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The Overstimulation Epidemic + Curiosity Vs. Fear · The Inner Well Podcast

• The Inner Well Podcast: We all contain a space within that when enlivened and nourished will support us with unwavering stability, expansion, and peace of mind. Join us each week as we dive into honest, grounded conversations about transcendental meditation, consciousness, and growth, and what it means to live an integrated life supported by a foundation of creativity and calm. This is the inner world. Hi everyone, welcome back to the Inner Well Podcast. I'm Emily. I'm Danielle. And I'm Megan. And we're excited to be talking about back to school season. This is a time of year when it's sort of an interesting opportunity to ask a pretty radical question. Are we learning the right things in school? You know, we go through this experience of school learning math and history and English and all of the stuff that we feel will make us useful and practical in society, but are we really addressing that inner wisdom, that state within that's actually providing the basis for all that intellectual understanding and all that wisdom that we're getting in school? It's also a time when we experience unprecedented burnout, right? And students and teachers, and we're gonna kind of dive into that today and look at some of the statistics around stress and burnout in school. I feel like it's Been coming up a lot lately where I've had people that have come to learn TM for themselves asking me, How can I share this with my kids? Because parents are recognizing that their kids are dealing with pressures and stress that they did not as kids. And realizing that as they're learning this valuable tool and technique, it is something that could really help their kids and have been asking about. One of the things too that's such a good point on this is, you know, kids nowadays they deal with so much over stimulation. I mean, way more than we had when we were in high school. And even grade school, you know, I mean, they're we used to have books, textbooks. They've got tablets now. They're constantly on screens. And then there's such a natural gravitational pull towards social media at such a young age. I've got kids coming in at nine, ten, eleven years old that are already dealing with anxiety. And that is such a fragile, gentle age to have to start dealing with some of these what I consider adult problems, you know, at such a young age. So it's it's a really good topic to dive into as far as how can we really support our children and hold them in a space where they can still live their innocence till they have to grow up and do this adulting thing. It's so hard and I think I'm sure we've all seen that a lot and we know that, you know, the family is an ecosystem and it's st also starting with the parents. You know, I'll have a mother coming in vibrating with stress, right? And the kid is sitting there like and you say, What are you here to you know, why do you want to learn TM? And they're like, I'm stressed and you can see that they're just picking it up from their parents. So it's an undercurrent. It's that undercurrent. And just as we're absorbing all of this, you know, kids and adolescents, their nervous systems are much more susceptible to these effects of stress and all of the screens and all of that that they're taking on now. Yeah. I was actually looking up some statistics on that. The statistics are sobering. Yeah. ⁓ I mean we see it all around us, but youth Anxiety and depression have been climbing for over a decade. It's no longer just kind of soft concerns, it's a mental health crisis. So 37% of US college students screened positive for moderate or severe depression, and 33% for moderate or severe anxiety. And this was in 2024 and 25. ⁓ in 2024, a study showed that 56% of US teens felt pressured to have their lives figured out. Fifty-three percent felt obligated to be exceptional and more than one in four teens reported feeling burnout. Mm-hmm. It's wild, wild statistics. At you know, 14 to feel burnout. Or I can identify. Imagine having to have your life figured out at that young before you even have frontal lobe capacity to know what future forward looks and feels like. Yeah. It's just crazy. I've also been looking into teachers on that side are also experiencing burnout, right? And again, it's back to that ecosystem. It's the kids, it's the adults, it's the teachers. But they say that over half of K through twelve teachers are either experiencing high levels of stress, either often or always, and also experiencing that burnout at a super high rate. I think the statistic is incredible. Ninety-five percent of teachers experience some level of stress. Ninety-five percent. So It's really critical that we're addressing all of those parts of the ecosystem when we talk about education. I mean, I can attest to that having worked in schools for nine years. The level of exhaustion, the level just the the way that teachers are stretched in an environment that's you know not supportive. These are the people who are entrusted with taking care of the children and the next generation, not only you know, educating them, but taking care of them and and being you know having that weight of that responsibility and teachers go into that profession because they care deeply. Being in that role, it's such a pivotal role because again, we're supporting the next generation as a teacher, but then they are holding space for all that dysregulation. And you know, I and I can't speak for all teachers in all school systems. I know that the friends that I have that are teachers They constantly have this experience of feeling not only underpaid but underappreciated. I mean, that is a tremendous amount to ask any one individual to hold space for, you know, twenty, thirty nervous systems that are vacillating in and out of this dysregulation because of the overstimulation that the school system is promoting. And so when we get on this topic of burnout, you know, and really trying to address What's going to allow space regulation, you know, sustainability not only for the teachers, but for the children as well? How can we create a space where our kids can go in and have an environment that supports them in their learning process versus challenges them in their learning process? I feel really