Charlie Knoles is a visionary Vedic Meditation master teacher.  And today he joins Julie and I to de-mystify this ancient practice and demonstrate just how powerful implementing a simple and consistent meditation practice can be as an unparalleled tool for total life transformation.

Having taught thousands — everyone from A-list celebrities, to Fortune 500 CEO’s, entrepreneurs, artists, teachers, nurses, athletes and underprivileged youth, Charlie has developed a unique expertise in distilling seemingly elusive and arcane Vedic traditions down to their essence so that the deepest concepts from spirituality and science may be expressed in simple, practical steps that are accessible, easily assimilated and, he would submit, absolutely necessary as a precedent to finding inner peace and happiness.

Formally taught to meditate at age 4 by his father, the pre-eminent master (or “maharishi”) Vedic Meditation teacher Thom Knoles, Charlie followed in the footsteps of his father, developing a new curriculum for training meditation teachers and running deeply immersive courses in Vedic culture in the Himalayan mountains of India and on the northern coast of Bali. His background as a musician, his study of science and his experience as the father of three young children allow him to integrate many streams of knowledge and foster a deep understanding in his students.  Today Charlie and Thom together run The Veda Center.

Julie and I first had the pleasure of meeting Charlie through our involvement with MindBodyGreen.  And what immediately struck me was just how grounded he is, particularly in comparison with other teachers I have encountered who tend to be, well let’s just say more “ethereal”.  No robes or holier than thou attitude, Charlie is very much a normal dude in the “world” — a husband, father of three young kids and even more of a photography and tech nerd than I am in fact.  It’s this relatable “normal guy” quality that distinguishes him and allows his vast knowledge to penetrate so many.  Hence countless lives forever transformed.

Oh yeah – we’re now up on Soundcloud ! For those of you that prefer this service, check out the show there.  For those unfamiliar, Soundcloud is great because it allows you to share episodes across your social networks and even embed shows on your website or blog with their super groovy player widget.  You can even add comments to the show specifically tagged to the referenced section / time code.  And it’s an amazing tool to further help get the word out about the podcast, so we appreciate any sharing or spreading you are inclined to do! For more info, click HERE.

Simultaneous with the launch of our Ultimate Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition, Charlie introduced his own MBG  online course, The Essential Guide to Meditation, which entails over 6 hours of video content (plus access to an online support community) specifically designed to teach you everything you need to know to learn and master meditation and mindfulness — irrespective of skill level.  Why? So you can access, develop and step in to your best, most actualized and authentic self — which you may know by now is my favorite subject, and the consistent theme of this podcast.

I’ve studied his program and I can say with full confidence that he delivers, and then some.