Meditation Bob: On Quieting Your Mind

Summary

Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa

Episode: Meditation Bob: On Quieting Your Mind

Date: October 29, 2025
Guest: Bob Roth ("Meditation Bob"), CEO of the David Lynch Foundation

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Episode Overview

In this lively and candid episode, Kelly Ripa, joined by regular contributors Jan Chalet and Albert Bianchini, explores the elusive art of quieting the mind through meditation. Their guide is Bob Roth—affectionately dubbed “Meditation Bob”—a world-renowned Transcendental Meditation (TM) teacher and CEO of the David Lynch Foundation. The conversation dives into the basics of meditation, its health benefits, common misconceptions, and practical advice for skeptics and busy minds alike. Along the way, listeners call in with questions about stress, sleep, anxiety, and trauma, making for a relatable and illuminating journey toward inner peace.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening: Laughter and Chaos Before Inner Peace

• [00:58 – 07:41]
  The episode opens with Kelly and her co-hosts recounting a playful “try not to laugh” challenge, setting a vibrant and comedic tone. After much laughter and sharing of oddball personal artifacts, Kelly transitions to the episode’s main topic: the need for quiet in an overwhelming world.
  • Memorable Quote:
    • “Jan and I are going to be completely honest… when it comes to our inner peace and quieting our minds, we have hit a brick wall. Loudly.” – Kelly Ripa [08:02]

2. The Modern Mind and Why Meditation Matters

• [08:38 – 11:53]
  Albert underscores the urgency: "We live in a very complex world and we weren’t built to live in a world with all of the social media, all the noise…” [08:39] He shares how meditation, inspired by Oprah and Deepak Chopra’s programs, became a lifeline for coping with overwhelm and chaos.
  • Meditation is presented as a path to finding “peaceful center” amidst modern distractions.

3. Who is Meditation Bob?

• [11:53 – 12:21]
  Bob Roth is introduced as a meditation authority who has taught everyone from business tycoons to Oprah—“If anybody can give Jan and me the tools that we need, it will be Meditation Bob.” – Kelly [11:53]

4. Addressing Skepticism about Meditation

• [15:01 – 16:44]
  Kelly confesses a longstanding resistance to meditation, rooted in confusing experiences and a misconception that it’s just “clearing your mind.” Bob reassures, “A 10-year-old kid can do it. You can be skeptical, you don’t have to believe a word. You can think everything I just said is a crock… you can access [inner calm] anyway.” [16:35]

5. The Three Types of Meditation and the Depth Analogy

• [16:44 – 19:41]
  Bob uses a vivid ocean analogy to demystify meditation:
  • Focused Attention (gamma brainwaves—like stopping ocean waves)
  • Open Monitoring (theta—dreamlike, restful)
  • Transcendental Meditation (Alpha One): “...where your body is profoundly relaxed and your mind is wide awake and peaceful.” [20:53]

6. Learning TM: Accessibility and Simplicity

• [16:54 – 17:25]
  TM is accessible to anyone—even skeptics or those with ADHD/autism—and requires just a couple of hours (over four days) to learn with a certified teacher.

7. On Rest, Stress, and Brain Health

• [19:41 – 20:53]
  • Meditation is shown (via research, Bob claims) to significantly reduce cortisol (stress hormone), more so than sleep.
  • “20 minutes of TM drops cortisol 30 to 40% and stays down.” – Bob Roth [30:35]

8. Real-Life Personalities and Meditation Styles

• [21:01 – 22:24]
  Kelly likens Jan, Albert, and herself to the different brainwave types, humorously noting how personality flavors their approach to calm and stress.

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Listener Callers: Real-Life Concerns and Expert Answers

9. Call-In: Rumination and Sleep (Gary from New Hampshire)

• [26:56 – 31:43]
  Gary describes “busy ticker tape” mental loops that interfere with sleep. Bob explains rumination as surface-level mental “waves,” and meditation as a way to “settle down underneath the waves.”
  • Quote: “The purpose of meditation, Transcendental Meditation, is to go beneath the waves, to settle down underneath the waves.” – Bob Roth [28:10]
  • TM gives “rest deeper than sleep,” key for healing trauma and stress.

10. Meditation for Students (David from Austin)

• [32:44 – 35:35]
  Q: Is it good to meditate before a test?
  A: Any meditation that calms you is good; TM gives “restful alertness,” boosting learning, grades, and clear thinking.

11. Timing and Practice Questions (Kyle from the Train)

• [36:25 – 39:25]
  Q: How do you know when 20 minutes are up in TM?
  A: Use a gentle app timer or peek at your watch—“You’re not going anywhere, you’re just settling down.” – Bob Roth [37:51]

12. Is Meditation Like Hypnosis or a Trance?

• [39:37 – 40:30]
  • TM is not a trance or hypnosis. "To transcend means to go beyond ordinary human limitations... this is just an inner quiet. It's not a trance." – Bob Roth [40:27]

13. The Mystery of the Mantra

• [41:03 – 42:44]
  • Mantras are chosen individually, have no meaning, and are kept private for focus.
  • “You’re just asked to keep it to yourself.” – Bob Roth [42:08]

14. Mind Wandering, ADHD, and Trauma

• [46:34 – 51:34]
  • Emma from Wisconsin worries she’s “doing it wrong” when her mind wanders during guided meditation. Bob: In TM, “mind wandering would be a problem [elsewhere], but in transcendental meditation, it’s an ADD or dream come true…” [48:49]
  • TM reduces anxiety and is especially helpful for ADHD, insomnia, and trauma.
  • “Stress is at the basis of cancer, heart disease… when you can reduce your cortisol levels significantly, then the ADD is... [helped].” – Bob Roth [49:17]

15. Meditation and Trauma Recovery

• [51:34 – 52:32]
  The David Lynch Foundation offers TM scholarships to veterans, first responders, and medical professionals to help with trauma and PTSD.
  • “In New York City, we’re working with the NYPD and the fire department… teaching doctors and nurses who are on the front lines… They all suffer from trauma.” – Bob Roth [50:37]

16. Meditation for New Parents

• [52:45 – 54:19]
  Benno from Connecticut is a “pretty anxious” new parent struggling to meditate. Bob: “If you tried a meditation and it hasn’t worked, don’t think that’s all meditations… check tm.org to find a teacher…” [53:21]

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Celebrity Meditation: The David Letterman Story

• [55:11 – 56:30] Bob describes teaching David Letterman, who was extremely skeptical at first, how to meditate at CBS. The result was a marked softening in Letterman’s demeanor.
  • “He talked about it all the time and he talked about it with Oprah and he was very appreciative. We ended up teaching a lot of members of his staff. And he still does it.” – Bob Roth [56:19]
  • Kelly noticed the shift: “There was a pivotal moment...David Letterman is like a new person.” [56:00]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “A 10-year-old kid can do it. You can be skeptical, you don’t have to believe a word... you can access it anyway.”
  – Bob Roth [16:44]
• “Jan and I have hit a brick wall. Loudly.”
  – Kelly Ripa [08:02]
• “It takes work. Yeah, it takes a lot of work, but...I wasn't always that way.”
  – Albert Bianchini on maintaining calm through meditation [22:17]
• “It just allows your nervous system to settle down very deeply...Transcend means to go beyond ordinary human limitations.”
  – Bob Roth [39:46, 40:27]
• “In transcendental meditation, it’s an ADD or dream come true because you don’t have to concentrate or control. You just mind just is drawn inward on its own volition.”
  – Bob Roth [48:49]
• “I really love the feeling… it's family, it's kind, it's gentle… It's a lovely, lovely experience.”
  – Bob Roth, appreciating the show [56:38]

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Practical Takeaways

• TM is simple, accessible, and does not require belief or perfection—just regular practice.
• Deep, physiological rest (via meditation) is essential for stress and trauma recovery, surpassing even sleep in some measures.
• Skeptics and restless minds are actually some of the best meditation students.
• Find a certified teacher and don’t judge meditation on early attempts with other styles.

