On Purpose with Jay Shetty - Jay’s Must-Listens: The Step-by-Step Guide to Meditation ANYONE Can Do (Eliminate Anxiety & Rewire Your Nervous System)

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

How do you normally calm yourself when you’re overwhelmed? Have you ever tried meditation before? Today, Jay brings you a diverse exploration of meditation with some of today’s most insightful minds: Dr. Joe Dispenza, Big Sean, Michael Acton Smith, Vishen Lakhiani, and Sam Harris. From science to music, entrepreneurship to spirituality, each guest reveals how meditation has shaped their lives, and how you can use it as a powerful tool for focus, healing, and inner transformation. Together, they show us that meditation is far more than sitting in silence, it’s a pathway to healing, clarity, and growth. Whether it’s rewiring the nervous system, reprogramming the mind, or unlocking creativity and resilience, this conversation demonstrates the many ways meditation can ground you in the present and while also opening you to what’s possible. Whether you’re just beginning or returning with new intention, this episode is an invitation to reconnect with yourself. These insights remind us the practice isn’t about getting it “right,” but about consistency, curiosity, and compassion for yourself. In this episode, you'll learn: How to Reprogram Your Mind Through Meditation How to Turn Elevated Emotions Into Healing How to Build a Daily Meditation Routine That Sticks How to Heal Your Body by Training Your Mind Meditation isn’t about where you begin, it’s about the choice to begin at all. Each breath is a chance to return, reset, and remember the calm already within you. Wherever you are, restless, curious, or seeking clarity, meditation offers a doorway inward. With Love and Gratitude, Jay Shetty. Join over 750,000 people to receive my most transformative wisdom directly in your inbox every single week with my free newsletter. Subscribe here. What We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 04:10 How Meditation Transforms Your Brain and Body 08:33 How Much Practice Do You Really Need? 14:39 There Is No Wrong Way to Meditate 18:30 How to Connect Deeply with Nature Through Meditation 22:17 Debunking the Biggest Myths About Meditation 24:21 What Is Active Meditation and How Does It Work? 28:45 Using Meditation to Elevate Your Everyday LifeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Your entire identity has been fabricated. Your beloved brother goes missing without a trace. You discover the depths of your mother's illness. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the powerful stories I'll be mining on our upcoming 12th season of Family Secrets. We continue to be moved and inspired by our guests

and their courageously told stories. Listen to Family Secrets Season 12, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The OGs of Uncensored Motherhood are back and badder than ever. I'm Erica. And I'm Mila. And we're the host of the Good Mom's Bad Choices podcast, brought to you by the Black Effect Podcast Network every Wednesday.

Yeah, we're moms, but not your mommy. Historically, men talk too much. And women have quietly listened. And all that stops here. If you like witty women, then this is your tribe. Listen to the Good Mom's Bad Choices podcast every Wednesday. on the Black Effect Podcast Network, the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast,

or wherever you go to find your podcast. Hey guys, it's Janae, aka Cheekies, from Cheekies and Chill Podcasts. And I'm bringing you an all new mini podcast series called Sincerely Jeanne. Sure, I'm a singer, author, businesswoman, and podcaster, but at the end of the day, I am human.

And that's why I'm sharing my ups and downs with you in real time and on the go. Listen to Jikis and Chill on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, it's Jay Shetty. Welcome back to the YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed yet, make sure you do so that you never miss a video. Mindfulness meditation can reduce cortisol levels by up to 25%, decreasing stress and inflammation. Long-term meditators have brains

that are on average 7.5 years younger than non-meditators. Meditation can reduce the experience of pain by 40%, which is greater than morphine, which reduces pain by 25%. Now, I've been fortunate enough to practice meditation for nearly two decades. It's a deep part of my practice. It's a part of my daily commitment.

It's something I turn to for greater self-awareness, alignment, and to really tap into my intuition. But at the same time as knowing the benefits of meditation, I also recognize it's something that a lot of people struggle with. Most people today have heard of it, but a lot of us don't know if we're doing it right. We're judging ourselves, questioning ourselves, and maybe you've been wanting to try meditation, but you don't know where to start. Well, then this video is for you. Or maybe you want to start, but you're worried you're not going to be able to shut off your mind. Well, this video is for you too.

