Speaker 1: Stay Calm as 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. Paul called his father two
Speaker 1: in the morning to say goodbye. His father had heard
Speaker 1: that voice before, knew what it meant, and pleaded with
Speaker 1: his son to give him forty five minutes to get
Speaker 1: from his place over to Paul's apartment so he could
Speaker 1: talk him out of it. Paul has bipolar disorder, the
Speaker 1: mental disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood and energy
Speaker 1: and activity levels, extremes of severe depression where they can
Speaker 1: hardly get out of bed for days or weeks at
Speaker 1: a time. I first met Paul Daio back in two
Speaker 1: thousand and five. It was at Yale University at Battel Chapel.
Speaker 1: Paul was an aspiring filmmaker and a huge David Lynch
Speaker 1: Fan and he had come to hear David talk about creativity, meditation,
Speaker 1: art film, and he hoped afterwards to meet with David
Speaker 1: and show him a film script he'd done and get
Speaker 1: David's guidance. As we were talking backstage, it was clear
Speaker 1: that Paul was quite agitated. Paul said that he had
Speaker 1: learned to meditate, but wasn't doing it regularly. David very
Speaker 1: gently looked over to me and at Paul and said, Bob,
Speaker 1: maybe you and Paul could do a little meditation refresher
Speaker 1: and then we could talk afterwards. So Paul and I
Speaker 1: found a place to sit some quiet corner. We meditated
Speaker 1: for twenty minutes. Afterwards, Paul opened up. He had been
Speaker 1: bipolar for about five years. He had been in and
Speaker 1: out of hospitals, once on a six week suicide watch.
Speaker 1: He has a very strong family support system and they
Speaker 1: tried everything, but still he wasn't getting traction with his treatment.
Speaker 1: Paul really enjoyed his meditation. It resonated with him, and
Speaker 1: he continued to meditate regularly over the coming weeks, months,
Speaker 1: and even years. As we became good friends and sometimes
Speaker 1: we would travel and he would talk about his experience
Speaker 1: with meditation and bipolar disorder. Along the way, I learned
Speaker 1: a lot. About three percent of the American people suffer
Speaker 1: from bipolar are it's considered severe high suicide rates. The
Speaker 1: whole approach of treatment of bipolar disorder, whether it's medication
Speaker 1: or talk therapy or lifestyle changes, is to help maintain
Speaker 1: stability in a routine, to maintain what's called the circadian
Speaker 1: rhythm in the body. So a person with bipolar is
Speaker 1: encouraged to go to sleep one time, wake up, exercise, meditate,
Speaker 1: eat on time because if their system is thrown off,
Speaker 1: if for example, they don't sleep well for a couple
Speaker 1: of nights, they could just fall through the cracks. So
Speaker 1: everything is designed around maintaining a strong circadian rhythm. Paul
Speaker 1: did well with that. The medication kept him more stable,
Speaker 1: but it frustrated him as well because it didn't make
Speaker 1: him healthy, more creative, it didn't make him happier. When
Speaker 1: he began meditating again, suddenly he found his creativity beginning
Speaker 1: to flourish. And he'd been depressed for so long, and
Speaker 1: he thought that that was his life, his destiny. Then
Speaker 1: he met a fellow, Jeff Rice, who had been meditating
Speaker 1: for ten years and had bipolar disorder. And he asked
Speaker 1: Jeff if he was ever happy, and Jeff said, of
Speaker 1: the time. That was a stunner for Paul. There was
Speaker 1: a vision of a possibility of not a dark existence.
Speaker 1: With the support of his family, medication, therapy, exercise, good diet,
Speaker 1: and regular practice of meditation, Paul has really flourished. He's
Speaker 1: now married with two young boys. He completed a critically
Speaker 1: acclaimed film which you should see. It's called Touched with Fire,
Speaker 1: semi autobiographical about his experience with bipolar disorder. He's now
Speaker 1: working with his wife on her film and developing a
Speaker 1: film for himself. And he said to me, life is
Speaker 1: better and better. I still have a tendency to slip,
Speaker 1: but I come back faster. The one take away I
Speaker 1: got from all of this is the absolute importance of routine.
Speaker 1: It's the same for everybody. If we go to bed
Speaker 1: on time, sleep well, wake up on time, exercise eat well,
Speaker 1: meditate regularly, our body, our brain thrives. My tip is
Speaker 1: the value of routine is liberating, is empowering. 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. This is Bob Roth. Keep calm,
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening today. I hope you heard something that inspires,
Speaker 1: that uplifts you and that you can incorporate into your
Speaker 1: own life. Until next time, remember, meditate, be kind, and
Speaker 1: be true to yourself. Pay all of you out there,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your stories, your questions, or anything else on your mind.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at
Speaker 1: Meditation Bob. You can also send me an email at
Speaker 1: meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com. Um I look
Speaker 1: forward to hearing from you.