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Why Caring Matters with Dr. Tony Nader · The Trauma Therapist

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Trauma Therapist Podcast. My name is Guy McPherson.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: I interview incredible people who've dedicated their lives to helping
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: those who've been impacted by trauma. A big thank you
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: to our sponsors and our guests who are supporting this show.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: So 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Our folks, welcome back
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm very excited to have as my
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  Speaker 1: guest today, Dr. Tony Nader. Tony, welcome.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Guy. Thank you for
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  Speaker 2: having me.
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  Speaker 1: You are welcome. Welcome. Dr. Nader is a medical doctor, neuroscientist,
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  Speaker 1: and internationally recognized expert in consciousness and human development. He's
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  Speaker 1: a successor to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the global leader
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  Speaker 1: of the Transcendental Meditation Organization. Dr. Nader has conducted research
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  Speaker 1: exploring the relationship between consciousness, physiology, and human potential, and
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  Speaker 1: is the author of several books on these topics, including
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  Speaker 1: Consciousness is All There Is. Through his teaching, writing, and speaking,
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  Speaker 1: he works to advance a deeper understanding of consciousness and
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  Speaker 1: its role in individual and societal well-being. All right, Dr. Nader,
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  Speaker 1: before we get going here, share with the listeners where
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  Speaker 1: you're from originally and where you are currently. And we
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  Speaker 1: will get going.
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  Speaker 2: I was born in Lebanon. I grew up originally there.
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  Speaker 2: I'm French also, so I have a French nationality. And
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  Speaker 2: now I live... between France and the United States and
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  Speaker 2: the UK in general. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: So let's start from the beginning. How does one find
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  Speaker 1: themselves here, sitting here, having written all these books, studying consciously?
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  Speaker 1: How did this begin for you?
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  Speaker 2: It began by learning a simple technique, Transcendental Meditation, which
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  Speaker 2: gave me great inner depths and discovering the self as
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  Speaker 2: bigger than what I ever thought and allowed me to
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  Speaker 2: go through even civil wars, very difficult conditions as a
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  Speaker 2: doctor in the emergency room, seeing all kinds of trauma
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  Speaker 2: and all kinds of problems. and yet maintaining my inner
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  Speaker 2: stability because I kept going back to myself through this
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  Speaker 2: very simple mental technique. And because I got interested in
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  Speaker 2: it and its results and did research on it, I
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  Speaker 2: kept my medical studies, went to MIT and Harvard, did research,
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  Speaker 2: and felt that there is something from the mind that
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  Speaker 2: can be very powerful in terms of recovery, in terms
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  Speaker 2: of well-being, in terms of resilience and overcoming stress and
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  Speaker 2: strain and broadening one's awareness. So I got interested in
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  Speaker 2: it and I was called by the founder, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
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  Speaker 2: All right, hang on, hang on, hang on.
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  Speaker 1: Tony, I just want to, forgive me for interrupting, but
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  Speaker 1: I want to start in before that. Growing up, were
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  Speaker 1: you just like fascinated by this growing up? What happened
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  Speaker 1: to lead you to this interest?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I was looking for self-development. I was wondering, what
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  Speaker 2: is it that makes people choose something or the other?
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  Speaker 2: Why people fight? Why there are differences in opinion about
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  Speaker 2: reality and all of that? And one thing I did
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  Speaker 2: is to research in philosophy and science and all of that.
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  Speaker 2: And then somebody told me, you can do this in
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  Speaker 2: an experiential level. You can experience something deeper rather than
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  Speaker 2: just studying it intellectually. So I said, fine, I can try,
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  Speaker 2: you know. So I tried this technique. Within a few days,
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  Speaker 2: I learned it. And actually, indeed, it gave me more
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  Speaker 2: knowledge about awareness, consciousness, relationship of mind and body and
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  Speaker 2: behavior than actual the theory and the analysis. So that's
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  Speaker 2: how I gradually got into it out of conviction through experience,
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  Speaker 2: but also through support by scientific research and So I
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  Speaker 2: started to ask myself the question about mind-body relation. Is
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  Speaker 2: the mind primary, consciousness is primary, or is it the physical,
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  Speaker 2: the material level? So these were very fundamental questions that
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  Speaker 2: today science and philosophy is asking acutely, although they have
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  Speaker 2: been researched and thought through throughout time. And so I
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  Speaker 2: felt that I... came to a solution through being with
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  Speaker 2: Maharishi and all of that and discussing the primacy of consciousness.