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Important Timestamps

• Start of Meditation Segment: [07:41]
• Bob Roth on what meditation is (ocean analogy): [16:44]
• Brain science and meditation types: [19:41]
• Cortisol, stress, and physiological benefits: [30:35]
• TM for trauma and first responders: [51:34]
• David Letterman story: [55:11]
• Bob’s closing appreciation of the show: [56:38]

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Final Thoughts

This episode blends humor, skepticism, and deep insight into an engaging guide for anyone curious (or doubtful!) about meditation. Bob Roth demystifies the practice and provides practical entry points for listeners of all backgrounds. With real questions from listeners and colorful anecdotes, Kelly and her team make the journey toward inner peace feel surprisingly relatable—and even fun.

Recommended Resources:

• “Strength in Stillness” by Bob Roth
• The David Lynch Foundation (www.davidlynchfoundation.org)
• To explore learning TM: www.tm.org

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For stressed-out, skeptical, or simply curious listeners, “Meditation Bob: On Quieting Your Mind” is a must-hear—serving up laughter, validation, and much-needed hope for peace, both on and off camera.

Transcript

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[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Well, it turns out your nervous system can go the other way, can settle down deeply and peacefully. And so that's all you're doing. You're wide awake. If the dogs are barking. I've meditated at Yankee Stadium when it was a bad game.

[Kelly Ripa]

Stop it. You have not. You're able to settle your mind in Yankee Stadium.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

I do it in the backseat of cars. So many people in your profession do TM and they do it in the car going to work or car coming back or. Yeah, absolutely. Yankee Stadium.

[Kelly Ripa]

Somebody gonna cue me or do I cue myself? Cue yourself. Okay. Oh, we are back with another live. Yes, I said it live episode of let's Talk off camera. So let's get talk. Oh, my goodness. Well, well, well. We just did something really weird. Listeners, if you are driving, if you are preparing dinner, if you're just listening to this on a walk in the park, we did something so bonkers. What's it called, Ash? The don't laugh, try not to laugh challenge. So what we did was we brought things from home that we hid from one another. And we all take a big gulp of water and we hold it in our mouths and then we put objects on the table that we procure from home. Now, of course, Albert, I think, won. I think he beat us all. Just the sheer scope, the magnitude, the weirdness, the religiosity of it all.

[Albert Bianchini]

They had helpers at home that were doing it.

[Kelly Ripa]

I mean, curators had curators. I mean, I haven't seen one of those. What is that? Father God? Is that Father God statue? That's not Jesus.

[Albert Bianchini]

No, it's not. Jesus. Yes.

[Kelly Ripa]

We had one of those. That actually was a music box.

[Albert Bianchini]

Oh, no. Maybe this was one.

[Kelly Ripa]

So Father God. You wound up Father God. And he spun around and it was like Ave Maria played music box. Ave Maria.

[Albert Bianchini]

Well, this. The hand broke off this one. So I think I might get in a lot of trouble when it gets returned to my heart.

[Kelly Ripa]

Well, we can super glue it back.

[Albert Bianchini]

We can super glue it.

[Kelly Ripa]

Yeah, we'll super glue it. Here, Jan brought in. Well, yeah.

[Jan Chalet]

I didn't have anything at home. I've moved so many times that I don't have like that weird stuff in my house anymore.

[Kelly Ripa]

Well, you've made up for it for the weird stuff you keep under your desk.

[Jan Chalet]

I went to the props department and got busy. Brought some things. And then your assistant Lauren gave us.

[Kelly Ripa]

She's such a monster.

[Jan Chalet]

She gave us. You'll see this on our social media, but she gave us a doll. A Kelly doll.

[Kelly Ripa]

It's a puppet. It's a marionette puppet.

[Jan Chalet]

It is creepy af.

[Kelly Ripa]

I don't think it's creepy. I think she's lovely. She's wearing a mini Dionval Furstenberg dress and Prada shoes.

[Albert Bianchini]

You almost lost it when you saw the shoes.

[Kelly Ripa]

And now I want a bob because the puppet has a bob. Now I'm like, maybe I did look good with a bob. As if that puppet hair is my hair.

[Jan Chalet]

You had some weird. What was that the last thing you busted out?

[Kelly Ripa]

Yeah. I brought a hand carved meerkat.

[Sponsor Voice]

Yeah.

[Kelly Ripa]

Did you. Did you hand carve that? No, it was a gift. It was a gift. Yeah, it was a gift. What would be the occasion for us to receive a hand carved meerkat? It's a great question. We should ask my parents. Oh, okay. Yes, right. I. Of course. Straight from the bathroom floor of my parents house.

[Albert Bianchini]

The best. Hold on.

[Kelly Ripa]

Brought in the Gina Tay after bath splash. That's at least 70 years old. Yes, Here it is. You notice? I don't know why there's still so much of it, but I think because they only just use a splash. Because you just use a splash, it's.

[Albert Bianchini]

Meant to last a lifetime.

[Kelly Ripa]

Obviously it lasts generational lifetimes. Generational lifetimes.

[Jan Chalet]

The last thing you busted out was kind of funny too.

[Kelly Ripa]

Oh, yes, that's. Well, that was from our home. That is something that Mark and I brought our child back from Mexico. Which is. Which is. I don't really know how I'm seeing it. So I'm gonna describe it to you. But I need to hold it to describe it. It's like a Little wooden. It's actually a paper mache, like dia de muertos baby skull. It's a baby. It's a baby. Like, I don't really know it's a baby. It's a baby skeleton toy. Yes. And we gave it to our toddler and we were like, look, we brought you presents. We gave one to each of the kids. But he was the one that really liked. This is still in his room, by the way. Wow.

[Albert Bianchini]

Yeah, I spit out the second that came out before he even fully got.

[Sponsor Voice]

Out of the bed.

[Kelly Ripa]

Well, you spit out your water as soon as you saw me carrying my things in a purse so full on.

[Albert Bianchini]

Sofia Petrello from the Golden Girls. Kelly came up like a true Italian. Clutching a purse.

[Kelly Ripa]

Clutching a purse.

[Albert Bianchini]

It's your life.

