I Am Testing Silva Meditation Method To Work Less And Produce More

Neera

On a Monday morning, just three weeks ago, the universe responded to my pleas for a way out from all the stress and overwhelm associated with online writing.

I was watching Tim Urban’s TED Talk when a sponsored video interrupted it. Normally, I would quickly click ‘Skip Ad’ and get back to the video, but this time I kept listening because the story was very interesting.

I watched the video for 23 minutes and bought the course the speaker was selling. Then I watched two more videos, by the same speaker, and bought another course and membership to the community.

For three weeks, I have been learning and testing the concepts and meditation exercises taught by the course. My stress is gone, my productivity has quadrupled and my future looks brighter than ever.

Before I go any further with the benefits, I am observing I want to share with you Jose Silva’s story I heard in the sponsored video three weeks ago.

In the early 40s, a guy by the name of José Silva, developed an interest in psychology to see if it could help him increase his children’s IQ. He had ten children and like any parent he wanted them to do well.

José Silva was an electrician in the US Army. Once, while going through a routine army mental health checkup, he noticed a psychologist was assigned to ask all army recruits a series of questions. It was just a routine thing, but he grew fascinated and started reading more and more books on psychology.

As an electrician, he knew if a wire has more resistance less electricity flows through it but if you reduce its resistance, more electricity can flow through it.

Jose wondered if the same principle would apply to the brain.

What if we could reduce the resistance in the brain, can our brains operate more efficiently?

It was the early 60s, and scientists had come up with the theory that there were four levels of brain frequency — beta, the waking state; alpha the more relaxed or slightly sleepy state, theta when dreams and vivid imagery occur and delta the slowest brain wave frequency when healing and regeneration occur.

Jose wondered whether moving into the alpha or theta level was the way of reducing resistance.

He started experimenting with his daughter.

He developed a script to take his daughter to a relaxed state. His script was something like guided meditation except back in the 60s, the word guided meditation didn’t exist.

So, Jose Silva would put his kids into a guided meditation and then read her important elements from their school textbooks. He found she could remember better when she was in this alpha or slightly relaxed level of mind with her eyes closed and when he would ask her questions and she could recall better.

It is a well-known fact today that you can remember and retrieve information faster in the alpha level of mind.

Then something curious happened.

His daughter would answer him while he was still formulating a question in his mind. She somehow knew the question he was going to ask her even before he could verbally speak it.

He was a devout Christian. He couldn’t figure out how his daughter could so-called read his mind. So he wrote to Joseph Banks Rhine, of Duke University. JB Rhine was the famous doctor who pioneered research in extrasensory perception and formed parapsychology as a branch of psychology.

He told JB Ryan he had figured out a way to train children to be intuitive. JB Ryan dismissed it. He said, your daughter was probably intuitive, to begin with.

Jose Silva disagreed. So he then trained all the kids to be intuitive.

Then he trained all the neighbor’s kids. The neighbor got fascinated. Their kid’s grades were going up. What’s this man doing with them? So they asked Jose if he can teach them as well. So Jose started teaching little classes in Laredo, Texas.

Jose found it wasn’t just intuition that went up with his technique, but people’s pain disappeared and their happiness levels went up. One person had migraines for a long time and after learning from Jose Silva his migraine disappeared. He wrote about it in the local newspaper and his next class was completely swamped.

The Silva Method was born.

A path to reducing mental resistance? He called it a centering exercise.

It spread across America through the 70s and 80s. Soon it was being used by the Chicago White Sox, and famous celebrities of the time, like opera singer Margarita Piazza. The New York Times and The Washington Post featured articles on the Silva Method. Jose Silva wrote a book, The Silva Mind Control Method which sold well over a million copies.

And the Silva method, as it spread globally, ended up graduating some 10 million students over three to four decades.

But the story doesn’t end there.

A Weird Coincidence

There was a point in Jose’s research when he almost gave it up.

Jose Silva was finding his work very fulfilling, but it wasn’t making him any money. To feed his large family, he knew he had to give it up and go back to just running his electrical business. One night, as he tells in his biography, he grew so frustrated, he flung his psychology book across the room and went to sleep, promising himself that he would never dabble in this again because he needed to earn a living.

That night, he had a weird dream. He saw a figure of Mother Mary who gave him a four-digit number.

He wondered, what is this four-digit number? And the first thought was it must be the license plate number of a car, and he needed to meet the person who owns that car.

So Jose Silva decided to keep his mind open for any car with a four-digit number. As he was going to his radio repair business, a friend came to him and said, “Jose, I’m about to swing across the border to Mexico to pick up some goods. You want to come with me?” Jose said, “Sure.” It was not a busy day and Jose saw no harm in accompanying his friend across the border.

