my name is Malika Chopra I am a mom an
entrepreneur and just have a book out
called living with intent my somewhat
messy journey but we’re here today to
talk about meditation I learned how to
meditate when I was 9 years old which is
35 years ago many of you may be familiar
with my father the well-known author
Deepak Chopra and so I feel very honored
that I’ve kind of grown up in this space
and have kind of a lot of experience in
it but I really want to get to our panel
all of whom are really esteemed
successful individuals many of whom have
kind of discovered meditation and by
meditating actually for decades as well
and people like Goldie and Russell who
have been friends of my families for a
long long time Sarah and Alan as well
and the work that they’ve been doing is
really remarkable so we wanted to get
right into the science and some of the
most recent research on meditation and
mindfulness so we’re going to start with
Sarah Lazar
Sarah is a site in the psychiatry
department at Mass General and an
assistant professor in psychology at
Harvard Medical School who is doing been
doing a lot of the cutting edge research
on meditation and mindfulness techniques
so we had a call before and we thought
you know the best way is let’s just dive
in and really hear some of the latest
research on meditation right I thought I
would start by talking a little about my
story actually used to so because I
think it’s important especially in this
sort of group to understand so when I
was in graduate school you know I was a
liquor biologist and at that point if
you said yoga and meditation what sprung
for my mind was images of you know you
know people sitting and you know sitar
music and burning incense and yeah my
eyes would roll and I didn’t think very
highly of it and at the time I was a
runner and I over trained and I
developed knee and back problems so I
went to see a physical therapist and
they told me to stop running and just
stretch and so as I was leaving the
physical there of the physical therapist
office I happened to see an ad for a
vigorous yoga class that promised to
promote strength and flexibility and
endurance
so I thought this would be a great way
to just stretch and stay in shape and I
was shooting for a marathon at the time
and so I thought okay maybe I can still
run the marathon so when did the yoga
class purely as a way of doing physical
therapy I was completely skeptical about
any mind-body benefits and I’d been a
runner for about 10 years at that point
on you I ran here in high school in
college
and I did lots of stretching and after a
couple weeks I knew that this wasn’t
just stretching there’s something more
to it than just you know exercise and it
was having a profound effect on me as
reducing my stress I was less reactive I
was you know more focused more
compassionate and you know it really it
really had a huge impact me and so
that’s why I decided after graduate
school to switch and do this research
exclusively to fight it I know what
exactly was happening in the brain when
when does yoga and meditation so the
most recent research we’ve done is
actually the first slide method one is
what we did is we took people and who
had never meditated before and we put
them through an eight-week meditation
program a stress eight-week mindfulness
based stress reduction program and we
looked at their brains and compared them
to people who were just standing widths
apart who weren’t going through a
program and we saw that compared to the
people doing nothing we could actually
see changes in brain structure from over
the course of these eight weeks and so
this first region we found is the
hippocampus this is the main important
region for learning and memory right
this is in the main memory part of your
brain and it’s an area that’s heavily
negatively impacted by depression and
PTSD and as you can see there was
virtually no change in the controls but
a significant increase in gray matter in
the group that goes through the
eight-week program and gray matter in
your brain you have white matter and
gray matter white matter is just wiring
just connections versus gray matter is
the part of the brain where the thinking
is actually happening and so this is
consistent with this area of the brain
having
more activity and being a builder being
being able to better work because it has
more gray matter
another originally found is on slide two
this is an area called the TPJ this is
area that’s very important for
creativity and seeing things from other
people’s point of view
so it’s a key region important for
empathy and compassion and again you see
you know no change in the controls and a
very significant change in the
meditation group another reason I found
actually got smaller this is on slide
three this is the amygdala the amygdala
is the main fighter flight for the brain
it’s negative emotions fear and what we
found in stress and we found is that
after the eight weeks it actually got
smaller and that the change in stress
poor lay of the change in brain matter
structure so this really suggests that
people aren’t just saying oh I feel less
stressed it’s the passage of time or
it’s because you know it’s what we the
scientists want to hear there’s an
actual biological mechanism underlying
the change in stress and what’s
interesting is this analogous part of
the brain in animals gets bigger if you
put them through a stress protocol so if
you take them and you put them and
stress them out in various different
ways
that part gets bigger so it’s really
nice that we have this animal data to
sort of support it we’ve also done
studies with long term meditators and
yoga practitioners and we look at their
brains compared to people who have not
done yoga meditation before and so the
final slide said for with and so the
areas in red are the areas where there’s
more gray matter in the meditators
compared to the controls and what’s
interesting is here in the frontal brain
it’s right behind your eye this is an
area of brain that’s important for
working memory and executive
decision-making and that area is circled
in green is the primary region that is
associated with what’s commonly referred
to as IQ right so it’s also known as
fluid intelligence so it’s a your
ability to take novel information and do
something useful and new with it and in
the graph to the right what you see is
the red is the controls and the blue is
the meditators and it’s well known the
entire front half of the brain shrinks
as we age and this is why as we get
older we’re a little slower we’re not
quite as sharp as we were when we were
younger and when we can see is that the
meditators in this one region that it
appears that their brains are not
shrinking but they’re actually able to
preserve
this part of their brain because they’re
meditating and so that first study we
didn’t know that we’re gonna find this
so we didn’t assess IQ but now we’ve
done a follow-up study and we actually
gave long-term meditators and long-term
the other practitioners an IQ test and
we see the same thing that the controls
it goes down with age versus and the
meditators and controls it’s more
preserved with aging so it really does
suggest that in addition to helping
reduce stress and help with you know
emotional reactivity that actually helps
preserve brain function with aging and
these are all you know healthy normal
people so you know when my father
started talking about the mind-body
connection and things like meditation
Transcendental Meditation and other
practices thirty years ago he was
labeled the East Asian witch doctor who
sold snake oil and today we’re sitting
here on stage sharing all the benefits
and it’s remarkable and it’s really a
testament to the scientists who are
doing a lot of the research that is
validating the experience so thank you
for your work
and I want to move now to Goldie who’s
an old friend an old meditator been
doing it for many many years
Goldie Hawn doesn’t really need an
introduction as an actress but she’s
also a producer and a director but the
founder of the honh honh Foundation
which is doing a lot of work with
children and schools and bringing
mindfulness practices into schools so
we’ll see a little bit about why
meditation came into your life and then
how you’re serving by sharing this gift
of the world thank you very much
so back in 1972 I was rising to success
really quickly and found myself really
anxious and I was says psychologically I
really kind of didn’t want to go out
people were expressing their affection
or the other way around and I really was
was taken aback because I was never ever
believed I wanted to be a movie star it
was only just to dance and open a
dancing school but you know life doesn’t
always turn out the way we
it’s going to and I’m not complaining
but I will say that it did not me back
on my on my on my tushy so I took the
way on which other than you know working
into psychologists but on meditation and
I was at that point I was I wanted to go
I wanted to learn about it and in the
70s it was definitely TM Transcendental
Meditation and I went somewhere in
Westwood I was initiated I meditated for
the first time and I was about 21 and I
sat there and I will never forget this
feeling and I want to share it and it’s
always difficult to express feelings
it’s like love we’ve been writing poetry
about it forever but sometimes you can’t
always explain what it really feels like
but I’ll try
when I sat there the window was open and
the lace curtains were fluffing these
into the room and the wind was coming in
and there was just a small little candle
and there was some incense being lit
which I’d never smelled before
and I sat there and I had a mantra okay
so this is one mode of doing it many
ways which we’ll talk later about how we
go about meditating and so forth but in
this particular practice it was a sound
and I repeated this sound quietly but
what happened to me was I started to
giggle I know it sounds kind of normal
for me but it was truly an inner joy and
inner tickle that thing that I could
never define as a little girl and I had
lost and I wanted to find it again and
so it came to me as I was learning to
find my first quieting of the mind and
what happened was is that my heart and
in my heart Center started to feel
expansive and I felt like I was finding
my true self my true being right there
for the first time that I could actually
sense my own heartbeat so for me
meditation had a very powerful effect
okay now as time has gone on and this is
1972 I’ve been a meditator I’ve also
experienced different forms of
meditation I am a scientist by Nature I
am very interested in research and this
is the very thing that as time has gone
on is that in a way we can no longer
look at meditation as any form of
religiosity it is so far practiced and
contemplative practices basically in
every religion known to man or created
by man but at the same time this is pure
science and I asked the question why
aren’t children learning about their
brain why is it that we teach children
in the classroom and we never give them
any information on command central which
is what they have their tools sitting
right there on their little shoulders to
be able to know how to access
information how to change and understand
the plasticity of their own brain giving
them the opportunity and the optimism to
be able to say I can do that I can make
sure I do that I know why I do that
