After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. ~Aldous Huxley

What is silence? I've been chasing silence since I was 20 years old. But why is it important and what can you learn from it? Is it, as some research suggests, essential for our health?

Many people think of silence as just the absence of noise and sound. Is it that or is it the presence of something other than sound? Could it be merely the echo of the empty desolate void?

I think the answer is much more complex than any of those. Silence isn’t a static thing. In my experience, it’s dynamic. Just like you've probably heard how the eskimos have 100 words for snow, I think it's the same with silence.

There are a hundred, maybe a thousand, different qualities, shades, and moods to silence.

But one thing is for sure. A key aspect of meditation is that you become more sensitive to the subtle and ever-changing sound of silence. And, if I may be so bold, there are riches to be found there. What kind?

The list of life-enhancing benefits from silence is long. There are physical, emotional, and psychological benefits. Silence is to your spiritual health what sunlight is to photosynthesis. It’s difficult (if not impossible) to have the latter without the former.

Your brain, your creativity, your extraordinary powers of attention and concentration they all benefit, grow, and thrive through periods of sustained silence.

Researchers have definitely found that silence is important for our health. In fact, some studies have focused on the healing effects of silence by studying the deadly effects of noise. One article on the healing properties of silence states that:

Experts believe that noise is deadly because it raises the levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline in the body. High stress hormone levels have been linked to heart failure, strokes, high blood pressure, and immune problems.

Some statistics show that over 70% of disease is stress-related. Given the noisy nature of our world today, it’s no wonder stress is reaching epidemic levels.

As you probably know already, sitting silently in meditation is one of the most effective ways that you can reduce stress.

Today, we explore the rich and complex mystery of silence. Of course, given the subjective nature of the topic, we can only scratch the surface of a topic like this. But one thing is for sure, silence is more important than we think and many of us are missing out.

And because I love silence so much, this is in some ways more of a meditation on the transforming, healing, and restorative power of silence.

During the show, I explore silence in 5 parts.

Part 1: Silence Will Transform You

(Photo Credits via Flickr Creative Commons: James Whitesmith)

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Transcendental Meditation opens the awareness to the infinite reservoir of energy, creativity, and intelligence that lies deep within everyone. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Have you ever wanted to learn more about Transcendental Meditation (TM)? Arguably one of the most popular forms of meditation on the planet, it's ironically challenging to learn without spending lots of money and joining the TM movement.

So we wanted to provide a first hand account of this hugely popular approach to meditation. In this episode of the OneMind Meditation podcast, I interview AboutMeditation.com cofounder Tom Bershad about his experience practicing Transcendental Meditation.

TM was first popularized by the Beatles when they went to India and learned TM from the great Indian teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. TM swept into the mainstream on the coattails of the Beatles and the wave of liberation movements which characterized so much of the '60s.

TM took another leap after it was famously featured as a centerpiece in the immensely popular book by Harvard-trained physician Herbert Benson called The Relaxation Response.

In The Relaxation Response, Benson controversially revealed the secret training methods of TM, but also legitimized meditation through his groundbreaking research into the health benefits of meditation as embodied by practitioners of TM.

In fact, the TM organization has amassed an extensive body of research recognized and supported by the National Institute of Health, the American Heart Association, and the American Medical Association chronicling the physical, psychological, and emotional benefits of meditation.

Maharishi's original vision for the transformative impact of TM was global in scale and truly awe-inspiring.

Tom Bershad started meditating in 1973 when he was formally initiated into TM practice at the age of 15. He's been meditating regularly ever since.

I wanted to interview Tom about TM so he could share with you his first-hand and in-depth experience with this highly effective practice. If you've ever wondered about TM what it is, how it works, and the philosophy behind it then this show is for you.

Through the interview, You're going to learn about Mantras, yogic philosophy, and the kinds of experiences you can have as both a beginning and advanced practitioner.

We only scratch the surface, but I think you're going to find this interview informative and inspiring. Tom's combination of passion and precision is refreshing and illuminating.

Learn how to meditate in 5 easy lessons with our Free How To Meditate Mini Course.

(Photo credits via Flickr Creative Commons: Alex Berger, Khánh Hmoong)

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Begin with little things daily and one day you will be doing things that months back you would have thought impossible. ~Swami Satchidananda

Meditation and yoga have gone hand in hand for millennia. It was only when yoga came to the West that it got reduced to the calming and healthy physical practice most of us know it as today. But as meditation starts to catch up with yoga as an accepted and mainstream wellness practice, that’s changing.