So they got into the car and drove across the border to Mexico. And as they were driving across the border to Mexico, Jose told his friend about the four-digit number and the dream. They went to a shop to buy goods in Mexico. And as Jose was picking up his goods, his friend called him over and his friend said, “Jose, look, they’re selling a lottery ticket here. Isn’t this the number that came into your dream?” And it was.

Jose bought the lottery ticket, and he ended up winning $10,000. That money allowed him to keep doing his research.

Jose wrote, look at the weirdness that happened. It wasn’t just a dream. His mind didn’t just give him a number, it showed him an image to reinforce that it was coming from a higher power. It then caused synchronicity to happen when a friend came to invite him to Mexico because the winning lottery number wasn’t on the US side. It was on the Mexican side.

Another coincidence happened when his friend saw the lottery number while he thought it was a car license plate number. All of these strung together were like a ripple of reality to give him the cash infusion needed to take the Silva method forward. It was then he realized he was on to something.

I have been going through a 28-day program and recording my progress in a journal after each day.

I have gone through many self-development programs, but never I have seen so much growth in so little time.

I am meditating three times a day, five to fifteen minutes for each instance. It is not the normal relaxation kind of meditation I was familiar with. Instead, it is an active meditation designed to help turn problems into projects.

How I Become A Teacher After Vowing Never To Become One

Neera

When I was a young girl, I declared to my mother, “I will never become a teacher.”

My mother, with all her wisdom, said to me, “Never say never.”

Both my parents were teachers. Our household had the same routine year after year. Start of the year, mid-term exams, summer vacations, second-term exams, and then final exams.

The most exciting thing to happen in a year was for my parents to receive bundles of final exam papers to mark.

My parents would stay up late at night marking those papers. Then the absolute finale — to seal the bundles with molten wax and take them to the post office.

While other children’s parents talked about their exciting jobs. My parents talked about their students and their achievements.

It never bothered them they were not earning much. And their talent, dedication, and hard work went unrecognized, undervalued, and underpaid.

They were proud their students were doing well, and they played a role in helping them get there.

When I grew up, I wanted to be like the parents of my friends. I wanted to be applauded for the organization I worked for. The kind of work I did, and the amount of money I earned.

So, I did a Master’s in Biochemistry and became a scientist. Then, I studied software engineering and became a computer programmer. I worked in the corporate sector and in public service. I became a manager and then a director.

I became all I ever wanted to be. And received plenty of recognition, praise, and remuneration for my achievements.

But then, in the third act of my life, my mother’s prophecy came true.

I started teaching aspiring writers how to write, first through my articles, then through my courses.

And it was then I had the revelation – there is nothing more satisfying than teaching someone a skill that you have mastered.

Nothing has fulfilled me more than seeing my students doing well, taking part in a writing challenge or building a daily writing habit, or becoming a fluent writer, or writing a book in 30 days.

Now, in the third act of my life, I have become like my parents. A proud teacher, marveling at my students’ achievements.

My Priorities Have Changed

Neera

I am back. After a 49-day trip around India and sleeping in strange beds, I was thankful to sleep in my bed for the last two nights.

Besides meeting family, visiting new places, and attending a wedding and special birthday celebrations, this trip had another significant purpose – to have mental rest.

What we do as writers is quite cerebral.

We need to give ourselves mental breaks in the same way that we need to sleep regularly.

Vacations regenerate our minds.

They help us get out of the rut

Before going on this trip, I was a prisoner of self-created routines.

They were driving me nuts.

I was taking on more and more projects and setting myself deadlines that I knew I couldn’t meet.

The trouble was that I couldn’t get out of the hole I dug for myself.

Everything felt important and urgent.

I was compromising my health and wellness to chase goals that had no ultimate significance.

Eight weeks away from routines, I could see nothing is more important than my health and happiness.

I have come back with a clean slate.

My priorities have changed.

Previously they were:
1. Writing
2. Family
3. Fun
4. Health

Now they are:
1. Health
2. Family
3. Fun
4. Writing

In the next few days, I will re-evaluate everything.

I will consolidate some projects and abandon others.

I will half my writing time and double the time I spend on outdoor activities.

When you give yourself time to just relax, wonderful things can happen.

Some call it serendipity.

Letting go is making space for those magic moments to happen.

Becoming a teacher

Neera

When I was a young girl, I declared to my mother, “I will never become a teacher.”

My mother, with all her wisdom, said to me, “Never say never.”

You see, both my parents were teachers. Our household had the same routine year after year. Start of the year, mid-term exams, summer vacations, second-term exams, and then final exams.