I know why I’m angry I know how to
mitigate my anger through breath and
focus in quieting my mind so I can quiet
down my amygdala my barking dog so now
my prefrontal cortex my thinking brain
my executive function they call it their
PFC gets to open and now I can remember
things I can make better choices I’m a
thinking person I’m not a reactive
person I had this dream 13 years ago
people said to me you’ll never do that
you’ll never get meditation in the
classroom you will never teach children
how their brains work what age do you
want to start I want to start in
kindergarten I want to do kindergarten
through eighth grade because these are
the primary years where we start setting
patterns our brain starts hit
comfortable with certain things and this
research was just too proven to sit in a
petri dish in every University it had to
come out into our classroom and to our
parents and to our teachers to change
the way we teach our children in the
classroom and they looked at me like I
had six heads
and that was 13 years ago and today
things have changed it’s been a very
hard road we created a program called
mind up and mind up now has neuroscience
at the start and the base it has three
times a day brain break for children
during a classroom
now they asked for it again for tests
taking themselves
we now have pro-social behavior we’ve
learned and taught children how to
understand the difference between
pessimism
we have kindness in the classroom and we
have gratitude journals that we create
all of these things shape the brain they
shape how children start connecting
inside of their synapses instead of the
neurons how they connect now so when we
get to the Grand Canyon of negativity we
are now really creating a Grand Canyon
of positivity this is what we want so
while we create this we ask well how do
you do meditation of the classroom well
it’s very tough to have 20 minutes in
the morning at 20 minutes a night even
for those of us who are hard and true
meditators but we do it but in the
classroom there’s not time so I believe
we enter weave it as we can interweave
it into our day so we do three times a
day three minutes four minutes for each
child done changes the whole way the
classroom runs calms the children down
reduces their stress and gives them an
optimum experience in the classroom this
is what I have done for the last 13
years putting together this program it
is now close to serving a million
I love making people laugh but this part
of my life has been one of the most
exciting times of my life so I know
there’s more but that’s what I’m doing
and that’s how I got there
thank you and we’ll talk more about what
the effects that we’re seeing in the
kids so I’m actually gonna jump to
Russell and then Ellen I’ll come back to
you so Russell you’ve also been such a
champion and advocate of everything from
meditation to happy vegan can you share
a little bit one about your story but
then you are very much the poster of you
know success and you’ve how the hell is
that influenced your journey has made a
patient been a part of that
well my nickname was rush my company
still named rush rush communications but
so that was my nickname and I always
thought that this kinetic energy or this
anxiety that drove me was the force that
made me successful and and about 20
years ago I started to go to yoga first
was a little over 20 years ago and I
went to class and I didn’t go she went I
went because it was so many hot girls
him no guys it was like too cool I
they’d have yoga pants everybody gets
head anyway
so I went to class is doubly hot girls
and I came out of class House high as
ABS legs Oh what is this right
because I’ve been for one second I was
present you know a couple of seconds
more than usual I think everybody holy
the meditators know that life’s goal is
to expound on those seconds of presence
I mean it only happens now you can’t be
transported to the future to pass
anything like that you’re stuck here and
the more you recognize that presence its
moments of happiness you have or
creativity or anything that you achieve
or do or or contribute to society come
from the seconds of presence that you
and the idea of expanding those seconds
of presence is one of the reasons we
meditate it’s actually the only reason
we meditate but it’s like you would say
one so for me I went to class
my short li after I started to do
physical meditation because in the asana
practice of physical yoga it’s moving
meditation this idea smile and breathe
in every difficult pose and that’s the
physical asana or yoga practice and a
part of yoga this seven to eight parts
of yoga is meditation interesting enough
meditation has been in every spiritual
practice forever everybody would tell
you to be still and still it goes over
the head to both people and for
thousands of years people have been
doing it but finally it started to stick
you know with the deepak with TIA
I’m on the board of the David Lynch
foundation but their work and what
Goldie is starting to stick and the more
important thing I mean because if we’re
sitting here and a bunch of people who
probably don’t meditate so much is that
look at the research is telling you what
the monks have been telling you and what
did all the spiritual teachers have told
us forever it’s telling you you need to
meditate and that you should operate
from abundance or from a present place
or from a happy place and meditation
does that for us I always talk about the
left in the right side of brain and all
this research that she’s done and
they’ve been doing but I can appeal to
you I just it makes you happy and all
you guys probably know but they don’t
internalize the idea that money doesn’t
make you happy but happy makes you money
for those agree to people still you know
if you operate for a happy present place
and you focus you do it a good job and
whatever you think is the future your
next present moment becomes a little bit
more alive and so this you know whatever
you want to execute you know you can
only do it when you’re present so for me
the meditation experience has started
about 20 years ago I’ve been addicted I
just wrote a book about it
successful stillness and it it’s very
simple my daughter told me the book was
remedial at best she was 11 when she
told me that she’s now 13 and so she was
11 and she read it I told her Oprah said
it was one of the best books on the
subject and then she said opens but a
to get to my mother so you know I fell
in love with it I try to give it to
everybody I can’t I think it’s important
but Goldie’s doing is great but the
David Lynch foundation I was meditating
long before I ran into
Bob Roth a lot of the stars called him
not meditation Bob
I call him the month because he’s I mean
literally does nothing wrong ever never
thinks a wrong thought right would you
breathe it’s an unbelievable person but
you know he I went to teach meditation
somewhere and he you know doctor gave me
my little conference so I wrote a book
that’s mantra based and I and I believe
all the forms of meditation they don’t
all have the research that Goldie’s now
getting and that the TM people have and
are getting but it’s all the same you
know this idea whether it’s candle
gazing with a mantra with the Bravo
it always it quiets the mind that’s all
everyone ever wants life’s only goal is
a comfortable seat nothing else they can
give you no matter how rich you are you
can only sit your ass in one seat at a
time and the more you learn to operate
from that seat you know and I also wrote
a book called super rich which is about
this idea of needing nothing which is
the state of yoga at the state of Christ
consciousness Nirvana Samadhi or what
you call all religions have a name for
this God consciousness and needing
nothing is cool for people here because
needing nothing attracts everything if
there’s a carrot its attracts everything
operating you know that renegotiate but
if you honestly need nothing and you
work from the present place of happiness
and an awareness then you will be more
focused you will do better you may make
more money and care less about it you
may be more successful there is no
chance that if you become a meditator
that you won’t become a better business
person or bright of mind for whatever
you apply yourself to so I’m addicted to
it I’m here all of us that promote it
because we want you to be addicted and
if the world meditated we wouldn’t be
all right and I want we would not abuse
a hundred billion animals to be the
number one cause of the destruction of
our planet and poison ourselves we
wouldn’t do it we’d think about it come
to our mind in one ear and out the other
but the second it stops in our brain and
that’s no good we stop but the animal
stuff people stop it he wouldn’t be able
to put people in ovens they wouldn’t be
able to have mass you know genocide it’s
just couldn’t happen if you were
meditators because you watch your
thoughts and something in here gives you
better direction and all the stuff out
there so that’s my rap about I love
meditation I promote it to you
it’s simple thing if you don’t have 20
minutes to meditate you need two hours
yeah I like Goldie’s idea of doing it
short and quick for kids over and over
because you keep reminding them to be
calm and let it go and it doesn’t mean
people always think by letting go of
needing nothing that you don’t
accomplish or do more that 20 minutes
that you take up will change your life
and if you do yoga and meditation say
Jesus that’s two hours out of my day
then you will accomplish another six
hours in your day you will be way more
productive and you certainly the most
important thing is you’d be way happier
that’s just my wrap thank you and so
then I did want to compute Alan who is a
teacher who is the founder and guiding
teacher of the Community Meditation
Center in New York and so first it was
in the teaser of the description
meditation can help you survive a plane
crash and I know that you have a story
linked to that but can you talk a little
bit about that but then also transition
to my guesses we have many people here
who have never meditated before and you
know how do people begin that journey
what I will say that I’ve never known
anyone who began the practice of
meditation because they were concerned
about being in a plane crash I never
thought it would happen to me either
I began also about 20 years ago and no
dramatic reason just my own
curiosity my life had was filled with
wonderful things I was a singer actor I
had been in a few Broadway shows and on
the other end of the spectrum like
anyone else I’ve had experienced the
death of my parents of my brother a
rather normal life filled with ups and
downs and then I just really became
curious and I began to study with a
wonderful master named tick dong who is
Vietnamese said a big influence in the
Western world as well and then I wanted
to work more directly on my own practice
understanding on a deeper level what was
going on within me and ultimately
leading to what I might be able to
contribute so I spent the next 10 years
working one-on-one with a woman named
Sharon Salzberg who is one of the three
people who brought the teachings of the
Buddha back to the United States back in
the beginning of the 70s Sharon tells a
story about it being so new at that time
that if she said to someone she was a
meditation teacher the first thing they
