00:00I'm Lucy Fink and this week I'm going to explore the art of meditation.
00:05My personal form of meditation is watching The Real Housewives of Orange County, of course,
00:10with pizza in my apartment and pasta and probably sun chips, a barbecue kind.
00:16I've noticed recently that I've been out to dinner with friends or on the phone with
00:19my parents and I'm actually thinking about something else and someone will say something
00:24and I'll just be like, oops, sorry, I just blacked out, what did you say?
00:30This hectic week is the perfect time in my life to try and meditate it.
00:34I'm going to start right now, Monday night.
00:37I'm going to meditate on my bed for 15 minutes, we'll see how it goes.
00:41Meditation takes courage because you have to spend time with yourself and I hate myself.
00:45I mean, I don't, I'm kidding, but am I?
00:48Last night's meditation was...
00:52Note to self, do not meditate on the bed.
00:56My back started hurting midway through, I lit a couple of candles, it smelled a lot like
01:00fire and I was having a lot of trouble sitting in a room with my eyes closed knowing that
01:05there was a flame burning, so I blew it out.
01:08The biggest struggle for me last night was trying to figure out how to shut my brain off
01:12and in doing so I couldn't think about anything except for the words, stop thinking about anything.
01:16So by the time my 15 minute alarm went off, I was sort of like, was that it?
01:22So I did some research and there's this meditation technique called mantra meditation where you
01:27sort of repeat a word or a set of syllables that don't necessarily have any meaning attached
01:32to them with the goal of focusing your mind.
01:36The mantra I decided to repeat over and over again is,
01:40I am grateful for all that is, forget it already.
01:44I am grateful for all that is unfolding in my life and all that is yet to come.
01:50I am grateful for all that is unfolding in my life and all that is yet to come.
02:02Have you ever been woken up at 4.30 in the morning by monks who told you to tame your
02:07monkey mind?
02:08I have.
02:10I am grateful for all that is unfolding in my life and all that is yet to come.
02:15I don't think I will ever forget those words.
02:19This morning I went out onto my building's terrace and I practiced mantra meditation one more time.
02:27It was nice being out there as the day was breaking and to hear the sounds of the city around
02:31me.
02:32The cars passing by sort of sounded like white noise.
02:34That was a great way to start my day.
02:36I think I'm going to take a break midday today.
02:38I'm going to sneak away from my desk and try a new type of meditation.
02:42Mindfulness meditation.
02:45An article from Psychology Today calls mindfulness meditation something that is unique and is not
02:51directed towards getting us to be different from how we already are but instead it helps
02:56us become aware of what is already true moment by moment on a stressful day like today.
03:04Personally my favorite place to actually meditate is on the subway.
03:08Cruising along, rats scattering by, a casual mole person.
03:11Tonight I went to a meditation club.
03:14I was in a room of almost 100 complete strangers and we all sat there and for 20 minutes we
03:20each
03:20did personal meditation in silence.
03:23MediClub is a community of about 800 modern New Yorkers and we share meditation as a common thread.
03:29People with you know modern regular lives can come together and share meditation and also discuss
03:36the issues that come up in our lives living in a place like New York City like love, sex, dating,
03:42work.
03:46Five days of meditation and I am zen to my core.
03:50Meditation can become part of your busy lifestyle.
03:53You don't have to go off into the wilderness and stop talking for 10 days.
03:58Meditation should feel like you're sitting on the side of a road and you're watching cars pass by.
04:03Each of those cars is a different thought that you're having.
04:06When you start to think stop having that thought, stop thinking about that,
04:10you start to try to push those cars back, that's when you run into a traffic jam.
04:15Acknowledge that you're thinking about it and watch it drive by until it goes off the screen.
04:24With all the people who sit and watch!
04:24You know, what's the pci-pci-pci-pci-pci-pci-pci-pci-pci-pci-pci-pci-pci-pci-pci?