The most exciting thing to happen in a year was for my parents to receive bundles of final exam papers to mark. 

My parents would stay up late at night marking those papers. Then the absolute finale — to seal the bundles with molten wax and take them to the post office.

While other children’s parents talked about their exciting jobs.
My parents talked about their students and their achievements.

It never bothered them they were not earning much. And their talent, dedication, and hard work went unrecognized, undervalued, and underpaid.

They were proud their students were doing well, and they played a role in helping them get there.

When I grew up, I wanted to be like the parents of my friends. I wanted to be applauded for the organization I worked for. The kind of work I did, and the amount of money I earned.

So, I did a Master’s in Biochemistry and became a scientist. Then, I studied software engineering and became a computer programmer. I worked in the corporate sector and in public service. I became a manager and then a director.

I became all I ever wanted to be. And received plenty of recognition, praise, and remuneration for my achievements.

But then, in the third act of my life, my mother’s prophecy came true.

I quit my job and became a full-time writer.

Through my writing, I started teaching aspiring writers how to write.

One thing led to another and I started running courses to for writers to write their books in 30 days.

And it was then I had a revelation – there is nothing more satisfying than teaching someone a skill that you have mastered.

Nothing has fulfilled me more than seeing my students doing well, taking part in a writing challenge or building a daily writing habit, or becoming a fluent writer, or writing a book in 30 days.

Now, I have become like my parents.

A proud teacher, marveling at my students’ achievements.

I Am Going To Write A Book In Public

Neera

As a part of the NaNoWriMo challenge.

Tomorrow is the 1st of November. All around the world, thousands of people will glue to their laptops, writing a novel.

They will write 50,000 words in 30 days.

That is 1,667 words a day.

This annual event is known as NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month.

Each year, I take part in the challenge. I have been doing that since I found out about it in 2011.

Sometimes I win it, other times I don’t.

Winning means writing 50,000 words before the clock strikes midnight on 30th November.

Many times, I manage only a few thousand words. But I participate each year, regardless. The only exceptions are when I am traveling in November. However, twice I wrote during the travel. It killed me and ruined all the fun, so I decided not to do that again.

In NaNoWriMo terms, I am a rebel writer.

Which means I write things other than a novel.

In 2011, I wrote a short story and managed to write only 2,340 words.

In 2012, I wrote my memoir and wrote 13,458 words towards it.

In 2013, I wrote a collection of short stories and won the challenge.

In 2015, I wrote the first draft of my first novel and won it again by writing 52,504 words.

In 2016, I wrote a travel memoir and cranked up 40,516 words.

In 2017, I wrote 14,169 words in diary-style personal writing.

In 2018, I wrote 55,757 words long self-help book and won it again.

In 2019, I wrote a collection of blog articles (15,437 words).

In 2020, I wrote the draft of my second novel (17,370 words).

In 2021, I wrote a memoir again, Diary of A Wannabe Writer (16,670 words)

This year, I am planning to finish the first novel I wrote in 2015 and get it ready for publication.

But somehow that doesn’t bring in the excitement of a challenge.

So I want to up the ante, and write another book in parallel.

In public.

On LinkedIn and Medium.

Starting tomorrow.

If I have intrigued you enough and you too want to write a novel or a book in November, you can join NaNoWriMo here.

I am going to need all your encouragement and support.

An online friend on LinkedIn wrote, “You have taken on quite a challenge there.” My response was, “The worst that can happen is I fail. But I will fail doing something. Which is not a failure but a step forward. I will learn from my mistake and do it better next time.”

I have changed my relationship with failure.

I don’t see them as failures anymore. I see them as opportunities to learn.

Back in 1993, I started a business. Selling artificial jewelry. I failed at it miserably.

Then again, in 2001. This time in health supplements. I failed again.

Then I tried my hand at selling real estate, in the middle of the worst recession Australia had ever experienced. Needless to say, I didn’t sell a single house. I had failed again.

Now, thirty years later, when I look back at them, they were not failures; they were learning opportunities.

I learned more from my failures than from my successes. “Writing” was my biggest failure. In my first performance review as a middle manager, my boss said to me, “The only thing standing between you and a senior manager role is your written English.”

Bingo!

A learning opportunity!

I rolled up my sleeves and got on with turning my weakness into a strength.

– I enrolled in writing courses.
– Joined writing groups.
– Started a blog.
– Read books.
– Then wrote some.

Today, when someone says to me, “You write very well,” I smile. I tell them it is because I am not afraid of failures.

The next 30 days will show whether I fail again and learn some lessons. Or able to use what I learned about writing in the past 3–4 years and write a book in public.

