So don’t tell my dad, but occasionally I fall out of my habit of daily TM practice. It happens; I’m not gonna lie! I get caught up in life, work, activities, friends, or I have an unproductive workday, and come 5 o’clock, part of me feels, “You need to do SOMETHING! And meditating for 20 minutes is not that thing.” Because sitting still, doing nothing, with my eyes closed, is not conventionally synonymous with productivity. But you know what else was unconventional in the last century? Women’s suffrage, renewable energy, the internet! …You know, things that are obviously awesome.

Even so, sometimes my conventional instincts overshadow what I know from experience to be true. I always come back to my regular Transcendental Meditation practice, though, because, not to give anything away, without it, I start feeling less awesome.

Here are 9 things I notice when I stop meditating:

1. I have less and less energy. I meditate to relax and reset, but after those 20 minutes, I feel energized. I feel like with each mediation I miss, my body protests a little bit louder, until finally I can’t ignore my inner voice saying, “Excuse me! Can we take a minute to revitalize? Or 20?”

2. I have less patience. That’s really just a nice way to say that I get more irritable. Small things that shouldn’t matter at all start to bother me.

3. I have a harder time making decisions. It’s like options, and the pros and cons of each, get blurry, or the details of a conflict are more unfathomable, and I can’t put my finger on the best thing to do or say. Transcendental Meditation is to decision-making as my glasses are to seeing.

4. I start feeling insecure. When I’m inwardly fulfilled and happy, I don’t crave reinforcement from others; I’m more content to do my own thing, more able to laugh by myself, and more confident in new situations. And I don’t mean that I turn into a helpless, needy mess when I miss a week of meditation, but I might start second-guessing my clothing choices, or hold back a comment in a work meeting.

5. I find less joy in the little things. You know those days when you can’t help but smile because your coffee tastes SO good? When I’m doing my TM practice regularly, I have a lot more of those days, and when I’m in a lull, I have a lot less. Simple as that.

6. I’m less motivated. Literally, the will to go for a run slips away, and suddenly, I’ve rewatched a season of Friends in under 24 hours.

7. I start eating worse. I heard someone say one time, “TM adds a moment in my mind to stop and think, rather than just react,” and when it comes to an additional piece of pizza (which will UNDOUBTEDLY leave me groaning, “Whhyyyyyyy?” on the floor) I know EXACTLY what that person meant. That extra second to think is all it takes for me to happily say, “No, thanks,” and finish a meal in that perfect place where I’m not hungry, but not so stuffed I want to die.

8. I start feeling worse. About almost everything, even my past. I wonder if I went to the wrong school, if my job is moving me in the right direction, what the right direction even is! The thing that keeps me doing TM, more than anything else, is the optimism and inner peace that it cultivates in me.

9. I feel less fulfilled. Which leaves me wanting “more.” Which more often than not lands me on the couch watching TV for that instant gratification. Which puts me in bed 2 hours later. So I get up later the next morning and don’t have time to do TM before I start work. Which takes me back to the beginning of this post. Rinse. Repeat.

Bonus round! Here’s the kid that so badly wanted to meditate on the word “cat.”

(My mum obviously foiled my true intentions by dressing me in a snail shirt.)

“In October 2013, my company produced a panel discussion for the David Lynch Foundation to encourage women to meditate and the reminder and importance of managing a work-life balance. The panel discussed how they learned transcendental meditation (TM) and how it changed their everyday lives. Shortly after this event, I decided all the benefits they discussed were extremely relevant to my life and I decided to go through the course to learn for myself.

Earlier in the year, I discovered that I had high blood pressure, just another thing to add to my now-growing list of medical concerns. One doctor suggested an MRI to see if we could determine the cause, which I initially thought nothing of, naively assuming it was similar to a CT scan, something I had experienced numerous times and had no difficulty with.

The appointment came and I arrived at the facility, put my name down, and waited, waited, waited. I waited some more, punctuating lost time with questions about how much longer it would be until I’d be seen. I decided to do a quick Internet search on what the MRI machine looked like and as a result, completely freaked myself out. I paced around the waiting room crying, trying to decide if I should go through with this or just walk out.

They called my name. I went in.

“…taking care of mental and emotional health is just as important and beneficial to your overall health and well-being.” They told me I needed contrast and pierced me with an IV. I couldn’t stop crying. They put me in the machine, told me to keep my eyes closed and that they’d put music on. They were light on the sympathy and even lighter on the comfort, kind of shocking when you consider how uncontrollably I was crying. I cried through the entire thing, all 40 minutes of it, without music in my ears and with the horrific sounds of the MRI machine jolting me back to reality.

I thought my life was going to end in that machine. It was claustrophobic and stressful and nobody and nothing was there to support me.

For years I’ve been asked to go down to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland to participate in clinical research testing. I never wanted to be a guinea pig so I always declined. Although I never went down there, the immune deficiency team has been extremely beneficial to my health and healing. After many years and health challenges, I decided it would benefit the amazing team, other patients as well as myself if I was to go down there. So I made the decision to go and traveled south to be with a team that has supported me through much of my health struggles. Weeks prior to my visit they sent me my schedule, which included an MRI.

I panicked. I wanted nothing to do with that machine and experience ever again.

