Speaker 1: Stay Calm is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Stay Calm, your daily dose of calmness. I'm Bob Roth,
Speaker 1: and I've been teaching people to meditate for fifty years,
Speaker 1: helping them to stay calm under pressure, reboot and re
Speaker 1: energize their lives, and basically be a happier, healthier version
Speaker 1: of themselves. And now I want to help you do
Speaker 1: the same. Ready, sit comfortably, take a few deep breaths,
Speaker 1: and let's begin today's journey. Dr Elanda Lewis Ragland is
Speaker 1: a community pediatrician with Children's National Healthcare System in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. A faculty member at George Washington University School
Speaker 1: of Medicine, and a mother of three. Although she could
Speaker 1: have a lucrative medical practice in the Washington suburbs, she
Speaker 1: has chosen instead to live and work where she grew up,
Speaker 1: in Washington's Ward eight, which has the highest crime rates,
Speaker 1: murder rates, poverty rates, teen pregnancy rates, and death rates
Speaker 1: from COVID nineteen anywhere in the city. And she's been
Speaker 1: doing all this for eighteen years. Every day she deals
Speaker 1: with life and death. She hears stories of grief and
Speaker 1: trauma of young children raised by grandparents because their parents
Speaker 1: are working long hours or incarcerated, or have died from
Speaker 1: drug overdose or violence. Dr Raglan is a woman of
Speaker 1: courage who succeeded in life despite a series of adverse
Speaker 1: childhood experiences that easily might have derailed her path. Her
Speaker 1: father was a Vietnam veteran who turned to alcohol and
Speaker 1: became abusive when he returned from combat. Yolanda's mother was
Speaker 1: a hard worker employed at Boeing, who raised her and
Speaker 1: her three brothers alone in Seattle, where they fled for
Speaker 1: their safety's sake. A tight knit family, Yolanda was devastated
Speaker 1: when she lost her mother to lupus and a brain aneurism,
Speaker 1: and a brother to drug abuse. As brutal as all
Speaker 1: this sounds, it's only part of Yolanda's story, and yet
Speaker 1: all those traumas drove Yolanda to search for something, for
Speaker 1: a way to cope with distress, manage her life be
Speaker 1: present for her children. She started researching meditation. Much to
Speaker 1: her surprise, Yolanda heard about a course in transcendental meditation
Speaker 1: being offered for free at the community center where she worked.
Speaker 1: She learned to meditate, and right away she noticed the
Speaker 1: technique did what She hoped it built up her resilience
Speaker 1: and immunity to her real life dramas. She also noticed
Speaker 1: something else. She had a pressing deadline for a new
Speaker 1: book on childhood obesity, but she had writer's block and
Speaker 1: had made almost no headway in six months. After learning
Speaker 1: to meditate, the creativity flowed, and she wrote ten chapters
Speaker 1: and sent it to the publisher, all within three months.
Speaker 1: Yolanda has has always been an advocate for community health.
Speaker 1: Now she saw the benefit of adding meditation to the mix,
Speaker 1: bringing it to her patients and their families, as well
Speaker 1: as to her fellow doctors and nurses who are treating
Speaker 1: patients in the front lines of word eight and beyond.
Speaker 1: I met you Loanda for the first time in Washington
Speaker 1: a few years ago during a town hall meeting about
Speaker 1: using meditation as a violence interrupter. I asked her an
Speaker 1: obvious question. With all the things that are needed in
Speaker 1: war date, better health care, education, housing, jobs, why is
Speaker 1: she advocating for meditation. You need to improve everything. She said,
Speaker 1: When you live in a violent community with a lot
Speaker 1: of stress and poverty and depression, it's like everything is
Speaker 1: already stacked against you. You feel like a victim because
Speaker 1: you feel like you don't have any control. But with
Speaker 1: transcendental meditation, you do have control. You are empowered. It's
Speaker 1: yours for life. You can reduce your anger, you can
Speaker 1: increase your energy, and if you're a student, you can
Speaker 1: improve your test scores. I believe this can be anyone's
Speaker 1: ticket out of any bad situation or circumstance. I thought
Speaker 1: long about what my health tip would be after talking
Speaker 1: about Dr Ragland, and when I think of her, I
Speaker 1: think of courage, Courage to overcome obstacles, to aim high,
Speaker 1: courage to be true to herself. And I'm reminded of
Speaker 1: a quote by Maya Angelo. Courage is the most important
Speaker 1: of all virtues, because without courage, you can't practice any
Speaker 1: virtue consistently. So this is my tip wrapped up in
Speaker 1: Maya's advice. Take courage to do what you know to
Speaker 1: be right. Then all the other virtues will follow. All right,
Speaker 1: let's end this time together doing something that I think
Speaker 1: should be a feature of our everyday life, and that's
Speaker 1: appreciation and gratitude. So let's take thirty seconds of quiet,
Speaker 1: thirty seconds to take a break, just take a moment.
Speaker 1: It turns out when we do that it's good for
Speaker 1: our health as well. I'll be right back all right.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me today. I hope you heard
Speaker 1: something that inspires, that uplifts you, and that you can
Speaker 1: incorporate into your own life. This is Bob Roth. Stay calm, hey,
Speaker 1: all of you out there, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your stories, your questions, or anything
Speaker 1: else on your mind. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
Speaker 1: or Instagram at meditation Bob. You can also send me
Speaker 1: an email at meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: I look forward to hearing from you