Increasingly, hatha yoga (the physical version of yoga) is becoming a gateway for people to discover the benefits of a regular meditation practice.

That was exactly what happened to business author and entrepreneur Sonia Thompson. After taking yoga classes for a few months at her local gym, she found herself yearning for something deeper. Through her own research and through a good friend, she started to learn more about meditation.

Compelled by what she learned, Sonia spent a week on retreat at Yogaville a yoga and meditation ashram where people can experience the transformative breadth of yogic philosophy and practice.

Over the course of five days on retreat at Yogaville, Sonia discovered that illusive feeling that was missing from her physical yoga practice. She found it in the depths of meditation.

Sonia refers to herself as a reformed corporate junkie. And before her current incarnation as an entrepreneur, she spent more than a decade as a marketer and business leader growing brands around the world for large healthcare companies like Johnson & Johnson. She also wrote the book Delight Inside: Build your dream business that keeps your customers coming back for more.

In this episode of The OneMind Podcast, Sonia and I explore the experience she had while on retreat at Yogaville. We also dive into the incredible power of habits and the value of relating to meditation as a keystone habit. Finally, Sonia shares her own reflections on why meditation is so important for entrepreneurs.

I think you’re going to love this episode. If you’re a yoga fanatic but haven’t made the leap into a daily meditation practice yet, this interview might inspire to cross that divide.

Want to learn meditation in 5 easy lessons? Register for our free How To Meditate Mini Course

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One does not practice meditation to become a great meditator. We meditate to wake up and live, to become skilled at the art of living. -Elizabeth Lesser

Do you struggle with stress and anxiety? At times do you feel like you’re life is a little like a hamster wheel that you can’t get off?

Many of us living in the West struggle with a profound sense of tunnel vision. Our sense of possibility and potential is often eclipsed by the incredible stress and pressure of modern life.

A daily meditation practice, on the other hand, can actually reverse the downward emotional, mental, and physical spiral of stress.

According to the American Institute of Stress, stress causes 60% of all human illness and disease and 3 out of 4 doctor-related visits are stress-related. Loss of sleep, overeating, increased risk of heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes these are just a few of the related consequences. The medical costs related to stress are astronomical, which is why many companies are starting to sponsor in-house meditation programs.

And what about the effects of stress on our brains? You may have heard of the hippocampus it’s the the part of your brain associated with self-awareness, compassion, and introspection. It's also associated your emotions and memories.

It turns out that the hippocampus is covered in receptors for the stress hormone cortisol, and studies have shown that it can be damaged by chronic stress, contributing to a harmful spiral in the body. In fact, people who suffer from depression, PTSD, and other stress-related disorders actually tend to have a smaller hippocampus. Yikes.

But all is not lost. Here’s a scientific angle on how meditation can help. According to a 2011 study at Harvard, the hippocampus actually showed significant increases in grey matter density among people who participated in an 8-week mindfulness program. Some researchers have even suggested that meditation can reverse the damaging effects of stress on the brain.

But let’s step back from the dire statistics and brain research for a moment. What about a simpler take on it?

Where and how do we re-discover the art of living? How do we jump off that accelerating hamster wheel and re-establish some sanity, perspective, and wellbeing in our lives?

If you’re reading this, you probably know the answer already: meditation. I’m a huge advocate for the benefits of meditation. But don’t take my word for it.

The science and research detailing the health benefits alone stretch back to the early ’70s with the publication of Herbert Benson’s landmark book, The Relaxation Response. And more importantly, this practice has thrived for three thousand years. Why? Because meditation can open you up to a vision of life and being that’s transformative.

That’s why I put a premium on helping people create a daily meditation habit and eventually turn their meditation practice into a keystone habit.

In this episode of the OneMind Podcast, we boil down our recent 3-day Meditation For Life seminar into a potent 3-part lesson on the benefits of meditation.

How can it help you break free from stress and anxiety?

What are the common pitfalls of meditation and where do most people get stuck?

And most importantly, how can meditation connect you with a positive vision of life that transcends the corrosive and limiting tunnel vision that colors so much of modern existence?

(Photos credits via Flickr CC: Hernán Piñera, Florian Simeth)

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What you seek is seeking you. ~Rumi

What does it take to keep going when, as the saying goes, the going gets tough? Really tough.

We all start on the path of meditation with high hopes, serious aspirations, or maybe just guarded optimism.

We come to the practice suffering from stress, anxiety, and some form of overwhelm. Maybe you’re haunted, like I was, by the feeling that there is more to life than you can see, touch, taste, hear, feel, or cognize with your rational mind.

