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00:00All right well Deepak thank you so much for being here with us. My name is Claire Sudduth. I'm a writer with Bloomberg Businessweek. And I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about you know first to start out just how this past year has been. You know it's been strange and difficult for all of us. And I thought I would check in and see how has this year been for you. How are you doing. I'm doing it. But as you see the human landscape. On a global level just last year humans have been going through a process that we call grief. As a physician I've seen grief a lot. Even in an emergency room and suddenly somebody is facing death for example and grief has been this season's first. This victimization is anger sometimes even facility then severe anxiety. And at some point. Helplessness and frustration and panic. But in some people there is acceptance. And when they find the acceptance they find meaning. And when they find meaning they find purpose. And I'm seeing a bit of that now but we're seeing more of these seasons of rephrase that. So for me when I saw the pandemic and I was in down here in San Diego California no New York I decided to use this as an opportunity to find meaning and purpose and use the experience that were guiding stress and grief to see if there was a creative opportunity for all of us to reinvent our lives. So what are some ways that people can learn to cope or sort of reset when they are faced with you know I would say a stressful situation that they have to deal with. OK so you know stress is defined as the perception of threat whether it's physical threat emotional threat or just the anticipation of something going wrong in the future. Any time you feel stressed immediately things happen in your body. Adrenaline goes up inflammation goes up cortisol goes out the immune system gets compromised. So stress is right now the number one pandemic actually might go with 90 with stress which is the number one pandemic. And stress causes both acute inflammation and chronic inflammation. Actually all the people getting sick are already under stress because of chronic disease or some other situation. And that aggravates well and situation. People who get what I say took on Storm's inflammatory signs. Then they succumb to the disease. So that's very important to know that more people are right now suffering from stress than with 19. Last year in Japan more people died of suicide than from going 19 Justin Trudeau. My belief is every challenge every dangerous situation every crisis is an opportunity for a creative solution that can take you beyond the challenge to a higher level of consciousness. And this is the best time to tackle stress mentally depression help each other. Very simple attention means listen to each other. Affection means tell each other that we care about them holding their back appreciation. Notice the gratitude that they're gifted their life. Acceptance don't change them because it's hard enough for you to change us out. Why bother changing somebody's hours. Total acceptance and suddenly you open the window to opportunities both in terms of helping each other manage their stress but also directing them to jobs and opportunities globally. So once again every crisis. This is an opportunity for a creative solution that takes you beyond the crisis. But if you are sort of in the thick of it and you are you know maybe trying to take care of your kids or an elderly parent who has gotten coronavirus what can people do in their daily lives to. Sort of reset or I don't know. I bring the cortisol levels down like lower their stress levels as soon as you feel stress. As soon as you feed stress. Cortisol goes up as I said information was up. Adrenaline goes up that is accompanied in your body. By sensation you know if I ask you right now to think of a dangerous situation you'll immediately if in some senses nineteen year summer maybe they'll petition your heart or some tightness somewhere. My God. So there's always a sensation. Sometimes there are images in the main which are frightening. Imagination. And then there are thoughts. And then there's the emotion. Anxiety. The best way to it stop that in the moment is actually. Just stop SD or P.. This is what a lot of this stuff probably less so F stands for stop signs so take three deep breaths and smile from your head to your toes everywhere. Imagine that your heart is bilingual. Stomach is lining their jaws smiling your hair follicles ISE valley even your genitalia smiling immediately. Then observe what's happening in your body. Observe what's happening outside. Pause for a second. Then proceed with awareness and compassion. SDP. Stop deep. Take three leave reds or observe secrecy. This is immediate. You can also put attention in your breath or just on the sensations ring away. That's there till the sensation dissipates and you'll feel instant relief. But then after that you know it's a good practice. You get eight hours of sleep every day. Do a little bit of exercise every day. Engage emotionally with people that you love. To the four days that I mentioned and then ask yourself what is the best way for me right now to handle this situation. If you don't reflect you'd be a bundle of conditioned. You're like a biological robot that's constantly being triggered by people and circumstances and situations into predictable responses. There's no difference between that and a biological robot. As humans we have the opportunity to press the pause button and observe a reaction to react. That in itself is the first step. I think you're right. And I also think you know if everyone feels very busy right now and you know sort of stretched thin but you usually do have you know a few minutes for a day or you can just sort of sit down and take a breath. And usually I think feel a lot better when you've done that. Yes. You know I. Plus the dark wrote Seven Pillars of Well-Being which are very crucial. If you want to reinvent each and resurrect this. So the first is sleep. Second is stress management is rented. The way we've discussed meditation mindfulness yoga breathing down is a living with a good healthy exercise. Even just walking in maybe five to ten thousand steps a day. Fourth is nutrition. So your food as improves your mood. You don't we. We are establishing something internationally the international guiding nutritional science and nutrition so badly. People don't know that 80 percent of set a tone in their body comes from their gut you know from their brain. So if you change your diet to a diet that has maximum diversity of plant based fruits even if you eat meat and chicken and fish that's all right. As long as it's organic and not polluted steroids and antibiotics and chemicals change your day to organic that maximize plant based foods and slow down. Your mood will improve instantly because you will change the microbial genetic inflammation in your body which interacts with human genes. So you are only one percent of the genes in your body human. The rest up by Columbia. And the first thing that they react to is food. When you put food in your mouth. So people are underestimating the effect of food on mood and and and emotions. That's