[Kelly Ripa]

Well, I didn't want you fools looking in my bag and having advanced idea of what I had in there.

[Jan Chalet]

Oh, I mean, we all know I hate to lose, but I lost this one.

[Albert Bianchini]

Jan, you were spitting out on your own eyes.

[Kelly Ripa]

You were spitting out water before the. I mean, before you were just. As soon as you put water in your mouth, you sprayed it out.

[Jan Chalet]

I either spat the water out. Spat.

[Kelly Ripa]

Or.

[Jan Chalet]

Or I started, like choking it down.

[Kelly Ripa]

Yes, I know. At one point I was concerned. I was like, oh, no, she's aspirating on water. Now what? Now what do we do? Today's podcast will be canceled.

[Albert Bianchini]

Everyone was asking me if I was going to bring the glass eye this time, which I didn't.

[Kelly Ripa]

When I saw the bag, you know what I thought?

[Albert Bianchini]

So what was it, Kelly?

[Kelly Ripa]

It was bronzed teeth. What was that?

[Albert Bianchini]

It was a gold tooth cuff cap from my mom's house.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

I don't know who it was.

[Albert Bianchini]

Like a grandparent or something.

[Kelly Ripa]

We don't know who's.

[Albert Bianchini]

No, they hold on to all of that.

[Kelly Ripa]

They look like baby teeth. I'm just telling you. Listen, I am a mother, and I'm also a daughter. I know the difference between older parents teeth and baby teeth.

[Albert Bianchini]

And what about the Ten Commandments bracelet?

[Kelly Ripa]

The Ten Commandments bracelet is my favorite. I may not give that back to Elaine. That may have to reside.

[Albert Bianchini]

Everybody came to play with this game. Came to play.

[Kelly Ripa]

I mean, what was the foot?

[Jan Chalet]

The foot was from the box department.

[Kelly Ripa]

Jan's. That's from Jan's WikiFeet page.

[Jan Chalet]

It was a mannequin foot with toes.

[Kelly Ripa]

With toes. With toes. A mannequin. How often do you see mannequins with toes?

[Jan Chalet]

And it. It balanced itself on its toe, which was very nice.

[Kelly Ripa]

I noticed it was Gorgeous, Jan, it was gorgeous.

[Jan Chalet]

And I also, Ashley provided it with me. A cowbell with your name on it.

[Albert Bianchini]

Yes. That was the best.

[Kelly Ripa]

I was like, is all of this stuff me centric? Jan, do you have any stuff that I might find funny?

[Albert Bianchini]

Oh, so good.

[Kelly Ripa]

Well, now that we've worked our audience into a froth, it's time to calm them down. I think that's what we're going to do today. Jan and I are going to be completely honest with today's gu. You know, when it comes to our inner peace and quieting our minds, we have hit a brick wall. Loudly.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Very loud.

[Kelly Ripa]

Very loud brick wall. Jan and I have a lot going on in our lives. We've had a lot going on for decades together. We have side by side, lived parallel lives separately together. And I don't even need to ask Jan what's going on because I can internally feel what's going on because the two of us have that kind of life. Life. Lives life together. Anyway, this is why we are relying on Albert, who has really curated today's show for us.

[Albert Bianchini]

It's an important show. It's a very important show.

[Kelly Ripa]

Okay, tell, tell us why.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Because there's.

[Albert Bianchini]

We live in a very complex world and we weren't built to live in a world with all of the social media, all the noise that is surrounding us constantly. We need ways of coping and a lot of people just avoid the one thing which is they're dealing with their brain and their thoughts. They let their thoughts just take over their life and they're driven by them. And there's no center, there's no peaceful center that they live in that they resonate with. And I found meditation. And I just think it's one of the best things that's ever come into my life. I did it because I needed it at the time. And. Yeah, and then we'll, we'll let you get to who we have on. But this is, this is just a very important topic. And I know a lot of people are doing it and a lot of people are finding there's a lot of health benefits to it, which we'll get to. There's just a lot of great reasons to help quiet the mind and be centered.

[Kelly Ripa]

Well, you know, we had, we had Oprah on this year podcast. You remember that chance?

[Albert Bianchini]

Yes.

[Kelly Ripa]

Yeah. And Albert, I can't remember how it came up, but you were saying that you had seen an episode.

[Albert Bianchini]

Well, so she did these 21 day meditation programs years ago where she and Deepak did a series of meditations that she would do the introduction. He would then speak about a certain topic, and then you would meditate. And I thought, oh, that's interesting. Let me listen to the preamble. And then go into it. And it really just sucked me right in. And there's a mantra that they give you, which you then replay over and over in your mind, which a lot of people do. And it's. And I then went off and create, you know, found my own mantra. And then. I obviously don't use any of the preamble, but for 20 minutes every single morning of my life, I sit there and I repeat the mantra and it gets noisy, and it's not always perfect. And there are mornings where the mantra flies away and then I have to bring it back. But. And then I don't want to get into too much of it. The semantics of it. But what someone explained to me is coming back to that mantra. The muscle that brings you back from the noise. The noise, the noise to the mantra, which is centered, is the muscle that you can use throughout the entire day when something stressful happens to you, you get back to a centered place.

[Kelly Ripa]

And what is your mantra, Albert?

[Albert Bianchini]

I'm not gonna tell you my mantra.

[Kelly Ripa]

I'm determined to get. There's two things in my life that I wanna get out of. Albert and Kyle. I want Albert's.

[Albert Bianchini]

You'll hear why in a little while.

[Kelly Ripa]

I want Albert's mantra and I want Kyle's age. These are the two things that I am determined to crack.

[Albert Bianchini]

You'll never get Kyle's age.

[Kelly Ripa]

I'll figure it out. I'm getting closer every year. Every year I'm getting a little bit closer. But anyway, that's my perspective.

[Albert Bianchini]

But there's way more. Impressive person on this.

[Kelly Ripa]

Oprah introduced you to meditation Bob.

[Albert Bianchini]

Yep. Meditation Bob.

[Kelly Ripa]

Otherwise known as Bob Roth.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Yes.

[Kelly Ripa]

Okay. So he is the man that is going to convert us, Jan.

[Jan Chalet]

It's gonna be a hard thing.

[Kelly Ripa]

It's gonna be a hard thing to do.

[Jan Chalet]

I don't understand why I can't go for a run. And that clears my head.

[Kelly Ripa]

Right? I take. I. You know, why can't that be my. Why can't our runs, hikes, or dance training be our form of meditation?

[Jan Chalet]

I'd like to hear what he says.

[Kelly Ripa]

I want to hear it, too. Okay, so let's. Let's get to it. This is the guy. This is the number one guy. I mean, we've.

[Albert Bianchini]

Meditation Bob.

[Kelly Ripa]

This is Meditation Bob.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Bob Roth.

[Kelly Ripa]

He's the CEO of the David Lynch Foundation. He's a new York Times bestselling author. He's taught everyone from business titans to, of course, as we mentioned, Oprah, another business titan. And Albert, of course, discovered Meditation Bob through his friend Oprah. And if anybody can give Jan and me the tools that we need, it will be Meditation Bob.

