When the Seinfeld show was written about, the term “the show about nothing” was often used. In Season Four one of the storylines had Jerry and George “pitching” an idea to NBC for a TV show. They chose to pitch a show about the minutiae of their daily lives. The pitch—and the entire series—was known as the “show about nothing”.
Mindful mediation is in the same category. It’s about nothing or, to be more precise, it’s about what the end user wants it to be. There’s no set program (pun intended) for the activity.
Before you quit reading this story and go watch a rerun of Seinfeld, I will share I once talked glowingly of Mindful Meditation. In the book found on this landing page, Cut Your Calories…Now!!, there are 40 ways listed for the reader to reduce their calorie consumption. Number 35 is about Mindful Meditation (listed under Mindful Munching). I wrote glowingly of applying mediation—mindful or otherwise—to mealtime. That’s where the Clairton story—one of the towns still home to an operating steel mill—comes in.
I did the follow-up Census in Clairton in 1990. I only got the job because nobody else wanted to go there. I had to go into some potentially dangerous places to find out why people didn’t return their questionnaire. Blair Heights was a housing project still in existence. I had to go to various units to find out who was living there. At the time, there was no police force in Clairton. I knocked many houses off the housing stock as they were boarded up, falling down and/or had large orange stickers announcing rat infestation on them. It was not a happy experience. My only protection was my U.S. Census ID badge—which many Clairton residents mistook for that of a Parole Officer.
Except one day. On that day, I had to go to a neighborhood where the houses were a bit nicer and the lawns—as small as they were—had the look of regular landscaping. I knocked on the door of the only house on this street that I had to “enumerate” (Census worker speak) and find out why the questionnaire hadn’t been returned.
I was met by a young couple in the middle of their dinner. Classical music was on the stereo, candles were on the table. They were a good looking, young couple. My thought? This is the way to have dinner. The young couple over apologized and I was able to obtain the information from them.
Number 35 in the book shares the Clairton story. It asks the reader to shut their TV off during dinner, silence the phone, focus on the food they are about to enjoy and slow down to actually taste the food. Don’t be thinking about the next meal. Be hyper alert to the one in front of you. For background music, classical music is fine—as is anything Sinatra.
So, for a few years, I used the term Mindful Meditation and included it in the book. Then I learned about Transcendental Meditation—TM. TM has a structure to the meditation process. There is a learning curve. It provides a “slow down” of the day, expands one’s creative thinking and gets rid of brain fatigue. TM has helped me (and millions of others) through its structure and support from the TM Foundation.
There are countless creative souls who practice TM. The Beatles’ 1968 trip to Rishikesh, India to learn TM directly from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is well documented in books, movies and songs. The Beatles claim to have started, written or finished 30 songs while in India. Through the TM Foundation, TM is taught to veterans, school children in low-income, high crime neighborhoods and studies have shown that regular practitioners may lower elevated blood pressure readings through consistent use of the technique. People who have creative souls need to find a way to let their subconscious do the “heavy lifting” so they can be creative at all times. TM will help you with this; MM will not.
One of the best times for me to meditate is when traveling. Ever sit on a plane on the runway and you have no idea why you’re not moving? Ever sit on a train and you’re anxious to get the show on the road? I meditate at these times. It stops me from thinking about why we’re not in the air or why the wheels aren’t turning.
I once met a physician who was employed by a local HIMP (Health Insurer & Medical Provider). He was paid to go around town and spread the word about Mindful Meditation. I told him his time would be better spent if he learned TM and shared that story with the HIMP customers. The people he was able to get in front of would receive more benefit from TM than Mindful Meditation (written by somebody who has practiced both). I’m sure he didn’t take my suggestion and he is still out there preaching the Seinfeld show of meditation.
Just to share: I have researched other forms of meditation. A short list: Metta, Chakra, guided, focused, body scan, spiritual, breathing pattern, etc. I would think if users of those forms learned about TM, they would switch their practice.
On an incredibly ironic tie-in (and a great finish to this piece) Jerry Seinfeld has been a devout TM practitioner for many years. He credits his success to his TM practice. Imagine the schedule that fellow had and has when producing his various shows and comedy routines.
Below the link to the video of Jerry Seinfeld talking about TM with another well-known practitioner, Howard Stern, is a link to the TM Foundation.