one thing we are focusing on a little connection with nature and ultimately its emotional resilience and being there for each other. That's the most important. Well great. Well you actually just talked about something that was going to be my next question was this this idea that there are these different pillars of well-being. And one of them is meditation that you have said that I know that is also the topic of your most recent book which I see behind you total meditation. And you know for people who haven't tried meditation they probably have at least heard of it and may think of it as just sort of you know lying on the floor for 10 minutes or something like that. Could you explain what meditation is. And and one of the things you've said is that our minds already actually know how to do it. So what do you mean by that to. If you sit and watch your breath or if you simply don't do anything this simply close your eyes and don't do anything for 5 10 minutes you go into meditation. Remind me because I know you can of course improve that. You're right when you observe and read. Your attention is on the breath. Modern thought. Therefore when you use a month your attention is on month more than thought thought. That's creating one of the problems facing meditation as a way to bypass the thinking process which gives us all the insight that we have. And so there are many kinds of meditation. There's just watching the breath of those observing sensations in the body or doing nothing doing nothing whatsoever or engaging in reflection. What am I grateful for. What is the opportunity right now. Who am I. What do I want. Do I have a higher purpose. You know when you ask these questions you get a response in the form of sensations images feelings thoughts. So there's mantra of meditation. This transcendence there's breath awareness. There's reflective self enquiry. There's awareness of the body. There's awareness of what's happening inside the body is awareness mental space awareness of relationships meditation. Jordan meditation is hundreds of techniques. You don't have to do all of them. You can just stop and observe your breath for five minutes and you started your journey. You know it's funny because sometimes when I do that you know you're breathing all the time. So you're thinking about something else and you're talking or you're eating or you know but when you stop and pause and you realize that you've been doing this very simple task this whole time and yet you haven't paid a lick of attention to it. Really. I don't know. It's sort of like grounding or centering in a way. Bread is the most interesting thing because bread is the interface between the mind and the body. When you're anxious your bread gets increases it gets shallow RTX. But when you observe the bread it starts to slow down. It gets deeper into dehydrate stops so deeply it decreases heart rate variability increases and even skin resistance changes. Or just simply observing the breath and actually observing any sensation but any sensation any image in the mind. You just pick one thing and put your attention on it. Because multitasking doesn't actually happen. We think you can multitask but we know it's impossible to multitask. If I'm speaking to you and checking my form at the same time I'm doing me are you not. I'm neither taking a month. There's not much to do. Right. So multitasking is the one thing that gets worse with practice. Number one. Number two it creates addiction. Multitasking is an addiction worse than cooking. And everybody's addicted not to social media and multitasking and eating. It's normal. It's ruining the brain networks causing inflammation and basically aggravating the addictive behavior that is already dead. So one thing we can do right now is promise ourselves not to multitask. Just do one thing at a time. You'll do less. But let's unleash more. Well yeah he will do less but you will accomplish more and you'll probably do it better. What you do and you finish you'll actually finish as opposed to just sort of glide across the surface. My philosophy is do nothing and accomplish everything. Well I understand that you wanted to guide us in a meditation for a few minutes at the end of that. So I would love for you to to take over and then we'll do that. So wherever you are sitcom you constantly keep your feet firmly planted in the ground. Uncross your legs. You can swoop in your lap dingos pointing upwards. Jose your eyes. And let's start with just observing the Gretsch. As you observe the bread you'll see automatically slows down. No mentally say is I'm present in every. I did this once or twice and then observed Rick. Now gently touch the clothes that you're wearing or any part of your body gently. Feel the sensation. Just mentally remind you as the president in everything I touch. Half open their eyes half open your eyes unfocused days. Just be aware of colors and shapes and forms. We've been moving a little bit and mentally remind you sir I am present in everything I see. Close your eyes again. Become aware of any sounds in your environment including the sound of my voice. If you want. Let's remind you a president in everything I here. Let's go a little deeper evokes some images in your mind so it might evoke the image let's say of beautiful sunset. ISE snow clad mountain so rainbow. I'm president in everything I imagine. Led to evoke an emotion so think of someone you love. And feel the emotion that is aroused. Maybe think of your child and your significant other or somebody you're in love with. Feel the emotion right now. I am present in every emotion. I experience. Now let go of it all. And just ask yourself. I wonder what my next thought is going to be in return. Noticed that when you read for a thought it doesn't go. But slowly every gun and knives and guns they present in every thought. Witness. Now later awareness expand outside the boundaries of your skin. Let it be read all of space and time. Mentally reminding us that present in every experience. That I have across the fabric of space and time. OK now let it all. And mentally start to beat your first name. Deepa. There glory. Sandra. This is your bio. Of course. So let go of your name and just repeat. I am without any name or form or experience attached to it. I am. Now replace that with the mantra. The sound of AM which is hum I exist mantra. Mentally repeating the mantra. If you get distracted come back to the mantra. Finally we released them onto. And just be aware of the presence of your own being. Just be aware. From being away. With his presence. This is we are. Presence. Slowly rest in your body. Feel the energy. And open your eyes. So what we need to do what. Once you've done this every once in a. Stop and say am I present. That's all. Am I present. And I'm just asking that question. Will being bring you into presence which is by itself. That's meditation.

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Deepak Chopra on How to Meditate

Deepak Chopra, MD, Founder of The Chopra Foundation and Chopra Global speaks to Bloomberg’s Claire Suddath and shares his best tips and practices on meditation with the audience at the Bloomberg Businessweek. (Source: Bloomberg)

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