The #1 Reason Most People Fail at Meditation (And the Simple Fix That Works for Anyone)

1. 0:00 – 4:10

   Intro

   1. JSJay Shetty0:00

      Mindfulness meditation can reduce cortisol levels by up to twenty-five percent, decreasing stress and inflammation. Long-term meditators have brains that are on average seven point five years younger than non-meditators. Meditation can reduce the experience of pain by forty percent, which is greater than morphine, which reduces pain by twenty-five percent. 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 wanna 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 altogether. 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 experts 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.

   2. SPSpeaker2:32

      Jay Shetty.

   3. SPSpeaker2:33

      Jay Shetty.

   4. SPSpeaker2:34

      The one, the only Jay Shetty.

   5. JSJay Shetty2:37

      [laughing] 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 helps 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.

   6. SPSpeaker4:01

      We've done the largest studies on meditation that have ever been done just because we have a community of eighteen hundred people that come to an event that are going to be

2. 4:10 – 8:33

   How Meditation Transforms Your Brain and Body

   1. SPSpeaker4:10

      getting up at the same time, doing the same thing, uh, pretty much eating, making the same food choices, uh, in pretty much a big laboratory, right? And so our discoveries in working with eighteen hundred people in, in measuring brainwaves, [chuckles] uh, be- their brain function be-before and after the event, um, measuring their gene expression before and after the event. We're measuring, uh, two thousand eight hundred and eighty-two metabolites in their blood. We're measuring DNA expression. We're measuring urine. We're measuring saliva. We're measuring, uh, the energy of the room. We're measuring everything. And meditation in a sense that it's not in the traditional way. Um, what we do is we look at what really works. [laughs] You know, we're actually looking to say, "Well, that's something that we can actually see a 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. To slow your brainwaves 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, 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, so to get beyond the analytical mind is 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, we're really looking to see what it is and, and when we see, uh, brains respond in the same way, it helps me enormously to teach the material better. A-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.

   2. JSJay Shetty6:03

      Mm-hmm.

   3. SPSpeaker6:03

      And nothing is left to conjecture if nothing is left to superstition or dogma or even in spiritual-

   4. JSJay Shetty6:09

      Mm-hmm

   5. SPSpeaker6:10

      ... you know, traditional words. Use science as the contemporary language to demystify that process, and you give nu- 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.

   6. JSJay Shetty6:36

      Mm-hmm.

   7. SPSpeaker6:37

      More powerful than you know, more unlimited than you could ever dream. We have compelling data that suggests that your nervous system is the greatest pharmacist in the world, that it makes drugs that work better than any drug in a drugstore. A drug study is about 18 to 25% cause and 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, uh, pain relievers. We're seeing this over and over again. So we have this incredible data that says that this is no longer pseudoscience [laughs] . This is the real... 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, 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, [laughs] 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. Works perfect with what we're seeing with, uh, uh, the testimonials, uh, that, that, uh, people are telling around the world. We've seen blind people see [laughs] , we've seen deaf people hear, we've seen, uh, people with spinal cord injuries walk again. We've seen, um, ALS change. We've seen all kinds of unbelievable health conditions change by a person simply changing the way they think, the way they act, and the way they feel.

   8. JSJay Shetty8:24

      How long have you seen certain things last? Like, how much does the practice have to continue daily to sustain impact? Because I feel that,

3. 8:33 – 14:39

   How Much Practice Do You Really Need?

   1. JSJay Shetty8:33

      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-

   2. SPSpeaker8:47

      Yeah, it's important

   3. JSJay Shetty8:48

      ... take away? Yeah.