I was told I could opt out of getting the MRI but that they would really like it for research purposes. “I’m so grateful to have a tool like TM that not only helps with lowering my blood pressure and enables me to sleep better, but also to stay calm and controlled in hectic situations.” NIH has done so much for me that I knew I had to at least attempt it. I thought about that awful first experience for days leading up to this second MRI, but when I got to the facility, the technician was poised, compassionate, understanding, equipped and happy to help ease my anxiety. Not for nothing, she walked me through every step and asked, “Are you okay?” more times than I can count.

This second MRI experience was seamless, and that was because I was able to use transcendental meditation and recite my mantra for the whole time that I was in this awkward claustrophobic machine. With this new tool, TM, my mind and body enjoy a new paradigm of benefits every single day. On my third day in my TM course at the David Lynch Foundation’s office, I was sitting in this incredibly comfortable chair from Restoration Hardware with my shoes off, feet up, allowing my body to succumb to the powerful physical reactions from a truly deep meditation.

It felt so right. So necessary for me.

That was three months ago. I’m so grateful to have a tool like TM that not only helps with lowering my blood pressure and enables me to sleep better, but also to stay calm and controlled in hectic situations.

This serves as a reminder that taking care of mental and emotional health is just as important and beneficial to your overall health and well-being. Having a team of cheerleaders and supporters whether it’s a doctor, healer, teacher or coach is crucial in providing you with the tools that allow you to face your challenges and not feel alone while doing it. The journey may be challenging but the world is filled with support systems — you just need to be willing to grab ahold of what’s best for you.”

This article was originally posted on HuffPost Healthy Living. You can leave a comment on the original article here.

“The Chicago mothers, just beginning to see the potential meditation has to bring order to their lives, stumbled into TM,” Erin Meyer writes in an article about the group.

“…a rediscovered inner peace thought to have died with their children.” In a serendipitous series of events, the mothers got connected with the David Lynch Foundation, whose non-profit projects include teaching the TM technique in prisons and inner-city schools, on Native American Reservations, to homeless, to domestic abuse victims, and to veterans and soldiers suffering from PTSD. As what seems to be an expansion of their Women’s Initiative, they arranged for the group of women to learn the technique.

Meyer writes, “Among those participating are: An-Janette Albert, mother of 16-year-old Derrion Albert, whose 2009 beating death outside Fenger High School shocked the nation; Myrna Roman, who lost her first born in an unprovoked 2010 driveby in Humboldt Park; and Maria Pike, the mother of an aspiring chef, Ricky Pike, who was gunned down in Logan Square in 2013.”

Meyer recently sat with the group as they practiced the TM technique together. She wrote of the experience: “Eyes closed in meditation, a small group of grieving women sat in a circle on the second floor of a Humboldt Boys & Girls Club one recent Sunday afternoon.

“The lights were dimmed. Except for the hum of the air conditioner and the far away sound of basketballs hitting the gym floor below, the room was awash in a deep silence.

“The quiet, say the mothers — most of whom have lost children to Chicago violence — was coming from within, a rediscovered inner peace thought to have died with their children.”

Read Meyer’s full article: Moms Traumatized by City Violence Join David Lynch Meditation Program

It’s called Live The Process. Though how each person chooses to live The Process is unique, this collaborative guide to wellness and holistic health does its best to curate and share tips and advice that can help everyone live The Process a little better, with a little more inner peace and wellness and a little less stress and fatigue.

In their endeavor to help readers find equanimity amidst a topsy-turvy life, Live The Process recently featured four firsthand accounts of how the Transcendental Meditation technique can be a game-changer, including one from the organization’s founder, Robyn Berkley. Their support doesn’t stop there though. Robyn was introduced to the TM technique by the David Lynch Foundation, and and a portion of the proceeds from a new Live The Process fashion line will go to the foundation’s initiative to teach the TM technique to at-risk populations.

Alyssa Miller, who was brought on to model the line after she and Robyn bonded over their experience with TM, “It was such a beautiful experience; I felt energized and clear-headed after just a few meditations”, originally learned because she wanted “to find a way of centering myself, of checking back in with my body and my mind.” On learning, she wrote, “It was such a beautiful experience; I felt energized and clear-headed after just a few meditations….”

“For me, TM is a reprieve from a world of distraction and has become a state that my mind automatically wants to enter. When I was introduced to Live The Process and their collaboration to support The David Lynch Foundation, it just made sense to get involved. TM has helped me stay clear and centered in the everyday chaos that is my life and has absolutely transformed the way I live. With that reward comes a sense of responsibility to help show the world what TM has to offer.”

Robyn shared some words on her inspiration to support the David Lynch Foundation. “I was most astounded by the foundation itself, what it stands for and the work the people there have accomplished. When founding Live The Process, the foundation was always on my mind. I wanted DLF to be our first charitable partner. Since learning [TM], I have been volunteering my time, helping raise awareness, and I feel the tool of meditation is a gift. The work that has been done for women that have encountered domestic violence, children with ADD and war victims suffering from PTSD is truly inspiring to me. It’s not just about raising money, but about giving people a practice that will change their lives.”

Click below for the original posts:

Bringing Beauty and Light Together by Alyssa Miller
Change Begins Within by Robyn Berkley
How TM Changed My Life by Samantha White
A Moment With David Lynch (An interview by Live The Process)

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.