Or maybe you're someone who's completely skeptical about meditation all together. Research shows that meditation can actually reduce stress and anxiety. It can improve sleep, enhance brain function, and help with emotional regulation. In my own time as a monk, I've seen firsthand the power that meditation has over your reality. And in this episode, we'll hear from top X. about how anyone can harness that power for themselves to improve the quality of their lives. I think for so many of us today, we're always on. We're always on the go. We're always on the move. We're always on top of everything. Meditation can be that reset, that break, that moment

of the day that is just for you. It's that scheduled time to give yourself a little bit of a break, to give yourself a little bit of a reset and to give yourself a moment of peace and calm. It's something I know I turn to all throughout the day just to get ready before a meeting, just before I walk on stage, or just before I go to bed, to make sure that I maximize and improve that moment of my day. So let's get into it. The number one health and wellness podcast. Jay Shetty.

Jay Shetty. He won the only. Jay Shetty. In this first clip, Dr. Joe Dispenza shares data-backed insights about how meditation affects the brain and body and the incredible healing power it can have. He explains that lasting transformation happens when you consistently train to shift your internal state with focus and intention. Dr. Joe Dispenza shares how meditation help shift the body out of stress and survival mode and into a state of healing,

acting like your body's own medicine by calming the mind, balancing emotions, and supporting physical recovery. He shares powerful stories of people reversing chronic health conditions through consistent practice, proving that when you change your inner state, you can actually influence your biology and immune system. Whether you're feeling stuck in stress, burnt out or emotionally overwhelmed, Dr. Joe Dispenza explains how even small, repeated moments of mindfulness can rewire the way you think, feel, and show up each day. Change might not happen overnight, but that doesn't mean it's not happening. Meditation helps you stay in motion, create new patterns, and build a new reality from the inside out. Let's take a listen to what

Dr. Joe Dispenza has to say, we've done the largest studies on meditation than have ever been done just because we have a community of 1,800 people that come to an event that are going to be getting up at the same time, doing the same thing, pretty much eating, making the same food choices,

and pretty much a big laboratory, right? And so our discoveries in working with 1,800 people in measuring brain waves, their brain function before an after the event, measuring their gene expression before and after the event. We're measuring 2,882 metabolites in their blood. We're measuring DNA expression. We're measuring urine. We're

measuring saliva. We're measuring the energy of the room. We're measuring everything. And meditation, in a sense that it's not in the traditional way. What we do is we look at what really works. We're actually looking to say, well, that's something that we can actually see it change in. So we teach meditation three ways. To become familiar with your old self and to become familiar with your new self, that's what the word meditation means, familiarization, to become familiar with. So we use that model for change. So slow your brain waves down and get beyond your analytical mind is meditation. And you teach your body how to do that. And we've discovered a formula that simply makes it very easy for people to do it. You practice it, you'll get good at

it just like anything else you practice. So to get beyond the analytical mind, there's another way to reprogram ourselves. And then meditation is really about getting beyond your body or disconnecting from your body, disconnecting from your environment and forgetting about time. And that is that eye of the needle where we begin to make the most significant changes. So we're data driven. You know, we're really looking to see what it is. And when we see brains respond in the same way, it helps me enormously to teach the material better. And so the more people understand what they're doing and the more they understand why they're doing it the more naturally the how becomes easier and nothing is left to conjecture if nothing is left to superstition or dogma or even in

spiritual you know traditional words you science says the contemporary language to demystify that process and you give new people numerous times to overcome themselves and numerous times to connect sooner or later you'll start watching transformation right before your eyes. And so one of the cool things that we've discovered is that we have so much compelling data to suggest that you're greater than you think, more powerful than you,