[Albert Bianchini]

I'm assuming if there's anyone that can.

[Kelly Ripa]

Do it, I think he's going to have to anesthetize us. I think he's actually going to have to like with a dart. Like with a dart. Like they tranquilize, Right, exactly. In the wild, that's how he's going to do it. But listen, listeners, we have the phone lines, we're going to open them. You can ask Bob all of your burning questions about stress, sleep, shutting down, the noise, the noise in our minds. So let's get to Meditation Bob. Unless you know what Meditation Bob, did we just put you to sleep?

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

No. I gotta say that's probably the. The most unusual and perhaps best introduction I've ever had.

[Albert Bianchini]

That was really.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Yeah, that was really good. That was really good.

[Kelly Ripa]

Which, what did it. Was it the Ten Commandments bracelet?

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

I think it was the Body Splash. I think genote. I mean, generations of that. And I'm surprised that much actually did get used.

[Kelly Ripa]

Yeah, I mean, listen, I think my parents considered this. This is like what. This is like from the Red Sea. This was like you just for special occasions.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

It's from Pompeii.

[Kelly Ripa]

Exactly. Yes.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

One thing left over intact from Pompeii.

[Kelly Ripa]

So, you know, Jan, Albert, everyone. Meditation Bob. I was at a dinner party many, many years ago and I sat next to a woman and everybody went around the table and had to say what they do for a living, which I always dread and hate. Because what I do for a living is so that I find that I typically lie. I always try to say something else I don't say, you know, now I've taken. Because in London they call us TV presenters, so I think that sounds much better. I just say I'm a presenter and people are stupefied and then they move along because they don't know what that means. But the woman next to me, to my immediate right, said that she was a tm. She was into tm. She was. And she. Then she said something that I didn't understand. She said she was double transcendental. And I. And I was totally perplexed by what that meant. And the sort of non. Explanations she gave me left me with, I think, a prolonged bad idea of what meditation is in my mind. And perhaps that is why I am resistant. Bob, what do you say to people like Jan and me who are convinced we cannot quiet our minds?

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

There are different, it's good question. There are different types of meditation. Many people say, I'm not skeptical that meditation works. I just can't do it. Doesn't work for me. I've tried it. I've tried to clear my mind of thoughts, I've tried to settle down and I listen to an app that makes me feel and I get jittery, I get antsy. My answer is there are basic three different types of meditation according to brain research, and two of them are very difficult to do. I use the analogy, Kelly, of a cross section of an ocean where you have choppy waves on the surface, but quiet at its depth. Nose meditation. And that's like the mind is act. Gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta mind. You've got your kids, you got the show, you got your husband, gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta. But an ocean also has a vertical dimension. There's silent at its depth there. And so the mind, our hypothesis is you have that active gotta, gotta, gotta monkey mind. And there are types of meditations that try to calm, that stop waves. Very difficult. A lot of people can't do it. Transcendental meditation hypothesizes that deep inside you and Jen and Albert and everybody on this, listening deep inside right now you have a level where your mind is already calm, settled, peaceful, alert. It's there, just lost access to it. And Transcendental Meditation, or TM, is a simple effort. A 10 year old kid can do it. A simple effortless technique that just allows you to settle down and experience that quiet that lies within. You can be skeptical. You don't have to believe a word. You can think, everything I just said is a crock. Doesn't matter, you can access it anyway.

[Kelly Ripa]

How long does it take on average to teach a person who is completely shut off from their inner silent ocean, like Jan and me?

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

One hour. It takes to learn. It's practiced for a few minutes twice a day, 15, 20 minutes in the morning and in the evening. It takes about one hour a day over four consecutive days from a trained teacher to teach you how to do it. And again, I want to say I teach kids with adhd. I teach kids on autism Spectrum disorder. I teach, we're working with whole range of people with, you know, great successful, very successful people and people who have a lot of difficulty in their life, challenges in their life. And it works for everyone.

[Kelly Ripa]

And what is the one commonality when you are teaching someone that I'm just going to put us all in a box. People who believe they cannot meditate. What is the one commonality my favorite.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

People to teach my favorite people, because they come in skeptical and they come in with zero expect. They have hopes, but zero expectations. Oh, I never be able to do this. It often happens, Kelly, that the. A wife or a woman starts, and then she brings her. Wants her partner to come in, and the partner is there under duress. I'm here because, you know, Beverly wants me to. Yeah. Wants me. And. And I. Fine. Great. And so those. I think the commonality is they don't think that they can do it and they can jam.

[Jan Chalet]

Is it like a hypnosis or.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

I don't.

[Jan Chalet]

I'm trying to understand.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Okay, so do I. All right, so I'm going to explain. So most meditations, that cross section of the ocean analogy, and then the quiet depth. First of all, some people say, what do you mean? I taught. This Wall street guy said, what are you talking about? A quiet level of my mind. What. What are you talking about? And I said, do you have a good intuition? And he said, yeah, I think so. He was a trader. And I said, someone gives you an idea and you're going to invest in it, and it makes good sense on a surface level of your mind. And then you think about it later and you say, I don't want to do it. And the guy says, why? He said, it doesn't feel right. Kelly or Jan, you ever had that where something doesn't feel right and you don't do it? That's a quieter level, literally all the time. And you know what? You're going to be a great meditator. That is a quieter level of your mind. And the hypothesis is even deeper than that. Right now there's a level where your mind is completely settled. And so hypnosis is altering. It's a cognitive process that means you're playing around with the waves. You're teaching yourself to think away or not think away. Transcendental meditation is more of a physiological thing. It gives your body a state of rest and relaxation twice as deep as the deepest part of deep sleep. And that is phenomenal for getting rid of the accumulated stress and tension and chronic stress of daily life.

[Kelly Ripa]

Can you, like, have they studied. And again, Bob, I don't know the answer to this. I'm just asking this question. Have they studied brains in, you know, in CAT scans to see, like, the effects of meditation on 100?

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

So many studies.

[Kelly Ripa]

And what do they show? What does it reveal?

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Well, the three different. Again, there's three different types of meditation. One is called focused attention. That's where you're trying to concentrate and clear your mind of thoughts. That's like stopping the waves on the ocean. And that creates something called gamma brainwaves. That's about 20 to 50 cycles per second, Kelly. That's when you're really concentrating. The other one is called open monitoring. And that's where you're just sort of sitting quietly and mulling over the day and sort of a dreamlike state. And that's theta brainwaves. And that's four to eight cycles per second. That means it goes up four to eight times a second. And that is a sort of a restful state. And then the third, Transcendental meditation, is completely different style of functioning. It's called Alpha One. Eight to ten cycles per second. And that's where your body is profoundly relaxed and your mind is wide awake and peaceful. So they sheet three different distinct types of meditation.

[Kelly Ripa]

You literally just described Jan's personality, my personality, and Albert's personality just in brainwash.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

How so? How so? How so?