I do crazy things like these now and then.

If you have been following me for a while, you would know that back in January 2021, I posted on three social media platforms for 100 consecutive days.

Then again in April 2021, I announced that I will write 100 articles in 100 days. And I did that too.

Then, in June 2021, I set myself a challenge to write a book in a week and I did that too. I even wrote an update each day, sharing my progress.

This is something like that.

A challenge to push the boundaries and do some more under pressure.

I have been trying to talk myself out of it but the idea won’t leave me. So I am going to go ahead and do it.

What is my plan?

My plan is to fictionalize a non-fiction book.

It is going to be an interesting idea, and I am very excited about it. At least for the time being. I can’t say whether this excitement will last for the entire month.

I will not chase the 50,000 words (I am a rebel writer, after all). Instead, I am going to weave a story around the messages I want to get across. If I could do that convincingly, the skeleton will be done and the book can be beefed up in subsequent edits.

When I announced this crazy idea on LinkedIn, I didn’t realize that LinkedIn posts have a limit of 3000 characters (which is about 500–600 words). So my plan is to write an abridged version on LinkedIn and a full version on Medium. I hope it will work.

From experience, I know there will be days in the month when I cannot write. Such days come, we all know that, so I am giving myself permission to skip a few days here and there and make up for them when I can.

To save you from a flood of emails, I will publish the daily chapters in my profile and will give you updates from time to time, along with the links.

As I am writing these words, my inner critic is lifting its head and before he talks me out of sending this post, I am going to hit publish.

See you tomorrow!

Bye for now.

I Have Come Back From An Eight Week Holiday

Neera

And this is what it did to me.

This was the longest trip I had in thirty years.

After sleeping in strange beds for 49 days in a row, I was thankful to sleep in my bed for the last few nights.

Besides meeting family, visiting new places, and attending a wedding and a birthday bash, this trip had another significant purpose — mental rest.

What we do as writers is quite cerebral. We need to give ourselves mental breaks in the same way that we need to sleep. Vacations regenerate our minds and help us get out of the rut.

Before going on this trip, I was a prisoner of self-created routines. They were driving me nuts.

I was taking on more and more projects and setting myself deadlines that I knew I couldn’t meet. The trouble was that I couldn’t get out of the hole I dug for myself. Everything felt important and urgent.

I was compromising my health and wellness to chase goals that had no ultimate significance.

Eight weeks away from my routine, I could see nothing is more important than my health and happiness.

I have come back with a clean slate. My priorities have changed.

Previously they were:

1. Writing

2. Family

3. Fun

4. Health

I was at a point where I was so chasing my writing goals and fulfilling my own expectations from me that I was not taking the time to evaluate what was working and what was not.

The reality for us creatives is that we are drawing from the creative well without taking time to fill it. We are continually sucking the marrow from the things that are happening around us without realizing how stressful the writing process could be. Long breaks can help let go of all that and just relax. When we are able to do that, we get a new perspective. Wonderful things can happen when we least expect them.

Joanna Pen, a writer and podcaster, talks about the serendipity of those moments when you are traveling and you’re in a museum and you see something and you realize this is something that can enrich my book or you come across something that suddenly gives you a new idea which you wouldn’t have found, had you not been for the travels.

Downtimes give us the opportunity to reset and recalibrate. The trip helped me look at things from a new perspective. I have re-prioritized the four important aspects of my life. My new priorities are:

1. Health

2. Family

3. Fun

4. Writing

I have put health first because for the last four years I have been ignoring it while concentrating on writing. It is even above family because I won’t be able to look after my family if I am not in good shape.

The wake-up call came during the India trip itself. We were visiting the exotic Khajuraho temples when I saw color fade away from my brother-in-law’s face. He was unsteady on his feet. So we got him to sit down on a bench. He was having a stroke.

By the time we got him back to the hotel, he had lost movement on his left side. We had to cancel our travel plans and bring him back to his hometown for a further checkup. Lucky for him, he fully recovered. But it left me shaken.

For the last four years, I have not been eating well, putting on the extra weight, and neglecting my regular check-up. My excuse was that the pandemic caused interruption to my gym routine and regular visits to doctors. But the truth was, I was being careless.

Now I have joined classes every morning — three days flexibility, two days yoga and two days weights. I have also started intermittent fasting and joined Weight Watchers again.

I have merged many of my writing projects and made plans to repurpose my content. One aspect of that is to revamp my website and transferred all my writing there so that I can pick stories from there whenever needed.

My new writing routine will be to write long-form, content on Medium and Substack and short-form on LinkedIn. I will also concentrate on writing books and mini-guides.

That’s it so far.

I promise to be more regular in the future.