WEBVTT - Calming a City

0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:06.760
<v Speaker 1>Stay Calm as a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome

0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:11.920
<v Speaker 1>to Stay Calm, your daily dose of calmness. I'm Bob Roth,

0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:14.520
<v Speaker 1>and I've been teaching people to meditate for fifty years,

0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.159
<v Speaker 1>helping them to stay calm under pressure, reboot and re

0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:22.319
<v Speaker 1>energize their lives, and basically be a happier, healthier version

0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:25.000
<v Speaker 1>of themselves. And now I want to help you do

0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:29.720
<v Speaker 1>the same. Ready, sit comfortably, take a few deep breaths,

0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:35.320
<v Speaker 1>and let's begin today's journey. What do you think Washington,

0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:39.200
<v Speaker 1>d C? Would be like if ten thousand people, adults

0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:43.159
<v Speaker 1>and kids incorporated a few minutes of a stress reducing

0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:47.040
<v Speaker 1>meditation technique into their daily lives in much the same

0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:50.720
<v Speaker 1>way as millions of people already incorporate a few minutes

0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:55.320
<v Speaker 1>of physical exercise. What would happen to sickness rates, crime rates,

0:00:55.560 --> 0:01:00.440
<v Speaker 1>trauma rates, graduation rates, rates of drug abuse? What would

0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:03.440
<v Speaker 1>happen to the quality of life for the whole city?

0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.280
<v Speaker 1>I raised the point because the idea of ten thousand

0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.520
<v Speaker 1>people meditating in Washington, d C. May not be so

0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.720
<v Speaker 1>theoretical or pie in the sky. In fact, it could

0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:16.920
<v Speaker 1>happen sooner than you think. A demonstration project is now

0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:20.440
<v Speaker 1>underway in the heart of the district's Ward eight, the

0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:23.560
<v Speaker 1>area with the highest death rates from COVID nineteen and

0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:28.039
<v Speaker 1>gun violence, and highest poverty levels in the city. The

0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:30.920
<v Speaker 1>project is being led by a team of top meditation

0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:35.039
<v Speaker 1>experts who are working with local government and community agencies

0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.840
<v Speaker 1>to bring transcendental meditation for free two people in d

0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:42.000
<v Speaker 1>C who may need it the most. Today, I want

0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:43.800
<v Speaker 1>to tell you about a woman who is part of

0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.039
<v Speaker 1>that team working to bring calm to an entire city.

0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:53.000
<v Speaker 1>Meet a Dora iris Lee. A Dora was born and

0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.600
<v Speaker 1>raised in Newark, New Jersey, in the nineteen fifties and sixties.

0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.560
<v Speaker 1>Her activist parents encouraged her to be fully involved and

0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:04.400
<v Speaker 1>engaged in social change. For a Dora, it was a

0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.800
<v Speaker 1>moral imperative. She worked in the civil rights movement in

0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:11.320
<v Speaker 1>the South in the early nineteen seventies, earned a master's

0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.360
<v Speaker 1>degree in public health from Yale, and headed up the

0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:18.440
<v Speaker 1>HIV AIDS Agency in Washington, d C. During the peak

0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:22.520
<v Speaker 1>of the pandemic in the nineteen eighties. She also helped

0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:25.840
<v Speaker 1>to write the landmark report on toxic waste and race

0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:30.959
<v Speaker 1>that launched the environmental justice movement. A Door also found

0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:34.880
<v Speaker 1>time to earn a second master's degree, this time and divinity,

0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:38.320
<v Speaker 1>and become an ordained Christian minister. And she worked with

0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:42.040
<v Speaker 1>elderly people who are dying of cancer and newborn children

0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.600
<v Speaker 1>who weighed less than two pounds, who were fighting to

0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.880
<v Speaker 1>stay alive. For most of us, that would be a

0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:52.840
<v Speaker 1>full life, but not a Dora. She kept going, learning

0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:57.000
<v Speaker 1>and serving. She spent years traveling and working throughout Africa,

0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:00.640
<v Speaker 1>the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, implementing in a valuating

0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:05.480
<v Speaker 1>programs for preventing HIV AIDS. Then, finally, five years ago,