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  Speaker 2: And I wanted to share this with whoever is looking
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  Speaker 2: into these questions. And that's why I wrote books and articles.
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  Speaker 1: Was this before or concurrent with your study in medicine?
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  Speaker 2: It was concurrent. Actually, I started this technique when I
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  Speaker 2: was a pre-medical student. And then as I was going
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  Speaker 2: on through the medicine and then I went to Switzerland,
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  Speaker 2: I spent a sabbatical learning to become a teacher of
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  Speaker 2: transcendental meditation. But when I came back, I wanted to
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  Speaker 2: pursue the science because I felt that science can contribute
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  Speaker 2: a lot and it does contribute a lot to the
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  Speaker 2: understanding of how the brain works, how neurophysiology works, neurochemistry, etc.,
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  Speaker 2: So I went to MIT and I did my PhD
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  Speaker 2: in brain and cognitive science over there. And also some
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  Speaker 2: neurology I did at Mass General Hospital and the Harvard
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  Speaker 2: Medical School.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, hang on, hang on. So you just happened to
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  Speaker 1: go to MIT and Mass General and Harvard. So obviously,
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  Speaker 1: how does that happen? I mean, obviously, that's incredible.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it was kind of hard work and devotion to
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  Speaker 2: science and to knowledge. And after I finished my medical degree,
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  Speaker 2: I was deciding whether to go to the science or
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  Speaker 2: through practice of medicine. And I had an inclination for both.
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  Speaker 2: So I applied to different universities and was accepted and
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  Speaker 2: I selected MIT, going for a PhD in brain science
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  Speaker 2: and neuroscience, neuroendocrinology, etc. And I was very lucky to
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  Speaker 2: find a great teacher who is a great advisor who
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  Speaker 2: took me in. He was trained with Axelrod, who had
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  Speaker 2: the Nobel Prize. So he was on top level of
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  Speaker 2: the scientific world. So I was fascinated by that. And
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  Speaker 2: I spent there for five years. At the same time,
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  Speaker 2: because I was a medical doctor and I had passed
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  Speaker 2: all my tests, my research was also on human beings.
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  Speaker 2: So it wasn't just on laboratory animals, etc. It was
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  Speaker 2: also researching different chemical influences on the brain, etc. And
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  Speaker 2: so we had patients that were there. So I was
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  Speaker 2: a clinical and both clinical and research fellow at Mass General.
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  Speaker 1: And what was your, pardon me again, what was your
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  Speaker 1: specific interest in studying consciousness?
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  Speaker 2: I realized that we live our lives through consciousness, that
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  Speaker 2: consciousness is where we live really, because when we don't
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  Speaker 2: have consciousness, let's say in anesthesia, we practically don't exist
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  Speaker 2: for ourself. We are out of this world. So our decisions,
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  Speaker 2: our experience of love, our experience of knowledge and understanding,
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  Speaker 2: our relationships, our friendships, our hopes, they are in consciousness.
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  Speaker 2: The body carries that somehow. And so I thought, what
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  Speaker 2: is that consciousness? Is it something we can develop? It's
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  Speaker 2: something that can be changed, you know? So yes, we
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  Speaker 2: do have narrow consciousness when we are under stress we
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  Speaker 2: are in the fight flight or freeze response and our
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  Speaker 2: brain we see it through even the blood flow goes
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  Speaker 2: to different places in the brain when we are under
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  Speaker 2: these conditions our comprehension becomes limited we narrow down for
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  Speaker 2: good reason because we want to fight the situation but
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  Speaker 2: when we don't need to fight but we are under
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  Speaker 2: stress anyway then there is this collapse of the broadness
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  Speaker 2: of understanding. So I was looking, what is that consciousness
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  Speaker 2: and how to improve it? So can we do it
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  Speaker 2: through chemicals and through excitement or excitation of the brain
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  Speaker 2: or whatever? And I found that we can do it
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  Speaker 2: much more effectively, comprehensively and broadly through the mind itself,
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  Speaker 2: through its own instrumentality. And so these techniques are real
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  Speaker 2: techniques to broaden awareness, broaden consciousness. And then came the question,
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  Speaker 2: what is the mind? What is the body? Where does
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  Speaker 2: consciousness come from? Is it just the product of the brain?
