January 22, 2024 • 12 mins
Embark on a soulful excursion into the tranquil realm of meditation with wellness expert David Delrahim and host, Roland Perez. This enlightening exchange will lead you through the transformative potential of this ancient practice, where David imparts his wisdom on achieving a harmonious state of being. Grasp the simplicity of finding serenity within, as we reveal the secrets to harnessing meditation as your steadfast ally amidst the everyday tumult, from the hum of traffic to the buzz of your office. Unlock the power to dwell in a constant state of mindfulness, enriching your focus and elevating your presence in every slice of life.
From the producers of PBS's American Health Journal and Innovations in Medicine. Thank you for listening to Better Wellness.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Roland Perez (00:01):
Welcome to Better Wellness.
I'm your host, roland Perez,and we're listening to a podcast
that explores the newestinnovations and true wellness.
As the executive producer ofthe American Health Journal for
more than 25 years, I producedover 500 30-minute award-winning
television shows that airnationally on PBS with an
(00:21):
audience of over a hundredmillion viewers.
But Better Wellness is morethan all that Not only keeping
your body healthy, butdeveloping a mindset and balance
that prevents illness.
Our guests are experiencedexperts in the world of staying
healthy, young and well.
And let's start.
(00:42):
Our first guest is DavidDelrahim , a friend and a
visionary, and an expert inwellness.
I wanted to talk to you todayabout meditation First.
What is meditation and what isthe purpose?
David Delrahim (00:57):
Meditation is a way to control the mind, calm
the mind down, because the mindis just working really hard and
is racing, you know what, fromthe past to the future, back and
forth.
And while we are in the present, the time the clock is ticking,
we're not here because we'reeither in the past or in the
(01:21):
future.
We don't see the experiencethat we are in it.
When we are angry, for example,we're not present.
We're.
Either we are getting triggeredsomething from the past or the
anxiety that we have about thefuture, the uncertainties that
we have, is what is reallytroubling us.
(01:43):
But being present right now,we're at peace.
We should be at peace, but wedon't experience that because
we're not here.
So the meditation we areresorting to divine to calm our
mind down, kind of a control,that analytical power that we
(02:07):
are blessed with.
Roland Perez (02:09):
Where do you personally meditate every day?
David Delrahim (02:12):
I meditate in my own body.
You know, wherever I am,believe it or not, I'm
meditating in the traffic.
You know, just calming the mind, you can do that.
You know what?
Do not allow anything to botheryou.
You're in a state of meditation.
Roland Perez (02:30):
So you actually drive down the street.
David Delrahim (02:32):
I just drive down the street and I'm stuck in
the traffic.
Rather than allowing thetraffic to start bothering me, I
go deep inside myself andconnect with the love that
traffic doesn't bother me.
I'm in a state of meditation.
(02:54):
How simple it is.
You can do it in an elevator.
Roland Perez (03:00):
Can you do this around other people?
If you're in an elevator, howdo you separate yourself?
David Delrahim (03:06):
You separate with your mind because you're
trying to be mindful.
Everything is just playing withyour mind, you know, but you go
inward rather than outward.
That's really all it is.
It's just a practice to goinward.
All of our troubles in life isoutward.
(03:29):
There's nothing going on inward.
Inward is only love.
So if you go inside, the wisdomis from inward, not from the
outward.
The love is inward.
So everything happening insideof you, that is where your soul
resides, you know.
(03:49):
But outward is chaos.
It's about going inward.
You know, I had a conversationwith one of our potential
architects.
I said I understand and I seeall the credentials on the wall
Came from an amazing university,this, that, the other, he's
(04:11):
done all of these skyscrapers.
I said but every time you wentoutward.
This is one time that I needyou to go inward.
By going inward is when you'reconnecting with the outward,
with your creativity, with thecreation, with your souls, with
(04:38):
everything that comes from love,not chaos.
Allow the love to guide you onthe path of creativity.
Roland Perez (04:49):
The decorator and designer have got to be very
important.
David Delrahim (04:54):
Tremendously in order for us to get to the
healing sanctuary.
Remember healing.
Where does it happen?
In world.
Healing doesn't happen outworld.
Out world is chaos.
How could you experiencehealing in a chaotic environment
Then?
(05:16):
Where does it happen?
Inside in world?
Roland Perez (05:19):
Okay, I know you meditate.
What do you get out ofmeditating?
And once you stop meditating,what do you get out of it?
