ABOUT JOH
My path to meditation
My interest in meditation began in the late 1990s when as a young reporter for a large media network I was feeling stressed, strung out and often unhappy.
A colleague told me her mother taught meditation and suggested I take the course.
I attended the classes and definitely felt less anxious and began sleeping better. But regardless of these benefits, I felt I was too busy to sit with my eyes closed for up to 40 minutes a day so I gave up before I really got started.
However, there were two things that would stick with me from my first meditation course. I remember feeling quite peaceful after each session, something I rarely, if ever, felt. I was also impressed by my teacher’s calm, compassionate demeanor. I knew I wanted to be more like that.
About seven years later, now as a media executive leading large teams of journalists and producers across multiple media platforms, my anxiety became crippling. While in many ways I loved my work, the pressures that came with it were creating havoc in my life. And my health and relationships were suffering.
I tried many ways to improve things such as yoga, working out, jogging, eating nutritiously and abstaining from alcohol. They all helped, but yet I still felt stressed and despondent. I was trying so hard but it felt like I was getting nowhere.
Eventually I remembered that meditation had assisted me years before, so I bought some guided recordings on CD (this was before smart phones and apps) and attended some drop-in meditation groups. But my mind was so busy the practices seemed impossible and I wasn’t sure if my technique was correct. It felt like I was wasting my time.
Again I sought advice from a colleague, this time about my difficulty finding a style of meditation that I could actually execute. My colleague knew someone who was a Vedic Meditation teacher. Within days I was seated in front of a guy in Paddington, Sydney, who, over four short classes, taught me a technique that had an immediate impact. I remember leaving the first session feeling slightly high!
Something had been lifted from me but all I’d done for twenty minutes was close my eyes and think a mantra (or sound) he’d given me.
It was incredibly easy.
I didn’t continue feeling high each time I meditated! However, gradually life became better. I began to sleep properly, my anxiety and depression disappeared, I became more energetic and happier.
Initially I wasn’t interested in why meditation worked. In fact, I was skeptical that meditation was responsible for the improved way I was feeling. But after weeks, then months and finally years of the benefits accruing, I realized I was thriving in a way I hadn’t thought possible.
By this time I’d put aside my skepticism and decided to share my experience with others.
I returned to my teacher in Paddington to train in what he had shown me all those years earlier. For the next two years, with him and other master instructors, I studied the Vedic Meditation technique, and the Vedic worldview. My study of the Vedic tradition and its philosophy continues today.
Initially I continued working in the Sydney media, while teaching meditation in my spare time. But in 2015 I followed a long-held desire to live in New York City, packing up my life and selling my house to move across the ocean to Brooklyn. Leaving my family and friends was hard, especially because I was on my own. But living and teaching meditation in New York, now in Manhattan, has been the most incredible career and life change I could have hoped for.
I now teaching monthly in NYC and annually in Sydney, and Adelaide.
My teaching has also expanded to the US Prison system. In 2021 I founded The Light Inside foundation to teach meditation to incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated people, Corrections Officers and corrections staff. In 2024, The Light Inside will be teaching in Rikers Island jail complex in NYC and North Dakota State Penitentiary. We are also planning to expand our work to prisons in UpState NY and Pennsylvania.
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What is Vedic Meditation?
Vedic Meditation is an effortless mental process. To practice the technique you sit comfortably in a chair with eyes closed and gently invoke a mantra given to you by your teacher…
Benefits of Vedic Meditation
Vedic Meditation counters the pressures inherent in life, making it easier to navigate your day with less tension, frustration and irritability…
How to learn Vedic Meditation
After attending an introductory talk with Joh online or in person, you then sit a 4-class course, 60-90 minutes over 4 days. You then have access to free group meditation meetings and can attend the course again for free at any time.