esteemed meditation master, Thom Knoles, bring Vedic Meditation to the Bay Area. Please come join us on Sunday at 6pm at 3108 Jackson Street, 94115 (between Presidio and Lyon). Thom will talk about meditation, its practical benefits, and share his four decades of experience. Those who want to learn will be invited to join a course requiring one session per day the next four days. This is a rare opportunity to learn from Thom, who will help you powerfully shed stress and scoop up reserves of energy and peace. Drop me a line at info@twentyminutemeditation.com if you can—last minute arrivals also welcome.
Meanwhile I have a few things to share. My recent book collaboration CLEAN with Dr Alejandro Junger hit the NY Times Bestseller list. It is a highly functional, pragmatic guide to cleansing and detoxifying in order to survive and thrive in a modern world.
In addition, the provocative, and fascinating, website Reality Sandwich just posted my article about the above mentioned corkscrews.... take a look!
I had a fantastic time as a presenter at Kingston, Jamaica's fundraiser for the Bustamente Children's Hospital, Shakti Love Fest, on Oct 3rd. Thanks Sharon, Shaggy, and Toots (of the Maytals) for a wonderful day.
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.
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.
"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.
"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.”
"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!
Meditation as Modern Luxury?
Vedic meditation found its way into Angeleno magazine this month—the high-end glossy that, as its subtitle suggests, is home to all things Modern Luxury. (I was featured in a wellness story as one of “one of LA’s expert de-stressers and detoxers.” Click to enlarge.)
Is “modern luxury” at odds with meditation—a practice that is, essentially, allowing us to transcend the relative world and all its trappings for a few, powerfully restorative minutes? It’s funny, I’ve always told my friends (admittedly with tongue slightly in cheek) that meditation delivered the ultimate luxuries: inner peace and unshakable bliss. After all, in this era of unprecedented wealth for many, and unprecedented access to information and stimulation for most, we’re still doing a great job of suffering. True happiness—the kind of unconditional, unshakable inner contentment that stays switched on no matter what’s going on around us—is no easier to maintain and sustain than it was when we had access to less.
There’s nothing wrong with luxuries like beautiful possessions, sensory pleasures, and breathtaking views from the Amalfi Coast. These things have the potential to awaken our senses, add to our poetic storylines, and tickle our creativity, after all. But, if we are fortunate enough to access these things, we won’t truly enjoy them if we’re distracted, stressed, or too busy organizing the-next-thing-that-might-deliver-happiness to notice what we already have. And if we look to these things for our fulfillment, we’ll always be a little disappointed. Possessions may break, senses may fade with age, and jaw-dropping views may disappear when the bank account dips.
Meditation is the foolproof strategy we use to engineer our own, reliable, non-conditional state of peace and happiness; it allows us to make contact with the quiet inner field where fulfillment is located. In so doing, we find that whatever our life’s particular flavor may be—extravagance? simplicity? austerity?—gets clarified and enhanced. A daily meditation practice is the delivery vehicle for happiness in all these cases, the foundation upon which everything else plays out (whether you do it in ultra-deluxe cashmere or your worn-out college sweats).
Meditation and the Empowered Woman
I wrote the following in response to a request to develop a meditation course for some top female athletes and outdoorswomen doing a retreat in the Utah desert. Perhaps it will resonate with you, too. For more basic info on this practice, click on the Why Meditate? link at right. Photo borrowed from the amazing Mr. Carlos Serrao
Why would an athletic, adventurous woman, one who’s interested in making tracks and blazing trails out there in the snow, sands, and surf—and maybe even the stars—want to devote the time to journeying deeper in here, into the quieter strata of her own consciousness? Or to put it more succinctly, why, if there’s so much to achieve in this short time on planet Earth, would she want to sit still, doing nothing, for minutes at a time?
Why, after developing the instrument of her body so finely and fueling up her willpower, would she want to, on a daily basis, forget her body and let go of her will—and just “be”?
Because being supports doing.
Humans have known since the dawn of time that we need to access those quiet, and sometimes silent, strata of awareness inside ourselves where the chattering mind isn’t heard and an awareness of our own “isness,” our vaster, wholer nature, can be had. That is the place of being. Still awareness.
Somehow, in the rush to modernize, to do more, do more, get more, get more, we forgot this fundamental.
We need to visit this place now more than ever. Why? First of all, because we are so insanely oriented towards doing in our culture—living four lives at once, it seems—we are overexcited, constantly stimulated, and consequently, wound up and exhausted. This means we tip into stress, lose our focus, and need longer recovery times because the amount of sleep we get nightly is never quite enough to fund the multiple levels of mental and physical demands we’re meeting daily. There’s only one choice: to be effective and to avoid suffering, we need to incorporate deeper levels of rest into what we do. Meditation’s rest is scientifically proven to be deeper than that of sleep. Energy levels and endurance levels rise as a result. Naps and caffeine shots fall out of favor. Potential that is held “on pause” by the weight of stress and busyness gets recruited as the brain finds its own way to a more organized state. Meditators manage pain better; perform more accurately under pressure, and work better as a team.