David Delrahim (05:27):
I used to meditate a couple of times a day
, became three, four times andthen I brought myself into the
state of meditation.
So while I'm walking, I'mmeditating.
While I'm driving, I'm in astate of meditation, I'm being
present, I'm being calm andcollective and I can focus on
(05:53):
what is being transpired rightnow, right, this second.
So when I'm even in aconversation because often
happens when we are eitherlistening or we are talking If
we are listening, we are havingan inner dialogue with ourselves
(06:13):
.
We are preparing that nextsentence or that next thing.
If we are listening, we areprobably preparing the rebuttal.
If we are talking, we arethinking about that next
sentence, about how to tie upthe whole thing.
So we're not being present.
By being present, you areconnecting with your own truth
(06:40):
right now, right, this second.
No agenda, nothing is drivingyou, nothing is controlling you,
no preconceived thoughts orabout the past or about the
future.
Roland Perez (06:58):
David, are there levels of meditation?
David Delrahim (07:02):
I believe the level of meditation is about the
level of connectivity that youwould have Even when we are
meditating.
For example, we are meditatingfor 10 minutes.
Are we really meditating for 10minutes?
Or in that 10 minutes ourthoughts go in and out?
(07:22):
So if you think about the 10minutes, really that the net,
net, net.
Maybe it was 2 minutes.
The rest of it we were justtrying really hard to bring our
thoughts back into the present.
So the level of meditation isabout the depth of the
(07:42):
connectivity for that periodthat we are in.
Roland Perez (07:46):
Okay, how do you get into meditation?
You're sitting here today,right now, in the moment.
Now I go and put you over thereand say meditate.
How do you do?
David Delrahim (07:57):
that I go into the meditations.
Of course there are manychannels of meditation, but I
believe the purest one would bethat you sit in a quiet and you
collect your thoughts and youput yourself in a loving state
(08:22):
and you're automaticallyconnected.
Roland Perez (08:25):
How do you start it?
How do you do it?
David Delrahim (08:28):
So here's what we do.
Let's do it.
A quiet place.
I close my eyes.
Why would I close my eyes?
Because 80% of the informationthat goes to my brain comes from
my eyes, so I'm shutting thatdown.
I want to quiet my mind, so Iclose my eyes and I would sit
(08:52):
and I would put my hands on myknees and I can breathe.
So the easiest one to be aboutbreathing.
Why breathing?
Because in the normalcircumstances, we are not
breathing correctly.
(09:13):
We're only using 30% of ourlungs, so our organs, our cells
are suffering from lack ofoxygen.
So we are putting more oxygeninto our body and by having more
oxygen into our brain, it willcalm us down.
(09:34):
That's a great place to start.
That is your meditation.
But to start, just quiet place,close your eyes down, put your
hands on your knees and justbreathe, just fill your lungs
with oxygen.
All right, all you have to dois just breathe.
You don't have to read anything, you don't have to listen to
(09:57):
anything More importantly, andbe breathing the oxygen in is
breathing out, emptying yourstomach, emptying your lungs.
So inhale is very important.
Exhale is even more important.
How long do you meditate?
For you know when you arestarting.
You might meditate for twominutes, we just fine.
(10:19):
Then you want to go ahead, doit for three minutes, four
minutes, you know.
If you can do it twice a day,10 minutes each time, it would
be lovely.
You know, I do meditate beforeI go to sleep, you know, and I
always have a great night'ssleep, peaceful sleep.
(10:41):
That's what you want.
It's not only about the sleep,it's about the quality of sleep.
Roland Perez (10:47):
Is there a good place to meditate?
Do you need a temple or shrine?
Do you need a quiet, dark room?
But for us novices, where is agood place to start?
David Delrahim (11:00):
A place to start is whatever comes you down.
Wherever comes you down, Somepeople will like to close their
eyes, go into the state ofmeditation in a dark room.
Roland Perez (11:13):
Right.
David Delrahim (11:14):
Some people they like to be by the ocean, hear
the waves, Some people want tohear some kind of music.
Now, music is frequency and weare frequency, so there's a
frequency that really elevatesyou.
That's so weird, but you know,I really believe that our body
(11:35):
is our temple.
This is where our soul residesand if you go inward, you are in
your temple.
You don't have to be in aphysical temple or you know,
synagogue or church or mosque.
You just have to go inward andby closing your eyes and going
(11:58):
into connecting with your soul,you can meditate anywhere,
anywhere.