   4. SPSpeaker8:48

      Yeah. It's super important for us, um, uh, and of course we have mounds of data, but let's see if I can say this, uh, as, as clear as I possibly can. When a person has that arousal where they're feeling that elevated emotion and their, 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 not 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, uh, everything from eczema to, uh, 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 or they, 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. Took them seven years to heal that health condition. Some people it takes two years, three years. Some people, they do it in three months. We... There's no-

   5. JSJay Shetty10:18

      Mm-hmm

   6. SPSpeaker10:18

      ... uh, predictable menu that we can say it's this way. Now, when people have those more profoundly aroused states, it seems like, uh, their change is much more immediate and much more permanent. Uh, 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, from terminal cancers, stop feeling those elevated emotions, and return f- to responding to the circumstances and conditions in their life, and return back to the same personality. [laughs] The same personality is the same personal reality, and their body's believing it's living in that same environment, and they're feeling the same way, and they're in the habit of, uh, acting the same way and thinking the same way. And lo and behold, uh, the condition returns. Um, 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-

   7. JSJay Shetty11:27

      Mm

   8. SPSpeaker11:27

      ... because they literally went back to their old self. And we've seen that person turn 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 [laughs] on the stage. They're the four-minute mile. [laughs]

   9. JSJay Shetty11:44

      Mm.

   10. SPSpeaker11:44

       They're telling the community, "I'm the example of truth. Uh, this is no longer philosophy. This is no longer theory. Here's my scans." I- uh, we had someone with bilateral breast cancer just recently. Uh, no evidence of cancer in her breasts or any l- lymph nodes, no longer in her liver. Uh, I'm looking out at the audienceAnd everybody's leaning in. [laughs] S- there's the four-minute mile, and that person's telling the truth, and they're, they're telling a story, and it's not pretty. It's not always, uh, rosy. They, 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 that they believe it's possible.

   11. JSJay Shetty12:32

       Mm.

   12. SPSpeaker12:32

       And I think when you believe in possibility, you gotta believe in yourself.

   13. JSJay Shetty12:36

       Mm-hmm.

   14. SPSpeaker12:37

       When you believe in yourself, you gotta 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, uh, 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, uh, I think it starts be- creating a brush fire, and, and, and that's really the exciting part. So we've seen so many great testimonials that are undeniably, uh, great stories of transformation. 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 gonna stay the same because you're the same. So the experiment is, okay, let me begin to think differently. So I gotta remind myself how I do wanna think, and I have to remind myself of how I no longer wanna think, so I don't default and go unconscious. Let me remind myself how I'm gonna behave so that I could actually get my behaviors to match my intentions, and let me remind myself of how I'm gonna feel. If I'm able to succeed in that day, then there should be some change in my life. That is the experiment. The, and, and, and if it doesn't change, that doesn't mean the law doesn't w- work for you. It's just you're not that good yet. It's just, you just gotta keep practicing, right? So the act of disconnecting from your life long enough to remind yourself of who you do wanna be and who you no longer wanna be, that experiment then is the experiment called life.

   15. JSJay Shetty14:30

       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

4. 14:39 – 18:30

   There Is No Wrong Way to Meditate

   1. JSJay Shetty14:39

      worried you won't do it right, this next clip is for you. Big Sean 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.

   2. BSBig Sean15:28

      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. You know, I am, 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, the journal, of the, 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 bottom of it like a contract, and I, like, I sometimes I put, "It is done," or I put-

   3. JSJay Shetty16:08

      Mm

   4. BSBig Sean16:08

      ... like, "So be it," because-

   5. JSJay Shetty16:10

      Mm

   6. BSBig Sean16:10

      ... it's a declaration-

   7. JSJay Shetty16:11

      Oh, I love that

   8. BSBig Sean16:11

      ... when I, 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.

   9. JSJay Shetty16:22

      Ooh, so good.

   10. BSBig Sean16:22

       And that's how the level of importance even more that I hold that to. So I sign it every time.

   11. JSJay Shetty16:29

       That is so good, man.

   12. BSBig Sean16:30

       Yeah.

   13. JSJay Shetty16:30

       I've never heard that before. I'm gonna start doing that.

   14. BSBig Sean16:32

       It's powerful.