The answer to this feeling seems close but always just out of reach an essence or key that you’re somehow missing. And yet you know that connecting with that essence will help you make sense of life and all this chaos we're swimming in all the time.

Or maybe you come like a refugee, seeking some sort of relief and rest from the relentless press of 21st century life. Maybe you just sense an unrealized opportunity to tap into your potential.

We all approach meditation based on variations of these themes. And sometimes you’re meditating, but you just don't know if you should carry on. You're not seeing results. You're not having breakthroughs. Meditation is hard. You're not sure if you're doing it right or if you're really cut out for it.

So this episode of the OneMind podcast is for you. For the lone meditator who just doesn't know if she should carry on and whether it's really worth it.

From one fellow meditator to another, this is a call from the heart to press on and don’t look back. It’s time for you to burn the boats.

If you enjoyed this podcast, you can sign up for our free How To Meditate mini course here.

(Photo Credit via Flickr Creative Commons: Challot & Facebook Buddha Heart)

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By penetrating very deeply the present moment, the past and future fall away, and you become free. Fear is the demon that prevents us from letting go of the past and the future, that in turn, keeps us from spontaneously plunging into the present. ~ Joe Gifford

Do you fear death? Does the promise and mystery of life have to fade with our youth? We’ve all inherited so many of ideas about what old age looks like. Those ideas color our view of life. But are you ready to have your assumptions overturned?

In this episode of the OneMind Podcast, we interview the ever-inspiring Joseph Gifford. He’s 95 years old and he radiates more vitality than most people half his age.

Joe is a former professional dancer. Today, he teaches symphony orchestra conductors and actors how to tap into their essence as they perform. According to Joe’s website:

Joseph Gifford is a respected and honored teacher who has worked with conductors, singers, and instrumentalists for over thirty years. He brings to his students the possibility of going beyond personal boundaries, to grow into new pathways that lead to the deeper and wider dimensions of the timeless world of music.

As one of his students said, “Working with Joe Gifford can be a life-changing as well as music-changing experience. His workshops offer a supportive, challenging and expansive environment, which encourages an exploration of the very essence of music itself.”

In 1973, Joe started down the path of meditation when he encountered the work of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who founded Transcendental Meditation. He’s been meditating ever since. In the process, Joe became a teacher of The Radiance Technique/Authentic Reiki and his meditation practice has evolved with different teachers and influences.

It’s uplifting and poignant to hear Joe’s passion for meditation and the mystery of life. From Joe’s perspective, the same inspired intelligence that radiates through Rembrandt’s paintings and Beethoven’s symphonies runs through our veins too. He works to help his students access that native intelligence.

I invited Joe on to the show because I wanted you to benefit from listening to someone who has lived and loved as long as he has. And I think you’ll appreciate what a enormous role meditation has played in shaping his creative passion for life.

Show Notes

Do you want to learn meditation? Try our free How To Meditate mini course here.

(Photo credit via Flickr Creative Commons: Kyle Pearce)

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Do you suffer from chronic pain? Did you know it’s possible to reduce your pain through meditation and mindfulness? Are you aware that meditation can help reduce the stress related to chronic pain?

Now more than ever, clinical psychologists are using contemplative modalities like meditation and mindfulness to help their clients manage pain. Whether you suffer from physical, psychological, or emotional pain, meditation can help with stress, trauma, and illness.

In this episode of The OneMind Podcast, we talk with NYC-based clinical health and neuropsychologist, writer, speaker, and professor, Dr. Jennifer Wolkin.

Dr. Wolkin first discovered the power of meditation as a way to manage her own chronic pain during her post-doctoral studies at Harvard Medical School. Based on the emerging research and her own positive experiences, she eventually integrated mindfulness-based healing modalities into her work with over 95% of her clients.

Dr. Wolkin is also keenly interested in the relationship between mindfulness and the human brain. Increasingly, researchers are discovering and documenting the positive effects of meditation on our brains. The results are compelling and promising.

Dr. Wolkin recently founded an online community called BrainCurves, an initiative designed to inspire accurate and accessible mind-body-brain wellness ideas for women.

I asked Dr. Wolkin to join us because of her unique and integrated approach to psychology and her passionate advocacy for mind-body-brain wellness.

You can learn meditation in 5 easy lesson with our free How To Meditate mini course here.

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To deal with things, knowledge of things is needed. To deal with people, you need insight and sympathy. To deal with yourself, you need nothing. Be what you are conscious being and don’t stray away from yourself. ~Sri Nisargadatta

What is letting go? And what exactly are we letting go of during meditation? And how deep does it go? Is there any end to how much we can let go? And also, how healthy is it to let go? What are the benefits? Are there any dangers? These are the questions we explore in this episode of The OneMind Podcast.

