Meditation as a Safe Haven

dose of calmness. Every weekday morning, I'll share a meditation story, offer a simple practical tip about how you or a loved one can stay a bit calmer in your life, and then we'll end each episode together with a moment of gratitude. My hope is that I can share what I know to anyone who needs it. Ready, sit comfortably, take a few deep breaths, and let's begin today's journey.

I want to talk today about kids, about our kids, our grandchildren, about the stress as they're under and about how this whole idea of this podcast of how to Stay Calm, it's not just some sort of hippie dippy sort of thing and oh I'm going to stay calm when things are tough, but this is actually a requirement and necessity I think to navigate today and the future,

particularly for our children. So when we talk about calm, I'm not just talking about Oh, I'm just take a few breaths and now I feel relaxed and chilled for thirty seconds before I get cut off in traffic. We talk about accessing a level of calm deep within all of us that can actually transform our lives. So I run a foundation, the David Lynch Foundation, that brings transcendental meditation, which is a simple meditation technique to inter city school kids.

We've taught about a million kids to meditate all over the world, but this one particular school, and it's about ten years ago, and I have never forgotten this experience. That's why I'm sharing it with you. The school begins and ends each day with ten minutes of quiet, and the kids have a choice. They can either met tape, they could sit quietly and read. They could even take

a nap. And in this one school, they had a rule because they wanted to teach the kid's discipline, that the kids had to be seated in their chair at t when the bell rang. If they were late, then they would have to meditate out in the hallway. And the kids like to be together, so I've got a phone call his teacher. I'll call him Mr Woodson, And he called me up. He was quite moved, and he said he wanted to tell me the story about this

little girl named Charlene. They had started the meditation at at about Charlene comes rushing in the door loud, plunks herself down on a chair, drops her books on the floor, and starts to meditate. So Mr. Woodson was sort of torn. Does he just let her go for it or should he raise the point? And he decided to make a point of it, so he whispered that she was going

to have to step outside because she was late. She stood up and Mr. Woodson noticed that Charlene had read paint splattered all over the left side of her sweatshirt. So they stepped outside and Mr. Woodson said to Charlene, and you're also going to have to call your mother because she's going to have to bring some clean clothes. So Charlene starts to cry. And here's the story. It wasn't red paint. Charlene had been standing next to her uncle at a bus stop waiting to come to school.

There was a drive by shooting, and that was her uncle's blood Charlene ran, you know where she wanted to run to school. She wanted to meditate with the kids. Isn't that interesting The schools which have become breeding grounds of violence and bullying, with quiet time become a safe haven. I tell you that story because we're in danger of losing a generation. I believe it. Number two cause of

death among teenagers today is suicide. The reality is it's a stressful world, but we don't have to be victims. Our own children and grand children are anxious such pressure for schools, social media, and they can't process it, not developed enough. Every day, I'm going to offer a tip that we can do to contribute towards a substantial calm, a transformative calm, an inner peace that can help us navigate our lives. One of the first things I want

to talk about is something as universal as sleep. One third of the population has issues with sleep, sleep, insomnia, and children now getting worse. So here's one little tip that you can give for yourself and your child. And it seems simplistic. We want our bedroom to be cooler. When our room is hot, we don't sleep as well. Why because our biological rhythm are circadian rhythm. The body as we near sleep, starts to cool down, is preparing to go to sleep. If the room is warm, we're restless.

It disrupts that circadian rhythm. So temperature should be between sixty and seventy degrees in your bedroom. You can do that with a fan, a quiet fan, air conditioner. If it's safe, windows open, light, covers simple. The bedroom should be like the cool dark cave. All right, let's end this time together doing something that I think should be a feature of our everyday life, and that's appreciation and gratitude. So let's take thirty seconds of quiet, thirty seconds to

take a break, just take a moment. It turns out when we do that, it's good for our health as well. I'll be right back, all right. Thank you for joining. This is Bob Roth. Keep calm, Thanks for listening today. I hope you heard something that inspires, that uplifts you and that you can incorporate into your own life. Until next time, remember, meditate, be kind, and be true to yourself. Hey, all of you out there, I'd love to hear from you. You can send me your stories, your questions, or anything

else on your mind. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram at meditation Bob. You can also send me an email at meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com. I look forward to hearing from you.