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  Speaker 2: Or is it itself a primary aspect of our existence
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  Speaker 2: that the brain detects like a radio detects music, even
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  Speaker 2: though it's not producing it, but it's a transducer that
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  Speaker 2: picks up a certain waves and then can produce them.
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  Speaker 2: So there are all these questions that were on my mind,
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  Speaker 2: and I was fascinated by that, passionate actually, to find
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  Speaker 2: solutions to these questions which are historically being asked for
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  Speaker 2: a very long time. And I feel personally, without pretense,
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  Speaker 2: that I have found the solutions and I wanted to
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  Speaker 2: share this with those who are interested.
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  Speaker 1: What does it mean to, you talked about narrowing our
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  Speaker 1: consciousness or our consciousness necessarily being narrowed under certain circumstances, etc.
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  Speaker 1: But conversely, what does it mean to expand our consciousness?
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  Speaker 2: It means there is broad comprehension. For example, the pilots,
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  Speaker 2: when they fly a plane, they have a very narrow,
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  Speaker 2: very stressed, now there are more automated systems, but when
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  Speaker 2: we are flying everything without the automation of the system,
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  Speaker 2: you have to check so many things that are happening,
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  Speaker 2: your orientation, etc. And so that is focused attention. What
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  Speaker 2: they have found is that if we only focus on
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  Speaker 2: a specific topic, and there has been an accident, a
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  Speaker 2: big accident that was kind of a landmark in this,
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  Speaker 2: where there was a light in a plane that went off,
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  Speaker 2: was flickering. And so the pilots were so focused on
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  Speaker 2: that one aspect of flying of the plane that they
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  Speaker 2: actually forgot to fly the plane. And the plane crashed
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  Speaker 2: and that was a catastrophic thing. This was in the 70s.
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  Speaker 2: And what then it was realized that they didn't have
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  Speaker 2: the broad comprehension, what we call situational awareness, that you're aware,
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  Speaker 2: you're conscious, you're conscious of much more factors than when
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  Speaker 2: you are under stress. When you are under stress, you
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  Speaker 2: have to deal with specifics. You know, the tiger is
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  Speaker 2: there in the jungle. And it's not the time to
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  Speaker 2: think about music or about love or about anything. Your
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  Speaker 2: consciousness narrows down to dealing with the situation at hand
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  Speaker 2: in an acute way. And maybe, and that's what's happening
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  Speaker 2: actually in society, when people are stressed, they are reacting
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  Speaker 2: as if they are still in the jungle, although it's
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  Speaker 2: not the jungle. And therefore, they are constantly on narrow
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  Speaker 2: perspectives And they don't see the broad comprehension of other
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  Speaker 2: possibilities of solutions that are not just fight or flight
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  Speaker 2: or freeze, but that require more intellectual analysis. But in
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  Speaker 2: order to be able to analyze a situation from a
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  Speaker 2: broad perspective, you have to use those aspects of the
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  Speaker 2: brain that are the cortical areas that can be activated
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  Speaker 2: and and enhanced during the process of analysis. Therefore, the
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  Speaker 2: consciousness can be narrow, and that is narrow focus on
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  Speaker 2: one point, and or you can have a broad comprehension
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  Speaker 2: where you find solutions that are much more conducive to
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  Speaker 2: a better outcome than reflex actions, which are important, I'm saying,
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  Speaker 2: of course, to safeguard us But they are narrow, and
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  Speaker 2: therefore we make decisions, we react with others, we do
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  Speaker 2: things that are not as conducive to support for ourselves
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  Speaker 2: and for others.