no more unlimited than you could ever dream. We have compelling data to suggest that your nervous system is the greatest pharmacist in the world, that it makes drugs that work better than any drug in a drug store. Drug study is about 18 to 25% cause-in-effect causality. Our data is between 75% and 85% cause and effect. This is a person creating their own pharmacy of anti-inflammatories, their own pharmacy

of anti-carcinogenic chemicals, their own pharmacy of pain relievers who are seeing this over and over again. So we have this incredible data that says that this is no longer pseudoscience. This is really science. The side effect of a person's transformation is, it has changed. my belief in what's possible. I have seen people stand on the stage with stage four cancers that were in every single organ in their body that metastasized. And they have no sign of cancer in their body. And we have data that suggests that you put the blood of an advanced meditator

in a uterine cancer cell, a pancreatic cancer cell, 70% of the mitochondrial function in the cancer cell is diminished. The mitochondria is the energy packets of the cell. It's taking energy out of the cancer cell. It works perfect with what we're seeing with the testimonials that people are telling around the world. We've seen blind people see. We've seen deaf people here. We've seen people with spinal cord injuries walk again. We've seen ALS change. We've seen all kinds of unbelievable health conditions changed by a person simply changing the way they think, the way they act, and the way they feel. How long have you seen certain things last? much does the practice have to continue daily to sustain impact? Because I feel that,

you know, this isn't, as you know, isn't a one-off thing. And that isn't what you're encouraging. Like, this is the experience of when someone's coming to a retreat or an event. They're having this incredible experience. But then do you measure how people continue to practice and take away? Yeah, it's super important for us. And of course, we have mounds of data, but let's see if I can say this as clear as I possibly can. When a person has that arousal, where they're feeling that elevated emotion, and their eyes are closed, they're in a room with 1,800 people, there's music playing in the background, they're not eating, they're not smelling, they're not tasting, they're moving about and feeling. On some level, they're having an

inner experience, right? And the body is so objective that it's literally believing it's living in a new environment. And so that elevated emotion somehow tends to drag the body right out of the past into the present moment. So many people with everything from eczema to muscular dystrophy, when they have those events, there's a biological change that takes place in their body where they feel completely differently. Now, some people heal all the way. Some people are out of their wheelchair and they're walking again, but they're limping. And that doesn't mean it's over. It just means they made contact where they hit gold. And so there's varying degrees that we see. We've seen people for seven years work on a terminal health condition, to them seven years to

heal that health condition. Some people, it takes two years, three years. Some people, they do it in three months. There's no predictable menu that we can say it's this way. Now, when people have those more profoundly aroused states, it seems like their change is much more immediate and much more permanent. But for the most part, we see people's response pretty dramatic. Now, it's also important to say that we have seen people heal from terminal cancers, stop. feeling those elevated emotions and returned to responding to the circumstances and conditions in their life and return back to the same personality. The same personality is the same personal reality and their bodies believing it's living in that same environment and they're feeling the same way

and they're in the habit of acting the same way and thinking the same way. And lo and behold, the condition returns. We've seen people heal themselves of Parkinson's disease more than once have one response to some very serious event in their life that produced a very strong emotion and in one hour their condition returned because they literally went back to the world itself and we've seen that person

turned around and reverse the condition again. Again, people do the best with what they think is available. The person standing on the stage who's, we've had numerous physicians and researchers stand on the stage, they're the four-minute mile. they're telling the community I'm the example of truth

this is no longer philosophy this is no longer theory here's my scans we had someone with bilateral breast cancer just recently no evidence of cancer in our breasts or any lymph nodes no longer in our liver

I'm looking out at the audience and everybody's leaning in there's the four minute mile and that person's telling the truth and they're telling a story and it's not pretty It's not always rosy. They went through a lot of dark nights.

They went through a lot of their condition getting worse. But every day, they had to show up for themselves. If they stopped showing up and doing the work, they would really not believe it was possible. But if they showed up and did the work, it means they believe it's possible. And I think when you believe in possibility, you've got to believe in yourself.