said was oh do you know Richard Gere and
for those of you who don’t know Richard
is sort of a well-known meditator today
things have changed as has been
mentioned during my time with Sharon I
had a strong urge to begin a meditation
center myself and what is also called
the Dharma Center which is teaching the
wisdom teachings from the east and it
grew and it grew and today is one of the
biggest certainly in New York and in the
United States during that time I also
wrote my first book and then my second
book and the third book was something
unexpected as was mentioned three and a
half years ago we were traveling in
Burma or in Myanmar if you prefer and my
wife and I were in a serious plane crash
there was 71 of us on the plane people
died some people were seriously injured
according to the reports I was the most
seriously injured I managed to be able
to push my wife out of the emergency
exit even though it was engulfed in
flames and I intended to follow right
after her but my foot caught on
something and I couldn’t move I had no
idea what it was because I couldn’t see
because of the dense smoke that I was in
and I spent the doctors estimated about
60 seconds in the fire it’s an estimate
because that part is blocked out of my
memory what therapists call the
benevolent brain came to my rescue
but in the course of all of the
interviews and television newspaper
radio that followed there were a couple
of questions that were always asked and
one of course was you’ve been a
meditator for twenty years did that help
you in this circumstance so I’ve always
made it a point to say that what I’m
about to share with you I cannot prove
but some things seem to me very obvious
such as in the time that I was actually
in the fire I knew that I was in the
fire and I knew I was in desperate
trouble I was beyond scared terrified
yet at the same time I distinctly
remember being absolutely calm and to
this day that seems to me an odd
combination to be terrified and calm at
the same time I believe that if I had
not been calm I would not have been able
to figure out what kept me stuck and
then been able to free myself then
afterward I was asked so many times
didn’t you ever
wonder or ask yourself why me why did
this happen to me and the truth is that
question never occurred to me and if it
had the only logical answer would have
been why not me
things happen to people and in
meditation you actually get to see that
clearly because that’s the time when we
stop our busyness we’re all busy those
of you perhaps who are retired you’re
busy planning your golf date you’re busy
making your phone call for what movie
you’re gonna say who you’re gonna feel
to lunch with we stop that busyness for
five minutes or you know if you’re
addicted since that word was used I’d
rather think hooked on the practice that
maybe it’s 30 or 60 minutes but in that
time we stopped our busyness and we sit
down with just the mind and when I did
this early on I founded one of the most
frightening things I had ever done
because all of that stuff that
accumulated through the years was there
and some of it I hadn’t thought about
for decades and some of it had just
happened that morning and there I was
alone with my mind and yet it became the
most significant thing that I’ve ever
done in my life and I became committed
to sharing this with others not from a
perspective of you should do this but
just from the perspective of this has
worked really well for me you might want
to try it thank you thank you
so um Goldie and Russell you both work
with children and Goldie can you walk us
through because I think again for people
who the idea of made
they feel like they should do it because
it has all these health benefits but
they don’t even know how to begin how do
you begin with children how do you
introduce them to these concepts and
then can you share some of the benefits
you’ve seen in the schools in the
community if you worked with yes we
obviously we make it very simple for
them and one of the things that makes
the children attend quicker is the sound
of a chime and we do it because we ask
them to listen to this chime very
intently until they can’t hear it
anymore and then when they can’t hear
any longer they turn their hands over on
their desk in their circle wherever the
teacher wants to put them there are no
hard rules I attending to this sound it
begins to quiet the children down right
away and what we found is is the
children who used to turn their hands
over really quickly after time could
listen to the chime longer so they had a
greater ability to attend which is what
we all would like to do and not have our
brains be monkey and jump around this
way in the other way and have some level
of control so then we asked them to
follow their breath so after they hear
the sound we have them follow their
breath and what I what we say to them is
is that every brain thinks that’s what
brains do and our brains are going to
think but when we have a thought we want
that to look at it as it’s a cloud
passing in the sky don’t hook onto that
cloud you come back to your breathing in
and out and focus on your breathing oh
there’s another thought oh there’s
another thought that’s okay the brain is
a thinking organ it’s going to do that
you forgive yourself for thinking but
don’t hang on to your thinking you have
to come back to your breath okay so
we’re watching our mind we are not
thinking and holding onto our thoughts
so let’s do it that way and that’s how
we start with the children and in the
beginning we say it’s okay to be fidgety
you know if you want to twitch if you
want to do it’s okay
if you want to keep your eyes open it’s
okay you don’t have to close your eyes
if you don’t want if everyone does this
in a sense to who they are and their
comfort zone the beautiful thing is is
that eventually it becomes a part of
them it becomes a part of a comfortable
couch and you suddenly feel all I’m back
again and I remember a teaching that
Maharaja that my rishi
and I remember this at the very
beginning that it’s as if you’re a tea
cup full of water and the the tea the
tea bag dips in and it dips comes out
and as you deepen you go a little bit
deeper into your thinking and sometimes
there’s this wonderful space between
your thoughts that’s a beautiful space
you’re not thinking you’re being but
then it comes up again another thought
comes up but then it goes back in with
your breath and your focus and sometimes
it saturates just a little bit more but
it comes out again and this is the
process so this is how we talk to our
kids it’s how we talk about the the way
in which to do it that is you know no
wrong answer you know and wrestle
whatever I know with the David Lynch
foundation you also are going into many
schools in underprivileged communities
as well what are you seeing well you see
dramatic shifts in the schools
you see schools that where they were
incredibly violent reduction in violence
is the first thing is crystal clear the
grades go up people’s level of
compassion and relationship with each
other is is improved dramatically the
teachers become happier because they got
to learn first so we have the same
experiences I think the research must be
the same I like the damaja rishis thing
you know thoughts come and they go you
know sometimes you can watch the thought
and you know if it’s something it’s just
like if you have a scratch you have to
scratch the thought maybe something
that’s a little bit pressing and you’ll
think it for a minute and it’ll go you’d
like like the cloud that she describes
so it’s kind of the same you know the
teachings but the results of crystal
clear near the same schools and
children who meditate do better she form
of you know improving the school system
you’re mad I mean dramatically different
schools can be just because the kids
meditate and and again you learn so much
more so much quicker it’s ok to spend a
few minutes in stillness you know it’s a
good for us to chit chat because we you
know we both are you know agree and
we’re both watching our children and
it’s the most profound difference that
we had and you know we’ve done all our
research and so forth but continuing to
do it russell’s exactly right our our
you know aggression on the playground
went way down the kids working together
in the classroom in a homogenous way is
together more empathy which is something
our children are losing is this
empathetic nature is now showing up in
the classroom I mean and and the fact
that a child now can actually express
the reason how he mitigated his biting
back because his amygdala was on fire I
have a funny story so one of our kids
was like six and and he was brought in
because he was misbehaving and the
principal said to him you know one why
are you here he said well my amygdala
was overactive and my prefrontal cortex
wasn’t thinking so it was you know this
is the kind of thing that you really it
isn’t it is connected to our future
isn’t it these kids will create tomorrow
yes I I wanted to ask Sara we have 20
minutes for questions yeah the mind will
settle no matter what as the nervous
system calm so goes to mind so all of
these forms of meditation a very valid
you know what you learn from the
Vietnamese monk or what mindfulness are
the the TM transcendent meditation all
of it sit and be still we’re gonna have
a meditation too so we don’t have that
much time but it always settles and
anybody who operates from a still place
no one ever does anything of any
significance on this
a joke hits you you giggle because
everything goes away the future to pass
the joke hit you laugh you should laugh
no happiness comes except for the
present those who are present in the
second that they’re present there the
flashes of happiness the noise in the
mind is the cause of sadness and the
quiet mind is the cause of happiness
it’s that simple
and so children need that they need
quiet the noise and the suffering and
sit with the silence and the bliss it’s
that simple it’s been it’s not something
we have new age it’s samba4 way before
this country these teachers these it’s
way before you know and in all the
scriptures and they must not all be
wrong and but now we have proof through
science that they’re right so we just
putting it on you and you know to share
and that’s what we all kind of do is try
to spread this idea and saved you know
we can think more clearly more of us
thinking more clearly will make a
difference each one of us one at a time
and I want in too we are actually gonna
do a guided meditation but before we get
into that there are so many different
techniques even on the stage many of us
do different techniques whether it’s a
month or a based technique or
mindfulness and Sarah I wanted to ask
you in terms of the research are you
seeing the same benefits if you do yoga
versus a month or a based meditation
versus mindfulness versus going for a
run on the beach what is the Regis
research doing right there hasn’t been a
lot of data directly comparing form one
verses form two but every form that has
been studied seems to have beneficial
benefits health benefits and so we like
to think of it as exercise for the mind
and so it’s sort of like asking what’s
better running or swimming right and so
all forms of notation seem to have
general stress reduction benefits but
there seems to be some maybe subtle
differences sort of like we know weight
training versus aerobic exercise there’s