Roland Perez (12:08):
Thank you, that was very interesting.
It's always great to speak toyou, David.
Unfortunately, time's up.
And remember Better Wellness isavailable just about everywhere
, including Spotify, AmazonMusic and iHeart Radio.
So once again, thanks forsupporting Better Wellness.
I'm your host, Roland Perez.
See you next time.
Welcome to Better Wellness.
I'm your host, roland Perez,and we're listening to a podcast
that explores the newestinnovations and true wellness.
As the executive producer ofthe American Health Journal for
more than 25 years, I producedover 500 30-minute award-winning
television shows that airnationally on PBS with an
(00:21):
audience of over a hundredmillion viewers.
But Better Wellness is morethan all that Not only keeping
your body healthy, butdeveloping a mindset and balance
that prevents illness.
Our guests are experiencedexperts in the world of staying
healthy, young and well.
And let's start.
(00:42):
Our first guest is DavidDelrahim , a friend and a
visionary, and an expert inwellness.
I wanted to talk to you todayabout meditation First.
What is meditation and what isthe purpose?
David Delrahim (00:57):
Meditation is a way to control the mind, calm
the mind down, because the mindis just working really hard and
is racing, you know what, fromthe past to the future, back and
forth.
And while we are in the present, the time the clock is ticking,
we're not here because we'reeither in the past or in the
(01:21):
future.
We don't see the experiencethat we are in it.
When we are angry, for example,we're not present.
We're.
Either we are getting triggeredsomething from the past or the
anxiety that we have about thefuture, the uncertainties that
we have, is what is reallytroubling us.
(01:43):
But being present right now,we're at peace.
We should be at peace, but wedon't experience that because
we're not here.
So the meditation we areresorting to divine to calm our
mind down, kind of a control,that analytical power that we
(02:07):
are blessed with.
Roland Perez (02:09):
Where do you personally meditate every day?
David Delrahim (02:12):
I meditate in my own body.
You know, wherever I am,believe it or not, I'm
meditating in the traffic.
You know, just calming the mind, you can do that.
You know what?
Do not allow anything to botheryou.
You're in a state of meditation.
Roland Perez (02:30):
So you actually drive down the street.
David Delrahim (02:32):
I just drive down the street and I'm stuck in
the traffic.
Rather than allowing thetraffic to start bothering me, I
go deep inside myself andconnect with the love that
traffic doesn't bother me.
I'm in a state of meditation.
(02:54):
How simple it is.
You can do it in an elevator.
Roland Perez (03:00):
Can you do this around other people?
If you're in an elevator, howdo you separate yourself?
David Delrahim (03:06):
You separate with your mind because you're
trying to be mindful.
Everything is just playing withyour mind, you know, but you go
inward rather than outward.
That's really all it is.
It's just a practice to goinward.
All of our troubles in life isoutward.
(03:29):
There's nothing going on inward.
Inward is only love.
So if you go inside, the wisdomis from inward, not from the
outward.
The love is inward.
So everything happening insideof you, that is where your soul
resides, you know.
(03:49):
But outward is chaos.
It's about going inward.
You know, I had a conversationwith one of our potential
architects.
I said I understand and I seeall the credentials on the wall
Came from an amazing university,this, that, the other, he's
(04:11):
done all of these skyscrapers.
I said but every time you wentoutward.
This is one time that I needyou to go inward.
By going inward is when you'reconnecting with the outward,
with your creativity, with thecreation, with your souls, with
(04:38):
everything that comes from love,not chaos.
Allow the love to guide you onthe path of creativity.
Roland Perez (04:49):
The decorator and designer have got to be very
important.
David Delrahim (04:54):
Tremendously in order for us to get to the
healing sanctuary.
Remember healing.
Where does it happen?
In world.
Healing doesn't happen outworld.
Out world is chaos.
How could you experiencehealing in a chaotic environment
Then?
(05:16):
Where does it happen?
Inside in world?
Roland Perez (05:19):
Okay, I know you meditate.
What do you get out ofmeditating?
And once you stop meditating,what do you get out of it?
David Delrahim (05:27):
I used to meditate a couple of times a day
, became three, four times andthen I brought myself into the
state of meditation.
So while I'm walking, I'mmeditating.
While I'm driving, I'm in astate of meditation, I'm being
present, I'm being calm andcollective and I can focus on
(05:53):
what is being transpired rightnow, right, this second.