When you believe in yourself, you've got to believe in possibility. So it used to be a few examples of, of that. Now we have so many great testimonials, so many great stories, that now people, it's becoming infectious, just like a virus or any bacteria becomes infectious. Now, health and wellness becomes as infectious as disease. And you get a community of people starting to break through and you start seeing these changes where people stand on the stage, invariably, you're going to see a very strong shift in consciousness. And consciousness is awareness. And if you're unaware that you could actually heal yourself, you'll make the same

choice. Once you see it, I think it starts creating a brush fire. And that's really the exciting part. So we've seen so many great testimonials that are undeniably great stories of transformation. And many, many of those people still no longer have their eczema, still no longer have their Parkinson's, still no longer have their cancer. Life is an experiment. So if your personality creates your personal reality. And your personality is made up of how you think, how you act, and how you feel. If you keep thinking the same way, you keep acting the same way, you keep feeling the same way, your life is going to stay the same because you're the same. So the experiment is, okay, let me begin to think differently. So I got to remind myself how I do want to think

and have to remind myself of how I no longer want to think. So I don't default and go unconscious. Let me remind myself how I'm going to behave so that I could actually get my behaviors to match my intentions and let me remind myself of how I'm going to feel. If I'm able to succeed in that day, then there should be some change in my life. It's the experiment. And if it doesn't change, that doesn't mean the law doesn't work for you. It's just, you're not that good yet. It's just, you just got to keep practicing, right? So the act of disconnecting from your life long enough to remind yourself of who you do want to be and who you no longer want to be, that experiment then is the experiment called life. Our next clip is from the rapper Big Sean. Now, if you

answered my question earlier that you want to start meditating but you're worried you won't do it right this next clip is for you big shorn challenges the idea that there's a right way to meditate whether it's sound healing a walk or even a quiet moment what matters most is finding what works for you and showing up consistently there's no wrong way to meditate the intention matters more than the method Over time, consistent meditation deepens the connection to self and increases impact. Big Sean describes his meditation practice as a deeply spiritual experience using visualization, energy work, and body awareness to realign himself. For him, it's not just about stillness.

It's how he sets the tone for productivity, creativity, and emotional balance. I practice I am. It's so much power. So I am grateful. I am this. I am happy. I am confident. I am happy that I get to sit down and talk to my friend Jay today. I'm happy I get to whatever the case is, right? So that's what I do. And then at the end of it, of the journal, when I do the gratitude stuff. And there are times where I write how I feel, not as much. I also speak out loud by myself. You know, there are a lot of processes I do. But when I do that journal, I sign it at the, at the, at the, at the, bottom of it like a contract and I like I sometimes I put it is done or I put like so be it because it's a declaration when I do that and I sign it because it's that important to me I have to sign my contracts I have to sign things that will be upheld as an important thing and that's how the level of importance even more that I hold that too so I sign it every time

that is so good man I've never heard that before I'm going to start doing that It's powerful. Yeah, I've never signed it. That's dope. It's powerful. And Jay, does everything I write down come to fruition? No. Sometimes it does.

A lot of them do. And then I realized that I'm also on God's time. So the things that I've always wanted and things that I've desired, it may not just be the right moment in my journey for that. But that's the beauty of it, man. I'm like, I'm still here. I'm still able. I'm still inspired. I'm still passionate.

you know beautiful yeah so that's how i that's how i do my journaling i also have like a there's a book i have of like poetry too that i like write poems and stuff i've only i only write a few a year honestly but like i'll like fully write and draw around the poem and like it's really like a beautiful art it's just some something i do for fun i haven't actually i've only written one this year and last year i wrote a few so maybe i'll maybe inspire me to write one today. But that's kind of all it is, but I don't spend too much time on it. It takes me about five to 12 minutes. That's great. Max. And then I meditate after that because it's kind of like it's kind of like a good transition to like the energy is set for me to like to meditate. Because

when I meditate, I feel like I'm attracting these things more and giving myself the best shot of being the most productive, the most impactful that I can be. You know, so that's kind of the first thing I do when I wake up, if I can. Being a dad, though, there are times where I get, I get woken up, and I have to go immediately, you know. And so I come back to it later on. It's not preferred that way, but it's a good trade-off. I can't wait to dive into the next part, but first, a short break for our sponsors. I'm Radi Di Vukia, and I'm the host of a really good cry podcast, and I have the opportunity to talk to.

