Here is another earlier poem, written sometime in the late 80’s or early 90’s, when I was filling in as an extra Maharishi Ayurvedic health technician during an exclusive weekend for special guests at what is now called the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Center Lancaster in Massachusetts.
In the staff dining room over lunch, I met a former concert violinist who had recently switched careers to become a Maharishi Ayurveda massage therapist. When I asked her why she stopped playing in the symphony she said her arms had been giving her problems. As a result of encountering Maharishi Ayurveda, she took treatments and then felt it would be more nourishing for her to become a therapist and treat others.
We talked about poetry and music, how reading words or notes on paper didn’t really bring a poem or piece of music to life; it had to be recited or played, and appreciated by an audience. That discussion inspired me, and during a quiet moment there, I wrote Better Read Than Dead.
Better Read Than Dead
Better read than dead, better said than read.
Poems are not meant to be just words left for dead on a page.
They’re meant to be read alive instead to an audience from a stage.
The blue print is not the building,
nor is a picture of it,
nor a vision of it.
When two beams of focused light intersect
through a piece of film
they fill the place before them with a form of light
in three-dimensional space.
When two beams of focused attention intersect
through a poet’s words,
speech going through them, silence receiving them,
they fill the space in the heart with a form of feeling.
From the heart, through the mouth, to the ear, into the heart, in here.
“Meditation Creativity Peace” is David Lynch Foundation Television’s compelling new documentary film featuring exclusive, candid footage from David Lynch’s 16-country tour around the world when he spoke to government leaders, film students, and the press during 2007 and 2008. David’s unique, free-styling demeanor grabs your attention from the very beginning of the film. David has also selected deeply insightful quotes from great thinkers and revered texts throughout history, which reveal how the practice of meditation, developing creativity, and enjoying true inner peace are the birthright of everyone. As David says in the documentary, “Transcendental Meditation is for human beings—it doesn’t matter where you live.” Watch the trailer for this new documentary film here: Meditation Creativity Peace.*
About the David Lynch Foundation
The David Lynch Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, was established in 2005 to fund the implementation of scientifically proven stress-reducing modalities including Transcendental Meditation, for at-risk populations such as underserved inner-city students; veterans with PTSD and their families; American Indians suffering from diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and high suicide rates; homeless men participating in reentry programs striving to overcome addictions; and incarcerated juveniles and adults. The Foundation also funds university and medical school research to assess the effects of the program on academic performance, ADHD and other learning disorders, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, cardiovascular disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, and diabetes.
In the February 2012 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, Oprah in her column, What I Know for Sure, (page 162) shares her mission in life, what she’s all about: seeking the fullest expression of self. Part of that life’s purpose brought her to Fairfield, Iowa, or TM Town, as she calls it.
In the article, Oprah shares some personal thoughts on her visit to Fairfield, in particular, meditating in one of the golden domes with the ladies of the Fairfield community. She had a “powerfully energizing yet calming experience” of deep inner stillness and “didn’t want it to end.” When it did, she “walked away feeling fuller than when I’d come in…full of hope, a sense of contentment, and deep joy.” She elaborates saying we all need to tap into and experience “the constancy of stillness” from where “you can create your best work and your best life,” even during “the daily craziness that bombards us from every direction.”
Click on the photo and then the text box to enlarge and better see them. You can also click on this Oprah Feb 2012 to download a pdf of the article, or pick up a copy at a store where her magazine is sold. The same article is now posted on Oprah.com with a larger photo showing hundreds of ladies meditating behind Oprah in a packed dome: Oprah on Stillness and Meditation – Oprah Visits Fairfield Iowa – What Oprah Knows for Sure About Finding the Fullest Expression of Yourself. Enjoy!
Here’s another Free Your Mind Projects On Air Radio Show on Transcendental Meditation and the David Lynch Foundation’s work with Veterans. Guests include longtime Teacher of Transcendental Meditation, Denny Goodman, and Veteran Infantryman David George. You can hear them on the 3rd and 4th segments of this 55:24 minute show. Information about this FYMP show is copied below from their post.
We have had the honor of inviting the people over at the David Lynch Foundation onto our show again. Thanks to Ken Chawkin and Lynn Kaplan, who both set us up with one of their great Transcendental Meditation (TM) teachers, Denny Goodman, and also a US veteran, David George, who has been to hell and back. Listen as they talk about how TM has helped soldiers recover from PTSD, and how they are committed to helping 10,000 Vets across the country. We also have a clip of our interview with David Lynch at his past event. Also thanks to our guest host from LA County Department of Mental Health, PIO Kathleen Piche´, for getting us in touch with TM!
This is the video that we talk about on the show, which has David and his mother talking about his ups and downs and finally his recovery.
Please note, our guest stated the way to make this kind of therapy available for all Veterans across the country who may be coming back with conditions such as PTSD (that’s about 500,000 vets!), is to have them tell the Veteran’s Administration they want this for everyone. Please, if you know a Vet, let them know this is available and to reach out to the VA and the David Lynch Foundation. Thank you.
You can find the printed version of previous Free Your Mind Projects Radio Show Guest Dr. William Arroyo from LACDMH and Project ABC’s “8 Easy Ways to do Your New Year’s Resolutions” on our Free Your Mind Blog.
I spoke with Robin Lim after she became the CNN Hero of 2011. She used to live in Fairfield. Some of her kids went to school here. KRUU FM’s Dennis Raimondi had interviewed Robin Lim on one of her visits back to her second home of Fairfield, Iowa. You can listen here.
