Speaker 1: Stay Calm as a production of I Heart Radio. Hi.
Speaker 1: I'm Bob Roth, and I've been teaching people to meditate
Speaker 1: for fifty years, helping them to stay calm under pressure,
Speaker 1: reboot and re energize their lives, and basically be a happier,
Speaker 1: healthier version of themselves. And now I want to help
Speaker 1: you do the same. Welcome to Stay Calm, your daily
Speaker 1: dose of calmness. Every weekday morning, I'll share a meditation story,
Speaker 1: offer a simple practical tip about how you or a
Speaker 1: loved one can stay a bit calmer in your life,
Speaker 1: and then we'll end each episode together with a moment
Speaker 1: of gratitude. My hope is that I can share what
Speaker 1: I know to anyone who needs it. Ready, sit comfortably,
Speaker 1: take a few deep breaths, and let's begin today's journey.
Speaker 1: So I've been talking a lot about meditation in general
Speaker 1: and specifically transcendental meditation, and a lot of you have
Speaker 1: written in and said, well, how does it work. One
Speaker 1: of the things that many people say to me is
Speaker 1: I believe that meditation would be good for me, but
Speaker 1: my skepticism is whether I could do it myself. I
Speaker 1: want to make this point that all meditations are not
Speaker 1: the same in In a previous podcast, I talked about
Speaker 1: the three different types of meditation. Focused attention, which is
Speaker 1: a concentration technique, open monitoring meditation where we learned to
Speaker 1: dispassionately observe our thoughts. But transcendental meditation recognizes that there's
Speaker 1: a vertical dimension to the mind, just as there's a
Speaker 1: vertical dimension to the ocean, and that while the ocean
Speaker 1: may be turbulent on the surface by its nature, it's
Speaker 1: pretty darned silent at its depth. And the mind is
Speaker 1: the same way. On the surface, we have a million thoughts,
Speaker 1: but at the depth of our mind, the hypothesis is quiet, peaceful,
Speaker 1: naturally calm, and wide awake. So in transcendental meditation, how
Speaker 1: do we go from that surface, agitated level of the
Speaker 1: mind to that deep inner quiet. I'm going to give
Speaker 1: you two examples that have nothing to do with meditation,
Speaker 1: but I'll tie it back, and this explains how we
Speaker 1: go from the surface to that quiet depth. You're sitting
Speaker 1: in your room or your office doing some really boring paperwork,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, in the other room, some
Speaker 1: unbelievably beautiful music comes on. Where does your attention go
Speaker 1: to that music, turn up that music that is so beautiful.
Speaker 1: Or you have two books to read and one book
Speaker 1: is so poorly written you can't imagine how it was
Speaker 1: ever published, and you can't read a word, and the
Speaker 1: other book is spectacular, and you're absorbed in hours go by.
Speaker 1: So what are those two instances? Your attention being drawn
Speaker 1: to that music, your attention absorbed in the book. What
Speaker 1: this reveals to us is, by its name chure, the
Speaker 1: attention of your mind, given the opportunity, will always be
Speaker 1: drawn to something more satisfying. The natural tendency of the
Speaker 1: mind is to seek greater happiness, knowledge, satisfaction, pleasure, wisdom, beauty.
Speaker 1: And where we go to find that happiness is out
Speaker 1: through the senses, into the environment, this job, relationship, new clothes,
Speaker 1: new home. In transcendental meditation, it's a simple process of
Speaker 1: setting up the conditions so that the attention of your mind,
Speaker 1: instead of going outward, is drawn inward. How do we
Speaker 1: do that? In transcendental meditation, we're given a mantra, which
Speaker 1: is a word or a sound. It's a simple syllable,
Speaker 1: simple sound that has no meaning, because if it had
Speaker 1: a meaning, then we're stuck on the surface. And then
Speaker 1: we're taught how to use it properly. A certified teacher
Speaker 1: in personal instruction gives us a mantra and then just us,
Speaker 1: you alone, not in a crowd, the teacher teaches you
Speaker 1: how to use the mantra correctly effortlessly, which means no forcing,
Speaker 1: no strain, automatically easily. It's like teaching a child how
Speaker 1: to dive. You say, honey, lean over like this, take
Speaker 1: the correct angle, and then gravity takes over. So in
Speaker 1: transcendental meditation, we learned how to give the attention of
Speaker 1: the mind an inward direction, just like it's drawn to
Speaker 1: that music. It settles down inwardly, and we know that's
Speaker 1: happening because our body takes a profound state of rest
Speaker 1: and relaxation. The technique has taught over four consecutive days,
Speaker 1: about an hour each day, practice for twenty minutes twice
Speaker 1: a day, once in the morning, sitting comfortably in a
Speaker 1: chair with the eyes closed, and again in the afternoon
Speaker 1: or early evening. It's not a religion, it's not a philosophy.
Speaker 1: It's not a change in lifestyle. You can be a
Speaker 1: hundred percent skeptical and the technique works just fine, and
Speaker 1: if you're interested you can go to TM dot org
Speaker 1: and find out more about it. It's a nonprofit educational organization.
Speaker 1: Now I'm going to shift gears here for a moment.
Speaker 1: I'd like to give a little tip for health. It's
Speaker 1: going to sound like when you're a kid and your
Speaker 1: mother said, eat your vegetables. Vegetables are a food that
Speaker 1: are incredibly healthy. Vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber,
Speaker 1: and disease fighting phytochemicals. You can't take a pill that
Speaker 1: will give all of that to you, but you can
Speaker 1: eat your vegetables. All right, Let's end this time together
Speaker 1: doing something that I think should be a feature of
Speaker 1: our everyday life, and that's appreciation and gratitude. So let's
Speaker 1: take thirty seconds of quiet, thirty seconds to take a break,
Speaker 1: just take a moment. It turns out when we do that,
Speaker 1: it's good for our health as well. I'll be right
Speaker 1: back all right. Thank you for joining. This is Bob Roth.
Speaker 1: Keep calm, Thanks for listening today. I hope you heard
Speaker 1: something that inspires that uplifts you and that you can
Speaker 1: incorporate into your own life. Until next time, remember, meditate,
Speaker 1: be kind, and be true to yourself. Hey all, of
Speaker 1: you out there. I'd love to hear from you. You
Speaker 1: can send me your stories, your questions, or anything else
Speaker 1: 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.