Logan Yuri. Logan is a dating expert, a behavioral scientist, a best-selling author and someone who is seriously changing the way we think about love and dating. In our conversation, we talk all things dating, that Logan has studied and tested from what to put in your dating profile, the pictures you should and shouldn't be using, to the conversation starters that actually work. And the huge no-noes that people probably do not realize are reducing their chances of success on apps. Whether you're single, dating, or just trying to be more intentional in love, Logan offers the kind of clarity we all need. Relationships do require work,

and the best relationships are people who really work on them together. They're so focused on, if I find the perfect person, then I'll have the perfect relationship, instead of understanding, really, that they can choose someone great and then build that relationship together. They don't need to keep searching for perfection. Listen to a really good cry on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Your entire identity has been factored. Your beloved brother goes missing without a trace. You discover the depths of your mother's illness, the way it has echoed and reverberated throughout your life, impacting your very legacy. Hi, I'm Danny Shapiro, and these are just a few of the profound and powerful stories I'll be mining on our 12th season of Family Secrets. With over 37 million downloads, we continue to be moved and inspired by our guests and their courageously told stories.

I can't wait to share 10 powerful new episodes with you, stories of tangled up identities, concealed truths, and the way in which family secrets almost always need to be told. I hope you'll join me and my extraordinary guests for this new season of Family Secrets.

Listen to Family Secrets Season 12 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. American History is full of wise people. What women said something like, you know, 99.99% of war is diarrhea and 1% is gory. Those founding fathers were gossipy AF, and they love to cut each other down. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, the show where you send us your questions

about American history, and I find the answers, including the nuggets of wisdom our history has to offer. Hamilton pauses, and then he says, The greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar. And Jefferson writes in his diary, this proves that Hamilton is for a dictator based on corruption. My favorite line was what Neil Armstrong said. It would have been harder to fake it than to do it.

Listen to American History Hotline on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. some of our incredible partners. Let's jump back in. What about your meditation? What does your practice look like? It depends. I love doing guided meditation sometimes. I love doing, I kind of have my own process where I, like, and visualize the light of creation, like the light of the sun, and it like really filling my whole body up and literally everything that doesn't align with that, anything that isn't, that light and bright, you know what I'm saying, immediately leaves my body and goes back into the earth.

And like, so, you know, there are times where I, if I'm not in nature, I imagine myself in nature and, like, things going back into the earth. And I, like, surround myself, you know, from my, I forgot the word, the esoteric body. I think it's, like, one inch off you, then your emotional body, then your mental body. And, like, I just do the same thing. Like, it's like a shower of light. It's, like, hopping in a shower after you work out, like, a bit of light. And whatever it is, I kind of.

of like cater to how I'm feeling. So from there, I'll like, if I have like something wrong on my stomach, I'll like, for some reason I associate green with healing energy, right? And this comes from years of like practice or I associate royal blue with power, you know, the power of the universe. I associate like red with the love of the universe, the love and support of the universe. And like, I represent like the violet flame of St. Germain like to cleanse things that are holding me back. Right? So I do, I have like quite a process. and I break it down in the book. And afterwards, I feel just, it really makes a big difference.

And, you know, I read this book, The Hidden Messages in Water, I believe it's called. And it talked about, you know, there's like itty-bitty microscopic crystals in water. And they, one of the part of the book, they experiment of, like, how positively when you speak to water, like, hey, you're amazing. I love you. going, like, you're beautiful. And then they had another water, a glass or container of water where they said, like, you suck. It's never, you know, real negative. And you look at the crystals and one is like a beautiful snowflake looking crystal. And then the other one is like distorted and all damaged. And we are 70, 80% water. So these things, when you write

these affirmations down or when you say them out loud or when you journal, these things, have a real effect on you tremendously like scientifically it's not even like a woo-woo type of thing it's not even like it's not even up for debate you know what I'm saying it's literally scientific for the people who are more you know need the proof as opposed to it you know more analytical than like opinion-based so I just want to stress the importance of it it really is and by the way the most the most honorable people that I've met and like what I can consider to be successful.