Lim wins CNN’s Hero of the Year
Robin Lim was one of 10 finalists and had just won CNN’s Hero of the Year for all the work she’s been doing over the years in Bali, and in Aceh after the Tsunami hit. She also helped deliver babies being born in Haiti after the earthquake. An American, Robin Lim became a midwife after her sister and niece died from complications during pregnancy. She reevaluated her life and decided what meant most to her, and that was love—giving, nurturing, and saving lives. She became a midwife, went to Bali and opened a free clinic. Since 2003, she and her team in Indonesia have helped thousands of low-income women have a healthy pregnancy and birth. Her philosophy and practice is Gentle Birth for Peace on Earth. Click on the hyperlinked phrases below to see videos and articles.
See the video that introduced 2011 Top 10 CNN Hero Robin Lim at “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute.” Heroes Tribute: Robin Lim.
Celebrities joined CNN in honoring everyday people doing extraordinary things who are changing the world in Sunday night’s “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute” show. Here are some CNN Heroes highlights: photos: 2011 CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute video: CNN honors top Heroes of the year, and overview pagewith other videos and articles.
Here is a video of CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta backstage at the fifth annual “CNN Heroes” awards: Gupta backstage at ‘Heroes’. His last interview is with CNN Hero of the Year Robin Lim as she walks offstage at 3:07–3:50.
In this exclusive follow-up video, Robin Lim: What’s next?, CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks to 2011 CNN Hero of the Year Robin Lim. He starts off by asking how women’s lives will be impacted after tonight’s win. Robin says they’re going to build a new clinic and thanks her team and family. After hearing Robin’s passionate description of training midwives to help poor undernourished Balinese women bear their young, Dr. Gupta says: “I just applaud the work that you’re doing for all the world’s children out there.” Robin makes a plea for midwives who deliver peaceful births: “We are the ones who are the guardians of normal birth.”
CNN’s Anderson Cooper joins honorees Patrice Millet, Bruno Serato, Diane Latiker, Sal Dimiceli, 2011 CNN Hero of the Year Robin Lim, Amy Stokes, Eddie Canales, Richard St. Denis, Taryn Davis and Derreck Kayongo.
Some Media Coverage on Robin Lim, CNN Hero Of The Year
CNN: This Just In: Join the conversation: CNN Heroes with a lovely photo of Robin with her mother and husband before her win.(wireimage).
And after, standing with Anderson Cooper, as CNN Hero of the Year.
With his manic energy and cheeky vocabulary, British comic Russell Brand hardly seems like a poster boy for Transcendental Meditation.
But Mr. Brand, who credits the meditation technique for helping him stay sober, is indeed a practitioner of TM and served as a master of ceremonies Saturday night for the David Lynch Foundation’s annual “Change Begins Within” benefit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He was performing gratis, and hoped his good will would buy him “some wiggle room to act subversively and deviously.”
Mr. Brand was introduced by talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, who Mr. Brand turned onto TM a year ago, and in turn introduced David Lynch. Though best known to American audiences as the director of atmospheric films like “Blue Velvet” and the television series “Twin Peaks,” Mr. Lynch has also been an avid meditator for over three decades and created the David Lynch Foundation in 2005 to help implement meditation programs for both at-risk students and veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mr. Lynch summed up his thoughts about TM by producing a painting of a tree and explained to the audience, which included actors like Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Bell and honoree Russell Simmons, that the key to meditation was to “water to root” of the mind and “enjoy the fruit” of the ensuing knowledge. He also introduced his psychiatrist Norman Rosenthal to the crowd, who thanked his client for his “confidential” introduction and explained the health benefits of transcendental meditation — a subject they have written about for The Wall Street Journal’s opinion page.
After hearing first-person account from war veterans and current high school students about how TM has personally affected their lives, Mr. Brand wrapped up the evening by interviewing quantum physicist John Hagelin — a situation that seemed to fill the actor full of glee. We’ve embedded the interview below:
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Ellen DeGeneres, Russell Brand, Russell Simmons, David Lynch and more.
Meditating stars, leaders of veterans groups, and top scientists and educators gather to raise funds and celebrate the success of the David Lynch Foundation’s many outreaches to help people in need overcome traumatic stress and transform their lives from within. For more information on DLF empowering veterans, underserved youth, and other disadvantaged groups to overcome traumatic stress through meditation visit http://www.davidlynchfoundation.org. Watch News ConferenceView Event Photos.
Film director David Lynch holds a check for $1,000,000 at the press conference for The David Lynch Foundation’s Operation Warrior Wellness, held at the Beverly Hills Hotel on December 2, 2011 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Mark Davis/Getty Images)
(CBS/AP) LOS ANGELES — Academy Award-nominated director David Lynch – a longtime advocate of Transcendental Meditation – wants soldiers and veterans to experience the stress-reducing benefits of TM.
The David Lynch Foundation is giving $1 million in grants to teach the meditation technique to active-duty military personnel and veterans and their families suffering from post-traumatic stress.
The filmmaker said Friday that the grants are from the Operation Warrior Wellness division of his foundation, which funds meditation instruction for various populations, including inner-city students and jail inmates.
Lynch’s credits include the films “Eraserhead,” “The Elephant Man,” “Blue Velvet,” “Wild at Heart,” “Lost Highway” and “Mulholland Drive,” and the TV series “Twin Peaks.”
The Uncarved Blog 