Meditate to Make Time

By Ben Turshen.

One of the main obstacles that keeps some people from learning Vedic Meditation is time. Although the technique itself is absolutely effortless, requiring no focus or concentration, paying attention to or monitoring thoughts or activity, it does require time. 

The general strategy is to meditate for twenty minutes twice a day. 

We tend to think of our time linearly. Meaning if spending our time meditating, that is time taken away from doing something else, like work or spending time with our friends and family or going to the gym. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Stress and fatigue rob us of our time. When we're at work, we're thinking about being at home with the family. When we're home with the family, we're thinking about being at work. The result is we're never really anywhere. That is time lost. 

The profound deep rest experienced while practicing Vedic Meditation heals our bodies of the effects of decades of accumulated stress. Practicing Vedic Meditation twice a day for twenty minutes has the effect of sleeping an extra two to four hours. This provides us with energy and clarity so that we can be infinitely more attentive, productive, efficient and available in all of our relationships and endeavors. That is time gained. 

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. 

The Great One

By Ben Turshen. 

Recently, I've been thinking about hockey. Maybe because the New York Rangers made it to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in twenty years. Growing up, I was completely obsessed with the sport. My parents would spend their weekends driving up and down the East Coast to take me and my teammates to our games and tournaments.

As a native New Yorker, my favorite team to watch was naturally the Rangers, but my favorite player was Wayne Gretzky, who didn't play for the Rangers until 1996. Nicknamed the "The Great One", Gretzky is considered the greatest hockey player of all time. He was small for the sport and despite lacking the speed and strength of the other players, he was able to see the game unfold better than anywhere else. He thrived under pressure and when the game was on the line, he always found a way to put himself in the right place at the right time, "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been". 

Wayne Gretzky's gift was that he played the game with more awareness and presence than anyone else. Vedic Meditation provides that very same gift. It delivers us into the present moment with clarity and allows us to perform at our very best.

FOMO

By Ben Turshen. 

Summer has arrived in New York. With the warm weather, our schedules fill up with outdoor activities and events. We may even be so lucky to travel out of the city on the weekends to spend some time in nature. We are busier than ever. This is not the time to be stressed and miss out on everything wonderful going on around us. As the kids call it "FOMO" (fear of missing out). Worse than missing a barbecue or a day at the beach is actually being there physically but having our mind somewhere else altogether. Vedic Meditation delivers us to a place where we are present, clear, grounded, rested and energized. We are able to fully enjoy all the opportunities that life provides during the summer months and beyond.