Vedic Meditation is designed for everyday people, most of whom have busy minds. You don’t need to stop your thoughts, clear your mind or concentrate.

Instead, you gently think a mantra, a sound selected for you by your teacher. You don’t concentrate on it or think it rhythmically. As you think the mantra easily, the mind naturally settles into quieter levels of thinking.

You can have thoughts throughout a meditation and still be practising correctly. There’s no need to push them away or make anything happen. During the course, you’ll learn how to be at ease with whatever comes up.

Meditation is an umbrella term for different practices. Some involve sustaining attention on the breath or an object. Others cultivate awareness of thoughts, emotions and sensations as they arise.

Vedic Meditation takes a different approach: rather than training your attention through deliberate focus or observation, you learn a technique that allows the mind to settle with less effort.

You don’t have to concentrate or clear your mind.

In Vedic Meditation, you silently use a mantra: a sound selected for you by your teacher. You aren’t contemplating its meaning, repeating an affirmation or trying to create a particular feeling. You learn how to use the sound effortlessly, allowing your experience to become quieter without forcing it.

Thoughts are a normal part of meditation. Their presence doesn’t mean you’re failing, and eliminating them isn’t the goal. For people who have found meditation frustrating because they believed they needed to stay focused or stop thinking, this can be a significant shift.

There are no special clothes required for meditating. All you need is a comfortable seat with your back supported, so you can relax and close your eyes. You can wear your usual clothes.

The benefits will begin from your first meditation session and accumulate over time. Most people report feeling calmer and less anxious in the first week they learn to meditate. It’s not unusual within days of starting to meditate to be sleeping better and to have greater energy and clarity.

During the four-class course, you will meditate for a total of 140 minutes. This is a significant contribution to establishing an ongoing, self sustaining meditation habit.

An app can be a helpful introduction to meditation. A Vedic Meditation course gives you the opportunity to actually become a meditator. You receive personal instruction, a technique you can practice independently, and a teacher you can turn to as your practice develops.

Joh Jarvis brings thousands of hours of teacher training alongside first-hand experience of working at senior levels in the media industry. Having faced significant stress and burnout and turned her own life around, she understands the demands of a high-pressure career and the challenges of making time for yourself. But also how to change that.

Your course fee pays for that training, experience and personal attention. You’ll receive a mantra selected for you, have time to ask questions, and learn to meditate without relying on an app or recording. Ongoing guidance and group meditations provide support to help you build a practice for life.

The classes are held near Union Square, New York City. You will receive the address once you sign up for the course.

If you would like to arrange private classes at your own home or business, at at time that is convenient to you, please email Joh requesting more information.

Joh travels annually to teach in Sydney and Adelaide, Australia.