My Forecast for Twenty Ten

A meditator wrote me and asked, Why was 2009 so intensely turbulent and dramatic? I know several people who went through a lot of drama and who are happy that the year is finally behind us. I would love to know more about this.

Here's what I wrote: 2009? Well, to me, it was the time when things truly began to rumble. The clarity about just how unsustainable are our current paradigms rose up like a wave in consciousness—as well as waves in nature—and anyone with a pulse could feel it in their body. It was like a massive inner earthquake. I, for one, had moments of hanging onto the floorboards. But not everyone could recognize it as a collective rumbling. Most people felt the shaking was coming from themselves, their lives, from all the things that urgently needed to change, right now! And so they began to break things left, right, and center, partly to stop the rumbling, to stop the pain.

That breaking apart is important. Old things must be pruned away for new things to grow. But it seems that, because we were so dulled to the small tremors—missing all the cues from earth’s early warning signs—the breaking, when it happened, was a violent chain sawing instead of a gentle clipping. That’s nobody’s fault. It’s just the way the mechanics of nature work. Ignore the early clues of rumbling sidewalks or rising tides, and you get slammed by falling debris and giant surf.

Perhaps we've cleared some overgrowth now. What I'm feeling in myself and in some of the peers and friends who I admire the most, is this sense that NOW IS TIME FOR ACTION. Like warriors who’ve shed heavy armor that was outdated and outmoded, and who’ve been initiated by the storms of change, we now have the courage to go into battle barefoot, semi nude, armed mainly with cunning skills and vast, multi-dimensional awareness. I’m talking about the people with I come into contact daily: writers, mothers, teachers, creators, doctors, scientists, athletes, marines, and more. I have this sense that a generation is rising and is going to go out into the field and make progressive change. These are the heroes. Us. If you can hear or see or sense or feel it’s almost impossible to do otherwise. I'm excited.

So perhaps 2009 was a necessary, uncomfortable shedding of old skin, like a snake slithering out of its scaly leather. Or, as many people have noted, like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, an evolutionary process, which, it turns out, is incredibly violent. New cells attack old cells inside the organism before the butterfly is created and can unfold her wings and fly.

I still think it's a major transition time; there is no sudden "smooth sailing". It will be turbulent. It will cause great collateral damage. But more of us have been initiated into the new warrior way. We have more skills, more resiliency, and a functional passion that’s grounded in capability not tethered to the stars. In 2010, we'll be more active, less passive. More vocal, more connected, and more powerful.

Mothers Who Meditate

One of the recurring themes of my Fall and Winter was mothers under pressure. Full-time moms with almost zero home help; business-owning mothers juggling kids, entrepreneurship, and mortgage payments; writer mothers whose minds are pulled in one direction by massive deadlines—and whose hearts are pulled in the other by the needs of their young.

How do we support mothers better in our society? It's a question I think and talk about frequently. The urgent priority: Insert deeply functional rest into the equation of the day. Meditation isn't just about taking a "time out." It is more of a "time in." It allows for a profound de-excitation of body and mind; a return to the still point within, the place where energy comes from and where healing, reorganizing, and rebalancing takes place.

This would all sound like some kind of twee Oprah magazine article, if it weren't for the reality check. Moms, especially those with young kids, have more of a challenge in meditating daily. They don't get the luxury of full twenty-minute sittings. They take what they can. With a baby at their breast. Their kids interrupt. They rise before five a.m. to get their practice done. They pull over their car on noticing the little ones have fallen asleep, and hope to get their full practice in.

I'm not saying fathers don't do this also. Maybe it's because I'm a woman—other women share their stories with me more. But what strikes me deeply are the validations my mothers-who-meditate have been sending about the benefits of their practice during some unsettled months. "It is literally the thing saving me right now." "My four year old said, 'Mom, you didn't shout at me today—it's because you meditated!" and I nearly cried." "There's been a shift in the family; my husband's stress has gone down. He's even started doing yoga on his own." Even with imperfect practice, these mothers have self-engineered a more stable life experience.

One of my favorite things about meditating mothers is witnessing what gets set up in utero. This weekend I ran into a meditator whose three-month old, Sebastian, was bundled against her chest. Lucky boy: Forty weeks of sharing a meditating mother's body chemistry had created a bliss baby, who'd been sleeping through the night since his first days and whose presence was saturated with wise-eyed calm.

Reducing Heart Disease 50% - without statins

A new study carried out at the Medical College of Wisconsin revealed that over the long term, men and women who practice a short, twice daily meditation had almost 50% lower rates of heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths compared to non-meditators. The practice's results were so striking, it was as if the participants who meditated were taking a new class of medications, the authors said.

Meanwhile, a study done of college students at the American University in Washington showed that those who meditated reduced blood pressure significantly, lowering their future risk of hypertension by 52%. Not surprisingly, they significantly improved their ability to cope with school and life stresses, and reduced anxiety, depression, and anger.

D.I.Y. Age Reversal, Stress Resistance

What's the elevator pitch for Vedic meditation?

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. Done!

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!