[Kelly Ripa]

Just because Jan is a very. She is the most high functioning person I have ever met in my life. She can do 800 things at the same time. She can also simultaneously be suffering from appendicitis and need surgery. And she won't. You won't register on her face. You won't know about it. Nothing will. She'll just disappear. And you're like, where's Jan? And they said, oh, they rushed her out on a stretcher. You would never know. She doesn't register.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Okay, I have to pause.

[Kelly Ripa]

Pause.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

How long have you known Jan?

[Kelly Ripa]

25 years.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Best friends, like besties for.

[Kelly Ripa]

She's like my sister.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

That's great.

[Kelly Ripa]

Okay, like my sister. Like, but like closer. Like, I tell her things that I would never tell my sister.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

All right. Albert.

[Kelly Ripa]

Albert is like my brother.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

No, but you were gonna say, how is Albert like?

[Kelly Ripa]

Albert is like what you described as transcendental meditation. He just sort of does. He's un. You know, he's just a very calm, relaxed person. He is a very. But he's always. He's always happy. He's happy to the point where, frankly, it irritates the rest of us. But he's a very peaceful person.

[Albert Bianchini]

It takes work. Yeah, it takes a lot of work, but. Yes. I wasn't always that way.

[Kelly Ripa]

I. I don't know. I've only known you this way.

[Albert Bianchini]

Yeah.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

You know, we have. We talk about people using that cross section of the ocean. We talk. It's like this up here. Heated, heated, heated. And you go to a park and you say, oh, that little. Some kid's having a temper tantrum. You go, oh, that kid's a hothead. That kid is boiling over with rage. But we also know the term cooler minds will prevail. Cool, calm and collected. And we want to have that inner stability, that inner equanimity, and also the outer ability to crush it, to really do what needs to be done, have the energy, the focus. And we want both.

[Kelly Ripa]

Well, we're going to get to both. We're going to learn how to crush it, and we're going to take a commercial break and take callers. That's right, callers. We are here hanging out, learning how to meditate with meditation. Bob we'll be right back.

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[Kelly Ripa]

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[Jan Chalet]

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[Kelly Ripa]

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[Caller Gary]

This is a wonderful subject. Thanks so much for taking my call. I live on the lake that on Golden Pond was filmed at. So I'm looking at some nice foliage and I, I what my issue is, I'm a recently retired man and I find that what I think worked for me in life was always was also the thing that really detracted me from inner peace. I was over very responsible. I think about all scenarios. I'm the organizer, I'm the doer. But I find that busy ticker tape in my mind when I'm trying to go to sleep and turn off the world that, that you know, well, if this doesn't happen then I'll have to do that and it's all well intended, but I really want to think more of the domino of, well, if this, this is rather come in for a landing in my peaceful head and be hopeful, give myself a nourishing good night's sleep, which is as important as the diet that I try to stay on and wake peaceful and fulfilled and ready for the day. And I find there's a little bit of a block there.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

The thing is that's rumination. They call it rumination when you're thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking. You can't stop thinking. People ruminate when they have a breakup. People ruminate when they've changed their jobs or moved. It's just, and it gets frustrating and frustrating and frustrating. And it's just in that cross section of the ocean analogy, it's like just being stuck on that surface waves. And we try to do things, we self medicate ourselves with alcohol or drugs or it could be anything, gambling, anything like that, some addictive personality. Or we listen to music, which is fine. The purpose of meditation, transcendental meditation, is to go beneath the waves, to settle down underneath the waves. If you've ever scuba dived or snorkeled, it can be stormy weather on the surface and you're just a few feet under the water. If you've ever had that and it's, you'd never know it's storming up there and you've got your scuba, I mean your snorkel and it's beautiful. And so what TM does is it just effortlessly allows the mind to sort of dive within. And that will have a huge effect because when your mind settles down, your body gets this deep rest. And that's what you need to get rid of that buildup of stress and heal trauma. Deep rest to get rid of that and you'll feel better. There's a lot of research and a matter of fact, I was just in a. I'm in New York and we're talking with a number of universities here to do major study on the effects of transcendental meditation on insomnia, on women's Alzheimer's dementia, on chronic stress, on postmenopausal issues. A lot of stress, because you just get that access to that inner quiet. So that can help you a lot. And you're lucky to be living where you're living. But you want to have that inner peace now. Access it so that you can really enjoy it even more. And congratulations though on your retirement.

[Kelly Ripa]

Gary, have you picked up Bob's book Strength and Stillness?

[Caller Gary]

No, I'm going to, yeah.

[Kelly Ripa]

You should pick up that book. And also, if you need help, just if you want a rumination partner, I can come visit you and we can just ruminate together. Yes, we can ruminate together if you want.

[Jan Chalet]

I mean, that's what I do at night. Like, I'll keep, keep. I'll keep so busy all the day, and then when I lie down, all of a sudden, then I'm like, okay.

[Kelly Ripa]

What do I need to do?

[Jan Chalet]

Like, that's when all of it rushes to me and I take a trazodone.

[Kelly Ripa]

And I go to jail.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Here's an interesting thing. That cortisol levels, which is your anxiety or stress hormone, you've heard cortisol? Yeah, you need some cortisol. But cortisol, we bottle it, we have so much, and it just keeps us buzzing and buzzing. And someone says, you have everything. You should enjoy your life. What are you so anxious about? Well, it's like having someone drink five espressos and say, calm down. You have so much cortisol, it fuels that. And when you go to get a good night's sleep, if you get a good night's sleep, cortisol levels drop like, like 10%. And in 20 minutes of TM, it drops 30 to 40% and stays down. So this meditation, transcendental meditation, is not some mental gyrations. It's a physiological rest that you're giving your body and that allow deep rest is what allows the body to heal itself.

[Kelly Ripa]

Are we allowed to sleep during this process or sometimes?

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

No. You're allowed to. Yeah. If you're deep in meditation, your body is very rested and you doze off to sleep, it's fine, it's healing and you could sleep for a couple of minutes and then you finish your meditation feeling more refreshed.

[Kelly Ripa]

Gary, Jan and I are going to come to Golden Pond. We are going to sit with you, we're going to call Bob and he is going to teach us how to do this.

[Albert Bianchini]

Take Bob with you.

[Kelly Ripa]

Bob, do you want to go to on Golden Pond?

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

You love the movie.

[Caller Gary]

A little aside and then I'll let you go. My mom and dad bought this cottage 61 years ago. And the mailboat, it's on an island. You can only get there by boat. It's only two miles from the mainland. But the last mailboat stop was yesterday morning. And so we have a mailboat that delivers the mail from June until September. And I have coffee and muffins for them on the dock because sightseers come as well.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

So sweet.

[Kelly Ripa]

Gary, no problem. We can swim. We Are strong swimmers.

[Albert Bianchini]

Kelly and Jan are going to bring the female boat.

[Kelly Ripa]

Will be. Yes, we'll bring the female boat. All right, Gary, thank you so much for your call. Let's go to David. David and Austin. David, are you there? Hi.

[Caller Gary]

Yes, I'm here.

[Kelly Ripa]

You're on with meditation, Bob. Yeah, Hi.

[Caller Gary]

So I just started taking this meditation class in college. It's called Learning frameworks, and I have a few questions about meditation learning more.