little differences in the benefits and
so it’s still pretty early so there’s
not real concrete data on it yet but
there are some suggestions that yes you
know and but sort of just like running
versus swimming some people would love
to run and hate to swim and vice versa
so you know I always encourage people to
try a couple different types you know
some people love mantra some people hate
it
so just whatever you couple with okay
great so why don’t we we wanted to
actually give an experience of a short
meditation and then afterwards give some
time for questions and so Goldie maybe
you can set the stage for what people
can expect and then Alan is going to
guide us in a meditation before we have
questions okay well what we want to get
comfortable and relaxed and I would
advise those of us who are worried about
our bellies sticking out to just forget
about it yeah and let them go just let
it all go and you’re settling your chair
and you really relax you know into your
chair or in your floor however you
prefer and check in with your body and
make sure your you know you can feel
yourself completely relaxed we’re going
to we’re going to actually now watch and
you know watch our brain okay so we’re
going to be inside of that a little bit
and as I said before I want to ask you
to forgive yourself and that means don’t
be hard on yourself that you can’t go
into some state of you know oneness
right now you really are going to
understand how to witness your thoughts
come back to your breath and notice that
your breath will change
it’ll get fast then it’ll slow down then
suddenly you’ll feel like you have to
take a deep breath it’s all what you
should be doing so you really need to
trust all of your bodily function all of
your instincts and one thing do not
attach to your thoughts please let them
starting with the body if you can let
your both feet rest comfortably on the
floor and again if you are comfortable
to do so and can come slightly forward
from the back of the chair and have a
long straight back but without stress or
strain but your hands be what they would
like to be and for the next several
minutes if you can but your hands remain
still in this one form of practice that
we’ll do today
begins by bringing your awareness to the
sensations of the breath that means to
rest your awareness lightly on the
sensations that you experience with the
you might be able to notice those
might notice a sense of coolness with
the in-breath the out-breath might have
a little tingle and warmth don’t be
concerned at all if you don’t notice
those sensations you could move your
awareness to the upper limp and see what
you notice there you could even move
your awareness through the broad expanse
will call the sensations of the breath
your anchor or the more technical terms
it’s referred to as an object of
concentration so when the mind wanders
which it will do just gently bring your
awareness back to the breath do this
without self-criticism you’re not doing
anything wrong do it without judgment
thoughts will arise and the practice is
just being aware of the thoughts not
trying to deny them you might be
thinking I’m so glad that I’m here or
you might be thinking why am I doing
as you become aware of a thought bring
your awareness back to the sensations of
the breath and for the next three or
four minutes see if you can follow just
as we come to the end of this short
session of practice you’ll be moving
your hands your toes your fingers see if
your awareness can remain so keen that
you can practically feel your eyelids as
your eyes open and when you’re ready
so we wanted to open up for some
questions I’m not sure we Oh
if anyone has a question come up here
and before you ask the first question I
am curious for who here was this their
first ever meditation okay so not too
many we had a lot of meditators here
great think thank you very much for the
for the whole panel and that practice
was was fantastic I’ve been practicing
since December when I was a little
stressed myself and my wife suggested I
look for some ways to calm myself I work
I work in finance to get the medical
benefits can we practice for five
minutes a day is it 30 minutes or 60
minutes where is that I’m doing 15
minutes now is that enough do we need
more how do I think about that or or
what is the I would I would say how many
minutes you doing now 15 that’s
wonderful
15 minutes is is terrific it gives you
time to really you know examine and go
deep and you know and so forth it would
be great if you had an opportunity in
the evening at some point lock yourself
in the bathroom or wherever and have
another 15 or 10 I think the more your
your body and your mind gets used to the
idea that have the brain gets to
habituate on some of these ideas it’s
going to be even more beneficial for you
that would be my note and I’ll also sad
so you know I grew up in a family of
meditating since I was nine I am the
first to admit I’m a very irregular
meditator I do not meditate
I’m sorry wrestling goal do you 30
minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in
the evening I try to find 15 minutes
once a day and you know it’s just where
I am in my
right now with two young kids and
running around and busy that I don’t
find the time but if I do find that 15
minutes what I find is I start yearning
more of that time because that’s my time
and that’s my peaceful time so I’m it
does the research show anything I’m
curious right there’s not time research
on it but does suggest that even five
minutes can be beneficial and then in
general there’s a correlation between
the more you practice the more you
benefit to certain extent but yeah I
think the main thing is just doing what
you can the key thing that we found is
not so much whether it’s ten minutes
fifteen minutes or an hour but that it’s
consistent that it’s every day as close
as you can come to every day I had a
teacher who said at worst at least get
into the physical position yeah okay
we’re gonna head to the back we have a
question if I want to introduce this to
my school system and district what kind
of resistance do you expect in your
experience I would encounter oh yeah I
know Goldie one thing I do too and it’s
not politics right but I went to Chicago
where I needed as much of anywhere and
there was all kinds of resistance and
you know one of the things that parents
have they should spend more time in
school not less and this was the mayor
well you know him oh my god sorry I
though it was interesting you in the
meeting with it there was a nun who had
and you know of course they don’t want
to be religious and so we had this big
forum in a thousand educators thousand
and all and the woman who ran all the
the Catholic schools and she had you
know in the state was huge she’s this
nun that said we all meditate we we
don’t call it meditation we call it
quiet time because you say meditation
that people think of it as do you call
it quiet time is what you call it
mindfulness right so no we call it we do
a brain break but when you’re finished
I’ll explain my experience but you
you find you know I’ll be on school in
Africa which is all doing TM and it was
fantastic and the kids were growing and
your parents shut it down they thought
it was religious it was in South Africa
Johannesburg so there is a lot of people
there’s a lot of resistance from a
religious side although being quiet but
sitting by yourself should not scare any
religious person but it does and then
and then as resistance you know the
amount of time you’re wasting on the
kids and there’s all kinds of resistance
and it’s kind of shocking when the
teachers learn teach you the thrill to
teach the kids and when the research
comes back and they’re thrilled to show
the research but and we’ve got hundreds
of thousands of kids and Golda’s got a
million kids whatever so we are slowly
making inroads the research is too
overwhelming for us not to but it took
that I mean all the work that the David
Lynch foundation was doing it all work
did Goldie was doing it all I got I
think I’m just guessing for you goal
he’s not I’m pretty sure that everything
started to speed up the minute they
started to write the the research and
the benefits that children get we still
have a long way to go because we have a
lot of people don’t despise who
resistance so yes there is a tremendous
amount in some respect okay I’m we have
a few minutes left I just want to say
that we have the entire Reno School
District now that’s top-down so we have
several school districts that are
top-down and one of the exciting parts
of it is that we don’t get any pushback
we don’t get pushed back because we’re
very brain centric we’re very very based
in science I want to make sure that that
is what it is because frankly that is
the truth the fact that I am personally
have my own personal beliefs has nothing
to do with this but it has to do with
research science and what our children
are facing today and what yeah I got
chalk you’re wrong you better believe it
so anyway with this school district of
65,000 children doing mind up it’s
awesome it’s exciting there’s no
pushback there’s only people excited
about it every now and then and I’ve
said in in 13 years I’ve only had three
people say this is religion so the the
the idea here
is that in your right we finally come of
age we’ve been doing this now for many
many years and now people are looking at
this very differently in terms of you
know languaging or fearfulness or
religiosity that they’re imprinting and
you’re trying to teach my children this
so I would say we’ve come a long way and
in what we’ve done because this
particular program is very very
scientifically based makes a big
difference it’s sort of you know what is
your point of entry with your teachers
the head of Teachers College at Columbia
Susan Furman is on our board so we’re
now looking at getting it into teachers
colleges so they really are armed so
scaling will then no longer be an issue
right so you know this is how we’re
working forward but it is it’s exciting
isn’t it it’s an exciting time the
principal the teachers and then the
students because they know one’s not
gonna get it I mean and there are whole
districts like in what we have team in
most most of our Oakland and San
Francisco and then you come to some
places where and I was started tell you
about them none because every one of her
students and all the I think they’re ten
fifteen thousand they all have quiet
time you know and they all have 20
minutes of quiet time that’s her
no she got tremendous tremendous
resistance and if there is still
resistance because it’s too obvious and
idea not to turn down so if Goldie can
get a whole school district and we can
get a whole school district in and get
the research back from Oakland and Cisco
and other places then it’ll just start
to trickle up you know and I think
that’s what we have to do we have a lot
of work to do did you say trickle up no
I’m just checking because I kind of love
that yeah you know Center I’m sorry to
say in our Center in New York we begin a
session on Sunday mornings at 10:30 and
some people come running in because
they’ve just been at their church and
then others have been in the synagogue
on Saturday morning and they come in and
they’re absolutely comfortable to be
meditating no dogma
so with that I want to thank everyone on
this panel cannot wait to be here with all of you and thank you all