I've wanted to do a show about ‘the art of letting go’ for a while. Here's why letting go is really the heart of meditation practice. It's the essence of what you do when you sit down to meditate. No matter what kind of meditation practice you do, 95% of it is going to be about this one simple choice to let go over and over again.

Letting go is an incredibly important part of being human. We all carry so much baggage around. Learning how to let go on occasion helps us revitalize and rejuvenate our mind, our emotions, our body, and our spirit.

If at times you feel like you're mind is like a washing machine on steroids spinning in your head, then letting go will help you deal with that. In truth, a lot of us have that choppy washing machine experience before we learn how to periodically let go and unplug from our thoughts.

We're often tortured, distracted, stressed, or confused by the frenzy of activity in our minds, but we don't need to be. Learning how to let go in meditation is a key part of gaining perspective on that experience and finding a new way to relate to it all.

Chapter 1. What governs the movement of our minds?

The post OM 012: How To Practice The Art Of Letting Go appeared first on About Meditation.

It was November 1970 when Richard Miller quietly stepped outside of the first yoga class he’d ever attended and looked up into the clear California night sky. Something was different. What was it?

He was relaxed, at peace, and he felt connected to everything throughout the entire universe. He had just experienced a taste of something that would become his life-long passion to understand and realize. It was the experience of unity consciousness that can come through meditation.

Today, Dr. Richard Miller is a clinical psychologist who has developed a revolutionary approach to meditation called iRest.

Based primarily on the ancient yogic practice know as yoga nidra, iRest is a fusion of eastern and western contemplative practices and influences. And thanks to the work of Dr. Miller, it is used today in VA and military hospitals and settings across the US to help veterans heal through their symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In Dr. Miller’s own words:

iRest is a research-based transformative practice of deep relaxation and meditative inquiry that: releases negative emotions and thought patterns, calms the nervous system, and develops a deep capacity to meet any and all circumstances you may encounter in life.

iRest is currently being utilized in VA hospitals, military bases, hospitals and clinics, hospice, homeless shelters, community programs, and schools.

In the first part of this interview, Dr. Richard Miller shares his personal story about meditation. In the second part, we explore his 10-step iRest protocol that helps veterans, and anyone suffering from mild to acute trauma, heal from their psychological wounds and thrive.

Dr. Miller has consulted on over 20 scientific studies to assess the veracity of his approach with positive results. Treating PTSD through iRest is so successful that the military has embraced and implemented it in over 35 settings across the US as a CAM treatment for both PTSD and chronic pain.

I invited Dr. Miller to The OneMind Podcast because of his passion for helping people heal and thrive through meditation. You'll also pick up some powerful tools and tips for taking your own meditation practice to the next level.

Learn meditation in 5 easy lessons with our How To Meditate mini course. Sign up here.

(Photo via Flickr Creative Commons: MilitaryHealth)

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How would you like to do nothing for the whole year?

That's the very first question that high school teacher and long-time meditator Lawrence Carroll asked his students on opening day.

That's a good way to sell meditation in the math class, but little did his students know, just how transformative doing nothing would be.

Lawrence Carroll is an old friend of mine and mentor. He taught in public high schools in Australia and the US for seventeen years and won awards and distinction for his unique teaching style. At the heart of his approach is a seldom used principle silence.

While teaching his students meditation, he saw extraordinary changes in the classroom. Ironically, spending the first few moments of every class withdrawing into silence enabled students to be mutually supportive and more engaged. He saw students restricted by limiting ideas about their ability to do math burst through inner barriers and start believing in themselves.

And people noticed. Students, teachers, and administrators all took note and Lawrence was nominated for the county-wide distinguished educator award. He was also invited to present a paper called The Phenomenology of Silence: Educing Learning and Creativity in the Classroom on his teaching methodology to the esteemed Oxford University round table.

I wanted to invite Lawrence Carroll on to the show so you could hear about his incredible results in the classroom teaching meditation to students. But more than that, Lawrence is passionate about fixing the education system and he has some powerful ideas that are making a difference. I think you're going to resonate with what he has to say.

If you are a parent, a teacher, a mentor, or your have children in your life, I have no doubt you'll be inspired by Lawrence and his work and you're also sure to pick up come tools and tips for working with young people.

The post OM 010: How Silence Transforms The Classroom And Unlocks Young Minds with Laurie Carroll appeared first on About Meditation.