Below is an excerpt from Josh Zabar’s recent blog about his experience learning and practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique.
Josh is a Partner and Curator at Summit, an events- and community-focused organization that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship. Since 2008, Summit has hosted an annual three-day event called Summit Series, which brings together entrepreneurs, musicians, nonprofit founders, and other multi-disciplinary leaders. Summit events have helped raise tens of millions of dollars for business and nonprofit ventures.
“Calming the mind is a very challenging thing to do, but when you begin to grasp just how to do it…even for just a few minutes a day, your life can change dramatically. I began practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM) in March of 2013. The process for teaching TM only takes an hour or so over a four-day period.
“TM’s goal is not to clear your mind and it’s not to observe your thoughts and feelings as in Zen or Buddhist meditation. Instead, it’s just to sit in a “space” that you create and relax, and whatever happens in that 20 minutes, happens.
TM has enabled me to create a space between my thoughts and my actions. “It’s ability to enhance creativity, create a sense of calm, and release deep inner stress makes TM one of the most scientifically studied and successful practices for increasing longevity, de-stressing, and finding relaxation.
The Mind as an Ocean:
“My TM teacher described the active mind as a cross-section of the ocean. The top is laden with an endless flow of waves of varying sizes. The bottom is a deep, slow, silent, and still abyss of quiet and nothingness. A person’s functioning mind during a normal day is akin to the top of the ocean, consistently battered up and down by powerful currents. During TM, one can enter a state of restfulness that propels the mind downwards, towards the bottom of the ocean, where the mind can be still, slow, and relaxed.
“TM has already made a substantial impact in my life. I’ve noticed significant differences in the way I think, act, and treat others. The annoyances of life seem to disappear as I’ve realized that they don’t or shouldn’t really matter at all.