And I don't mean richest. I just mean successful in like the impact what they're doing, how they are. They meditate, they all, you know, from my favorite rappers down to my favorite, down to you, you know, down to anyone who I just really admire. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you can meditate in your own ways.

They're like, I know like, Janae does different meditations, you know, through sound healing or mirror meditations. I know people who do shower meditations, walking. There's no wrong way to meditate either. That's another misconception. There's no wrong way to do it. The fact that you take the intention out or if you focus on your breathing, the fact that you take the time out to be that conscious of yourself over time, you will get more and more into it. It's like anything you do, and you will see the effects of it. Next up, Michael Acton-Smith, the founder of calm, reflects on how much the perception of meditation has shifted. And I remember these

days. It used to be met with a lot of doubt, a lot of scrutiny, but now it's widely seen as a practical, effective way to support your mental well-being. Early on, people thought meditation required robes or lengthy silence. Now it's understood you can start with just one conscious breath. In a world designed to distract you, focus is power. Meditation can help you improve your attention and reclaim the power within you. When you're not a lot of aware of where your attention goes, it's easy to slip into autopilot. Meditation can help you stay present, avoid distractions, and make more intentional choices with your time. In the early days when we'd go to parties and tell people we were building a meditation at,

we'd get one of two reactions. One is that they'd back away from us and make any excuse to go and talk to someone else. The second was that they'd be like, oh, I've heard of that. I've tried it, but I can't do it. My mind is far too busy. It has been extraordinary how that has shifted over the last decade. Again, this is connected to mental health. Do you remember how stigmatized it was? No one talked about it. Could you imagine telling your boss you were struggling with your mental health years ago?

It wouldn't have been a good move. And for most organizations now, that has changed dramatically. I think it was because people did have so many misconceptions about meditation. There were so many myths associated with it. I think they thought it was either religious or connected to the counterculture. They thought they might have to dress up in robes or go to a different country or sit for hours and hours in an uncomfortable position. And we just wanted to let people know that that is not true. You can literally start with one mindful breath.

If you don't have time to meditate for a minute or 10 or longer, literally start with one conscious mindful breath and then build your practice from there. In this next clip, Vishin Lakiani, the founder of Mind Valley, shares how meditation has helped. him heal physically and stay grounded through life's ups and downs. His story is a powerful reminder that meditation isn't just about calmness. It's about growth, resilient and finding your center when life feels chaotic. Vision shares how he used meditation to heal severe acne as a teenager and how that experience sparked a lifelong fascination with the mind-body connection. Through the silver method, he discovered active meditation, a structured form of inner work that turns life's challenges into step-by-step problem-solving opportunities. He explains the difference between daily

meditations that keep you grounded, like his six-phase method, and more tactical techniques used to solve specific issues. For vision, meditation isn't about escaping problems. It's about engaging with them directly and using your mind to heal, grow, and create real world results. I think everyone can remember or has a distinct memory of their first meditation experience. What was your first meditation experience ever? Do you remember it? Like the first time you were ever introduced to any form of meditation? So the first time it happened to me, I was 14 years old. I was a young kid in Malaysia. And I decided to try a form of meditation. that I learned from a book called The Silver Method,

a really old 1960s, 1970s book. Back then, I was 14, so it must have been like 1990. There was no internet in Malaysia. We had four television channels. So really, to pass the time by, all I did was I would browse all of the books in my father's bookshelf. And I discovered this book called The Silver Method.

