On July 23rd, Thom Walters addressed the Rotary Club of Nashua regarding, “how to live a calmer, more satisfying life”. Thom is a published author, speaker and coach whose goal is to teach at least 1 million people how to begin and maintain a daily meditation habit. As he explains it, the surest way to global peace, is for each of us to truly understand who we are and why we do what we do, and meditation is the perfect tool for that purpose.
With this podcast Zen commuter and Calmer in 5, he is well on his way; with over 400,000 unique downloads to date. He is with us today to help us understand how meditation works with the body to not only create calm, but also bring about increased focus, creativity and compassion. Below are highlights:
- Thom led Rotarians into an exercise where you're walking in the woods, weather is beautiful, you hear rustling sound, and then 30 feet ahead of you is a tiger in your path. What do you do?
- The body will start the fight or flight response. Thom described what the body goes through when faced with stress. Example: Lungs beat fast, body increases cortisol.
- Body is negatively impacted by constant stress. The body has two nervous systems: sympathetic and parasympathetic. Sympathetic is where is the threat triggers the stress response. Parasympathetic triggers relaxation response and this leads to meditation.
- Living in the moment is the most beneficial. Our breath triggers the parasympathetic nervous system.
- Meditation starts with the focus of deep breathing.
- Thom led Rotarians in a meditation exercise. Meditation is a physical sensation interacts with our body.
- Meditation allows us to know the difference between reactions and responses.
- Meditation is teaching your mind to relax –has been around for 2,500 years in the Middle East, started in the US in the 60’s.
- Meditation helps with the thoughts of I'm not going to run around reacting to every response - I can become calm, peaceful and I can change the world by being responsible for who I am.
- Question: With all meditation apps out there would you recommend a guided meditation piece? Answer: Yes, for a beginner guided meditation is most beneficial.
- Question: What are recommendations for length of meditation? Answer: It takes 12 minutes daily for 2 weeks in order for the body and brain to make significant changes in brain chemistry.