The Technique: Transcendental Meditation is a simple, natural, effortless technique practiced 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. It is easy to learn and enjoyable to practice, and is not a religion, philosophy, or lifestyle. Over six million people have learned it — people of all ages, cultures, and religions — and over 350 published, peer-reviewed research studies have found that the TM technique significantly reduces stress, anxiety, and fatigue, and promotes balanced functioning of mind and body.

In that spirit, here are my 10 favorite quotes about (non-romantic) love:

10.

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

– Buddha

9.

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.

– Arthur Rubinstein

8.

To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.

– Oscar Wilde

7.

He who treads the path of love walks a thousand meters as if it were only one.

– Japanese proverb

6.

When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.

– Paulo Coelho (from The Alchemist)

5.

A loving heart, a heart full of love, is the precious essence of human life.

– Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (from Love and God)

4.

…love is no individual’s experience; and though we are imperfect mediums, it does not partake of our imperfection; though we are finite, it is infinite and eternal…

– Henry David Thoreau (from Love)

3.

Your task is not to seek love, but to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

– Rumi

2.

Love, and you shall be loved.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

1.

Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love.

– Rumi

Bonus round! I’m big on the idea that when you love yourself, you have that much more natural capacity and inclination to love others. When it comes down to it, that is why I continue practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique. It makes me feel good, and it helps me love myself, which in turn helps me love everything else. Here are some words from Maharishi on love and the TM technique:

“The fortunate one uses the instrument of deep meditation and probes deep into his heart. Then the waves of love gain the depth of the ocean, and the ocean of love flows and fills the heart and thrills every particle of being. Every wave of life then flows in the fullness of love, in the fullness of divine glory, in the fullness of grace, in bliss and peace.” (From Love and God)

Feel like loving something? Check this out.

The Technique: Transcendental Meditation is a simple, natural, effortless technique practiced 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. It is easy to learn and enjoyable to practice, and is not a religion, philosophy, or lifestyle. Over six million people have learned it — people of all ages, cultures, and religions — and over 350 published research studies have found that the TM technique significantly reduces stress, anxiety, and fatigue, and promotes balanced functioning of mind and body.

Now zoom out. In reality, the ocean beneath you is 2 miles deep. If you look at a cross-section, you can see that the storm affects the surface and a small depth below it, but the deeper you go, the quieter, stiller, and more peaceful the water becomes. The ocean is active on the surface, yet utterly still at its depths. Even if the waves were 200 or 300 feet high, they still wouldn’t disturb the natural silence of the deep.

Your mind is like that ocean. The surface of the mind is the active, thinking mind, and everything you’re thinking about on any given day are the waves. A thousand things might be on your mind at once – deadlines, to-do lists, errands, appointments – but no matter how high the waves roll, there is always, always silence deep within you.

And that deep place of silence and stillness is actually brimming with inner peace, inner happiness, inner inspiration… just waiting for you to access it. It’s just a matter of getting there and bringing a little back up to the surface with you. And that’s where the Transcendental Meditation technique comes in handy.

The TM technique is a vehicle – a submarine, if you will – with which anybody can dive within themselves and access the level of the mind that is always peaceful, always blissful, always alert … the list goes on.

Unlike a submarine, though, it doesn’t take a long time to learn to master it. You learn how to dive within on your first day of instruction.

But whether you call them “meditators” or the more grammatically correct “people who meditate,” the question still stands – who are these people? In the ‘60s, you could stereotype anyone who meditated as a hippie, and you were probably right. Not so today! The variety of people who practice Transcendental Meditation is as wide as the sky (literally; they circle the earth). You don’t have to be into spirituality to be into TM, or wear flowy clothes, or be from a certain religious background, or believe anything at all, really. The technique fits into any lifestyle.

Some of the last people on earth you would typically expect to see meditating practice the Transcendental Meditation technique, and some of them have been practicing it for decades! Among them are the founder and president of the largest hedge fund in the world, Ray Dalio; NYC-based fashion blogger Madison Stephens; tech entrepreneur Blake Ian; pro soccer coach Alejandro Altamirano Sandroni; Jerry Seinfeld; and soldiers and veterans of the US Armed Forces.

David Lynch, when asked about the apparent incongruity between his work and his Transcendental Meditation practice, answered, “That’s the whole thing… You have a foundation you can leap off and go to any place you want. If your life is really scattered, there’s not a lot of time to sit and let the mind go freely. But if you can meditate and expand that consciousness each time you transcend, you catch ideas at a deeper level, you have more energy, more intuition, more comprehension… And it’s amazing because you get more and more creative—you find ways to solve problems. That creativity within is an ocean of solutions to our problems. Things start getting better and better.”

In other words, the 20 minutes twice a day spent practicing the TM technique has nothing to do with what you choose to make of the other 23 hours and 20 minutes of your day (except in the sense that it probably enhances your ability to enjoy and excel at whatever you do). #HumbleBrag

TL;DR There is no longer a “generic meditator” (if there ever was). Transcendental Meditation is for anyone and everyone.

The Technique: Transcendental Meditation is a simple, natural, effortless technique practiced 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. It is easy to learn and enjoyable to practice, and is not a religion, philosophy, or lifestyle. Over six million people have learned it — people of all ages, cultures, and religions — and over 350 published research studies have found that TM markedly reduces stress, anxiety, and fatigue, and promotes balanced functioning of mind and body.

