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Q: Why should I meditate?
A: Meditation is one of the most powerful tools there is to help us restore the harmony within and to gain access to our bodies' inner intelligence. In meditation, we rediscover the silence in our mind and make it part of our life. Silence is the birthplace of happiness. It is where we get our bursts of inspiration, our tender feelings of compassion, our sense of love. Meditation is a journey to freedom and self-knowledge.

Q: What is Primordial Sound Meditation?
A: Primordial Sound Meditation is a technique that allows us to take our awareness from the active level of the mind to quieter and quieter levels of the thinking process until eventually we slip beyond thought altogether to a level of pure silence, pure potentiality. When we come out of meditation, we bring some of that silence, some of that pure potentiality, into our everyday lives.


Q: How long does it take to learn Primordial Sound Meditation?
A: The Course is taught in 7 hours, over 2 or 3 days. At the end of the Course, you will have the tools to practice meditation for a lifetime.

Q: Where did Primordial Sound Meditation come from?
A: The Primordial Sound Meditation technique is based on the ancient Vedic tradition from India. However, this knowledge was recently revived and updated by Drs. Deepak Chopra and David Simon so that it could be easily and effectively practiced in the world today. If you were to look through the ancient texts, you would not find any reference to a technique such as Primordial Sound Meditation because this was a name that was recently given to this process by Dr. Deepak Chopra, who felt this was the most appropriate explanation for the technique. However, the actual technique and the mantras used in the technique go back many thousands of years and have been tried and tested over thousands of years for their effectiveness and for the benefits that they can bring to mankind.

Q: What are Primordial Sounds?
A: Primordial Sounds are the basic, most essential sounds of nature. The specific Primordial Sounds that are used in meditation are mantras. These mantras are personal for each participant. They are chosen on the basis of the Vedic mathematics which determines a specific sound or vibration of the universe at the time and place of our birth. When we silently repeat Primordial Sounds as part of the mantra, they help to take our awareness away from the frenzy of daily activity of the mind to the stillness of our spirit. The effect soothes our entire physiology - mind, body, and soul.

Q: Why do you use mantras in Primordial Sound Meditation and where do the mantras come from?
A: The mantras in Primordial Sound Meditation were originally cognized some 5,000 or 6,000 years ago by the ancient Vedic seers and scholars in India. The word mantra means vehicle or instrument of the mind. Mantras can have soothing and nourishing effects on our physiology and also have the tendency to take our awareness within rather than having our awareness projected outside all of the time. Mantras are just a vehicle to help us on our spiritual journey, on this journey of self-discovery during meditation.

Q: How will meditation affect my health?
A: Today doctors are increasingly citing stress as a major factor in such illnesses as depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, cardiac pain, insomnia, diabetes, ulcers, cold, fever, asthma, arthritis and alcoholism. Even though meditation should not be considered a cure by itself, research has shown that it contributes to reducing stress and achieving deep relaxation and a profound state of rest. By reducing stress, meditation has important benefits for a wide range of health problems, and also allows the mind and body to function with maximum effectiveness. Please note: Even though many people have noticed dramatic improvements in their lives and dramatic changes in their health problems, you should not discontinue the advice or medication that you are currently receiving without first consulting your health care practitioner.

Q: Will I need to change my lifestyle when I practice Primordial Sound Meditation?
A: No. There are no lifestyle changes that are required with Primordial Sound Meditation. The only change or adjustment you will need to make is to allow the time to meditate regularly twice a day. Other than that, any changes in your life will come automatically and spontaneously. Some of the bad habits we have can start to drop off and other better habits can start to come into our lifestyle. Everything happens at a gradual pace, which we can best accommodate and feel comfortable with.

Q: Is Primordial Sound Meditation a religion?
A: No. It is a spiritual practice because it takes our awareness to the level of our spirit, which is the same spirit that connects everything in creation, but it is not a religious practice. In fact, many people of many different religions now practice Primordial Sound Meditation without any conflict to their religious practices. Primordial Sound Meditation helps us to enrich our lives, to live our lives to the fullest extent. It can enable us to enjoy whatever it is we do in our lives more fully and happily - whether that is playing sports or our relationships or our religion. We can learn to enjoy and participate in all our activities more fully by the results we gain from Primordial Sound Meditation.

Q: How often do I have to meditate?
A: We recommend that you meditate twice a day - once in the morning and once in the late afternoon or early evening - for about 30 minutes each time.

