Rest as Readiness
After 15 years as a paediatric occupational therapist — and 12 years as a Vedic meditator — I’ve come to see that adaptability isn’t just a mindset. It’s a physiological capacity.
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𝗧𝗼𝗼 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲? 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻.
Saying you’re too busy to meditate is a bit like saying you’re too hungry to eat. Meditation isn’t just another thing to fit into your schedule—it’s the thing that makes the whole schedule feel lighter. It’s the balm that soothes overwhelm and the landscaper that gently clears anxiety from the roots of your nervous system.
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The Cycle of Becoming : Growth Through Renewal
I recently was sent a YouTube clip of Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski explaining the way a lobster sheds its shell. It offered a quiet reminder that growth often arrives disguised as discomfort. Stories have a way of doing that—threading themselves into our lives, waiting for the right moment to whisper their wisdom. The lobster, a soft-bodied creature, lives within a rigid shell. That shell is its armour, its protection. But there’s a catch—the shell doesn’t grow.
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Meditation Is Not Hard
One of the biggest myths about meditation is that it’s hard. That you have to concentrate, control your thoughts, or ‘empty the mind.’ Not true. In Vedic meditation, we don’t fight the mind—we work with it. No effort, no struggle. You’re given a mantra, a specific sound, and that’s what does the heavy lifting. It naturally guides your mind into a state of deep rest. No forcing, no trying—just an easy, automatic process.
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What you need to know about the stress response (Part 2)
The human brain is incredibly intelligent, and its response to stress is no exception. When the stress response is triggered, the brain takes a snapshot of all the sensory information we receive in that moment. If we encounter that sensory stimulus again, the brain will trigger the stress response earlier, allowing us to prepare for fight or flight sooner. This process is known as a premature cognitive commitment (PCC).
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Being Good At Vedic Meditation
Being good at Vedic Meditation, is not about diving deep every time you sit but about letting go and allowing the experience to unfold. My practice? Just sitting twice a day, no matter what. No trying… just no resisting. Simple, natural, innocence. Good things are happening, whether it is shallow or deep.
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Break The Cycle
Isn't it ironic that many people think that toughest task in our modern world is to just rest and do nothing? Breaking the cycle of constantly engaging in activity can be challenging but a very important choice we have. A choice I made over a decade ago, burnt out with adrenal fatigue in my twenties.
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Lessons from the field
Whether I’ve got my Vedic Meditation teacher hat on, or Occupational Therapist hat on, I spend my week working with individuals to support their nervous systems and emotional regulation. Here’s one thing I’ve learnt..
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Pondering the New Year Using the 5 Fundamental Elements of Evolution
Looking for something different to New Years Resolutions? This year, I used the 5 Fundamental Elements of Evolution as the basis for my New Year pondering.
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Daily Global Vedic Meditation Sessions
The below is from Thom Knoles’ email to Vedic Meditators 16/10/23 following recent escalation in terror attacks and violence in the Middle East.
Thom's wish is that we do our part as Vedic Meditators to help settle the collective into a less-excited state and create greater worldwide coherence. Meditating together as a global family encourages orderliness and can aid in the cooling effect. As such, we can make no greater contribution to peace in the collective consciousness than to come together as a community to coordinate the timing of our meditation sittings.
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Drawing Back The Bow
he art of archery in Dhanurveda has been used as a metaphor for the transformative effect meditation can have on our ability to achieve positive, right action. When making a successful shot, the bow must be drawn back fully and held in a state of absolute stillness. Any movement from this state or slackness in the bow will cause a deviation from the target. In order to produce a truly transformative shot, you and your bow and arrow must be establish in a state of Being and stillness and only when this state is established, let go of the arrow and perform action.
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What You Need To Know About The Stress Response (Part 1)
Well, there is bad news and good news… let’s start with the bad news, with reference to the ‘father of stress research’ the Hungarian endocrinologist, Hans Selye.
Selye developed the ‘general adaptation syndrome’ model which describes the impact stress has on the human body. Each time the body is exposed to a potential stressor (demand, change in expectation, pressure etc.) it has a limited amount of adaptation energy to cope or deal with the demand.
Become the sanctuary
Have you noticed how we isolate our time to rest, to switch off, to holiday periods? You feel rested and refreshed only to open your inbox to 165 unread emails or go into overdrive getting the kids ready for school etc.? Our next thought is often, when is my next holiday?
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BEing
I was able to stop myself from the cascade of ‘doings’ and asked myself, “how do I want to BE today?”. The answers probably won’t surprise you - moving slowly with presence, grateful, curious and open hearted. Of course the answer may change on any given day, depending on your mood, energy levels, day of the week etc., however stepping beyond the doings and thoughts is what allows us to be more process orientated and non attached to the specific timings and outcomes of things.
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Infinite Adaptability, Absolute Groundedness
Every time we practice Vedic Meditation, we increase our ability to adapt to changes in demand or expectations. This is important when we consider that all that is ever happening is change. The process of evolution is a result of progressive change. Without change, there is no progress. 🦍🚶🏽♀️In order to not only survive, but also to grow and flourish with change, being able to adapt and stay grounded is vital.
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Consistency is Key
Consistency is key in any practice and Vedic Meditation is no different.
(Cue pep talk motivational track)
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Releasing the clenched fist
Only four or so decades ago, it was popular for wealthy travellers to leave India with a pet monkey. Monkey catchers would dig a small pit, pop in some fruits and nuts and covered it with a heavy slab that had a tiny hole, big enough to fit a monkey’s arm. The monkey would come along, stick their hand in, grasp a delicious snack only to realise that their fist would not fit through the tiny hole. In would swoop the monkey catcher and voila! Another monkey to be sold. Had the monkey simply let go of the food before the monkey catcher swooped in, it would be free.
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Understanding the need of the time.
It has been quite a month, both locally here in Australia and globally. At times it has heartbreaking and at other times, has motivated change. It is clear that we have been called to interact with each other and with our daily demands with more compassion, love and adaptation.
The world needs a harmonising and cooling force to counter the excess heat we are currently witnessing. In particular, the excessive heat in the climate and the excessive heat that creates division and war.
Vedic Meditation creates greater coherence in the brain and this enhances stability and order in our thinking and action. This is achieved through allowing the mind and body to settle into its least excited state. Making contact with this state creates more harmony in our inner and outer environments, flushing the system with bliss chemistry and releasing stress from the body…
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A self sufficient practice that leads to a life of self sufficiency
Vedic meditation is a self sufficient practice meaning we are not reliant on anything external to us (app, class, guiding voice) to practice it. All we need is some back support and somewhere to safely close our eyes. Noise is no barrier, movement around us is no barrier.
Vedic Meditators are not reliant on focusing or emptying the mind to experience deep inner contentedness during our practice.
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Mind Reset
Practicing Vedic Meditation gives the mind the chance to reset, twice a day.
It allows us to move beyond the layer of beliefs and stories that loop through our mind each day. The stories about who we are, the things we think we need to acquire to feel satisfied and the people or things that stand in our way of acquiring those things.