Now, the book captivated me because it spoke about how the mind can heal the body. What was happening with me back then is I was having a really horrible skin problem. my face was covered in acne I had very little confidence I considered myself ugly I had difficulty making friends at school you know even if I liked a girl I had no confidence to even talk to her and so when I read in this book that the mind can heal the skin I was game on I want to figure this out so I tried practicing nothing happened I continued practicing nothing happened and there was

very little results but I read and reread and reread that book over and over and over and over again Then I started picking other books from Bob Proctor, from Wayne Dyer. I started reading this books. It became a passion. And slowly, things began to click. And one day, applying the silver method, at this point, I was 17 years old, things had finally started clicking. I began to understand it's not just about hoping and wanting your skin to heal.

There was a process. There was a method. There was a psychology. When it clicked, in five weeks, I completely healed my skin. Five years of skin disease healed in five weeks. Today, science talk about this as a thing. It's called psychodermatology, how your mind influences your skin. But that was my first evidence that we can use our minds to influence our bodies.

Now, the next thing I did was I decided to see, can I use my mind to accomplish a really big goal? For me, that was qualifying for the U.S. Open tequando championships. Tequando is Korean karate. I was really into it. And I managed to qualify. My first ever trip to the United States, which was my dreamland, since I was like a kid, I wanted to go to America. My first ever trip was to the U.S. Open to represent my country. It was in Colorado Springs in 1993. My first time I fell in love with America, but it became

because I visualized that in my mind. And that was my beginning, the beginning of my fascination with the human mind that would later lead to me starting mind value and writing this book. That's amazing. I love that story for so many reasons. A, because, well, let me just break this down for everyone. You had an intention that was very clear. Even if it was to save your skin or to impress a girl or whatever it was, you were clear of why you wanted to meditate. The second thing was you were happy to read the book again and again and again and again. And I think that takes a lot of resilience because most of us, when we try something once and it doesn't work, we give up. And the third thing is you didn't just test on something small. Once you saw a small

result, you were like, well, does this apply to something bigger? And I think those three lessons in and of themselves are so powerful. What has changed in the benefits to you of meditation today? At that time, it was solving your skin, it was getting focused around the taekwondo championships. How do you view meditation? What is its use in your life today? Because I feel like so many people keep telling us to meditate and there's so many benefits. But for you personally, what's the reason? So I grew up in a Hindu family in Malaysia. Meditation was never what I was thought. The style of Hinduism I was thought was very dogmatic. You had prayers, you had chants, you had mantras, and I found it, oh God, so boring and irritating. I hated being dragged to temple, to listen to a pre-speak in Sanskrit,

a language I didn't even understand. So when I was 19, I gave up Hinduism. I decided the religion was not for me. I read a quote by Gandhi that said, I'm a Hindu and I'm a Muslim and I'm a Christian and I'm a Jew and I'm a Buddhist. And I thought, that's it. I want to study and unite ideas from all of these different spiritual practices. And so that was my beginning. I got obsessed with spirituality. I started reading books by Esther Hicks by Neil Donald Walsh. And I became particularly captivated by the spirituality that was emerging from the United States, from everyone, from Paramahansa Yogananda, who was an Indian who crossed over over here to Neil Donald Walsh to especially Jose Silva. Now, a lot of them spoke about spirituality. What made Jose Silva's work different was that

he broke it down into actionable steps. And that's what fascinated me most. So a lot of people spoke about meditation, about sitting still, about going within. Jose Silva would teach the method. You're going to do this method to reduce your brainwave frequency to the alpha level, this method to gather down to the theta level, this method of positioning your eyes to activate alpha frequency in your brain, this method to reprogram your subconscious, this method to manifest a goal, this method to do healing. And that structured approach captivated me. Now, we call that active meditation. That's the word Jose Silva use. Osho used the same word, active meditation. This means it's different from passive meditation, which was more than meditation

from Hinduism, from Eastern cultures, where you focus on your breath or you go within. And there's a usefulness in that. But what I loved about active meditation is, in the words of Jose Silva, you use it to solve problems. You do not push your problems away. You turn your problems into a project. You have skin disease, you're going to heal it. You need to achieve a business goal. You're going to make it happen. And you would apply different tools to solve these problems. Now, when I was in Silicon Valley, I applied the silver method and it completely transformed my career. I was able to hold down two jobs. I got promotion after promotion after promotion. At the age of 26, I was vice president of a booming.com. And I was meditating using the silver method and other practices I would combine with it. And one day, I certainly had a calling. I realized that meditation was the most powerful thing I'd learned in life. It was the reason why I was successful at my career. Yet, my university degree, for which I paid almost a quarter million dollars for, thought me, Jack. It wasn't really helping me. So I decided I wanted to do something that could help the world. I decided to quit and become a meditation teacher.