[Caller Kyle]

And more about it.

[Kelly Ripa]

What are your questions?

[Caller Gary]

Should do meditate every day, and should you. Is it good to meditate before an upcoming test?

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Well, the word meditation just basically means thinking. So you can have transcendental meditation, which is quiet thinking. You can have mindfulness meditation, you can have horseback meditation, and you can have many different things. It depends upon what you're doing. But if you find whatever it is you're doing has a calming effect.

[Albert Bianchini]

Yeah.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Then do it before your. Do it before your test. That's fine. They say that for learning the best brain wave sort of st to Kelly's comment about what happens to the brain, they call it restful alertness is the best for when you're interviewing someone. Kelly, when you're listening to your kids, when you're studying, restful alertness means you're settled inside and wide awake and you're taking things in and you're not judging right away. And what's my next question? And that is perfect for an exam. So I. I don't know about other meditations, but I know that transcendental meditation immediately gives that experience of restful alertness, and that carries on after the meditation. That's a really important point. We don't meditate for the sake of meditation. Kelly, Jane, Albert, and Dave, we meditate for the eight, ten hours afterwards.

[Kelly Ripa]

That's such a good point. I. It's funny because I think, like, I think of meditation the way it's been sort of presented to me, the way Mark does it, or I don't. I never see Mark do it, but I know he does do it every day. I know Albert does it every day. Kyle does it every day. The way it's presented or the way I think about it is as if you're taking an exercise class, but that's not correct is what you're saying.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

It's more like you pull the arrow on a bow back 18 inches. Pull it back, and then it flies 50 yards. So you take this few minutes to settle down effortlessly. Key word is effortlessly. And then when you come out of it and the students find that their grades we teach a lot of students. Grades go up, people. Again, decision making. You need clear thinking if you're going to make a decision and if you're going to be listening. I mean, your whole career is based on listening and asking the next insightful question to move the conversation along. And that requires that restful alertness and meditation is key for that.

[Kelly Ripa]

David, was that helpful to you? I suggest. I'm going to say that I keep saying this to all of you, our callers, but if you want to pick up Bob's book, I really think it might benefit you if you want to, you know, begin somewhere, or you could.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

All meet on Golden Pond, or you.

[Kelly Ripa]

Can meet us in New Hampshire at Gary's house if you're a strong swimmer. We have to wait. Otherwise we have to wait until June to get there.

[Caller Gary]

David, that would.

[Caller Kyle]

I'm here.

[Caller Gary]

I was about to say I was very helpful.

[Kelly Ripa]

Yeah. Make sure. Try to pick up strength and stillness. I think it'll help you.

[Caller Gary]

Oh. Oh, okay.

[Kelly Ripa]

Thanks for the call.

[Caller Gary]

Thank you very much.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Thank you.

[Kelly Ripa]

They appreciate it. We've got Kyle.

[Albert Bianchini]

He's on the train. We may lose your Kyle.

[Kelly Ripa]

Kyle's on the train. Oh, my gosh. Bob, the famous. The famous partner of Albert Kyle is calling from the train. Kyle, you're on with Bob Ross.

[Caller Kyle]

Well, I have to say, first of all, it's such a huge honor to be on with Kelly and everyone in that room and Bob Roth, who. I admire that. This is the voice that got me and so many people through the pandemic, listening to Bob's voice on these massive group meditations that people could access via zoom and all sorts of other methods. It was truly amazing what you put together, Bob, during a time of need. So I just want to say thank you for that.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Caller Kyle]

My question is timing the meditations. I know that it's supposed to be 20 minutes, and we have a gentle way in and a gentle way out, which I love, but I'm never sure how to time it right so that I know it's time to stop. I know we're not supposed to really.

[Caller Gary]

Set an alarm, but what's the best.

[Caller Kyle]

Way to make sure that I'm, you know, ready to be done after 20 minutes? But it's not something that's on my mind during the actual meditation.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Well, it is a. See, what happens is you do it for 20 minutes and the mind settles down and your body gets this deep rest and sort of you're engaged in it, you're enjoying it. It's not like, it takes forever. Kelly, I'm going to answer your question, Kelly. So many people, they, first thing they say, sit for 20 minutes. Are you out of your mind?

[Kelly Ripa]

Exactly.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

If I close my eyes for two minutes, I'm just going jump out of my skin again. That's if you're doing nothing on the surface. But it's so settling and engaging and comfortable to settle down. And so the 20 minutes passes quickly. But I find that there's a, there's an app that's free. It's a David lynch foundation has, it's called DLF Timer Meditation and DLF Timer Meditation on the App Store. And it gives you just a faint chime after 20 minutes and that lets you know to come out. But you can use it or else you just open your eyes and check to see what time it is. I, I, here's one other thing. This hedge, this Wall street guy, when I told him, okay, during tm, your mind settles down to this inner calm, this inner settled state. And he's, and you do it for 20 minutes, said, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Where are you going? Where are you going for those 20 minutes? How do I know when my 20 minutes are up? And I said, look at your watch. You're not going anywhere. You're just settling down. You just, we know kids can go from zero to 60. You know, they can just temper tramp in an instant. Your nervous system, your, it's called your sympathetic nervous system. Your fight or flight can just inflame. Well, it turns out your nervous system can go the other way, can settle down deeply and peacefully. And so that's all you're doing. You're wide awake if the dogs are barking. I've, I've done, I've meditated at Yankee Stadium when it was a bad game.

[Albert Bianchini]

Game.

[Kelly Ripa]

Stop it. You have not. You're able to settle your mind in Yankee Stadium.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

I do it in the back seat of cars. So many people in your profession do TM and they do it in the car going to work or car coming back or. Yeah, absolutely. Yankee Stadium.

[Kelly Ripa]

Jan. Yeah, I might.

[Jan Chalet]

So it doesn't take you out of. Because I'm still thinking it's like a trance.

[Kelly Ripa]

Yeah, I know.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

No, it's excited, heated.

[Jan Chalet]

Yeah.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

You know, you even tell your kids when they're young, you go into your room, you have a timeout out. You need a timeout. Why? You're just going to settle, your nervous system is going to settle down. And so this just allows your nervous system to settle down very deeply. The word Transcendental. That's where the trance. But it meet. To transcend means to go beyond ordinary human limitations. And we love transcendent moments. When you hold your newborn child in your arms or you're looking, you're out camping or something at your on Golden Pond and you see the full. You see the Milky Way, something so beautiful, so tender. That's a transcendent moment. Someone inner quiet. So this is just an inner quiet. It's not a trance, Jan, I feel.

[Kelly Ripa]

Like we have to do this ourselves.

[Jan Chalet]

Well, wait, I do have a question. Wait, is Kyle still on?

[Sponsor Voice]

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[Kelly Ripa]

Kyle, are you still there?

[Caller Gary]

Yeah.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Where was going?

[Kelly Ripa]

Kyle, I have a quick question for you. Yeah. Where are you going?

[Caller Kyle]

First of all, I am heading back from work in Long Island. I'm heading back into the city.

[Caller Gary]

Oh.