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  Speaker 1: That makes sense to me. Moving beyond this plain analogy,
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  Speaker 1: is it true, are you saying that if we... My
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  Speaker 1: guess is many of us are going through life with
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  Speaker 1: this narrow consciousness, stressed culturally, societally, all these impacts, external
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  Speaker 1: impacts that we're experiencing. We're living, what, up to 30%
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  Speaker 1: of our potential?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, even any. I don't know how much
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  Speaker 2: of that we are using, maybe much less, because people
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  Speaker 2: start reflex actions, you know. Your reflex is something that
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  Speaker 2: is stronger than you. You think you are conducting your
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  Speaker 2: own life, but you are acting based on fears, on stresses,
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  Speaker 2: on prejudice, on divisions, and therefore you're constantly reacting rather
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  Speaker 2: than acting from a conscious level, from a deep level
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  Speaker 2: of oneself where you evaluate the situation properly and then
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  Speaker 2: you can react to it appropriately. And that's what happens
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  Speaker 2: in trauma. In trauma, there is physiological change, PTSD and whatever.
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  Speaker 2: We don't even have to go all the way there.
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  Speaker 2: That's what you're asking. Even our normal daily living is
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  Speaker 2: under constant demands that if we don't handle them properly,
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  Speaker 2: if we don't get stabilized within ourselves, we will be
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  Speaker 2: reacting in an automated way or either automated reflex way
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  Speaker 2: or based on do's and don'ts. And then it becomes
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  Speaker 2: a performance kind of thing. I have to do like
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  Speaker 2: what a good guy would do in this particular circumstance.
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  Speaker 2: And therefore, this is what I should do rather than
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  Speaker 2: what is mine to do? What's my situation? What's the
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  Speaker 2: situation of the other? Where do I contribute? Am I
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  Speaker 2: getting overwhelmed or burned out? Am I acting from a
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  Speaker 2: level where I'm trying to control or I'm trying to
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  Speaker 2: you know, survive or am I trying to create and expand?
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  Speaker 2: So these questions all are related to our awareness being
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  Speaker 2: settled so that from a platform of quiet, we can
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  Speaker 2: act rather than from a stormy level where we are
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  Speaker 2: tossed around by situations and circumstance.
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  Speaker 1: So you had said earlier on that, you humbly said,
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  Speaker 1: I think I found the... The solution, I think, is
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  Speaker 1: the word you use. What are we talking about here?
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  Speaker 2: See, in my research for what is mind, what is body,
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  Speaker 2: what is consciousness, what is physiology, I looked at it
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  Speaker 2: from every perspective. The perspective of living and life and
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  Speaker 2: meaning of life, the perspective of science and physics and biology,
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  Speaker 2: and how this very personal personal subjective experience of who
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  Speaker 2: I am, what I feel, corresponds or interacts with a physical, chemical,
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  Speaker 2: mechanical system of energy and whatever in the nervous system.
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  Speaker 2: And I have come to the conclusion, to make a
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  Speaker 2: long story short, that consciousness is primary, not the physical
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  Speaker 2: material level. So it's not that consciousness suddenly emerges from
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  Speaker 2: the physical activity of the nervous system. Consciousness is primary,
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  Speaker 2: and consciousness is not just human-like consciousness. This is the
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  Speaker 2: point where we have to explain, because when we define consciousness,
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  Speaker 2: you can get into argument, but if you are defining
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  Speaker 2: it as something and I'm defining it as something else,
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  Speaker 2: then we are not talking the same language. So there
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  Speaker 2: is human-like consciousness, the sense of me and hope, looking
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  Speaker 2: for the future, using tools, being, you know, sense of
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  Speaker 2: I exist, what is my purpose, what's my life. That
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  Speaker 2: is a broad consciousness, which is in human beings. But
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  Speaker 2: consciousness exists also in animals, of course we know, even
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  Speaker 2: though they might not have even the sense of self,
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  Speaker 2: some of them. or they don't have the sense of present, past,
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  Speaker 2: and future, or planning for anything. But they are conscious beings.
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  Speaker 2: And like this, you can go down the spectrum of
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  Speaker 2: consciousness and find that even you can call a sunflower
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  Speaker 2: that turns towards the sun as a very primitive, very minor, meager,
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  Speaker 2: that is important to realize, level of consciousness. It's like
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  Speaker 2: turning to the sun is awareness. Now people say, come on,
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  Speaker 2: what do you think the sunflower is thinking? It's not thinking.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think the sunflower knows that it's a sunflower? No,
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't. But the fact that it reacts like this
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  Speaker 2: indicates it's sensing something. It's experiencing something on very fundamental levels.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm calling all of this consciousness. So consciousness is
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  Speaker 2: on a spectrum. Even in a human being, One day
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  Speaker 2: you haven't slept well, you wake up, you are tired,
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  Speaker 2: you are drowsy. Just your consciousness is not clear. Your
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  Speaker 2: consciousness is not broad. You're going to be influenced. You're
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  Speaker 2: not going to be able to solve your problems in
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  Speaker 2: the same way. Even the same person, a good night's sleep,
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  Speaker 2: wake up fresh, the big problem is solved much easier
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  Speaker 2: than when you are drowsy. All of these are expressions
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  Speaker 2: of consciousness. And of course, mind and body are, you know,
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  Speaker 2: not just intimately connected or related. They are expressions, different
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  Speaker 2: layers of expressions of the same field of consciousness. So
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  Speaker 2: in few words, there is consciousness and consciousness appears as
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  Speaker 2: the physical universe, is experienced as the physical universe. The
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  Speaker 2: physical universe is real, but it is not primary. It's
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  Speaker 2: consciousness that is primary.
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  Speaker 1: So in terms of It sounds like the idea here,
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  Speaker 1: one of the ideas here is to optimize or broaden
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  Speaker 1: our consciousness. How do we do that?
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  Speaker 2: There is a technique. There are many techniques. There are
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  Speaker 2: these techniques of concentration, contemplation, etc. I've looked at them
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  Speaker 2: all and they can produce something nice. What I like
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  Speaker 2: personally and feel most scientifically supported and profound in its effect,
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  Speaker 2: is a technique called transcendental meditation. Transcending means to go beyond.
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  Speaker 2: So meditation is something that deals with the mind. Not
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  Speaker 2: all meditations are the same. And we know scientifically they
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  Speaker 2: produce different brainwaves, frequencies under different circumstances, different parts of
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  Speaker 2: the brain are activated. And so it's not all, you know,
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  Speaker 2: to be lumped in the same bag or in the
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  Speaker 2: same thing. So transcending is to go beyond. Imagine the
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  Speaker 2: mind is like an ocean, active on its surface with waves.
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  Speaker 2: And as you go deeper in it, it becomes calmer
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  Speaker 2: and calmer and calmer. The depths of the ocean supports
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  Speaker 2: the waves. In order to have bigger waves and bigger
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  Speaker 2: outer expressions, you have to have deeper knowledge. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: deeper ocean in that case. It's the same, this analogy
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  Speaker 2: or metaphor, tells us that our brain, our mind, our
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  Speaker 2: consciousness has all these layers. We usually spend our time
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  Speaker 2: on the surface level, but we don't know from where
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  Speaker 2: the thought comes from, from where creativity comes from, and
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  Speaker 2: we are tossed around by the surface situations. If you
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  Speaker 2: calm your mind, and there is a technique to do it,
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  Speaker 2: to transcend, you don't have to force yourself. Many people say, oh,
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  Speaker 2: I cannot do that, I'm not the kind of, person
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  Speaker 2: who can settle my mind down well great because this
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  Speaker 2: technique doesn't require you to do that it will help
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  Speaker 2: you to know how to do it spontaneously without effort
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  Speaker 2: in a natural way and there you dive to the
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  Speaker 2: depths of the being depths of ourself which is what
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  Speaker 2: we call the big self and what we call pure
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  Speaker 2: consciousness where you transcend emotions and feelings and thought transcend
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  Speaker 2: go beyond don't Try to deal with them. It's not
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  Speaker 2: projecting outside. It's experiencing inside. And then from that platform,
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  Speaker 2: you have clarity and ability to make decisions and to
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: be happy and to enjoy what you have. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we have many things and fine. We want to have more, fine.
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  Speaker 2: But if you can't enjoy them, if you are dependent
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  Speaker 2: on them, then you are not free. So when you're
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  Speaker 2: established in the self, You can own whatever you like
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  Speaker 2: and be the master of it. They're not your master.
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  Speaker 2: They're not your, you know, you're not their slave. They
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  Speaker 2: are your control. You are the master of your destiny.
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  Speaker 2: And I find this really, really beautiful in terms of
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  Speaker 2: life being lived on that platform.
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  Speaker 1: So you mentioned there are a variety of meditation, meditations
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  Speaker 1: out there. we've all heard of them. Why is this different?
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  Speaker 1: Why is this different than Zen meditation or what? Focusing
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: on an object or just looking straight ahead and kind
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: of with a hazy gaze. How is this different?
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Let me take it to even neurology a little bit.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: There is a system in our nervous system called the
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: default mode network, which is when you are not looking outward,
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: you go to the default system, which means you start
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: thinking things. So if you're stressed and you go back
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: to the, you know, you're not active, you're not putting
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: your attention outward, you start getting anxieties and depression and
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: feeling and fear, et cetera, if you are really stressed
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: and strained. So in order to calm this default mode network, Generally,
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: the other techniques, again, here I'm speaking of the other
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: techniques than transcendental meditation. Well, they say, why don't you
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: direct your attention outward? So you activate the other system,
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: which is called task positive network or whatever. You know,
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: the executive center, central executive network. It doesn't matter the names.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: So you put your attention to onto something. As you say,
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: maybe you put your attention on breathing. It's a mild thing.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: You're not stressed. You don't have to deal with the
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: problems of the world. Just put your attention on something
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: outwards and guide your mind to be on the outward.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: What this does, it calms a little bit this inner
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: chaos and inner noise of the default mode network. What
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: we do in Transcendental Meditation is actually going into that
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: system of And transcending its difficulties through a simple technique,
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: which doesn't require concentration, doesn't require forcing the mind, is
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: not a manipulation technique. It's a very simple, easy, natural
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: technique that allows the mind to dive by itself. So
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: we use a word, which is called the mantra, but
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: it has no meaning. That is also very important, because
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: if it has a meaning, it will be stuck on
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: the surface level. So that would become, again, guiding your
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: attention to something outward. So you take that sound and
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: you learn how to use it so that the mind
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: settles and settles and settles. And then you use from
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: the default mode network all its creativity. Because this is
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: where creativity and intelligence and solving problems come from. Okay,
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: one way is to settle the system a little bit
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: because it's too agitated. This is one kind of technique. Contemplation, concentration, zen,
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: looking at some big topics, you know, compassion, empathy, love, care, whatever.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: You focus on them. You're projecting outside. Fine, they have
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: their effects and they have their different brainwave activities. Transcendental
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: is to go beyond. Transcendental meditation, go beyond all of
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: this and go to the source of compassion, to the
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: source of creativity, to the source of intelligence, which is
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: within you, and then spontaneously you act with compassion, spontaneously
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: you act with love, spontaneously you care, and care consciously.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: That's why I've written the book, The Power of Caring,
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: to explain also that conscious caring from that deep source
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: of caring, is the most natural and the most sustainable
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: aspect of caring.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Is the idea here or the actuality that in practicing this,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: not only are we able to, what we get used
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: to or become comfortable with this state, and so this
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: becomes our kind of default mode in and of itself?
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, exactly. You said it. The thing is, TM, Transcendental Meditation,
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: is not just to practice for 20 minutes morning and evening,
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: which is what we do sitting comfortably in a chair.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Its effect is maintained through activity so that even when
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: you come out into action, you have settled down. You
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: are acting from a settled level. You know, if you
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: want to move an object on your table, you can
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: do it by shaking and stressing and the muscle stress
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: and all of that and tension and You're thinking about
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: how to do it. You know, I'm exaggerating, but it
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: can be also like that in certain cases. Or you
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: can be calm, do less and accomplish more because you
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: use the least amount of excitation with the maximum amount
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: of efficiency. And in order to do that, you have
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: to be established in that field of inner silence, inner peace,
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: while you are able to project yourself outward very powerfully
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: and positively.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Without kind of going into too much detail, just because
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: of time, I mean, you've referenced this actual practice. What
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: is involved with this practice?