   15. JSJay Shetty16:33

       Yeah.

   16. BSBig Sean16:33

       It's good.

   17. JSJay Shetty16:33

       I've never signed it. That's dope.

   18. BSBig Sean16:34

       It's powerful, and Jay, does everything I write down come to fruition? No. [laughs] Sometimes it does. A lot of them do, and then I realize 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-

   19. JSJay Shetty16:52

       Yeah

   20. BSBig Sean16:52

       ... moment in my journey for that. But that's the beauty of it, man. I'm like, I'm still here.

   21. JSJay Shetty16:57

       Yeah.

   22. BSBig Sean16:57

       I'm still able. I'm still inspired. I'm still passionate, you know?

   23. JSJay Shetty17:03

       Beautiful.

   24. BSBig Sean17:03

       Yeah, 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, I haven't actually... I've only written one this year, and last year I wrote a few, so maybe I'll... this maybe inspire me to write one today, but that's kinda all it is, but I don't spend too much time on it.

   25. JSJay Shetty17:36

       Mm.

   26. BSBig Sean17:37

       Takes me about five to 12 minutes-

   27. JSJay Shetty17:40

       That's great

   28. BSBig Sean17:40

       ... max, and then I meditate after that 'cause it kinda, like... it's kinda like a good transition to, like, the energy is set for me to, like, to meditate 'cause 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, um, impactful that I can be.

   29. JSJay Shetty18:02

       Mm.

   30. BSBig Sean18:02

       You know? So that's, that's kinda the first thing I do when I wake up, if I can.Being a dad though, there are times-
5. 18:30 – 22:17

   How to Connect Deeply with Nature Through Meditation

   1. BSBig Sean18:30

      process where I, like, envisionize the light of creation, like, the, 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, 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.

   2. JSJay Shetty19:03

      Mm.

   3. BSBig Sean19:03

      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 the shower after you work out, like, but of light. And whatever it, it is, I kinda, like, cater to how I'm feeling. So from there I'll, like, if I have, like, something wrong with 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, uh, red with 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.

   4. JSJay Shetty19:45

      Wow.

   5. BSBig Sean19:45

      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. Keep going," like, "You're beautiful." And then they had another, uh, water, uh, glass or container of water where they said, like, "You suck. It's never th-," 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-

   6. JSJay Shetty20:49

      Yeah

   7. BSBig Sean20:49

      ... 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-

   8. JSJay Shetty21:00

      For sure

   9. BSBig Sean21:00

      ... more, you know, need the proof-

   10. JSJay Shetty21:03

       Yeah

   11. BSBig Sean21:03

       ... as opposed to, you know, more analytical than, like, opinion-based. So I just wanna, uh, 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 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.

   12. JSJay Shetty21:24

       Yeah.

   13. BSBig Sean21:25

       They meditate.

   14. JSJay Shetty21:26

       Yeah.

   15. BSBig Sean21:26

       They all, you know? From my favorite rappers down to my favorite ... Down to you, you know?

   16. JSJay Shetty21:31

       [laughs]

   17. BSBig Sean21:31

       Down to anyone who I just really admire.

   18. JSJay Shetty21:34

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   19. BSBig Sean21:35

       Yeah. And they, and, and, and, and, and you can meditate in your own ways. They're, like ... I know, like, Jhené 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, 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 it w- you will see the effects of it.

   20. JSJay Shetty22:07

       Next up, Michael Acton Smith, the founder of Calm, reflects on how much the perception of meditation has shifted. And I remember these days.

6. 22:17 – 24:21

   Debunking the Biggest Myths About Meditation

   1. JSJay Shetty22:17

      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 wellbeing. 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 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.

   2. MSMichael Acton Smith22:58

      In the early days when we'd go to parties and tell people we were building a, a meditation app, 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. [laughs]

   3. JSJay Shetty23:08

      [laughs]

   4. MSMichael Acton Smith23:09

      Um, the second was that they'd be like, "Oh, I've heard of that. I've tried it, but I can't do it, you know?