Learnt TM in 1997, gives me 20 mins peace in the morn & eve from the noise, chatter, the world, handheld devices, life stuff. @TMmeditation

— Alex Jenkins (@designdforlife) October 2, 2014

Meditation still been the best thing I’ve done for myself in the last year. Try it. #transcendentalmeditation #TM

— Sachin (@sachinkhona) December 18, 2014

Feeling #enlightened, thanks #tm! My life has changed forever! #happy #transcendentalmeditation #worthit #meditation #meditatethestressaway

— Katie N (@Katespade27) November 19, 2014

I selfmedicated to shut my brain off. I thought all brains went nonstop-#transcendentalmeditation taught me how to shut off naturally. #TM

— spumoni (@spumoni11) November 12, 2014

Thank you #TranscendentalMeditation @TMmeditation -always relieves my stress and anxiety

— Ritchie Hoffman (@RitchieHoffman) November 13, 2014

SO happy that my tour gets to learn the gift of Transcendental Meditation today! Imagine the⚡️that’s gonna come out of us moving forward!

— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) October 5, 2014

The great thing about @TMmeditation is you can do it anywhere – even the dentist chair, like I did this morning! #TManywhere

— Jacalyn Twentyman (@Jac20man) December 8, 2014

Don’t medicate, meditate! #transcendentalmeditation #TM #savingmylife

— Jay A Johnson (@Jay_A_Johnson) December 13, 2014

Every experience we have changes the brain — so, some of the gifts of #meditation can be received from a single session. @TMmeditation

— Norman Rosenthal (@DoctorNorman) September 29, 2014

Last but not least, here’s one from us. Follow @TMmeditation on Twitter for a daily dose of inspiration in 2015 and beyond!

Take a moment to slow down. It’s amazing how much more time you’ll have #meditation http://t.co/OpVBdNr9Sl pic.twitter.com/v9p185b68E

— TM Meditation (@TMmeditation) December 15, 2014

Alejandro Altamirano Sandroni is a young coach in footbal. Currently at the helm of Olímpic de Xàtiva, a 2nd division “B” team in the football-crazy country of Spain, he knows what it means when you are obliged to win.

To always keep on winning, in fact.

With most football coaches axed less than a year after their appointment to the dugout, you would be hard-pressed to find a more stressful job.

Alejandro, what are the most challenging aspects of your job as a coach?

ALEJANDRO: It is a fascinating profession. To manage, and try to convince a group of diverse players to work together is what I like most about my job. Keep in mind that I have to deal with such different players! From 19-year-olds who are just entering the world of professional sports to players who are 34-35, with a lot of experience under their belts.

The most important thing for me is to ensure that all human relationships are strong. That is the foundation for all team endeavors, be it in football or in life in general. Working together as a group requires a good dose of humility from each of the team’s members as everyone has to give up certain aspects of their individuality for the team to prosper.

What inspired you to learn the Transcendental Meditation technique?

ALEJANDRO: There were two reasons in particular. First, a friend who always talked to me about the benefits of TM. Secondly, there came a time when I was too stressed out to enjoy doing what I actually love the most in this world – my job.

At that moment I realized that something was wrong. I decided to look for some effective tools to help me rediscover the joy in my profession.

So did you notice any changes after you learned to meditate?

ALEJANDRO: The most important change I’ve noticed is that TM brings me peace and a larger perspective on things. My experience with Transcendental Meditation is very good and I recommend it to everyone, especially now that we all live in a society of such hurry and stress.

How, in your opinion, would athletes benefit the most from practicing TM?

ALEJANDRO: I believe that the biggest benefit for an athlete is the increased level of concentration when making decisions on the go – an ultimate goal towards which all of us, coaches and players alike, strive.

TM brings peace of mind to deal with situations under high stress and tension. And it gives a much broader view on all the moments you live through as an athlete. The serenity to take responsibility, not go round looking for excuses. As a good friend of mine says: “Do what needs to be done.” Then you start enjoying everything.

Originally posted on TMhome.com.

“You’ve got a whole bunch to report from improving the brain response to stress (and pain) to reducing the chances of you getting heart failure. Plus, studies have shown that it can help to reduce the risks of post-traumatic stress disorders in serving soldiers, assist children so that they learn faster and for longer, helps to lower stress levels, reduce anxiety, and even lift the mood when depression has reared its ugly head. There have even been proven reports that this type of meditation can relieve the suffering symptoms of insomnia. Aren’t these a lot of the symptoms that you get with SAD?”

Norman Rosenthal, a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown Medical School and the first researcher to describe Seasonal Affective Disorder, also supports practicing the TM technique to help with the winter blues. And you don’t have to be practicing for years and years, or even weeks, to feel the benefits:

But how exactly can the TM technique help with the symptoms of SAD? Beat The Winter Blues explains:

“Now let’s get to the science-y stuff. TM or Transcendental Meditation can help you reduce the cortisol levels in the body. This is the hormone responsible for causing stress. […] When you feel really stressed out after a hard day at work, or are having a rough night because all you want to do is sleep and the kids are playing up, TM could be just the thing to help bust you out of those winter blues.”

If you’ve experienced SAD or the winter blues in the past, check out this infographic from Dr. Rosenthal’s site. There is no better way to get ahead than to start, so don’t wait until you’re in the grips of SAD to take steps to be happy!

Bob Roth is a TM teacher and the executive director of the David Lynch Foundation, a nonprofit that provides scholarships for at-risk populations – inner-city school children, soldiers and veterans, domestic abuse victims, etc. – to learn the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation technique.

Tune into Success Without Stress the last Friday of every month at 7pm ET on Sirius XM Indie 102.

The Technique: Transcendental Meditation is a simple, natural, effortless technique practiced 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. It is easy to learn and enjoyable to practice, and is not a religion, philosophy, or lifestyle. Over six million people have learned it, and 350+ published research studies have found that the TM technique markedly reduces stress, anxiety, and fatigue, and promotes balanced functioning of mind and body.