[Kelly Ripa]

Oh, okay. Okay. So here's my question for you, Kyle.

[Caller Kyle]

Yeah.

[Kelly Ripa]

What is your mantra?

[Caller Kyle]

So the mantra is as secret as my fraternity handshake from usc. I can't.

[Jan Chalet]

Why are they all secret? What does that mean? It sound creepy, I know.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

No, no, here's the deal. When you learn it, you're. You're. You're give a. I should tell you, a mantra is a sound. It's a word, couple syllables, that has no meaning associated with. With it. It's a nice soothing sound that's been used for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. And so there are many, many dozens of them. They have no meaning. And a teacher like myself, or there's thousands of teachers, certified teachers around the country, when they teach you, they select right sound, a sound for you based on meeting with them. And they teach you how to use it properly. They ask you when you learn, please keep this to yourself. Why? Because it just. It just someone says, hey Bob, what's your mantra? And I know they're not serious about it. Then I, you know, go online, make up anything. But if you're interested in tm, find a teacher and get the mantra and how to use it properly. So it's not like you sign your life away. You're just asked to keep it to yourself.

[Jan Chalet]

Can I ask you what is like, what's one mantra? Yeah, like what's a typical mantra?

[Kelly Ripa]

Mantra.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

No, Om is a sound that people call as a typical mantra. It, it or. But there could be. But it's not that. But that's something. But it's a sound that has no meaning. And you just use it, Jan, in this quiet, you're not pounding away in this effortless, easy way. And you think it. And then you lose it and you come back to it and you lose it. And that just allows your attention to just start to be drawn inward. And when your mind settles down, your body gets deep rest. And I know you wanted to talk about trauma. Trauma and how it heals trauma.

[Kelly Ripa]

Yes. We're gonna, we're gonna take a commercial break. Before we do, I just need to ask Kyle one more question. How old are you, Kyle?

[Caller Kyle]

Yeah, I'm so. Wait, say it again.

[Kelly Ripa]

How old are you? What is your age?

[Caller Kyle]

Personal, Just like my fraternity handshake.

[Kelly Ripa]

We're going to take a commercial break. We're going to talk about the response they get, the trauma and meditation and how meditation can be healing, healing for trauma.

[Jan Chalet]

And how he got David Letterman to quiet down.

[Kelly Ripa]

He got David Letterman to quiet down his brain. We will be back with Bob Roth. That's right, Meditation, Bob. And we'll take more questions when we return. Stick around. Did you know that over 50% of medical bills have errors? Every year, Americans lose more than $325 billion to billing errors, wrongful denials and fraud. But now there's a simple way to fight back with healthlock Plus. It's the first and only platform that automatically scans every medical bill and insurance claim in real time across more than 250 carriers. If it finds an error with just one click, it notifies real advocates to handle the calls, file the appeals and get results. And you don't have to do a thing. Healthlock plus even looks back six months to find hidden savings already missed. Members can save an average of 800 to $3,000 per year. And one membership protects the entire household, backed by a 60 day guarantee. Right now, listeners can get 10% off off for the life of their membership. Go to HealthLockPlus.com off camera for this special offer and sign up to protect your family today. That's HealthLockPlus.com off camera. If you know anything about me, it's that I love to do laundry. It just gives me such satisfaction. But did you also know that skincare can start in the laundry room? The first step of a sensitive skincare routine is choosing the right laundry detergent. All Free Clear is the number one detergent brand recommended by dermatologists for sensitive skin. Allfree Clear is 100% free of dyes and fragrance allergens. It provides an effective clean that's gentle on the skin while removing impurities like dirt and body oil that can irritate your skin. It's made with eight carefully selected ingredients to fight stains and be gentle on skin. How great is that? Allfreeclear has been a game changer for me. It leaves my clothes feeling fresh and my skin feeling happy. I especially love that it doesn't give my laundry a strong artificial odor like some other brands, you know what I mean? For an effective skin friendly clean wash with all free clear.

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[Kelly Ripa]

We are back, back, back with the CEO of the David lynch foundation, the New York Times best selling author and our own personal guru at this point, Jan Meditation. Bob is here. He is answering our questions. We've got Emma from Wisconsin on the line. Emma, you're on with Bob Roth.

[Caller Emma]

Oh, hi, how are you?

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Hi, Emma.

[Caller Emma]

Here's my question. I have tried meditation a lot of times, but what happens is I do like a guided meditation, but then what happens is that my mind wanders and then I stop listening to the meditation prompts and then all of a sudden it's like 10 minutes later. Is that still technically meditating or am I doing it wrong? Because I feel like I'm doing it wrong.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Well, there's different types of meditation, as I said from the beginning. And some meditations are concentration forms of meditation. They want you to create clear your mind of thoughts or calm your mind. And it's like saying with the ocean analogy, if you want to have a calm ocean, what disrupts a calm ocean wave? So stop the waves and then you'll have a calm ocean. Ocean. You want to have a calm mind. What disrupts a calm mind? Thoughts. Stop thoughts. You'll have a calm mind. Very difficult to do because they say your mind is a monkey and you have to Corolla corral it. It's jumping everywhere. In TM we understand that the mind is actually not a monkey. The mind naturally seeks something more satisfying. You're sitting in your son's room and you're listening on a computer. You're doing something, some work and in the other room some exquisite music comes on. Where's your attention go? Your attention is just drawn to that beautiful music. Or you go on a vacation and you bring two books and one book is so bad you can't read a word. The Other book is great. Hours go by. So we say, given the opportunity, your mind will naturally be drawn to something more satisfying. And inside. Inside is a nice place. In Transcendental meditation, we learn how to give the attention of the mind an inward direction. Like you teach a child how to dive, take the correct angle and in you go. So in TM inward direction and without any effort whatsoever, your attention just gently and naturally settles down. And you know that's happening because your body gains a state of rest deeper than sleep. So in one type of meditation, your mind wandering would be a problem. But in transcendental meditation, it's an ADD or dream come true because you don't have to concentrate or control. You just mind just is drawn inward on its own volition.

[Kelly Ripa]

That's interesting. I wonder. I wonder because I think I'm very much like Emma. I feel like the few times that Albert has tried to teach me how to meditate, my mind immediately wanders.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Wanders, wanders, wonders.

[Kelly Ripa]

It doesn't. But when you said the ADD mind, I bet a lot of people probably, instead of going on medication, probably come to seek your true treatment or probably is. Does that happen a lot?

[Albert Bianchini]

Yes.

[Caller Gary]

Yes.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Because here's the thing. Anxiety is at the basis of so many disorders. I mean, it's at the basis of. I. I taught Michael J. Fox. Michael J. Fox has been meditating now for 10 years. Has it influenced his Parkinson's? Maybe a little. What has changed his quality of life? Because his anxiety levels have gone down and now he can appreciate what he has, has. And people who are. Have insomnia, they. Anxiety just makes that even worse. I can't sleep. Any number of issues or disorders. Stress is at the basis of cancer, heart disease. So when you can reduce your cortisol levels significantly, then the ADD is poor. Kids with ADD or adhd, they get anxious and it gets much worse. So it's at the basis of addressing so many problems that we have have. And many people are sent to learn TM from their therapists, right? From their doctors who say, you should really learn this. I don't want to put your son on medicine for the rest of his life. Let's try this first.