entrepreneur and just have a book out
called living with intent my somewhat
messy journey but we’re here today to
talk about meditation I learned how to
meditate when I was 9 years old which is
35 years ago many of you may be familiar
with my father the well-known author
Deepak Chopra and so I feel very honored
that I’ve kind of grown up in this space
and have kind of a lot of experience in
it but I really want to get to our panel
all of whom are really esteemed
successful individuals many of whom have
kind of discovered meditation and by
meditating actually for decades as well
and people like Goldie and Russell who
have been friends of my families for a
long long time Sarah and Alan as well
and the work that they’ve been doing is
really remarkable so we wanted to get
right into the science and some of the
most recent research on meditation and
mindfulness so we’re going to start with
Sarah Lazar
Sarah is a site in the psychiatry
department at Mass General and an
assistant professor in psychology at
Harvard Medical School who is doing been
doing a lot of the cutting edge research
on meditation and mindfulness techniques
so we had a call before and we thought
you know the best way is let’s just dive
in and really hear some of the latest
research on meditation right I thought I
would start by talking a little about my
story actually used to so because I
think it’s important especially in this
sort of group to understand so when I
was in graduate school you know I was a
liquor biologist and at that point if
you said yoga and meditation what sprung
for my mind was images of you know you
know people sitting and you know sitar
music and burning incense and yeah my
eyes would roll and I didn’t think very
highly of it and at the time I was a
runner and I over trained and I
developed knee and back problems so I
went to see a physical therapist and
they told me to stop running and just
stretch and so as I was leaving the
physical there of the physical therapist
office I happened to see an ad for a
vigorous yoga class that promised to
promote strength and flexibility and
endurance
so I thought this would be a great way
to just stretch and stay in shape and I
was shooting for a marathon at the time
and so I thought okay maybe I can still
run the marathon so when did the yoga
class purely as a way of doing physical
therapy I was completely skeptical about
any mind-body benefits and I’d been a
runner for about 10 years at that point
on you I ran here in high school in
college
and I did lots of stretching and after a
couple weeks I knew that this wasn’t
just stretching there’s something more
to it than just you know exercise and it
was having a profound effect on me as
reducing my stress I was less reactive I
was you know more focused more
compassionate and you know it really it
really had a huge impact me and so
that’s why I decided after graduate
school to switch and do this research
exclusively to fight it I know what
exactly was happening in the brain when
when does yoga and meditation so the
most recent research we’ve done is
actually the first slide method one is
what we did is we took people and who
had never meditated before and we put
them through an eight-week meditation
program a stress eight-week mindfulness
based stress reduction program and we
looked at their brains and compared them
to people who were just standing widths
apart who weren’t going through a
program and we saw that compared to the
people doing nothing we could actually
see changes in brain structure from over
the course of these eight weeks and so
this first region we found is the
hippocampus this is the main important
region for learning and memory right
this is in the main memory part of your
brain and it’s an area that’s heavily
negatively impacted by depression and
PTSD and as you can see there was
virtually no change in the controls but
a significant increase in gray matter in
the group that goes through the
eight-week program and gray matter in
your brain you have white matter and
gray matter white matter is just wiring
just connections versus gray matter is
the part of the brain where the thinking
is actually happening and so this is
consistent with this area of the brain
having
more activity and being a builder being
being able to better work because it has
more gray matter
another originally found is on slide two
this is an area called the TPJ this is
area that’s very important for
creativity and seeing things from other
people’s point of view
so it’s a key region important for
empathy and compassion and again you see
you know no change in the controls and a
very significant change in the
meditation group another reason I found
actually got smaller this is on slide
three this is the amygdala the amygdala
is the main fighter flight for the brain
it’s negative emotions fear and what we
found in stress and we found is that
after the eight weeks it actually got
smaller and that the change in stress
poor lay of the change in brain matter
structure so this really suggests that
people aren’t just saying oh I feel less
stressed it’s the passage of time or
it’s because you know it’s what we the
scientists want to hear there’s an
actual biological mechanism underlying
the change in stress and what’s
interesting is this analogous part of
the brain in animals gets bigger if you
put them through a stress protocol so if
you take them and you put them and
stress them out in various different
ways
that part gets bigger so it’s really
nice that we have this animal data to
sort of support it we’ve also done
studies with long term meditators and
yoga practitioners and we look at their
brains compared to people who have not
done yoga meditation before and so the
final slide said for with and so the
areas in red are the areas where there’s
more gray matter in the meditators
compared to the controls and what’s
interesting is here in the frontal brain
it’s right behind your eye this is an
area of brain that’s important for
working memory and executive
decision-making and that area is circled
in green is the primary region that is
associated with what’s commonly referred
to as IQ right so it’s also known as
fluid intelligence so it’s a your
ability to take novel information and do
something useful and new with it and in
the graph to the right what you see is
the red is the controls and the blue is
the meditators and it’s well known the
entire front half of the brain shrinks
as we age and this is why as we get
older we’re a little slower we’re not
quite as sharp as we were when we were
younger and when we can see is that the
meditators in this one region that it
appears that their brains are not
shrinking but they’re actually able to
preserve
this part of their brain because they’re
meditating and so that first study we
didn’t know that we’re gonna find this
so we didn’t assess IQ but now we’ve
done a follow-up study and we actually
gave long-term meditators and long-term
the other practitioners an IQ test and
we see the same thing that the controls
it goes down with age versus and the
meditators and controls it’s more
preserved with aging so it really does
suggest that in addition to helping
reduce stress and help with you know
emotional reactivity that actually helps
preserve brain function with aging and
these are all you know healthy normal
people so you know when my father
started talking about the mind-body
connection and things like meditation
Transcendental Meditation and other
practices thirty years ago he was
labeled the East Asian witch doctor who
sold snake oil and today we’re sitting
here on stage sharing all the benefits
and it’s remarkable and it’s really a
testament to the scientists who are
doing a lot of the research that is
validating the experience so thank you
for your work
and I want to move now to Goldie who’s
an old friend an old meditator been
doing it for many many years
Goldie Hawn doesn’t really need an
introduction as an actress but she’s
also a producer and a director but the
founder of the honh honh Foundation
which is doing a lot of work with
children and schools and bringing
mindfulness practices into schools so
we’ll see a little bit about why
meditation came into your life and then
how you’re serving by sharing this gift
of the world thank you very much
so back in 1972 I was rising to success
really quickly and found myself really
anxious and I was says psychologically I
really kind of didn’t want to go out
people were expressing their affection
or the other way around and I really was
was taken aback because I was never ever
believed I wanted to be a movie star it
was only just to dance and open a
dancing school but you know life doesn’t
always turn out the way we
it’s going to and I’m not complaining
but I will say that it did not me back
on my on my on my tushy so I took the
way on which other than you know working
into psychologists but on meditation and
I was at that point I was I wanted to go
I wanted to learn about it and in the
70s it was definitely TM Transcendental
Meditation and I went somewhere in
Westwood I was initiated I meditated for
the first time and I was about 21 and I
sat there and I will never forget this
feeling and I want to share it and it’s
always difficult to express feelings
it’s like love we’ve been writing poetry
about it forever but sometimes you can’t
always explain what it really feels like
but I’ll try
when I sat there the window was open and
the lace curtains were fluffing these
into the room and the wind was coming in
and there was just a small little candle
and there was some incense being lit
which I’d never smelled before
and I sat there and I had a mantra okay
so this is one mode of doing it many
ways which we’ll talk later about how we
go about meditating and so forth but in
this particular practice it was a sound
and I repeated this sound quietly but
what happened to me was I started to
giggle I know it sounds kind of normal
for me but it was truly an inner joy and
inner tickle that thing that I could
never define as a little girl and I had
lost and I wanted to find it again and
so it came to me as I was learning to
find my first quieting of the mind and
what happened was is that my heart and
in my heart Center started to feel
expansive and I felt like I was finding
my true self my true being right there
for the first time that I could actually
sense my own heartbeat so for me
meditation had a very powerful effect
okay now as time has gone on and this is
1972 I’ve been a meditator I’ve also
experienced different forms of
meditation I am a scientist by Nature I
am very interested in research and this
is the very thing that as time has gone
on is that in a way we can no longer
look at meditation as any form of
religiosity it is so far practiced and
contemplative practices basically in
every religion known to man or created
by man but at the same time this is pure
science and I asked the question why
aren’t children learning about their
brain why is it that we teach children
in the classroom and we never give them
any information on command central which
is what they have their tools sitting
right there on their little shoulders to
be able to know how to access
information how to change and understand
the plasticity of their own brain giving
them the opportunity and the optimism to
be able to say I can do that I can make
sure I do that I know why I do that
I know why I’m angry I know how to
