I deal with pain every day.
I have nerve problems in my leg, and the PTSD
that the doctors diagnosed me with...
Functioning becomes impossible...lack of sleep...your
work ethic sucks.
You can't focus at work, you can't do anything,
everybody pisses you off.
It's different for everybody.
Memories saturate your mind...for me, everyday
is a constant reminder.
I relive the same crap over and over.
I myself have been deployed 8 times and been
to combat 4 times.
I was diagnosed with PTSD, depression, insomnia.
We fight through whatever problems we have.
We suck it up.
And I did that for many many years.
The trauma that I've seen, the situations
that I've been through, you take all of that
stuff and you put it in a bag, and we keep
filling up our bag with all these problems,
rather than dealing with them.
What peaked my interest in Transcendental
Meditation was all the research that's been
done, and how incredibly effective it is for
trauma, stress.
The evidence now is that in combat stress,
the trauma actually changes the brain so that
the ability to self-regulate isn't there.
Meditation helps with information processing,
helps with self-regulation.
Here we have another tool that is fabulous,
and they can do for themselves.
I was interested in the TM program, but I
was skeptical at the same time.
The power of the TM meditation...it really
came out fast, and it was surprising to me.
Having that inner peace after meditation really,
really emboldened me to deal with things that
I had been just kinda stuffing away.
So to be able to have relief from agitation,
to have relief from anger, frustration, sleepless,
alcoholism, drug addiction...that's huge.
After performing the TM, I am able to make
better judgements.
I do find myself opening up more, and find
more of a balance in a lot of things I do,
with my relationships... there was a more
profound relaxation state while I was doing
the TM.
I found myself not being on such a high alert,
and not so agitated with things around me.
It has helped me to find more peace and happiness.
My family, and my friends, and some coworkers
have noticed a huge changed in my personality.
And basically that I am happier, more at ease...more
of a well-being.
Meditation, and specifically Transcendental
Meditation, I think has a role with wounded
service men and women.
Because whatever stuff is happening in your
life, on the surface level of your life, you
get under all that noise, and all the storms
and all the clouds, and you find that peaceful
place that is the you within the you.
And that's the thing that you tap in to.
"Resilience."
That's a word that the military is really
interested in now, and that's some of the
research, I think, that's being done...it's
"Could we prevent some of this from happening
by giving them this resilient tool before
they deploy, before they get into these traumatic
situations?"
They don't teach you how to deal with trauma.
They don't teach you how to deal with watching
people die.
And I think that meditation would help quiet
the mind, help you be more effective in combat
and life, and train from the inside out.
