Ever wonder how people who practice the Transcendental Meditation technique seem to fit it into their day so effortlessly, or why they continue to do it, year after year?
For 36-year-old Jessica Wilbert, a blogger and former schoolteacher, the TM technique has been one of the most essential parts of her life since childhood.
After spending years at an exhausting teaching job in Boston, Wilbert took a leap of faith and moved to sunny San Diego, where she completed a tech bootcamp and started a blog about modern spirituality and wellness. She is now pursuing a path of creative entrepreneurship, offering career coaching for seekers who, like her, dream of a lifestyle that’s both holistic and practical.
Her anchor throughout that period of vast change? The TM technique. Having practiced it for more than 25 years, Wilbert credits the technique with keeping her clear and calm, no matter what challenges come her way. “As time goes on,” Wilbert explains, “I feel more depth and equanimity … There is a part of me that is deeper and unshakable. That part offers a little whispered voice, during those really tough moments, that says: this is the surface. There is something beyond this, and you are fine there.”
Though she has a deep appreciation for the benefits the TM technique brings to her life, Wilbert admits that “while the practice itself is easy, trying to establish the practice is not the easiest,” given the many demands of daily life while juggling school, work, and relationships. “Our culture is not set up to support taking time out of every day to just be still, to cultivate silence,” she observes.
Find out what keeps Wilbert coming back to her meditation “nook” twice a day–as well as the ways she’s made those twice-daily deep dives a non-negotiable part of her routine–in “Why I Meditate,” an article on her blog, Kindred Seekers.
Photo credit: MoonTorrent Productions