mitigate my anger through breath and
focus in quieting my mind so I can quiet
down my amygdala my barking dog so now
my prefrontal cortex my thinking brain
my executive function they call it their
PFC gets to open and now I can remember
things I can make better choices I’m a
thinking person I’m not a reactive
person I had this dream 13 years ago
people said to me you’ll never do that
you’ll never get meditation in the
classroom you will never teach children
how their brains work what age do you
want to start I want to start in
kindergarten I want to do kindergarten
through eighth grade because these are
the primary years where we start setting
patterns our brain starts hit
comfortable with certain things and this
research was just too proven to sit in a
petri dish in every University it had to
come out into our classroom and to our
parents and to our teachers to change
the way we teach our children in the
classroom and they looked at me like I
had six heads
and that was 13 years ago and today
things have changed it’s been a very
hard road we created a program called
mind up and mind up now has neuroscience
at the start and the base it has three
times a day brain break for children
during a classroom
now they asked for it again for tests
taking themselves
we now have pro-social behavior we’ve
learned and taught children how to
understand the difference between
pessimism
we have kindness in the classroom and we
have gratitude journals that we create
all of these things shape the brain they
shape how children start connecting
inside of their synapses instead of the
neurons how they connect now so when we
get to the Grand Canyon of negativity we
are now really creating a Grand Canyon
of positivity this is what we want so
while we create this we ask well how do
you do meditation of the classroom well
it’s very tough to have 20 minutes in
the morning at 20 minutes a night even
for those of us who are hard and true
meditators but we do it but in the
classroom there’s not time so I believe
we enter weave it as we can interweave
it into our day so we do three times a
day three minutes four minutes for each
child done changes the whole way the
classroom runs calms the children down
reduces their stress and gives them an
optimum experience in the classroom this
is what I have done for the last 13
years putting together this program it
is now close to serving a million
I love making people laugh but this part
of my life has been one of the most
exciting times of my life so I know
there’s more but that’s what I’m doing
and that’s how I got there
thank you and we’ll talk more about what
the effects that we’re seeing in the
kids so I’m actually gonna jump to
Russell and then Ellen I’ll come back to
you so Russell you’ve also been such a
champion and advocate of everything from
meditation to happy vegan can you share
a little bit one about your story but
then you are very much the poster of you
know success and you’ve how the hell is
that influenced your journey has made a
patient been a part of that
well my nickname was rush my company
still named rush rush communications but
so that was my nickname and I always
thought that this kinetic energy or this
anxiety that drove me was the force that
made me successful and and about 20
years ago I started to go to yoga first
was a little over 20 years ago and I
went to class and I didn’t go she went I
went because it was so many hot girls
him no guys it was like too cool I
they’d have yoga pants everybody gets
head anyway
so I went to class is doubly hot girls
and I came out of class House high as
ABS legs Oh what is this right
because I’ve been for one second I was
present you know a couple of seconds
more than usual I think everybody holy
the meditators know that life’s goal is
to expound on those seconds of presence
I mean it only happens now you can’t be
transported to the future to pass
anything like that you’re stuck here and
the more you recognize that presence its
moments of happiness you have or
creativity or anything that you achieve
or do or or contribute to society come
from the seconds of presence that you
and the idea of expanding those seconds
of presence is one of the reasons we
meditate it’s actually the only reason
we meditate but it’s like you would say
one so for me I went to class
my short li after I started to do
physical meditation because in the asana
practice of physical yoga it’s moving
meditation this idea smile and breathe
in every difficult pose and that’s the
physical asana or yoga practice and a
part of yoga this seven to eight parts
of yoga is meditation interesting enough
meditation has been in every spiritual
practice forever everybody would tell
you to be still and still it goes over
the head to both people and for
thousands of years people have been
doing it but finally it started to stick
you know with the deepak with TIA
I’m on the board of the David Lynch
foundation but their work and what
Goldie is starting to stick and the more
important thing I mean because if we’re
sitting here and a bunch of people who
probably don’t meditate so much is that
look at the research is telling you what
the monks have been telling you and what
did all the spiritual teachers have told
us forever it’s telling you you need to
meditate and that you should operate
from abundance or from a present place
or from a happy place and meditation
does that for us I always talk about the
left in the right side of brain and all
this research that she’s done and
they’ve been doing but I can appeal to
you I just it makes you happy and all
you guys probably know but they don’t
internalize the idea that money doesn’t
make you happy but happy makes you money
for those agree to people still you know
if you operate for a happy present place
and you focus you do it a good job and
whatever you think is the future your
next present moment becomes a little bit
more alive and so this you know whatever
you want to execute you know you can
only do it when you’re present so for me
the meditation experience has started
about 20 years ago I’ve been addicted I
just wrote a book about it
successful stillness and it it’s very
simple my daughter told me the book was
remedial at best she was 11 when she
told me that she’s now 13 and so she was
11 and she read it I told her Oprah said
it was one of the best books on the
subject and then she said opens but a
to get to my mother so you know I fell
in love with it I try to give it to
everybody I can’t I think it’s important
but Goldie’s doing is great but the
David Lynch foundation I was meditating
long before I ran into
Bob Roth a lot of the stars called him
not meditation Bob
I call him the month because he’s I mean
literally does nothing wrong ever never
thinks a wrong thought right would you
breathe it’s an unbelievable person but
you know he I went to teach meditation
somewhere and he you know doctor gave me
my little conference so I wrote a book
that’s mantra based and I and I believe
all the forms of meditation they don’t
all have the research that Goldie’s now
getting and that the TM people have and
are getting but it’s all the same you
know this idea whether it’s candle
gazing with a mantra with the Bravo
it always it quiets the mind that’s all
everyone ever wants life’s only goal is
a comfortable seat nothing else they can
give you no matter how rich you are you
can only sit your ass in one seat at a
time and the more you learn to operate
from that seat you know and I also wrote
a book called super rich which is about
this idea of needing nothing which is
the state of yoga at the state of Christ
consciousness Nirvana Samadhi or what
you call all religions have a name for
this God consciousness and needing
nothing is cool for people here because
needing nothing attracts everything if
there’s a carrot its attracts everything
operating you know that renegotiate but
if you honestly need nothing and you
work from the present place of happiness
and an awareness then you will be more
focused you will do better you may make
more money and care less about it you
may be more successful there is no
chance that if you become a meditator
that you won’t become a better business
person or bright of mind for whatever
you apply yourself to so I’m addicted to
it I’m here all of us that promote it
because we want you to be addicted and
if the world meditated we wouldn’t be
all right and I want we would not abuse
a hundred billion animals to be the
number one cause of the destruction of
our planet and poison ourselves we
wouldn’t do it we’d think about it come
to our mind in one ear and out the other
but the second it stops in our brain and
that’s no good we stop but the animal
stuff people stop it he wouldn’t be able
to put people in ovens they wouldn’t be
able to have mass you know genocide it’s
just couldn’t happen if you were
meditators because you watch your
thoughts and something in here gives you
better direction and all the stuff out
there so that’s my rap about I love
meditation I promote it to you
it’s simple thing if you don’t have 20
minutes to meditate you need two hours
yeah I like Goldie’s idea of doing it
short and quick for kids over and over
because you keep reminding them to be
calm and let it go and it doesn’t mean
people always think by letting go of
needing nothing that you don’t
accomplish or do more that 20 minutes
that you take up will change your life
and if you do yoga and meditation say
Jesus that’s two hours out of my day
then you will accomplish another six
hours in your day you will be way more
productive and you certainly the most
important thing is you’d be way happier
that’s just my wrap thank you and so
then I did want to compute Alan who is a
teacher who is the founder and guiding
teacher of the Community Meditation
Center in New York and so first it was
in the teaser of the description
meditation can help you survive a plane
crash and I know that you have a story
linked to that but can you talk a little
bit about that but then also transition
to my guesses we have many people here
who have never meditated before and you
know how do people begin that journey
what I will say that I’ve never known
anyone who began the practice of
meditation because they were concerned
about being in a plane crash I never
thought it would happen to me either
I began also about 20 years ago and no
dramatic reason just my own
curiosity my life had was filled with
wonderful things I was a singer actor I
had been in a few Broadway shows and on
the other end of the spectrum like
anyone else I’ve had experienced the
death of my parents of my brother a
rather normal life filled with ups and
downs and then I just really became
curious and I began to study with a
wonderful master named tick dong who is
Vietnamese said a big influence in the
Western world as well and then I wanted
to work more directly on my own practice
understanding on a deeper level what was
going on within me and ultimately
leading to what I might be able to
contribute so I spent the next 10 years
working one-on-one with a woman named
Sharon Salzberg who is one of the three
people who brought the teachings of the
Buddha back to the United States back in
the beginning of the 70s Sharon tells a
story about it being so new at that time
that if she said to someone she was a
meditation teacher the first thing they
said was oh do you know Richard Gere and
for those of you who don’t know Richard