lucky that I got to learn this as a kid and and so often when I share that with people, they're like, man, like I wish I had that when I was a kid. I feel really lucky that I got to because I mean I have anxious tendencies. I have major perfectionistic, hard on myself type A tendencies. And if I didn't have this technique, I am certain it would have been debilitating. And to have this that you know, allowed me to have that break, have that pause, regulate, and and access that inner well that we talk about, access that source of energy and clarity and creativity. Allowed me to be successful in school. And I lo I liked school. I loved school. And I always played sports. I always ha you know, was involved in different clubs or groups. Having this technique, you know, throughout school, I know is what allowed me to have the bandwidth to do all the things that I wanted to do. And thrive, not get burned out. And see, I had the exact opposite experience. You know, like I didn't learn this technique until I was twenty-seven. And I I mean, my mom swears I was just born anxious. I mean, I had anxiety before I even had a reason to have anxiety. You know, it wasn't over stimulation, it's just the undercurrent that runs in my nervous system. And so You know, when I learned this technique and I I remember my TM teacher at the time telling me, ⁓ it's just your nervous system. It's your we can talk about that. We can we can help with that. And I was like, nervous system, what are they talking about? What does nervous system have to do with this? I just had no idea. And then I went, I learned the technique and I went through the course and I got all the knowledge about The nervous system and how that impacts our capacity to actually feel regulated, how we vessel all of those emotions through our nervous system. And our nervous system is such an important catalyst to our experience of our own humanity. I had absolutely no idea. And I was like, why don't they teach us this in school? Had I known this, it would have been a game changer for me. I mean, I would have had tools. I would have at least been able to depersonalize my experience of anxiety because I would have had the knowledge around it to understand it. And so that idea of depersonalizing the anxiety, that is so good. You know, that it just reminds me of you know, people that come in with their kids, and I have seen really significant transformations in. Children or young, you know, teens who learn TM. And this is what I always tell parents who are anxious about their kids' own anxiety and wanting to help them and give them the tools and support. There's this strength that starts to become very apparent when you practice TM, this internal recognition, this recognition of a balanced, settled nervous system that becomes the norm. And so you start to notice that that stress and anxiety, which has been flooding through your system. because of all the things we're taking on, is not actually yours. It's a response to the environment. And so when your nervous system is regulated, then those things come at you, they bounce off. So that's what I've seen. And I've seen this presence come on in an anxious kid's face after a few months of practicing this technique, where they come back and they just seem a little more settled in themselves. Their eyes aren't sort of darting around looking at where the danger is, frankly. So we can see this, but it is. It's this recognition that that stuff that we take on is not us. It's our nervous system's response to those stimul stimuli. Yeah. And I think that there's cause any anxious person will tell you when anxiety really starts to spin is when you start getting anxious about your anxiety. Totally. And it's just a feedback loop. And so I think that this ability to depersonalize it, to understand what's actually the Actual biology, you know, the neurology of what's going on, it really helps you be able to regulate yourself so much easier. And that's why, you know, knowledge turns out it's true. Knowledge really is power, knowledge of the self, being able to understand that and giving the kids this opportunity to really understand their reality. And even more so than that. how they choose to show up for the challenges that they meet. It's just, it's, it's so empowering. And I think that it's such a necessary requirement for high school, college, you know, anything these days where that level of overstimulation is constantly present. Can you imagine what the world would be like if every middle school, high school student was given access to, you know, this technique and this knowledge just about their own nervous systems and regulation and, you know, all of the things that impact it, but also all of the ways that we can regulate it, whether that's spending time in nature, taking breaks from the phone, if we were to give that knowledge and these experiences to every 14, 15 year old, what do you imagine the world would look like? Be a whole different place. ⁓ my goodness, yeah. Where we were able to really access that self-referral consciousness all the time. I just remember, you know, being a kid and the comparison game, the like, you know, we mentioned it earlier that we're supposed to have it all figured out and what we want to do at a very young age. Having access to that, and not only, you know, you having access, but all your peers having access and your teachers and your community, that everyone is living with a more regulated nervous system. Then you can sort of sit in yourself as yourself instead of regulating yourself towards everyone else's nervous systems and everyone else, what are they doing and how do I fit in? And there's a lot more self-confidence. You know. And that's I think a huge thing to have as a young person. Self-confidence, self-esteem. Yeah. I recently taught this young man who came in. He was a senior in high school and he found TM on his own. He was going down a ⁓ I love that. Rabbit hole on YouTube. And I think he saw something with David Lynch because he was very creative and artistic into filmmaking. He took the initiative himself to reach out, to contact me, to set up his course. Whole thing was self-driven. It was not coming from his parents. They were supportive of it. but he said, you know, I'm 18, I'm gonna be going to college next year. I think it's important that I start taking responsibility for myself and ownership to like learn the things that are gonna help me be successful in life. And he was so blown away. And I remember him saying at the end of the class, if everyone in my generation knew about this, it would be a game changer. And even just in the first few days when he was learning, he was talking about having more energy and more self-awareness of that, you know, what he actually wanted to do rather than just going with whatever his friends were doing. And those were just in the first few days. So from that point, you can imagine. what a powerful impact it can have at that, you know, transitional moment of moving into adulthood. Yeah. And I'm really excited this month we're gonna have these interesting conversations that you'll get to hear with, you know, people talking from their own experience of being a young person practicing TM and that relationship with the parent and the kid practicing TM, but also the neuroscience behind it. You know, what's happening in a young person's brain or what's happening in a brain with ADHD? TM has been shown to be Highly effective at producing coherence in the brain, which has this incredible result at ⁓ balancing out and minimizing those ADHD symptoms that can be problematic or impact our life. So those conversations are going to really get into those stories. Yeah. And it'll be so fun for you guys to actually hear from some of our students, our younger students that are having pivotal, pivotal experiences. As a result of being able to have access to just the capacity to turn their reflection inward. You know, have internal regulation in a society that promotes so much external regulation. And being able to move into adulthood with that kind of self-empowerment can really set you up for so much more success in so many areas of life. And I think it's so. Fascinating and so rewarding to be able to have these experiences where we have kids that we've taught that are already starting to set themselves up for that runway and can really see where the change is possible. So I'm curious with the two of you, as we think about this whole topic of learning, what's something that you feel like you're still learning today? Or something new that you feel like you've just learned about yourself? One thing that I've been really curious about lately. is learning about plants and ⁓ specifically herbalism and those kind of ancient wisdom traditions. And it's been, ⁓ I I'm this is fresh in my mind because I recently took a workshop ⁓ learning about that because I think it's so fascinating. And such a big part of it is that presence and that relationship that we have with ourselves and nature. And ⁓ being able to be settled enough and still enough to allow that kind of connection and that relationship to unfold. I think one of the things that I've learned in the last couple of years that I find to be just so fascinating and helpful on so many levels is just your experience of owning your own reality on a holistic mind-body level. Like I feel like a lot of us we don't have the tools to really Feel our feelings, name our emotions, and being able to have that level of discernment and ownership is so important to integrating them. I think it's so interesting that none of these have anything to do with the subjects that we're taught in school. Yes. And how cool and you know, school is a chapter of our life, but that we get to be lifelong learners and dive into the things that we're passionate about. For us, it's all our own experience and our interaction with. Our emotions with the natural world. Something we haven't touched on yet in this episode, but this idea of consciousness-based education. And consciousness-based education is the idea that consciousness is primary, that our internal experience is what we have to continually refer back to. And so in a consciousness-based education school system, every subject that you're learning, math, history, English. Is referred back to the self. It's always self-referential. And that's exactly what you two are describing in your current learning today. How is your system regulating with nature? And how is that influencing and building that connection? And your experience of holding space for your nervous system to identify all these pieces so they don't overshadow. And I think that's, you know, very much what I'm continuing to be interested in is from this level, I I'm really fascinated by the brain. And how does the brain work? Is that you know, firing of our ⁓ you know, neurotransmitters, why are those happening in that moment and how are we interpreting that? And let's integrate that experience together so that we can walk into this reality as a full mind and body, not just a mind, not just a body, not just these pieces, but this holistic self. I think this topic of learning and education is ongoing. It's self-referral and it's really never ending. And I'm curious for you listeners to hear what you're excited about learning or what you're, you know, sharing with you for those who are parents or educators, you know, what you're share taking away from this that you can share with the young people in your life. Feel free to DM us or tag us on Instagram with those reflections because I think it's such an important conversation that we all continue to have. And it really creates an undercurrent of curiosity versus fear. You know, there's such a natural tendency when challenging situations arise to just respond with fear due to lack of control. But when we can actually create the opportunity to make it an opportunity for learning more about ourselves and how we show up and why we show up. then that curiosity, it facilitates a level of expansion that keeps the situation much more manageable. Thanks everyone for joining us. We'll see you again soon. That's a wrap on today's episode of The Inner Well. Please subscribe and leave a review. Your support means the world and helps others find us. And if this conversation added something to your day, don't be shy. Share it with someone it might resonate with. Also, please follow us on social for more between episodes and send in your questions, your stories, or the topics you'd like to explore with us. We genuinely love hearing from you and this podcast exists because of you. So keep showing up for yourself and we'll see you next week.