Below are some highlights from the interview, edited for brevity:
Rosanna: I have to say, a lot of my friends have been doing Transcendental Meditation, and they say it has really been a life-changer for them. So I actually contacted Bob Roth, who is Executive Director of the David Lynch Foundation here in New York City. I wanted to know, what is the difference between Transcendental Meditation and just regular meditation, like yoga meditation?
Bob: That’s a good question. The word “meditation” is sort of like “food.” You say, “I meditated,” but what does it mean? The analogy I like to use is that of an ocean, with tumultuous waves on the surface, but at the depth of the ocean, it’s silent. Our mind is the same. The surface of our mind is always thinking, working, “gotta, gotta, gotta.” In Transcendental Meditation, we locate and access a level of our mind—right now—that’s already calm. Some meditations try to clear your mind of thoughts, or fight them; this just accesses the calm within.
Greg: I’ve been listening to Tim Ferris on podcast. He interviews CEO’s and top entertainers, and 80 to 90 percent of them all do some kind of meditation. That’s where Rosanna and I were like, ‘we gotta get in on this.’
Rosanna: Yea, because we just feel like we need to calm down our lives a little bit.
Bob: Anxiety is horrible. When you feel anxious, you’re not present with your friends, family, you’re not focused. What happens with TM is that your body gains a state of rest deeper than sleep, every time. When your body gets that deep rest, cortisol levels, which are anxiety hormones, drop 30 to 40 percent. A good night’s sleep: cortisol levels drop 10 percent. So we get rid of stress and we’re more dynamic and more focused.
Greg: So what is TM?
Bob: When you learn Transcendental Meditation, you learn one-to-one. It’s not out of a tape, it’s tailored for the individual. You get what’s called a mantra—it’s just a sound or a word. It’s used silently; it’s been used for thousands of years and you’re taught how to use it properly. You can meditate on a train, a plane, a car. You’re taught how to access that field of silence, and get that profound rest.
Rosanna: I know you’re teaching CEO’s and celebrities, but I also heard you’re also going to schools–
Bob: My first love is working with veterans, police, firefighters, people on the front-lines, who suffer from post-traumatic stress. We’re also working with inner-city school kids who also suffer from toxic levels of stress.
Greg: How many times do you have to meditate to achieve this tranquility?
Bob: 20 minutes, twice a day. First thing in the morning when you get up, and then you do it towards the end of the day.
Greg: It doesn’t conflict with faith?
Bob: No, as a matter of fact, by settling the mind down and getting that rest, your prayer is deeper, more compelling, more satisfying.
Rosanna: Tell us about meditation in schools.
Bob: Kids come to school and they have to study arithmetic or social studies in their first period and who knows what they ate, who knows if they even got any sleep. Are they ready to learn? Doubtful. So now the school day begins with 10 minutes of Quiet Time. The students meditate, their body settles down, and the brain wakes up. The research shows they do better in school, have better grades, and violence, stress, and tension go down in the school. We can’t keep up with the demand for Quiet Time in schools. Here in NYC, we have schools in Bronx and Brooklyn, and we keep rolling it out.
Greg: Alright Bob, if you wanna do this, how do we get a hold of you?
Bob: The best way is to go to tm.org to find more about it.
Rosanna: You have a big event coming up at Carnegie Hall, right?
Bob: Yes, on November 4th. We have Katy Perry, Sting, Jerry Seinfeld, and others (Change Begins Within or CBW, 2015). We’re raising money to teach 10,000 at-risk New Yorkers to meditate for free. You can go to carnegiehall.org and you can buy tickets.
Greg: Tm.org is the website. We thank you.
Learn More:
