In this talk with yoga teacher Elena Brower and Vedic Meditation teacher Thom Knoles, they discuss the practice of the type of meditation that Knoles teaches, a practice he learned in the 60's from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement.

If you, after having watched the talk, decide you want to learn Vedic Meditation yourself, Knoles' son Charlie Knoles offers a great online course through mindbodygreen in Vedic Meditation that only costs $99.99.

Also, in my post "Transcendental Meditation and the Alternatives", there are similar types of meditation listed.

For more talks with Thom Knoles, visit the WelcomeEarth site.

During a talk at the Milken Institute's "Global Conference 2016", hedge fund manager Ray Dalio from Bridgewater Associates, said to moderator Robert Kegan, psychologist and professor at Harvard university, that his best gift to anybody was the gift of Transcendental Meditation, a practice Dalio has been doing since '69.

Transcendental Meditation is catching on big in the business of finance as successful Wall Street managers and traders have taken up the practice, many of them having been inspired by hedge fund manager Ray Dalio's daily meditation habit.

For Mark Axelowitz, managing director at UBS Wealth Management, the first step to become a meditator was reading Dalio's "Principles." Axelowitz was reading up on Dalio before he called to ask him if he'd like to speak at his and Bill Ackman's annual fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Harbor foundation. Early in "Principles," Dalio writes about how he discovered meditation in college after seeing that The Beatles did it. "It helped me think more clearly and creatively, so I'm sure that enhanced my enjoyment of, and success at, learning," Dalio wrote.

"The second I read that I decided: I'm done - I'm meditating," Axelowitz said.

[…]

"I had at the time a Blackberry and an iPhone, and my life was nonstop work," Axelowitz said. He said he's awake 18 hours a day, and that his time is split among his Wall Street job, philanthropy, his side job as an actor (he's had numerous bit parts in big productions since 2004), and his three kids. "And I knew that if TM did not work, it gave me 40 minutes of downtime, with no interruption."

But he found that it profoundly affected him. He said that since making TM a daily habit, he has been able to have a clearer mind, which has allowed him to be more present in both his professional and personal lives. He also believes this regular training of his mind has allowed him to be more creative, which has allowed him to take on more significant and enjoyable acting gigs.

Featured video: UBS Financial Services broker Ken Gunsberger who is included in the article.

Do world-class performers share some similar characteristics?! The research done by Drs. Harald Harung and Frederick Travis at Maharishi University of Management shows that they do. To be more successful, like Harung explains in an interview with New Mavericks, you must change how the brain works and you can do that through exercise, listening to music and meditation, preferably Transcendental Meditation.

From Science Daily:

Fred Travis emphasizes that everything we do changes our brain. Transcendental meditation and making music are activities people should devote themselves to if they wish to change their mind in the right direction. But you can make good progress by following common health recommendations: get enough sleep, work out physically, eat healthily, and don't do drugs. How you think also plays a role.

Baltimore's Robert W. Coleman Elementary School has had great success with implementing meditation techniques and a mindful room which has led to students feeling better in and outside of school.

As reported by Uproxx, the Mindful Moment Room was introduced as a space for students to calm themselves and recenter before heading back to class. Students who visit the Mindful Moment Room — which was created through a partnership with the Holistic Life Foundation — are taught breathing exercises and meditation to reduce anxiety, headaches, stomach problems, and stress. Meditation is also used as a form of intervention when disciplinary action is typically needed – and since its induction, Robert W. Coleman Elementary hasn't issued a single suspension.

I have written about journalist and author Claire Hoffman's memoir "Greetings from Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood" in an earlier post, in which Hoffman talks about her upbringing in the Transcendental Meditation community in Fairfield, Iowa.

The Cut has published a lengthy passage from this well-received book entitled "Growing Up in Meditationland":

One day, I emerged from the afternoon meditation at school and found Jiten waiting for me. "How was your meditation?" he asked, mimicking the prissy voice of a teacher. "Was it easy? Was it smooth?" I laughed and said I'd been imagining the sex life of our rather shrill meditation teacher, barely remembering my mantra. "All the mantras are the same," he told me, snickering. I laughed, but the idea felt like a missile going through my head.

"I thought they were all different, like snowflakes," I said, trying to sound sarcastic.

But I was serious; the idea that my mantra was like anyone else's was until that moment inconceivable.

"No, tell me yours. I'll bet it's the same as mine," he said.

He leaned in close to me, his hand on my arm. His breath warm on my ear, he whispered my mantra to me. My mind moved slowly as I looked up at his mischievous grin. I hadn't heard my mantra said out loud for years. What had felt special for so long was not.

One day, I emerged from the afternoon meditation at school and found Jiten waiting for me. "How was your meditation?" he asked, mimicking the prissy voice of a teacher. "Was it easy? Was it smooth?" I laughed and said I'd been imagining the sex life of our rather shrill meditation teacher, barely remembering my mantra. "All the mantras are the same," he told me, snickering. I laughed, but the idea felt like a missile going through my head.

"I thought they were all different, like snowflakes," I said, trying to sound sarcastic.

But I was serious; the idea that my mantra was like anyone else's was until that moment inconceivable.

"No, tell me yours. I'll bet it's the same as mine," he said.

He leaned in close to me, his hand on my arm. His breath warm on my ear, he whispered my mantra to me. My mind moved slowly as I looked up at his mischievous grin. I hadn't heard my mantra said out loud for years. What had felt special for so long was not.

[…]

I had to admit: It did work. As much as I rolled my eyes at the Movement, meditation was still a touchstone for me. For years I used it only sporadically, when I needed it. If my plane ride was especially turbulent, I would close my eyes and start meditating before I even consciously realized what I was doing. If I had a houseguest who was staying a little too long, I'd retreat to my bedroom and meditate for an hour — to be in a space that was all my own. When I had my daughter and became perpetually exhausted, meditation became something I looked forward to. It was then that I started to realize that meditation didn't have to be everything for me — it didn't have to be a Movement or a philosophy or the cure-all that I'd been raised to think it was. Just because the waters had been muddied didn't mean I couldn't still hold on to that which still felt real for me. After a lifetime of meditating, the quietness had become who I was. So what if my mantra wasn't a secret special sound made just for me? If it worked, why would I let it go?

Featured image: Audiobook cover via AudioBookStore.com.

When the founder and CEO of the Australian company Oliver's Real Food was introduced to Transcendental Meditation, he quickly experienced its many benefits and realised its usefulness in the corporate area.

Today, the employees at Oliver's are introduced to the technique and the project has been a major success in wellness.

"For us to be the best that we can be as an organization, we really need to take the time to nurture the people who make up our organization," said Gunn, CEO of Oliver's Real Food in Australia. "When I realized the shift, the impact TM had on me as an individual, I quickly came to realize this is something I wanted to share with all the people that make such a wonderful contribution to the business of Oliver's Real Food."

Gunn has two thriving stores in Australia—one in Wyong, Central Coast, and another in Hexham, Newcastle. Today, nearly 20 percent of Oliver's employees practice the Transcendental Meditation technique.

The YouTube channel The Silent Watcher brings nature to the comfort of your own home with their high quality outdoor footage. Why not take a short break this evening and sit down by the campfire and enjoy the calming sounds of nature?!

Watch and hear the relaxing and soothing footage of dry ice pellets presented by the Wryfield Lab.

Want more from Wryfield Lab? Why not listen to the relaxing sounds of sparkling water.

In this interview conducted by Laurence Freeman, director of the World Community for Christian Meditation, hedge fund manager Ray Dalio talks about the importance and the many benefits of his daily practice of Transcendental Meditation and how it can enhance both creativity and productivity in the workplace, along with better leadership and a much nicer working atmosphere.

My resource "Transcendental Meditation and the Alternatives" will help you get started with the type of meditation Dalio talks about.

Arranged by the David Lynch Foundation at The New York Town Hall on February 11, 2014, the event "Creativity, Performance and Stress" dealt with the benefits of using Transcendental Meditation at the workplace and in daily life.

Moderated by journalist and author Andrew Ross Sorkin, and the host of "CNBC Squawk Box", the evening included talks and discussions with the following experts:

• Ray Dalio, Founder of Bridgewater Associates
• Dr. Mehmet Oz, Host of the "Dr. Oz Show"
• Arianna Huffington, President and Editor-in-Chief of Huffington Post Media Group
• Mario Batali, chef, writer, restaurateur and media personality
• Dr. Pamela Peeke, MD, MPH, Host of "Could You Survive?", "Discovery Health TV"
• Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell, PhD, Dean of the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University
• Dr. Norman Rosenthal, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University
• Leslie Seymour, Editor-in-Chief of "MORE" magazine

Here are part two and part three.

One of the fastest-growing cities in Iowa is the "Transcendental Meditation" town Fairfield – also known as Iowa's 'Silicorn Valley' due to its many technology startups – that still prospers while surrounding cities don't.

This southeast Iowa city is known as a magnet for practitioners of Transcendental Meditation at Maharishi University of Management, who flocked here since the 1970s. Fairfield was able to capitalize on that unique niche, building a surprisingly metropolitan quality of life.

While Fairfield is home to 1,000 fewer jobs than it had 15 years ago, state figures show employers have rebounded in the last five years, adding nearly 700 jobs between 2010 and 2015. During that time, Fairfield went from 714 employers to 751, according to Iowa Workforce Development.

Via @kenchawkin.

One sunny weekend in the beginning of July, I completed my beginner's course in Acem Meditation.

In two three-hour long sessions, spread out over a month, I learned how to meditate with a mantra according to the teachings of Acem Meditation.

How Acem Meditation Was Founded

To share a bit of history, Acem Meditation has its roots in the Transcendental Meditation movement. Acem's founder Dr. Are Holen had learned Deep Meditation in 1962 (later to be called Transcendental Meditation) from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who brought Transcendental Meditation to the West in the 50's. Holen represented Transcendental Meditation in Norway through the Academic Meditation Society (AMS) that he had founded in '66 while a student at the University of Oslo, but in 1972, due to disagreements with the TM organization, Are Holen and his fellow group of Transcendental Meditation teachers went on their own and founded Acem School of Meditation, in which the meditation technique was taught precisely as before minus some religious and philosophical beliefs and terms.

Today, Acem Meditation operates globally and offers a rich selection of different courses and retreats, all with a very affordable price tag.

Meditation Basics and the Method Sound

We began the course with a short presentation of ourselves, and then we moved on to learn about the basics in meditation such as correct posture, the placement of our hands, how to sit, and so forth. Then, we learned more about how to treat the mantra (in Acem called a method sound) and how it works, and how to avoid certain pitfalls along the way.

After an hour and so of teaching, it was time to put the knowledge into practice by meditating together, using the method sound. All participants in the group received the same method sound, but practitioners of Acem can ask to be given an individual method sound after six months of regular practice if they wish to do so. However, the method sound you receive at first can be used as long as you'd like and with good results – this is entirely up to each individual.

We received a short instruction in how to pronounce and use the method sound, and then we meditated for 30 minutes, followed by a discussion about what we experienced to ensure that we had meditated correctly. Another group meditation followed shortly, and then we were on our own until the next and final session two weeks later. These two weeks gave us ample time to meditate regularly and come up with questions regarding our practice.

Physical and Mental Releases of Tension Through Meditation

In our last and final session, we learned more about physical and mental releases of tension that occur during meditation and how to deal with difficult feelings and thoughts such as anxiety. Personal growth through a regular meditation practice was another topic that was discussed in detail.

Some of the information from our first session was repeated once more, like how to pronounce and work with the method sound. I also took advantage of a mantra checking to assure me that I remembered my newly acquired method sound correctly.

After having concluded two more group meditations, we had successfully completed the beginner's course.

Continuing Support and Follow-up Activities

But the course didn't stop there – we were encouraged to get in touch with our teachers if questions and problems arise. And, if we are unable to visit an Acem Meditation center, meditation checking can be done by phone or Skype.

Also, Acem offers a wide range of follow-up and refresher courses, retreats and other education materials such as books and audio recordings. Another great resource is their blog that contains many lengthy articles about Acem Meditation and the practice.

A Great Resource with an Affordable Price Tag

A great selling point with learning Acem Meditation is their lower course fees of $95.00 (full time students: $45.00) for the beginner's course, which makes effortless mantra meditation accessible to everyone – individuals, families and companies – and that is a great thing in today's somewhat stressful environment.

Although I've previously learned effortless mantra meditation from several resources online, I'm glad to now have experienced these teachings in a live class as well. And since they are all very affordable (I can't emphasize this enough!), you can easily combine them and get a wonderful education in this ancient meditation practice.

Featured image: Acem International Retreat Centre at Halvorsbøle outside Oslo, Norway, via Acem Meditation's YouTube channel.

In an article from Yahoo Finance, hedge fund mananager Ray Dalio attributes much of his success to Transcendental Meditation, which he talks about in Dr. Norman Rosenthal's latest book "Super Mind: How to Boost Performance and Live a Richer and Happier Life Through Transcendental Meditation". Not only keeps the practice Dalio calm, but it also enhances his creativity and problem solving, and gives him the ability to come up with great and unique business ideas.

Dalio tells Rosenthal that meditating helps him remain "centered." It's a calmness that he describes as being "like a Ninja."

"It means when things come at you – challenges, stresses, disruptive events – you can be calm and analytical and approach them almost, I imagine, like a Ninja sees things coming at him in slow motion so that he's obviously in control. Being "centered" is that state in which your emotions are not hijacking you. The ability to think clearly, put things in their right place and have perspective: That's what I mean by 'centered.'"

Dalio's success in the financial markets comes from making multiple good decisions over time. Meditation helps him make those decisions.

Image credit: Via Dealbreaker.

Journalist and author Claire Hoffman grew up in Fairfield, Iowa, where the Transcendental Meditation movement had located in 1975. Her new book, "Greetings from Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood" tells the fascinating story about how it was growing up and live in a Midwest meditation community.

The following essay published in Vogue is part of the book:

The idea of living in Iowa thrilled me. I imagined an existence somewhere between Little House on the Prairie and Charlotte's Web. Barnyard animals would dance, and I would roll through lush meadows and learn to ride a bike. At long last, I might also finally have friends who, like me, meditated twice a day.

I tried it for the first time when I was 3 years old, in the back room of the Transcendental Meditation Center's Manhattan office. Incense burned in front of a framed painting of Maharishi. My teacher, a young man in a butter-yellow suit, whispered my mantra to me. By the time I was 5 this secret sound had become an essential part of who I was, and I'd taken to repeating it to myself to push away the chaos of my rupturing family.

A few other related and great reads worth mentioning include Hoffman's article "David Lynch Is Back … as a Guru of Transcendental Meditation" and Grace Bello's article in Papermag called "Growing Up in Fairfield, Iowa – America's Transcendental Meditation Mecca", in which Hoffman is interviewed.

A fresh release from the Wryfield Lab – a relaxing video with footage of puffy clouds, or more accurately described as cumulus clouds.

Some of their earlier releases include acrylic paint bubbles in motion and the sound of sparkling water.

Health and wellness expert Valerie Orsoni has been interested in the Amish culture for many years. By adapting four "simple" habits from the Amish, she thinks they can do us lots of good both mentally and physically, not to mention for our society.

In our culture we barely write letters any longer…takes too long to write, then too long to receive. We send instant emails and expect instant answers.

We always rush from one meeting to the next, from one activity to the next.

The Amish take it more slowly. They admire nature. They take the time to seize the day and smell the roses. They write chain letters, where each time the letter gets to the recipient, she adds a piece of news from her settlement. Waiting for a response is part of the deal and helps people not be constantly on their toes.

The Amish "visit." As a matter of fact they even have alternate "off-church Sundays." The sole purpose is to allow for visits to friends and family members.

Over the weekend, I took part in a live class learning Acem Meditation. This organization was founded in Norway in 1966 by professional psychologist and physician Are Holen when he was a student at the University of Oslo, and consisted of members that had learned Transcendental Deep Meditation (later to be called Transcendental Meditation). In the beginning, Acem Meditation collaborated with the Transcendental Meditation organization and represented them in Norway, but that relationship ended in 1972 and since then Acem has continued on its own course.

Acem offers very good and affordable meditation courses. Their beginner's course only costs $95.00 (full time students: $45.00) and usually consists of two or three sessions with a total study time of 6-9 hours.

Our first session took 3 hours and that included both theory and meditating together. The follow-up and final session is scheduled in about two weeks time, which gives us ample time to meditate regularly and come up with questions regarding our practice so that the teachers can guide us in the right direction.

When our final session is concluded, I'll write a more thorough review about my overall impression and what I've learned.

In the meanwhile, read about some of the alternatives I've found that is closely related to this meditation technique, and consider signing up for All Good Found's RSS feed or through email subscription so that you get notified when this post gets published.

Update: You find my review here.

Featured image: Acem Nordic Retreat Centre, Lundsholm, Sweden via Acem Meditation's YouTube channel.

Take a moment and relax by watching acrylic paint bubbles in motion accompanied by calming music. Another great video from the Wryfield Lab.

Vice travels to the Midwest and the town Fairfield in Iowa to explore the Transcendental Meditation movement who has been here since the mid-70's.

The segment puts the movement in a good light, but I appreciate how some important criticism is dealt with as well.

For more Vice and Transcendental Meditation, watch the three-parts web series "Twin Galaxies and the Golden Domes" in which you'll meet gaming enthusiast/meditator/musician Walter Day.