   5. JSJay Shetty23:13

      Mm.

   6. MSMichael Acton Smith23:13

      Uh, my mind is far too, too busy." And 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, uh, years ago? It, it wouldn't have been a, a good move. And, 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 a 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, to meditate for a minute or 10 or, or longer, uh, literally start with one conscious mindful breath.

   7. JSJay Shetty24:08

      Mm.

   8. MSMichael Acton Smith24:08

      And then build your practice from there.

   9. JSJay Shetty24:10

      In this next clip, Vishen Lakhiani, the founder of Mindvalley, shares how meditation has helped him heal physically and stay grounded through life's ups and downs.

7. 24:21 – 28:45

   What Is Active Meditation and How Does It Work?

   1. JSJay Shetty24:21

      His story's a powerful reminder that meditation isn't just about calmness.It's about growth, resilience, and finding your center when life feels chaotic. Vishen 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 Silva 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 Vishen, 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?

   2. VLVishen Lakhiani25:29

      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 Silva Method, a really old 1960s, 1970s book. Back then, I was 14, so 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 on my father's bookshelf, and I discovered this book called The Silva Method. Now, the book captivated me because it spoke about how the mind can heal the body. What was happening with me back, 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, [claps] "Game on. I want to figure this out."

   3. JSJay Shetty26:27

      [laughs]

   4. VLVishen Lakhiani26:27

      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, uh, Wayne Dyer. I started reading these books. It became a passion, and slowly things began to click. And one day, applying the Silva 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-

   5. JSJay Shetty27:20

      [laughs]

   6. VLVishen Lakhiani27:20

      ... I decided to see, can I use my mind to accomplish a really big goal? For me, that was qualifying for the US Open Taekwondo Championships. Taekwondo 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 US 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, the beginning of my fascination with the human mind that would later lead to me starting Mindvalley and writing this book.

   7. JSJay Shetty27:59

      That's amazing. I, I, 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.

   8. VLVishen Lakhiani28:18

      Again and again and again. Right.

   9. JSJay Shetty28:19

      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 themself 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.

8. 28:45 – 35:17

   Using Meditation to Elevate Your Everyday Life

   1. JSJay Shetty28:45

      How do you view meditation? Like, 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, what's the reason?

   2. VLVishen Lakhiani28:56

      So I grew up in a Hindu family in Malaysia. Meditation was never what I was taught. The style of Hinduism I was taught 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 priest 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 Neale Donald Walsch, 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 h- here, to Neale Donald Walsch, to especially Jose Silva. Now, a lot of them spoke about spirituality. W- 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 gonna do this method to reduce your brainwave frequency to the alpha level, this method to get it 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 a word Jose Silva used. Osho used the same word, active meditation. This means it's different from passive meditation, which was more the 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 gonna heal it. You need to achieve a business goal, [snaps fingers] you're gonna make it happen. And you would apply different tools to solve these problems. Now, when I was in Silicon Valley, I applied the Silva 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 dotcom, and I was meditating using the Silva method and other practices I would combine with it. And one day, I suddenly 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, taught 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 from, as a tool, okay? So a lot of people say, "All right, meditation is a form of, 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. [laughs] 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 Mindvalley, for a really tactical problem. For example, healing, right? The Silva method has been proven by Dr. Okhil Simonton as a very effective form of imagery therapy for accelerating healing. You're sick, you wanna do it. If you are suddenly feeling like you have a migraine, you wanna 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 almost feels as if the universe has your back, like you have, you know, the Tinkerbell fairy 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.

   3. JSJay Shetty33:46

      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, with the tea kettle we'll go with and, and, and the drill because I, I do think you're right that we've made meditation f- 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 loved 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.

   4. VLVishen Lakhiani35:09

      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?

Episode duration: 35:17