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. 

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. 

Source of Happiness

By Ben Turshen. 

As we are thawing out from one of the longest and coldest New York winters in recent memory, we turn our attention to the warmer months ahead. With excitement, we begin to plan for the summer, and for many of us this means getting "in shape". We spend a tremendous amount of time, energy and expense using varying means in an attempt to enhance our physiques. The truth is that regardless of what our bodies look like when we're sitting on the beach, happiness comes from a place deep within ourselves. Vedic Meditation is simple technique that delivers us directly to that place where happiness resides.