0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:09.640
<v Speaker 1>the Door thought she'd had enough. She returned to Washington

0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.960
<v Speaker 1>and prepared for a life of retirement, which included some

0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:16.440
<v Speaker 1>community work. But a Door said that even in retirement

0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:21.399
<v Speaker 1>she felt tired. She started looking for something to center herself,

0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:26.519
<v Speaker 1>to calm herself, to re energize herself. She sought out meditation,

0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:31.240
<v Speaker 1>trying different practices. She liked them, but kept looking for

0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:36.800
<v Speaker 1>something easier, something that might work just a little bit better. Coincidentally,

0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:40.600
<v Speaker 1>if there are coincidences, just down the street from her

0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:44.400
<v Speaker 1>house in Ward eight was an amazing community center called

0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:48.920
<v Speaker 1>the Ark, which housed the meditation center. But Dora learned

0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:53.520
<v Speaker 1>transcendental meditation there and loved the techniques ease and simplicity,

0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:56.760
<v Speaker 1>and within a week she was working side by side

0:03:56.800 --> 0:04:00.720
<v Speaker 1>with Rena Boone, executive director of the Meditations Center, and

0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:05.240
<v Speaker 1>three other powerful women. Today, they are partnering with Children's

0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:09.680
<v Speaker 1>National Health Care System, Howard University Hospital, and other health,

0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:13.680
<v Speaker 1>community and government agencies to deliver the meditation as an

0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:17.400
<v Speaker 1>antidote to the high crime, sickness, and poverty rates in

0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.360
<v Speaker 1>that part of the city. Obviously, meditation won't make all

0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.880
<v Speaker 1>the problems miraculously disappear, but a Door says, it will

0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:30.080
<v Speaker 1>allow us to better handle our problems and find creative solutions,

0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:33.320
<v Speaker 1>and that we all know is more than half the battle.

0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.200
<v Speaker 1>Like everyone, a Door is deeply concerned about what's happening

0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:41.560
<v Speaker 1>in the city and the whole country. She sees a

0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:45.320
<v Speaker 1>lot of people advocating for change, in particular young people.

0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:49.400
<v Speaker 1>Change has to come, a Door says, But to make

0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:52.400
<v Speaker 1>the change real, to make it stick, it's going to

0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:56.400
<v Speaker 1>take time. This is a marathon, not a sprint. The

0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.120
<v Speaker 1>fact is, these young people need a tool to help

0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:03.080
<v Speaker 1>them stay center, collected and calm so that they can

0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:06.320
<v Speaker 1>go to the distance. Otherwise they're just going to burn out.

0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.000
<v Speaker 1>It's a long journey, and I think these young people

0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:13.800
<v Speaker 1>will find transcendental meditation a very helpful tool on that road.

0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:18.080
<v Speaker 1>They will benefit, but so will our community and really

0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:23.400
<v Speaker 1>the whole world. All right, let's end this time together

0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:25.560
<v Speaker 1>doing something that I think should be a feature of

0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:29.960
<v Speaker 1>our everyday life, and that's appreciation and gratitude. So let's

0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:33.760
<v Speaker 1>take thirty seconds of quiet, thirty seconds to take a break,

0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.000
<v Speaker 1>just take a moment. It turns out when we do that,

0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.719
<v Speaker 1>it's good for our health as well. I'll be right back,

0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:12.920
<v Speaker 1>all right. Thank you for joining me today. I hope

0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.520
<v Speaker 1>you heard something that inspires, that uplifts you and that

0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:20.560
<v Speaker 1>you can incorporate into your own life. This is Bob Roth.

0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:26.800
<v Speaker 1>Stay calm, hey, all of you out there. I'd love

0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:29.480
<v Speaker 1>to hear from you. You can send me your stories,

0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.839
<v Speaker 1>your questions, or anything else on your mind. Just connect

0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:37.000
<v Speaker 1>with me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at meditation Bob.

0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.360
<v Speaker 1>You can also send me an email at meditation Bob

0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:45.200
<v Speaker 1>Roth at gmail dot com. I look forward to hearing

0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:45.560
<v Speaker 1>from you.