By Paige Leigh Reist┃Posted: February 01, 2019
Mona Shah Joshi is a writer, self-development coach, a transformational speaker, and a senior director at Art of Living. But more importantly, she is a Happiness Activist--someone who has used her training, talents, and expertise to spread the message of peace and happiness throughout the world.
Recently, Mona guest starred on The Good Intentions Show with Tim Ray on the UI Radio Network, a podcast dedicated to the intersection of health, wellness, science, and spirituality.
These three quotes are our favourite--head to the video for more science-backed benefits of meditation, for Mona’s unique flavor of frank and funny wisdom, and for a free five-minute meditation experience led by Mona near the end.
Meditation and Happiness
“Happiness is our very nature. We forget that this is what we’re made up of.
For example, if you see a small child, and they have a frown on their face, we ask them what happened, because we know a frown is not natural to who they are. But somehow, as we got older, when somebody comes into the office and they’re really happy, we say, hey! What happened? How did that become the new norm?
Even if we look at ourselves on a cellular level, where are the electrons located? On the circumference, right? And then the protons are in the nucleus. So all of these stresses and negatives by which we identify ourselves, they’re just on the circumference of what we are. We get to the core of ourselves through practices that take us inward, such as meditation, Sudarshan Kriya, breathing practices--then we’re coming to our nuclear core, and happiness just radiates.”
Meditation and the Brain
“Let’s talk about the brain for a second--you were just talking about fight or flight, right? So the primitive brain, or the first brain that was there since caveman days, was the amygdala. And that rules over fight or flight, eating, sleeping, mating, and also worrying--worrying itself has become such a habit for people. To me, worrying is like chewing gum that has lost its flavour. It’s not adding anything to your life, but you keep on doing it. It’s this exercise that just tires you out.
So, when you’re stressed, the amygdala takes over. That becomes the decision-making body, cortisol increases, et cetera. In other words, complex thinking shuts down, actually. For example, let’s say a tiger’s running after you. You don’t need to be able to solve quadratic equations at that point. You just need to know how to run.
And then there’s the prefrontal cortex, which is the latest upgrade to the brain that’s been updated over billions of years. And that oversees complex thinking. Basically, with meditation, you’re actually shifting what part of the brain is functioning. When we don’t get enough sleep, that’s when our amygdala takes over, and that’s when you’re making bad decisions on what to eat, what to do.”
Meditation is Natural
“The beauty of meditation is wherever you can have a thought, you can have a meditation. And it’s actually something that's natural to us. Think for example-you’re watching a beautiful sunset over a beach. At some point, we just close our eyes and take it in, and the mind is quiet for just a few moments. That’s meditation, in a sense, right?”
Throughout the episode, Mona also touches on how meditation can keep you looking young, how you can have more energy than ever before, how you can sleep better, how meditation is linked to spirituality, and her best tips for a meaningful meditative experience.
We hope you enjoy this fantastic interview as much as we did!
Paige Leigh Reist is a writer, editor, blogger, and creative writing instructor.
