Get More of What You Want: Good Sleep

By Ben Turshen. 

Lack of sleep is a big problem. 

A Gallup poll from a few years ago indicates that over 40% of Americans get less than the minimum recommended seven hours of sleep (I suspect this number has increased since this poll was published in December 2013). Insufficient sleep has been linked to the development of a number of chronic diseases and conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression. Sleep impacts the quality of our lives every day--our energy, our focus and productivity and our mood.  

One of the more immediate benefits of Vedic Meditation is improved sleep. It is not uncommon for brand new Vedic meditators to report falling asleep easier, staying asleep longer and sleeping more soundly within a few days of learning and practicing the Vedic Meditation technique.  Click here to read a few stories from my students who started sleeping much better once they learned Vedic Meditation. 

This was my experience as well. I had been an insomniac my whole life. Even as a young boy I had trouble sleeping. In college, I began to self-medicate with alcohol, NyQuil or Benadryl. In law school, my sleep got even worse and I went to see a doctor who diagnosed me with anxiety-induced insomnia. I was prescribed Ambien (in addition to a number of other prescription medications I was taking for anxiety, depression and ADD). Through law school and during the beginning of my legal career, every single night I would either need to drink to fall asleep or take an Ambien (I was smart enough to never mix the two). Some nights, my anxiety was so intense that I would stay awake on Ambien and hallucinate, which was terrifying. Eventually I would fall asleep, but the quality of my sleep was awful and every morning I would wake up groggy and exhausted with a  hangover from either the alcohol or the Ambien. It would sometimes take me a hour to get out of bed. 

Within three days of learning Vedic Meditation, I feel asleep without drinking or taking a pill for the first time in years and slept through the night. I remember waking up the next morning without a hangover, actually feeling rested and clear. It was that moment that I knew that Vedic Meditation would help change my life for good. 

The Power of Leverage

By Ben Turshen.

When we were kids in school we learned about pulleys and levers in our science and math classes. With amazement, we found that by utilizing these tools we could move heavy objects with significantly less effort. 

These natural laws apply to Vedic Meditation as well--to the technique itself and its effects. By doing less, we accomplish more. By doing least, we accomplish most. 

Vedic Meditation is easy and effortless. For thousands of years in India, this form of meditation was referred to in Sanskrit as "Nishkam Karma Yoga", which translates to yoga or union attained by action hardly taken. The technique does not involve any focus or concentration, nor does it involve paying attention to, or monitoring, thoughts or activity, as is the case in some other types of mediation, such as mindfullness. With Vedic Meditation, our mind de-excites and body rests deeply (much deeper than the rest experienced in sleep), unwinding decades of accumulated stress and fatigue.

We start sleeping better and feeling rested, we get sick less, we become more focused and productive at work, our relationships improve as notice ourselves being more patient and attentive. 

Vedic Meditation gives you leverage. When we practice this technique, we find that we can move the "heavy objects" in our lives with less effort. 

Being Present

By Ben Turshen. 

Growing up, my coaches would shout at me, "get your head in the game". My school teachers would constantly remind me to "listen, pay attention". I was not alone in receiving these instructions. 

We often find ourselves reviewing the past or trying to predict the future, speculating, and mostly worrying. Why is it that we have a such a hard time being in the present moment? How come our mind and body become so easily disconnected? Stress is the main culprit. 

Stress is caused by any overload of experience, even a pleasurable one. When this happens, the mind and body store every minute detail of this experience, what it looked like, sounded like, tasted like, smelled like, felt like. It's as if we downloaded a program that's running continuously in the background, putting us one on high alert 24/7. This draws our mind away from where we are. 

There are many types of meditation where the goal is to try to be present by attending to thoughts or focusing on breathing or concentrating on some other activity. But trying to be present and being present are quite different experiences. When you're trying to be present, you're not actually being present. 

Vedic Meditation is different. The technique involves no focus or concentration, the mind is not forced in any direction. With Vedic Meditation, the mind settles effortlessly and spontaneously, which means there is no trying at all. While practicing Vedic Meditation, the mind de-excites automatically and the body achieves levels of rest exponentially deeper than the deepest rest that can be achieved in a night's sleep. This is the exact opposite physiological state as when we are overloaded by stress. By revisiting this state regularly in our Vedic Meditation practice, we delete the old programing. The result is that outside of meditation, we find ourselves present and aware in the moment, without trying. And this is where want to be. 

You Don't Have to be a Monk to Meditate

By Ben Turshen. 

My views on meditation have changed. This may surprise you, but I used to think meditation was strange. Something for people that were not like me at all. When I thought of meditation, I imagined monks dressed in robes sitting perfectly still in silence for hours in mountaintop temples or yogis sitting in full lotus position chanting mantras.

I had no desire to become a monk and had never taken a yoga class, but I was envious. The idea that I could quiet my mind, shut down the daily barrage of fear, worry, anger, sadness, frustration that swirled in my head was very appealing. But it seemed like an impossible dream for someone like me. Along with anxiety, depression and insomnia, I struggled with what doctors diagnosed as Attention Deficit Disorder. I thought that my mind was too busy to meditate. 

Fortunately, I was mistaken. While many types of meditation are monastic by nature (i.e., designed for monks), Vedic Meditation is a "householder" meditation technique, designed for people fully integrated in life, with families, jobs and busy minds--people like me (and you). Vedic Meditation settles the mind and body effortlessly and automatically without any need to focus or concentrate.

Although Vedic Meditation was born in ancient India over 5,000 years ago, it's application in modern life cannot be overstated. Accumulated stress leads to disease, pre-mature aging and low-grade performance and behavior. A plague of modern times. Vedic Meditation efficiently and systematically removes accumulated stress, improving all aspects of our lives, our physical health, our mental health and our relationships. 

So if you're not a monk, that's OK, Vedic Meditation is the perfect practice for you. 

You Deserve the Best

By Ben Turshen. 

Dear Friends, 

I'm writing to you having recently returned from two weeks in Rishikesh, India, a incredibly beautiful holy city known as the birthplace of yoga. While there, I meditated in abandoned ashrams, explored ancient temples, swam in the Ganges River, met new friends and received supreme knowledge from my teacher. During my trip, I was reminded of these words that come from Swami Brahmananda Saraswati (who is also commonly referred to as Guru Dev), the great master from whom we have Vedic Meditation:

You deserve the best.
Never feel unworthy or
not justified in having the best.
I tell you this is your heritage;
but you have to accept it,
you have to expect it. 
You have to claim it.
To do so is not demanding too much.

The impact of this message is clear, but how do we get there? How do we have the experience the best in life? The technique of Vedic Meditation is simple, easy and enjoyable to practice. It removes stress from the body and brings you to a place of peace and clarity, where you can truly enjoy the best that life has to offer. 

Wishing you the very BEST. 

With Gratitude, 

Ben