Watching Star Wars again today, Yoda explained that the Force “surrounds us and penetrates us.” That’s similar to what we call God, what Chinese call Tao, and what Indians call Brahman. Those who know Brahman through Yoga and meditation live in harmony. Having practiced both since I was 17, I’ve seen how effective the latter is as a tool to connect a meditator to Source, our higher Self. The meditation I practiced and taught for 30 years, until 2010, was Transcendental Meditation (TM) and, since then, Higher Self Healing Meditation that I founded to make effortless mantra meditation more affordable for the average person than the enormous fees the TM organization was charging.
Yoda told Luke he’d know the Force when his mind was calm and at peace. Qui-Gon Jinn told Anakin to “learn to quiet your mind,” and Obi-Wan Kenobi told Luke to “let go of thoughts to hear the Force.” Meditation effectively quiets the mind and relaxes the body so one can let go and be at peace.
Physiological research on Transcendental Meditation shows the technique producing a level of rest that’s qualitatively twice as deep as the deepest point in a night’s sleep, while the mind is more alert than in normal wakefulness, as measured by EEG equipment. This restful alertness is a fourth state of consciousness, distinct from the changing waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. I use the word “changing” deliberately because this fourth state is non-changing.
Transcendental Meditation and Higher Self Healing Meditation that I’ve taught to hundreds of people are both effortless. No concentration or control is used, so why are they so methods so effective? To understand this we need to understand two phenomena that we notice every day. The first is the transitions between our three changing states of awareness. The second is what motivates the mind itself.
Effortless Transitions
When you go to sleep at night, you set up an initial condition— you turn off lights, and lay prone on a bed. No trying helps you fall asleep; in fact, trying keeps you awake longer. It’s not within your ability to speed up the process of going from waking to sleeping because falling asleep is the domain of a higher power— called in a galaxy far, far away the Force. It shifts you from sleeping to dreaming, and, if you don’t use an alarm, an iPhone, a significant other, a child, or pet, you’ll get up naturally. Nature gets you up; Nature is another name for the Force.
The Motivation of Happiness
At the depths of the mind is a field of deep peace, calmness, and happiness. Years ago in Woodstock, New York, I gave a talk on Transcendental Meditation standing in my living room, in front of sliding glass doors, which looked onto a deck; beyond that was a backyard and, beyond that, woods. I explained to the people facing me that every mind moves to greater happiness without any effort.
As I said that, folks suddenly rose to look behind me. I turned around to see why. A mother deer and her baby fawns just emerged were gamboling across the field. No effort was needed for these people to switch their attention from listening to me talking about the nature of the mind to shift to greater happiness, to watching deer. Because watching deer is more enjoyable than listening to a lecture.
The meditation techniques I’ve taught to many hundreds of people let their minds gravitate effortlessly to the great happiness that exists at their non-changing higher nature. You don’t need to believe in gravity to fall into a swimming pool if you lean in far enough. And you don’t have to be from India to experience the happiness deep within your mind if you practice TM or Higher Self Healing Meditation. What you need is a mantra that best suits your nervous system, and then the effortless manner of using it so the Force can move your consciousness from waking to the fourth state of pure consciousness. Do that regularly and the Force can help you evolve to the fifth state— Self-Realization.
Cary Bayer is a Life Coach, specializing in helping people create breakthroughs in their finances, careers, relationships, and sense of purpose.