is sort of a well-known meditator today
things have changed as has been
mentioned during my time with Sharon I
had a strong urge to begin a meditation
center myself and what is also called
the Dharma Center which is teaching the
wisdom teachings from the east and it
grew and it grew and today is one of the
biggest certainly in New York and in the
United States during that time I also
wrote my first book and then my second
book and the third book was something
unexpected as was mentioned three and a
half years ago we were traveling in
Burma or in Myanmar if you prefer and my
wife and I were in a serious plane crash
there was 71 of us on the plane people
died some people were seriously injured
according to the reports I was the most
seriously injured I managed to be able
to push my wife out of the emergency
exit even though it was engulfed in
flames and I intended to follow right
after her but my foot caught on
something and I couldn’t move I had no
idea what it was because I couldn’t see
because of the dense smoke that I was in
and I spent the doctors estimated about
60 seconds in the fire it’s an estimate
because that part is blocked out of my
memory what therapists call the
benevolent brain came to my rescue
but in the course of all of the
interviews and television newspaper
radio that followed there were a couple
of questions that were always asked and
one of course was you’ve been a
meditator for twenty years did that help
you in this circumstance so I’ve always
made it a point to say that what I’m
about to share with you I cannot prove
but some things seem to me very obvious
such as in the time that I was actually
in the fire I knew that I was in the
fire and I knew I was in desperate
trouble I was beyond scared terrified
yet at the same time I distinctly
remember being absolutely calm and to
this day that seems to me an odd
combination to be terrified and calm at
the same time I believe that if I had
not been calm I would not have been able
to figure out what kept me stuck and
then been able to free myself then
afterward I was asked so many times
didn’t you ever
wonder or ask yourself why me why did
this happen to me and the truth is that
question never occurred to me and if it
had the only logical answer would have
been why not me
things happen to people and in
meditation you actually get to see that
clearly because that’s the time when we
stop our busyness we’re all busy those
of you perhaps who are retired you’re
busy planning your golf date you’re busy
making your phone call for what movie
you’re gonna say who you’re gonna feel
to lunch with we stop that busyness for
five minutes or you know if you’re
addicted since that word was used I’d
rather think hooked on the practice that
maybe it’s 30 or 60 minutes but in that
time we stopped our busyness and we sit
down with just the mind and when I did
this early on I founded one of the most
frightening things I had ever done
because all of that stuff that
accumulated through the years was there
and some of it I hadn’t thought about
for decades and some of it had just
happened that morning and there I was
alone with my mind and yet it became the
most significant thing that I’ve ever
done in my life and I became committed
to sharing this with others not from a
perspective of you should do this but
just from the perspective of this has
worked really well for me you might want
to try it thank you thank you
so um Goldie and Russell you both work
with children and Goldie can you walk us
through because I think again for people
who the idea of made
they feel like they should do it because
it has all these health benefits but
they don’t even know how to begin how do
you begin with children how do you
introduce them to these concepts and
then can you share some of the benefits
you’ve seen in the schools in the
community if you worked with yes we
obviously we make it very simple for
them and one of the things that makes
the children attend quicker is the sound
of a chime and we do it because we ask
them to listen to this chime very
intently until they can’t hear it
anymore and then when they can’t hear
any longer they turn their hands over on
their desk in their circle wherever the
teacher wants to put them there are no
hard rules I attending to this sound it
begins to quiet the children down right
away and what we found is is the
children who used to turn their hands
over really quickly after time could
listen to the chime longer so they had a
greater ability to attend which is what
we all would like to do and not have our
brains be monkey and jump around this
way in the other way and have some level
of control so then we asked them to
follow their breath so after they hear
the sound we have them follow their
breath and what I what we say to them is
is that every brain thinks that’s what
brains do and our brains are going to
think but when we have a thought we want
that to look at it as it’s a cloud
passing in the sky don’t hook onto that
cloud you come back to your breathing in
and out and focus on your breathing oh
there’s another thought oh there’s
another thought that’s okay the brain is
a thinking organ it’s going to do that
you forgive yourself for thinking but
don’t hang on to your thinking you have
to come back to your breath okay so
we’re watching our mind we are not
thinking and holding onto our thoughts
so let’s do it that way and that’s how
we start with the children and in the
beginning we say it’s okay to be fidgety
you know if you want to twitch if you
want to do it’s okay
if you want to keep your eyes open it’s
okay you don’t have to close your eyes
if you don’t want if everyone does this
in a sense to who they are and their
comfort zone the beautiful thing is is
that eventually it becomes a part of
them it becomes a part of a comfortable
couch and you suddenly feel all I’m back
again and I remember a teaching that
Maharaja that my rishi
and I remember this at the very
beginning that it’s as if you’re a tea
cup full of water and the the tea the
tea bag dips in and it dips comes out
and as you deepen you go a little bit
deeper into your thinking and sometimes
there’s this wonderful space between
your thoughts that’s a beautiful space
you’re not thinking you’re being but
then it comes up again another thought
comes up but then it goes back in with
your breath and your focus and sometimes
it saturates just a little bit more but
it comes out again and this is the
process so this is how we talk to our
kids it’s how we talk about the the way
in which to do it that is you know no
wrong answer you know and wrestle
whatever I know with the David Lynch
foundation you also are going into many
schools in underprivileged communities
as well what are you seeing well you see
dramatic shifts in the schools
you see schools that where they were
incredibly violent reduction in violence
is the first thing is crystal clear the
grades go up people’s level of
compassion and relationship with each
other is is improved dramatically the
teachers become happier because they got
to learn first so we have the same
experiences I think the research must be
the same I like the damaja rishis thing
you know thoughts come and they go you
know sometimes you can watch the thought
and you know if it’s something it’s just
like if you have a scratch you have to
scratch the thought maybe something
that’s a little bit pressing and you’ll
think it for a minute and it’ll go you’d
like like the cloud that she describes
so it’s kind of the same you know the
teachings but the results of crystal
clear near the same schools and
children who meditate do better she form
of you know improving the school system
you’re mad I mean dramatically different
schools can be just because the kids
meditate and and again you learn so much
more so much quicker it’s ok to spend a
few minutes in stillness you know it’s a
good for us to chit chat because we you
know we both are you know agree and
we’re both watching our children and
it’s the most profound difference that
we had and you know we’ve done all our
research and so forth but continuing to
do it russell’s exactly right our our
you know aggression on the playground
went way down the kids working together
in the classroom in a homogenous way is
together more empathy which is something
our children are losing is this
empathetic nature is now showing up in
the classroom I mean and and the fact
that a child now can actually express
the reason how he mitigated his biting
back because his amygdala was on fire I
have a funny story so one of our kids
was like six and and he was brought in
because he was misbehaving and the
principal said to him you know one why
are you here he said well my amygdala
was overactive and my prefrontal cortex
wasn’t thinking so it was you know this
is the kind of thing that you really it
isn’t it is connected to our future
isn’t it these kids will create tomorrow
yes I I wanted to ask Sara we have 20
minutes for questions yeah the mind will
settle no matter what as the nervous
system calm so goes to mind so all of
these forms of meditation a very valid
you know what you learn from the
Vietnamese monk or what mindfulness are
the the TM transcendent meditation all
of it sit and be still we’re gonna have
a meditation too so we don’t have that
much time but it always settles and
anybody who operates from a still place
no one ever does anything of any
significance on this
a joke hits you you giggle because
everything goes away the future to pass
the joke hit you laugh you should laugh
no happiness comes except for the
present those who are present in the
second that they’re present there the
flashes of happiness the noise in the
mind is the cause of sadness and the
quiet mind is the cause of happiness
it’s that simple
and so children need that they need
quiet the noise and the suffering and
sit with the silence and the bliss it’s
that simple it’s been it’s not something
we have new age it’s samba4 way before
this country these teachers these it’s
way before you know and in all the
scriptures and they must not all be
wrong and but now we have proof through
science that they’re right so we just
putting it on you and you know to share
and that’s what we all kind of do is try
to spread this idea and saved you know
we can think more clearly more of us
thinking more clearly will make a
difference each one of us one at a time
and I want in too we are actually gonna
do a guided meditation but before we get
into that there are so many different
techniques even on the stage many of us
do different techniques whether it’s a
month or a based technique or
mindfulness and Sarah I wanted to ask
you in terms of the research are you
seeing the same benefits if you do yoga
versus a month or a based meditation
versus mindfulness versus going for a
run on the beach what is the Regis
research doing right there hasn’t been a
lot of data directly comparing form one
verses form two but every form that has
been studied seems to have beneficial
benefits health benefits and so we like
to think of it as exercise for the mind
and so it’s sort of like asking what’s
better running or swimming right and so
all forms of notation seem to have
general stress reduction benefits but
there seems to be some maybe subtle
differences sort of like we know weight
training versus aerobic exercise there’s
little differences in the benefits and
so it’s still pretty early so there’s