So when I'm even in aconversation because often
happens when we are eitherlistening or we are talking If
we are listening, we are havingan inner dialogue with ourselves
(06:13):
.
We are preparing that nextsentence or that next thing.
If we are listening, we areprobably preparing the rebuttal.
If we are talking, we arethinking about that next
sentence, about how to tie upthe whole thing.
So we're not being present.
By being present, you areconnecting with your own truth
(06:40):
right now, right, this second.
No agenda, nothing is drivingyou, nothing is controlling you,
no preconceived thoughts orabout the past or about the
future.
Roland Perez (06:58):
David, are there levels of meditation?
David Delrahim (07:02):
I believe the level of meditation is about the
level of connectivity that youwould have Even when we are
meditating.
For example, we are meditatingfor 10 minutes.
Are we really meditating for 10minutes?
Or in that 10 minutes ourthoughts go in and out?
(07:22):
So if you think about the 10minutes, really that the net,
net, net.
Maybe it was 2 minutes.
The rest of it we were justtrying really hard to bring our
thoughts back into the present.
So the level of meditation isabout the depth of the
(07:42):
connectivity for that periodthat we are in.
Roland Perez (07:46):
Okay, how do you get into meditation?
You're sitting here today,right now, in the moment.
Now I go and put you over thereand say meditate.
How do you do?
David Delrahim (07:57):
that I go into the meditations.
Of course there are manychannels of meditation, but I
believe the purest one would bethat you sit in a quiet and you
collect your thoughts and youput yourself in a loving state
(08:22):
and you're automaticallyconnected.
Roland Perez (08:25):
How do you start it?
How do you do it?
David Delrahim (08:28):
So here's what we do.
Let's do it.
A quiet place.
I close my eyes.
Why would I close my eyes?
Because 80% of the informationthat goes to my brain comes from
my eyes, so I'm shutting thatdown.
I want to quiet my mind, so Iclose my eyes and I would sit
(08:52):
and I would put my hands on myknees and I can breathe.
So the easiest one to be aboutbreathing.
Why breathing?
Because in the normalcircumstances, we are not
breathing correctly.
(09:13):
We're only using 30% of ourlungs, so our organs, our cells
are suffering from lack ofoxygen.
So we are putting more oxygeninto our body and by having more
oxygen into our brain, it willcalm us down.
(09:34):
That's a great place to start.
That is your meditation.
But to start, just quiet place,close your eyes down, put your
hands on your knees and justbreathe, just fill your lungs
with oxygen.
All right, all you have to dois just breathe.
You don't have to read anything, you don't have to listen to
(09:57):
anything More importantly, andbe breathing the oxygen in is
breathing out, emptying yourstomach, emptying your lungs.
So inhale is very important.
Exhale is even more important.
How long do you meditate?
For you know when you arestarting.
You might meditate for twominutes, we just fine.
(10:19):
Then you want to go ahead, doit for three minutes, four
minutes, you know.
If you can do it twice a day,10 minutes each time, it would
be lovely.
You know, I do meditate beforeI go to sleep, you know, and I
always have a great night'ssleep, peaceful sleep.
(10:41):
That's what you want.
It's not only about the sleep,it's about the quality of sleep.
Roland Perez (10:47):
Is there a good place to meditate?
Do you need a temple or shrine?
Do you need a quiet, dark room?
But for us novices, where is agood place to start?
David Delrahim (11:00):
A place to start is whatever comes you down.
Wherever comes you down, Somepeople will like to close their
eyes, go into the state ofmeditation in a dark room.
Roland Perez (11:13):
Right.
David Delrahim (11:14):
Some people they like to be by the ocean, hear
the waves, Some people want tohear some kind of music.
Now, music is frequency and weare frequency, so there's a
frequency that really elevatesyou.
That's so weird, but you know,I really believe that our body
(11:35):
is our temple.
This is where our soul residesand if you go inward, you are in
your temple.
You don't have to be in aphysical temple or you know,
synagogue or church or mosque.
You just have to go inward andby closing your eyes and going
(11:58):
into connecting with your soul,you can meditate anywhere,
anywhere.
Roland Perez (12:08):
Thank you, that was very interesting.
It's always great to speak toyou, David.
Unfortunately, time's up.
And remember Better Wellness isavailable just about everywhere
, including Spotify, AmazonMusic and iHeart Radio.
So once again, thanks forsupporting Better Wellness.
I'm your host, Roland Perez.
See you next time.
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