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: You can go to, you know, I can give you
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: the address, tm.org, tm, Transcendental Meditation, so tm.org. And there
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: you can find a teacher, whichever city you are, in
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: the United States or even in the world. We are
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: in 150 countries. It's a technique that comes from thousands
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: and thousands of years old. It's part of the yogic techniques.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: And then you have a teacher who will guide you
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: first in the first step. And the first steps are
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: just about an hour or two hours of being with
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: the teacher and And they'll give you the technique and
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: in particular sound, a mantra, a sound that has no meaning,
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: a word that has no meaning and teach you how
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: to use it. And then you are on your own,
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: except you have three, four days of checking follow up
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: to make sure you're doing it correctly, to ask your questions.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: And each one of those follow ups is about one,
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: one and a half hours. So it's not like the
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: end of the world. And then you are on your own.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: You are on your own and you practice this. You
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: sit comfortably in a chair. You close the eyes. You
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: don't have to change your diet. You don't have to
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: manipulate your mind. You don't have to believe in anything,
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: not even in the technique. Just do it and it works.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: You don't have to, you don't become part of a
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: group or part of, you know, beliefs.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: A cult.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: Or cult or anything like that. Of course not.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Why is this important to you?
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: It's important to me and to everybody because it gives
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: something so profound that it enlivens the true meaning of
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: existence in my perspective, which is the expansion of happiness,
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: the expansion of consciousness. And that is why we are
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: all looking for some things that satisfy us, that give
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: us happiness. How do we get happier? By growing, by
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: feeling we are growing. How do we grow? Not just physically.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: We grow mentally. We grow in perspective. We grow in awareness.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: We grow in comprehension. And when our mind and consciousness grow,
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: our heart grows. And naturally we expand. We care better.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: we deal with others better. And therefore, it has all
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: of these dimensions from the individual all the way to society,
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: you know, to create a peaceful society, to create a
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: harmonious society. We have to have harmonious, peaceful people who
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: are settled within themselves and not acting and reacting based
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: on stress and strain. So for me personally, it's a life-saving,
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: amazing technique that allowed me to go through trials and
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: tribulations in life and find solutions and grow. And to
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: my friends who have learned and family and society, I'd
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: like to see it everywhere, of course, because it does
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: all the good that I was looking for when I
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: went into the vocation of medicine as a doctor, when
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: I went into science to research what life is about
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: and how we can make it better. And so it
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: has a profound implication personally and socially.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: I lost you there at the end alright Dr.
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: Nader how do people learn more about you and everything
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: you're doing again most recent book consciousness is all there
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: is what's the best way for people to learn more
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: about everything you're.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: Doing Thank you. Consciousness is All There Is is already
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: a bestseller on New York Times. It's right here. My
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: new book is The Power of Caring, and that is
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: also here. I can highlight it there. And it is
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: about caring consciously as a means and as a technology
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: of improving oneself, overcoming solitude and loneliness, but also how
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: to deal consciously in a way that Our life is sustainable,
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: is integrated, how to balance our desires with others. And
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: it comes out in July, in a few weeks. One
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: can get the book in this following place, the Power
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: of Caring book, thepowerofcaringbook.com. Or I have a website myself, drtonynader.com.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: Or you can buy it from Amazon or other book vendors.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: And again, if you want to learn TM, Transcendental Meditation,
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: simple TM.org. Okay.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: We'll have all that linked up here at the show
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: notes page, at the traumatherapistpodcast.com, The Power of Caring.
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: Dr.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: Nader, thank you so much. Very inspiring. And I appreciate
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: you being here.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Guy, for having me. All the best to you.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Take care.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: Bye.