Q: What if I do not always have 30 minutes?
A: Then meditate for as much time as you have available. Thirty minutes is really the recommended amount of time to give you the fastest growth of benefits, but it is better to meditate for a shorter amount of time - 10, 15, 20 minutes - than not to meditate at all. Regularity of the meditation experience is what is really important. Not always having a full 30 minutes to meditate will not keep you from successfully practicing Primordial Sound Meditation.

Q: I travel a lot and spend a lot of time on airplanes. Can I meditate extra when I am flying? Can I meditate on the airplane?
A: Yes on both questions. If it is comfortable, you can do extra meditations or longer meditations when you are flying, on or off the airplane. Flying can be a physically stressful situation and so a little extra meditation will help us to maintain our balance. Also, if you are flying through many different time zones, meditating and sleeping on the airplane instead of working or watching the movies will help you adjust to the new time zone when you arrive at your destination. However, only do as much as is comfortable.

Q: Is meditation like being asleep or in a trance?
A: Not at all. Being asleep or being in a trance is usually a state of restful dullness. There is very little awareness there. When we meditate, we are at a very heightened state of awareness. The state of meditation is referred to as a state of restful alertness. So, when we are asleep, we are in a state of restful dullness. When we are meditating, we are in a state of restful alertness. The experience is totally different.

Q: When I practice Primordial Sound Meditation and release stress and tension, will I have to relive all the unpleasant moments and relive all the unpleasant memories in my life?
A: No. It is possible that you might experience some changes in your mood or emotion when you practice meditation. In general, we release these stresses, tensions, and emotions in a very gradual, natural way, so there is no need to think you have to relive pleasant or unpleasant circumstances that happen in your life. Usually, the stresses and tensions get dissolved very gradually, very naturally in a comfortable, easy and effortless way.

Q: When I meditate, is it possible that I will be opening myself up to some negative forces or negative energies?
A: Not at all. In fact, when you are meditating, that is a safe place to be, because when we meditate, we get in touch with ourselves. We are spending time getting to know ourselves. It is like coming home, coming home to the safest place we could ever be.

Q: How can my meditation help people around me?
A: Everything we do affect everything else in creation, even if on some very subtle level. By practicing meditation and increasing the coherence in our own life, we automatically affect the coherence for everything else in the world on some small level. But on a greater level, as our own lives become more in balance, as we become healthier and happier, we radiate the effects of that health and happiness to everybody around us.

Q: Is there some way my meditation can help a sick relative?
A: Yes. By meditating with somebody who is not well, the coherence and energy we can create can often radiate out and help that person. However, it is always advisable to only do this to the extent that it feels comfortable to you.

Q: What is the difference between Primordial Sound Meditation and self-hypnosis or visualization techniques?
A: Self-hypnosis and visualization all function at the level of the mind. The mind is actively participating in these particular techniques or processes; whereas, with Primordial Sound Meditation, we allow our awareness to go beyond the mind, to slip beyond thought, to go beyond activity to the level of pure silence, pure awareness. Primordial Sound Meditation takes us to the level of the soul, the level of the Spirit, whereas these other techniques keep us at the level of the mind, the level of the intellect.

Q: What is the difference between Primordial Sound Meditation and prayer?
A: Prayer keeps us at the level of the mind, because our attention is on repeating something or asking for something, whereas Primordial Sound Meditation allows our attention to go beyond this to the level of the soul, the level of the Spirit. It has been said that, when we pray, we talk to God. When we meditate, God talks to us. With prayer, we keep active at the level of the mind. With Primordial Sound Meditation, we go to the level of the Spirit. We have direct contact with who we really are.

Q: Can I still practice the visualization techniques that I've learned?
A: Yes. If you enjoy them and get some benefit from them, by all means continue to practice them. However, do not practice them at the same time you are practicing your meditation. When you are doing your meditation, use the mantra. Do not try to visualize things at that time. Do the visualization techniques at some other time during the day, before or after meditation, or at some other time it is convenient for you.

Q: I like to pray. Should I do this before my meditation or after my meditation?
A: Whenever it feels most comfortable for you to practice your prayer, that is okay. As with visualization, do not pray and meditate at the same time.

Q: Is Primordial Sound Meditation an Indian technique or an Indian religion of some sort?
A: No. Even though the technique and the mantras were first cognized by sages in India thousands of years ago, and the technique has been maintained for all those years in India, this does not make it an Indian technique. It is a universal technique. Just as the fact that Thomas Edison first discovered electricity does not make electricity American, so meditation does not belong to India anymore than anywhere else.

Q: Who should learn to meditate?
A: Primordial Sound Meditation is recommended for anyone who wishes to enjoy deeper peace, greater freedom and mastery of life.

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