But, like most fine things, I came to most fully appreciate TM only after I matured, and came to understand that the practice was more than an excuse to further procrastinate my homework. I could, I realized, use it as a tool, a means by which I could pique both my creativity and my intellect to reach the pool of inspiration and light that lies within, developing a unity between myself and nature. Where my peers turn to substances for these types of highs, I meditate, with more powerful, truly natural effects. My daily meditation not only improves my mood, but it reduces my anxiety, gently washing it out of my nervous system, releasing stressful toxins and purifying my system. It cools my temper, creates an inner peace, and eases my interactions. And, beyond myself, the practice promotes social harmony.

As research proves, when we do good for ourselves, elevating our own consciousness, we lift the global consciousness. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the guru who brought TM to the Western world, and most notably for me, to my father, likened us to the earth: There cannot be a green forest without green trees, similarly, world peace cannot be possible without peaceful individuals. A bunch of hippie hocus-pocus? New age mumbo-jumbo? The extensive scientific research and study of TM proves its positive effects to lower crime, violence, and stress within communities. There’s no greater example than at-risk schools, where the David Lynch Foundation (DLF) has taught grade-schoolers to meditate and they have simultaneously become better students. And, considering TM’s vacation-like effects, who wouldn’t share the love?

Enlightenment, by tapping into that divine nature, proves us all of our greatest worth — but how was I communicating that to others? Cut to me two years ago, frustrated with the seemingly shallow world of fashion and beauty. I was fed up, prepared to become a TM teacher myself, because nothing was fulfilling me and the darkness was overwhelming. Buy instagram likes or Following a brief internship in Student Outreach at DLF’s New York outpost, I found parallel enlightenment in fashion, in the transcendent quality of subversion and deconstruction within the avant-garde. It was where the consciousness of Comme des Garcons and old-school Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester, and Yohji Yamamoto mirrored the consciousness within myself, and I felt renewed with purpose, establishing my own blog as an outlet for transcendence through personal style.

Because, as Lynch writes in Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity, “The thing about meditation is: you become more and more you.” As an extension of myself, shouldn’t my clothes also communicate my consciousness? It symbolized my own blossoming, the development of all the facets of my being, as I sought the fullest, unabashed version of myself.

And, just like brushing my teeth (or more commonly, stuffing my face with chocolate) meditation has become a ritual as critical to my well-being as that other restful activity, sleep, which, might I add, TM beats out in the power-rest category. The cherry on top of the whole technique? Transcendental Meditation is easy, as natural as breathing, and when I sit down to meditate, I don’t have to count my breaths or imagine a vision or block out my thoughts. I close my eyes, and my mantra rolls through me, part of me, and my thoughts and ideas are free to bounce in and out of my psyche, the only place where I am able to fully transcend the high-octane energy of New York’s pulsing streets.