not real concrete data on it yet but
there are some suggestions that yes you
know and but sort of just like running
versus swimming some people would love
to run and hate to swim and vice versa
so you know I always encourage people to
try a couple different types you know
some people love mantra some people hate
it
so just whatever you couple with okay
great so why don’t we we wanted to
actually give an experience of a short
meditation and then afterwards give some
time for questions and so Goldie maybe
you can set the stage for what people
can expect and then Alan is going to
guide us in a meditation before we have
questions okay well what we want to get
comfortable and relaxed and I would
advise those of us who are worried about
our bellies sticking out to just forget
about it yeah and let them go just let
it all go and you’re settling your chair
and you really relax you know into your
chair or in your floor however you
prefer and check in with your body and
make sure your you know you can feel
yourself completely relaxed we’re going
to we’re going to actually now watch and
you know watch our brain okay so we’re
going to be inside of that a little bit
and as I said before I want to ask you
to forgive yourself and that means don’t
be hard on yourself that you can’t go
into some state of you know oneness
right now you really are going to
understand how to witness your thoughts
come back to your breath and notice that
your breath will change
it’ll get fast then it’ll slow down then
suddenly you’ll feel like you have to
take a deep breath it’s all what you
should be doing so you really need to
trust all of your bodily function all of
your instincts and one thing do not
attach to your thoughts please let them
starting with the body if you can let
your both feet rest comfortably on the
floor and again if you are comfortable
to do so and can come slightly forward
from the back of the chair and have a
long straight back but without stress or
strain but your hands be what they would
like to be and for the next several
minutes if you can but your hands remain
still in this one form of practice that
we’ll do today
begins by bringing your awareness to the
sensations of the breath that means to
rest your awareness lightly on the
sensations that you experience with the
you might be able to notice those
might notice a sense of coolness with
the in-breath the out-breath might have
a little tingle and warmth don’t be
concerned at all if you don’t notice
those sensations you could move your
awareness to the upper limp and see what
you notice there you could even move
your awareness through the broad expanse
will call the sensations of the breath
your anchor or the more technical terms
it’s referred to as an object of
concentration so when the mind wanders
which it will do just gently bring your
awareness back to the breath do this
without self-criticism you’re not doing
anything wrong do it without judgment
thoughts will arise and the practice is
just being aware of the thoughts not
trying to deny them you might be
thinking I’m so glad that I’m here or
you might be thinking why am I doing
as you become aware of a thought bring
your awareness back to the sensations of
the breath and for the next three or
four minutes see if you can follow just
as we come to the end of this short
session of practice you’ll be moving
your hands your toes your fingers see if
your awareness can remain so keen that
you can practically feel your eyelids as
your eyes open and when you’re ready
so we wanted to open up for some
questions I’m not sure we Oh
if anyone has a question come up here
and before you ask the first question I
am curious for who here was this their
first ever meditation okay so not too
many we had a lot of meditators here
great think thank you very much for the
for the whole panel and that practice
was was fantastic I’ve been practicing
since December when I was a little
stressed myself and my wife suggested I
look for some ways to calm myself I work
I work in finance to get the medical
benefits can we practice for five
minutes a day is it 30 minutes or 60
minutes where is that I’m doing 15
minutes now is that enough do we need
more how do I think about that or or
what is the I would I would say how many
minutes you doing now 15 that’s
wonderful
15 minutes is is terrific it gives you
time to really you know examine and go
deep and you know and so forth it would
be great if you had an opportunity in
the evening at some point lock yourself
in the bathroom or wherever and have
another 15 or 10 I think the more your
your body and your mind gets used to the
idea that have the brain gets to
habituate on some of these ideas it’s
going to be even more beneficial for you
that would be my note and I’ll also sad
so you know I grew up in a family of
meditating since I was nine I am the
first to admit I’m a very irregular
meditator I do not meditate
I’m sorry wrestling goal do you 30
minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in
the evening I try to find 15 minutes
once a day and you know it’s just where
I am in my
right now with two young kids and
running around and busy that I don’t
find the time but if I do find that 15
minutes what I find is I start yearning
more of that time because that’s my time
and that’s my peaceful time so I’m it
does the research show anything I’m
curious right there’s not time research
on it but does suggest that even five
minutes can be beneficial and then in
general there’s a correlation between
the more you practice the more you
benefit to certain extent but yeah I
think the main thing is just doing what
you can the key thing that we found is
not so much whether it’s ten minutes
fifteen minutes or an hour but that it’s
consistent that it’s every day as close
as you can come to every day I had a
teacher who said at worst at least get
into the physical position yeah okay
we’re gonna head to the back we have a
question if I want to introduce this to
my school system and district what kind
of resistance do you expect in your
experience I would encounter oh yeah I
know Goldie one thing I do too and it’s
not politics right but I went to Chicago
where I needed as much of anywhere and
there was all kinds of resistance and
you know one of the things that parents
have they should spend more time in
school not less and this was the mayor
well you know him oh my god sorry I
though it was interesting you in the
meeting with it there was a nun who had
and you know of course they don’t want
to be religious and so we had this big
forum in a thousand educators thousand
and all and the woman who ran all the
the Catholic schools and she had you
know in the state was huge she’s this
nun that said we all meditate we we
don’t call it meditation we call it
quiet time because you say meditation
that people think of it as do you call
it quiet time is what you call it
mindfulness right so no we call it we do
a brain break but when you’re finished
I’ll explain my experience but you
you find you know I’ll be on school in
Africa which is all doing TM and it was
fantastic and the kids were growing and
your parents shut it down they thought
it was religious it was in South Africa
Johannesburg so there is a lot of people
there’s a lot of resistance from a
religious side although being quiet but
sitting by yourself should not scare any
religious person but it does and then
and then as resistance you know the
amount of time you’re wasting on the
kids and there’s all kinds of resistance
and it’s kind of shocking when the
teachers learn teach you the thrill to
teach the kids and when the research
comes back and they’re thrilled to show
the research but and we’ve got hundreds
of thousands of kids and Golda’s got a
million kids whatever so we are slowly
making inroads the research is too
overwhelming for us not to but it took
that I mean all the work that the David
Lynch foundation was doing it all work
did Goldie was doing it all I got I
think I’m just guessing for you goal
he’s not I’m pretty sure that everything
started to speed up the minute they
started to write the the research and
the benefits that children get we still
have a long way to go because we have a
lot of people don’t despise who
resistance so yes there is a tremendous
amount in some respect okay I’m we have
a few minutes left I just want to say
that we have the entire Reno School
District now that’s top-down so we have
several school districts that are
top-down and one of the exciting parts
of it is that we don’t get any pushback
we don’t get pushed back because we’re
very brain centric we’re very very based
in science I want to make sure that that
is what it is because frankly that is
the truth the fact that I am personally
have my own personal beliefs has nothing
to do with this but it has to do with
research science and what our children
are facing today and what yeah I got
chalk you’re wrong you better believe it
so anyway with this school district of
65,000 children doing mind up it’s
awesome it’s exciting there’s no
pushback there’s only people excited
about it every now and then and I’ve
said in in 13 years I’ve only had three
people say this is religion so the the
the idea here
is that in your right we finally come of
age we’ve been doing this now for many
many years and now people are looking at
this very differently in terms of you
know languaging or fearfulness or
religiosity that they’re imprinting and
you’re trying to teach my children this
so I would say we’ve come a long way and
in what we’ve done because this
particular program is very very
scientifically based makes a big
difference it’s sort of you know what is
your point of entry with your teachers
the head of Teachers College at Columbia
Susan Furman is on our board so we’re
now looking at getting it into teachers
colleges so they really are armed so
scaling will then no longer be an issue
right so you know this is how we’re
working forward but it is it’s exciting
isn’t it it’s an exciting time the
principal the teachers and then the
students because they know one’s not
gonna get it I mean and there are whole
districts like in what we have team in
most most of our Oakland and San
Francisco and then you come to some
places where and I was started tell you
about them none because every one of her
students and all the I think they’re ten
fifteen thousand they all have quiet
time you know and they all have 20
minutes of quiet time that’s her
no she got tremendous tremendous
resistance and if there is still
resistance because it’s too obvious and
idea not to turn down so if Goldie can
get a whole school district and we can
get a whole school district in and get
the research back from Oakland and Cisco
and other places then it’ll just start
to trickle up you know and I think
that’s what we have to do we have a lot
of work to do did you say trickle up no
I’m just checking because I kind of love
that yeah you know Center I’m sorry to
say in our Center in New York we begin a
session on Sunday mornings at 10:30 and
some people come running in because
they’ve just been at their church and
then others have been in the synagogue
on Saturday morning and they come in and
they’re absolutely comfortable to be
meditating no dogma
so with that I want to thank everyone on
this panel cannot wait to be here with all of you and thank you all
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