Secondly, because moments of dynamic rest fund dynamic activity. De-exciting the mind and body through meditation is like pulling back a big archer’s bow. It is unmoving—though, to be fair, it is also often bubbling and buzzing, for reasons you begin to smilingly accept when you learn to meditate—but in all cases, it is quivering with dynamic tension. Come out of meditation and you are charged with momentum and lucidity. You pick an action, you aim your bow of attention, and you find that the new energy and clarity you just scooped up makes your arrow fly extra direct and fast to its target. (Athletes tested in eye-hand coordination had 40% faster responses if they meditated; resilience to stress and physical sickness rises exponentially in everyone who does it.)
Thirdly, because in that place of mental and physical de-excitement, a huge amount of resting, healing, and reorganization, on all levels from gross to subtle, is done. We get renewed. We strip away the old and evolve towards that which is newer, better, and higher. And this is most important of all if we are not only to be happy in our lifetimes (a worthy enough goal!) but especially if we are to be the leaders, inspirations, and lighthouses for others that the world desperately needs now. It’s time to help everyone evolve. It’s time to think for ourselves; to act from a place of community not relentless individuality; to have the awareness to understand our relationship with Mother Earth, and the energy to birth conscious children who will steward the next few decades wisely. We can’t afford at this time to be clouded, scared, and sick, or shrinking from our shadows.
How does sitting with your eyes closed help in this giant mission? Briefly: Nature always wants to restore balance when given half a chance. In the deep rest of meditation, layers of gunk—from cellular distortions that cause illness, to repetitive thoughts that keep us stuck in redundant or painful patterns, to the big fears that we’ll be alone, unsupported, and unloved—get a chance to be released. They’ve just got to go, because all those things aren’t helpful to our evolution. They get in the way of us shining our true light out into the world. They keep us small, fearful, uncertain, fatigued. And so subtly, over time, they peel away, peel away, like leaves off a tree heading into fall. Nothing magical, nothing miraculous: just Nature doing its job of evolving things, keeping growing. It’s not a conquering of our nature that we’re engaged in through this practice—it’s actually a giant letting go.
Though we all want this evolution, and read a hundred books to intellectually “get” it, we can’t successfully “think” our way out of these sticky layers (“just think positive!”) to find fulfillment and grace, we actually need to start having the experience of accessing our reservoir of quiet stability and unchanging happiness. This is part of the bigger effect of meditation. With time, you notice, gosh, my way of being in the world has shifted. My fears are fading. People are responding to me more effortlessly. Almost as if I am adding to their experience by being me. I am present to the now and I can sense or intuit what I need to be doing to be a very relevant player in this drama of life. I am someone who is creative and pushing things forward, not lurking timidly in the back hoping to just ‘make it by.’ I trust in the support I feel—I take more risks as a result.
For outdoors lovers, that experience of being might be had in the midst of action—halfway up a rock face, or gazing at a glacial panorama, you feel that noisy brain fall still and your sense of connection to the whole takes over. Nature is in that instance showing us the truth. But we want to have the reliable, consistent experience of that truth within ourselves. We want to start taking our sanctuary with us everywhere we go, and we want it not to just be a ‘happy accident’. In a sense, we want to become so familiar with that place that it goes from extraordinary (“holy wow!”) to ordinary (“of course”).
By this point, hopefully any notions of meditation being something for bliss bunnies who tell you the sky is blue even when it’s obviously gun-metal gray, or something for those looking for a cosmic escape hatch from life, are getting dissolved. It’s pragmatic. It’s a survival tool. It ultimately becomes a key to thriving.
There’s no magic bullet. Meditation doesn’t solve every ill or sorrow or turn us superheroed overnight (except in rare cases). But gradually we move to a new paradigm when we have a daily meditation practice. We start finding that we can “do less and achieve more,” in the words of the ancient sages. We find we are drawing off that inner, infinite reservoir of energy, creativity, and intelligence, not living in the end zone of adrenaline, anxiety, and sheer willpower that, while effective in spurts, is ultimately exhausting (and can leave a trail of stress behind us). We begin to move wakefully and gracefully through life. We step into our full potential and individual power, little by little.
Being supports Doing. Moments of a meditation practice—if you make the commitment to do it daily, no excuses--become the foundation to a happier, more effective, more productive, less fearful, more inspired life. It takes commitment, it takes curiosity, and it takes a willingness to trust that sitting on the sidelines for a spell, even when it’s boring and you have itchy feet, supports better, faster, and much funner playing overall. Millions practice it; in this doing, doing, doing-oriented world, you have to ask yourself, can we afford to get so far from our being? Don’t we want to unfold more of our potential, and get more out of, and give more to life? Game on!
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