Now, as I started becoming a meditation teacher, as I started compiling all of these methods, I needed something for myself and I look at meditation as a tool okay so a lot of people say all right meditation is a form of self-awareness of prayer yes yes yes but meditation is also a tool the point of meditation

in the words of the great teacher Emily Fletcher is not to get good at meditation it is to get good at life and so I use two different types of tools now let's think about our home we have coffee makers and we have electric drills we use a coffee maker every single day or a tea kettle every single day

to put ourselves in a good state to start our morning. An electric drill is a power tool. You don't use it every day. You use it when you have a problem, when you have to drill a hole in a wall or threaten someone, I guess. So in meditation, the style that I teach, there are two types.

You would use a power tool like the Silva method, which now sits on Mind Valley, for a really tactical problem. For example, healing. The silver method has been proven by Dr. O'Call-Simonton as a very effective form of imagery therapy for accelerating healing. You're sick, you want to do it. If you are suddenly feeling like you have

a migraine, you want to use it to help reduce your migraine. The sixth phase is what I developed as not the electric drill, but the coffee maker. Something you use every single day. Even if your life is amazing, you use it every single day because it helps put you in a peak state for work, for happiness, for human connection. And it puts you in this beautiful state where it all It almost feels as if the universe has your back, like you have the Tinkabelle Ferry following you around, blessing everything you do and making your life magical. This is how I view meditation.

It's an active approach to tackle the most complex problems in life, but also as a daily approach to put you in peak states of humanness. This is why I love talking to you because I love that explanation. And I think that that breakdown of how meditation can be used differently for different challenges is fantastic and I love the analogy with the tea kettle we'll go with and the drill because I do think you're right

that we've made meditation what you just said is about becoming good at meditation which is absolutely irrelevant to life I hope this episode serves as a reminder that there's no single way to meditate and no perfect practice what matters is that you start

whether it's to heal focus align or simply breathe, meditation is a tool that can meet you wherever you are in life. Remember, the goal isn't to get good at meditation. The goal is to improve your life. So whatever form works for you, a guided practice, a moment of stillness, or a walk in nature, I hope this episode inspires you to make it your own. And if you've ever told yourself, I'm not the meditation type, I hope this conversation helps you realize you already are. You just have to begin.

If you love this episode, you will also love my interview with Charles Duhigg on how to hack your brain, change any habit effortlessly, and the secret to making better decisions. Look, am I hesitating on this because I'm scared of making the choice because I'm scared of doing the work? Or am I sitting with this because it just doesn't feel right yet? On the latest episode of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, I sat down with Jasmine Crockett, Democratic Representative of Texas. She's holding out the fork for her party in one of the most conservative states in the union.

I think that ultimately, who will become the Democratic nominee for president will be someone that has been out there and has shown that they won't allow themselves to be punched and just say thank you. Like, they will punch back. Listen to next question with me, Katie Couric on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the U versus you podcast. I'm Lex Barrero, inviting you to go beyond the titles and the accolades of the world's most successful entertainers. Each week, we take off the Cape and get real about the inner battles, childhood stories, and the moments that shaped our guests. Get inspired to become the best version of you. Listen to You Versus You podcast on the IHard Radio app or wherever you get your podcast.

I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, a different type of podcast. You, the listener, ask the questions. Did George Washington really cut down a cherry? Were J.N.K. and Marilyn Monroe having an affair? And I find the answers. I'm so glad you asked me this question. This is such a ridiculous story. You can listen to American History Hotline on the IHeart Radio app.

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.