[Kelly Ripa]

We touch. We touched this a little bit. Go ahead. Yeah.

[Jan Chalet]

Have you seen it help with people who have trauma in their lives.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Huge. We work. We work with the David lynch foundation, provides scholarships. We teach veterans for free. Tens of thousands of veterans who suffer from post traumatic stress disorders.

[Albert Bianchini]

Order.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

And the research that was funded by the Department of Defense and published in the top journal showed that transcendental meditation was more effective than the, than the gold standard treatments for people with, with ptsd. In New York City, we're working with the New York Police Department and the fire department. We're teaching doctors and nurses who are on the front lines in emergency rooms and intensive care units who all suffer from trauma. And, and Jan, how does it work? It accesses a mechanism. We're hardwired. This is not something you get good at after two months, within those first few days, you access that mechanism for your body to get deep rest. You get that brainwave, coherent brainwave pattern and that dissolves the buildup of stress and tension and trauma that sleep and drugs don't get rid of. Medicines are fine, but it needs to be added to the toolbox. It needs to be added to what we're doing.

[Kelly Ripa]

It's such an extraordinary thing that the David lynch foundation is doing for people, you know, especially people that have served our country or that serve the citizens of their neighborhoods every day. I think it's so important. It's such a wonderful thing that you're doing.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

You know, more firefighters commit suicide than lose, lose their lives. Life on the job.

[Kelly Ripa]

Well, think about that job and how incredibly stressful it is and how if it doesn't go right, it's the worst case scenario and the amount of suffering they are exposed to. On the, on a day to day.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Basis, you and I, we may experience. Normal people experience two or three traumatic experiences in our life and first responders, even more than many veterans, 180 to 200 in a lifetime. And there's no way to get rid of it. I mean, except for that meditation helps. Transcendental meditation helps a ton, I think.

[Kelly Ripa]

I'm not sure if Emma is still there. Emma, thank you for your call. We're going to go to Benno, who's in Connecticut. Benno, hi, you're on with Bob Roth.

[Caller Kyle]

Hi, how are you?

[Kelly Ripa]

Hi.

[Caller Benno]

I am calling in. You know, I've been trying to deal with my anxiety at baseline. I'm pretty anxious. But then after having a child, that anxiety has gone through the roof. And a good friend of mine recommended meditation. And I find it really particularly hard after our son was born to meditate. If it's not that we have to attend to his needs. Is that when he, when we don't have to do that, we are trying to catch up on our sleep. So staying awake, awake during meditation, it's extra hard. So I was wondering if you have any tips to new parents on how to meditate.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

I would just like to say if you tried a meditation and it hasn't worked, don't think that that's all meditations. There are other meditations. And I can't say that everyone should do transcendental meditation. Everyone has their own choices, their own path. But I would look into it because so many, there's research on mothers, young mothers, new mothers who meditate because we know that if mother's anxiety, it's called adverse childhood experiences, the mother's anxiety spills over into that. The, in the fetus and the infant and fathers too, for the infant. So if I can say this, Kelly, TM is offered, it's a nonprofit organization and you can go to tm.org and you can find out where there's a TM teacher near you and find out more. It may, it may be for you, it may not be for you, but find out more. And then I would give it a try because it doesn't have to be hard, it doesn't have to be difficult. Properly understood and practiced.

[Kelly Ripa]

Yeah. Yeah. If Bob Beno, if Bob can do it at a baseball game, a Yankees game in the middle of the boogie down Bronx, think about that, how loud it is, how, especially if, if it's not a good game, you know, the crowd can get wild. You know, probably you could, you could probably do it with.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Yeah, your kid is Nothing compared to 40,000 Crazy Bronx.

[Kelly Ripa]

What do you think, Ben? Are you going to give it a shot?

[Caller Benno]

I'm going to give it a shot. I'm going to log on right now and see if there's. You see that you hear the noise in the background.

[Kelly Ripa]

I can hear him. Good luck to you, Beno. Thanks for calling, calling in Bob. Before we go, I just need to know what was it like calming David Letterman's mind and when did you first teach him?

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

This was years ago. I taught him well. So Jerry Seinfeld knew David Lynch. So Jerry Seinfeld's been meditating for 50 plus years. And then Jerry told Tom Hanks, who told, and he told Steve Martin. These are all public, I'm not dropping names. And then, and then David Letterman and David basically said what? You said, I can't do this. I'm skeptical. I'll never be able to do it. I really would like to be able to do it. I really would like to have the results. But, but I, I don't know. And I, I said fine, you don't have to believe anything. You can be 100% skeptical. I taught him at his office, at CBS, at the at the theater, there was a quiet room and I taught him.

[Kelly Ripa]

How many years ago was this? Because I'm curious, I'm very curious because I did the David Letterman show all the time.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

Yeah, I know.

[Kelly Ripa]

I want to know because there was a moment, there was a pivotal moment. Jan, if you remember, I was like, David Letterman is like a new person. Like, there was a time when David Letterman was very prickly and then there was a time where he was like an angel. And I was like, what happened to Dave? So I wonder if the TM was the thing.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

But he talked about it all the time and he talked about it with Oprah and he was very appreciative. We ended up teaching a lot of members of his, of his staff. And he still does it. He still does it.

[Kelly Ripa]

Well, Bob, I just want to thank you so much for taking all of our calls. Jan and I are really going to. We're going to give it the old college try.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

I get. Before you close. Yes, before you close. I want to say something. I told you this when we were off air. I really love the feeling, I do a lot of the feeling that you all create. It's family, it's kind, it's gentle. You listen to. You're very kind with your listeners. Attentive, make sure that they've, they're hearing, you know, they're satisfied. It's really lovely. It's a wonderful thing. I just had to say that. It's a lovely, lovely experience.

[Kelly Ripa]

Thank you, Bob. We really appreciate it. And I just want to remind our listeners, pick up strength and stillness. Check out the David lynch foundation. And Bob, thank you so much. Can't wait to talk to you all off camera next week. Bye, everybody. Let's talk off camera with Kelly Ripa is a production of Malojo Productions. From Malojo, our team is Kelly Ripa, Marc Consuelos, Albert Bianchini, Jan Chalet, Seth Gronquist, Roz Therian, Devin Schneider, Michael Halperin, Julia Desch and Team radio Andy, Lisa Mantineo, Scott Marlo, Jake Getz.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

A sapphire reserve story from the Foster sisters.

[Kelly Ripa]

We went to Rome, me, Erin and her boyfriend.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

The entire time. I think that my boyfriend is going.

[Kelly Ripa]

To propose to me. I knew he wasn't. Anyway, we booked this beautiful hotel with the edit through Chase Travel. Then later at a romantic dinner, no proposal. And his card was not accepted. I pay with my sapphire reserve. The three time points on dining made up for the whole, you know, no proposal thing.

[Bob Roth (Meditation Bob)]

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