As a teacher of Vedic Meditation, I meet many people who are seeking ways to settle their mind and body.

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However it’s not often that I have a 13-year-old girl approaching me to learn to meditate. 

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This happened a few years ago when Lily came to see me. Even though her mother was a meditator, I could see the desire to learn was coming from Lily. She explained how she would watch her mom arrive home from work after a long, busy day — tired and stretched to the limit. She would go into another room to meditate and then emerge looking like a different person: clear, refreshed and smiling. Watching this ‘before and after’ made it obvious to her daughter — meditation was a significant reset and she was witnessing it every day. That’s why she wanted to meditate too.

If you live a ‘normal’ life you will experience stress and fatigue. The nature of modern living guarantees it.

The power of reset and recovery

The crucial question is not how to avoid or manage stress. It’s how quickly can you reset and recover? 

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Homeostasis is a scientific term to describe the tendency of a biological structure (in this case the human nervous system) to maintain equilibrium. How quickly and effectively can you return to a state of homeostatic balance? 

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Knowing how to reset is very empowering. Because getting stressed does not mean we have to stay stressed. It is possible to reverse the impact of stress and trauma. 

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Given the opportunity, the body will automatically begin to dissolve accumulated tension and return towards a more optimal state.

How do we reset? 

How do you give the nervous system the best possible chance to recover and reset? What tools and techniques are going to give you the greatest return on your investment of time and energy? 

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There are many ways to try to come back into balance. However, they start from different levels. Here are some examples: 

At the physical level — Doing or Engaging in Action

• Sitting in a sauna
• Cold plunge
• Yoga
• Pilates
• Swimming
• Walking
• Breathing techniques
  

At the level of the mind — Thinking or Contemplating 

• Mindfulness practices
• Focused attention or concentration techniques
• Contemplation
• Listening to music or chanting
• Visualization
  

At the level of pure consciousness — Being or Pure Awareness

An automatic self-transcending style of meditation: 

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• Vedic Meditation
• Transcendental Meditation
• Sahaj Samadhi Meditation

The ultimate reset 

While there are many different ways to try to regain a sense of equilibrium, I want to flag up the factors that will have the greatest impact on your ability to reset: 

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• How deeply can you settle your nervous system?
• How quickly can you do this?
• How consistently can you make it happen?

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Because Being or Pure Consciousness is foundational, anything that harnesses that state will have the greatest impact on the other levels that spring from there — all your thoughts and actions. 

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Meditation is the ultimate tool to de-excite and experience this least-excited state of awareness on a daily basis.

The ultimate technique to reset at the level of Being 

It is possible to have a brief glimpse of Being in the silent gaps between thoughts or a spontaneous burst of joy that arises from within. But these are fleeting and most often overshadowed by the noise of the world. Rather than a rare, hit-and-miss event, we need to learn how to experience this in a systematic and reliable way. There are many benefits from being able to settle down your mind and body and recognize the fundamental stillness that’s there, deep inside. 

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Meditation is the single best technique to give us an easy and consistent way to regularly drop into this state of Being. 

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When I first learned to meditate back in 1997, meditation was more on the fringes and not as mainstream as it is today. Now meditation is everywhere, with an abundance of scientific research about the benefits. For some, meditation means listening to someone guide them through an experience via an app on their phone. It could be that sitting or moving in nature is a form of meditation. For someone else it means trying to concentrate their mind on a specific image or focus on their breathing. Meditation can be a form of prayer or devotion, while for others it may be a process of observing their thoughts in an attempt to be more present. 

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Whatever the style, more people are realising that the ability to sit still, to be at peace and at one with the world, is becoming increasingly urgent.

Different approaches give different results 

While the common goal is to arrive at a state of inner mental quiet, not all meditation styles have the same impact. Just as there are different levels from which to begin, we can see how different styles will deliver different results. 

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For example, a walking meditation begins at the physical level. Of course, it will have some effect on the deeper levels of mind and consciousness, but primarily it’s operating at a level of greater excitation. 

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A mindfulness practice starts at the level of the mind. Less excitation than the body but still experiencing thought. 

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Then there is automatic self-transcendence — a meditation technique that takes you to the level of Being. The effects are very different. By transcending — moving beyond the restless body and chattering mind — this meditation allows us to access the deepest level of consciousness. By working from this underlying state, we access a powerful tool to reset the outer layers of mind and body. 

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Automatic self-transcendence is the style of meditation that I teach and practice. We call it Vedic Meditation. It comes from the Vedic knowledge of ancient India that is many thousands of years old. Despite being one of the oldest techniques of meditation, it is practiced by millions of people from all walks of life.

What is Vedic Meditation? 

Vedic Meditation is a simple mental technique practiced sitting comfortably with the eyes closed and the back supported. You silently think to yourself a simple sound that we call a mantra. As you think of the mantra it draws the mind to a more settled state. As thinking becomes quieter, the body begins to rest very deeply. After about 20 minutes you slowly come out of the meditation feeling mentally clear, emotionally balanced and physically rested. We typically practice Vedic Meditation twice each day — before breakfast and before dinner. 

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The whole process is easy and straightforward. You don’t have to change your lifestyle. There’s no need to take on a belief system or adopt a new philosophy on life. There’s no chanting, no beads, no background music and no internet connection required. You can meditate on a train, on the sofa or at the office — anywhere you can safely sit and close your eyes. 

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This is a technique for everyone. You don’t have to sit around for hours every day or withdraw to a forest retreat for a week. In fact, the opposite: by taking a few minutes for a daily reset you engage in life with more energy and clarity.

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Jillian Lavendar is one of the world’s most experienced teachers of Vedic Meditation and the author of Do Reset: Meditate. Move beyond thinking. Find Clarity. and Why Meditate? Because it Works. As co-founder of New York Meditation Center and London Meditation Centre, alongside her partner Michael Miller, she has helped thousands of people across the globe transform their lives through meditation. 

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Order Jillian’s new book, Do Reset: Meditate. Move beyond thinking. Find Clarity. here: https://www.amazon.com/Do-Reset-Meditate-thinking-clarity/dp/191416847X