Feeling Unsettled? Election Stress is Real, Meditation Helps

By Ben Turshen. 

Hi Friends,

If you're feeling particularly unsettled and stressed right now, you're not alone. 

Most presidential elections elevate the stress of the collective consciousness. However, this year, the tension in the atmosphere is unprecedented. 

A survey conducted by the American Psychological Association indicates that 52% of American adults report that the 2016 election is a significant source of stress regardless of their political affiliation. Click here for the full report. 

25 percent of Americans are saying that election stress is getting in the way of them doing their work because of political discussions in the workplace. 

7 percent of Americans say they've lost friends because of the 2016 election. 

The good news is the election is 9 days away. The bad news is that once the election is over the stress may not go away. The impact of a single presidency may last for generations. 

Media, social and otherwise, doesn't help, but meditation does. 

Vedic Meditation is tool that effectively decreases stress. It is effortless and enjoyable. And once learned, you can practice it successfully on your own every day. 

This November, make sure you vote and come along and learn Vedic Meditation with me in New York City.

Have a safe and fun Halloween and wonderful Thanksgiving. 

With Love + Gratitude,

Ben

Make Meditation Yours

By Ben Turshen. 

Vedic Meditation is a simple, effortless meditation technique that requires no focus, concentration or paying attention to thoughts or activity. Practicing Vedic Meditation does not require clearing the mind of thoughts or cessation of thinking. Without trying, your mind settles to its least excited state beyond thought. This makes it accessible and enjoyable.

The benefits of practicing Vedic Meditation are profound: Feel happier. Sleep better. Think clearer. Save time. Work smarter. Strengthen your relationships. Curb harmful behaviors. Be present and productive.

The training to learn Vedic Meditation is comprehensive. After you take the course (four two-hour sessions held on four consecutive days), you know how to meditate. The practice is yours. You will be able to meditate successfully every day, independently and self-sufficiently. That means you don’t need a teacher present or a special place to go; no apps, no headphones, no music or guided instruction. If your phone battery dies, you can still meditate. It all happens silently in your mind, which means it’s totally portable. All you need is a place to sit comfortably and close your eyes. You can meditate almost anywhere, even on an airplane or NYC subway. 

Once you learn, you are our student for life. That means you are eligible to continue to receive personal, individualized instruction and follow-up on a weekly basis forever, at no additional cost. This ensures that you enjoy the greatest success in your life by learning and practicing Vedic Meditation.

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. 

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. 

Spring Cleaning Your Mind

By Ben Turshen. 

It's that time of year. Spring cleaning. Time to donate that third and fourth pair of gray New Balance sneakers. Time to dispose of all the expired medications taking up room in the cabinet above your bathroom sink. Time to go through your closet, your dresser, the bins underneath your bed and get rid of all the "stuff" that is now irrelevant and redundant.

What if you could declutter your mind like you declutter your home? When you practice Vedic Meditation that is exactly what happens.

Without focus or concentration, your awareness settles down to experience a unique state of restful alertness, an inner wakefulness beyond thought. The state of going beyond thought, or transcendence, that is provided by the Vedic Meditation technique allows a direct experience of your most essential self, of the “you” that lies beyond all your thoughts and stress and struggles.

The result of having this experience is more clarity and less "stuff" pulling you away from what is happening, right here, right now. 

Meditation is Sexy

By Ben Turshen. 

The act of practicing Vedic Meditation is not very sexy at all. Even if you're very good looking to begin with, to the outside observer, it looks like you're just sitting there comfortably with your eyes closed for 20 minutes. It would be quite a boring thing to watch for that long no matter how aesthetically pleasing you are to the eye.   

But the effects of this meditation practice will make you better company--whether you're single or in a committed relationship. Why? Think about what kinds of people you like being around. If you're walking around stressed out, nervous and anxious, constantly worrying, depressed and miserable, exhausted because you don't sleep well, impatient, losing your temper, getting sick often, and complaining about it all then who wants to spend time with you voluntarily. 

Vedic Meditation allows you to feel, perform and relate at your very best. Calm and relaxed, rested and energized, attentive and present, kind and generous, patient and healthy. When you practice this meditation technique you become a better partner. That's pretty sexy. 

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. 

Spreading Peace

By Ben Turshen. 

It's been a long time since I first learned Vedic Meditation. Since then, this meditation practice has absolutely impacted the way I think, act, behave and interact with the world. But I certainly don't think, act, behave or interact in any which way whatsoever because I'm a "meditator" or even a "meditation teacher". 

One of the things I like the most about Vedic Meditation is there no mandated moral or ethical codes or belief systems, religion or lifestyle changes that are prescribed. You don't join an organization or receive a special name. But expect some changes to come about on their own. 

When you practice Vedic Meditation (a simple mental technique), your mind settles down to its least excited state beyond thought and your body experiences deep rest (exponentially deeper than the deepest rest that can be obtained in a night's sleep) without any focus or concentration or effort. It's easy and enjoyable. Having had that experience in meditation, you then enter the world rested and energized, calm and relaxed, with greater clarity, feeling peaceful and equanimous. Operating in that state influences the way we think, act, behave and interact with the world. You don't need to set an intention or visualize yourself in a particular situation or try to act compassionately or feel grateful. It all happens spontaneously. 

The world needs more meditators, now more than ever before. 

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. 

Finding the Time

By Ben Turshen. 

When it comes to Vedic Meditation, the meditation technique itself is easy and enjoyable. The mind and body settle down automatically and spontaneously without any effort, focus, or concentration. 

The hard work for most people is finding the time to meditate. Vedic Meditation is a daily practice and the general strategy is to meditate for 20 minutes in the morning and another 20 minutes in the afternoon/evening. For new meditators, this is may be challenging. It was for me.

As a meditation teacher, my role is to teach you how to be a self sufficient meditator. I get you to a place where you can practice this technique correctly and regularly. I work with each student to determine the best way to integrate the practice into their busy lives. Like the gym, you actually have to show up to receive the benefits, but ask anyone who's been practicing consistently and they'll tell you it feels like they've been doing it for years even if they only learned a few weeks ago.