At our recent powerful Week Long Advanced Retreat in Dallas, Texas, I met a young couple expecting a baby. The husband had been in this work for some time – and he was “all in.” His wife had, for the most part, been a somewhat skeptical observer of her husband’s journey through the work. But she decided to finally join him for a retreat.

When I met them, we were about five days in to the week. And as the young mother-to-be shared her experience with me, she was glowing. I saw such joy in her face – true, genuine, radiant joy. She said to me, “I can’t believe how amazing I feel. I’m carrying a child in here, and I know it’s feeling what I’m feeling.”

Because her maternal blood flow is in constant and direct contact with her fetus, the information the child is receiving will shape and mold its biology to reflect the environment the mother is perceiving and experiencing.

By the same means, certain studies have shown the contrary. If a mother is perceiving or living in a stressful environment – feeling relentless fear from poverty, for example; in constant survival – the child may have a smaller head circumference, the volume of the forebrain may be smaller, and the adrenal glands may be larger. In other words, the child’s biology may develop to best prepare it to live in the same environment of survival as its mother.

That young mother’s observation about her child’s experience might sound simple, but it’s really profound. Imagine the ripple effect in just that small family. The husband, in making time for himself, became an example and inspiration for his wife. And now, after making time for herself, she’s creating an environment of love and joy for their child – before it even arrives in the world.

In a sense, her change is changing the destiny of her child. If the parents continue on this path – consciously growing; evolving; becoming more love and joy – how do you think their child will grow up? And what will his or her impact be on the world?


Cultivating a Greater Mind

The theme of our Dallas retreat – “Greater Mind” – evolved from a fairly simple premise: to make time to connect with your best self. To set aside time, retreat from your life, enter the sacred temple of becoming, and emerge in a greater state of mind than when you arrived.

So many of us tell ourselves that in order to change, we need time. We need time to think. We need time to gain clarity. We need time to make a choice. We need time to take care of ourselves. We need time to be renewed. We need time to transform the way we’re reacting or feeling to familiar people or circumstances. We need time to experience the mystical.

Ultimately, we need time to commune with our divine selves.

My team and I have shaped our retreats with this purpose in mind ­– to create a sacred environment for those who attend so they can make time to cultivate that greater mind. And so, when they return back to the lives they left behind, they can face challenges from a greater level of consciousness.

If you’ve joined us for a retreat, or plan to, then you understand what that reverent space is all about. But if you haven’t yet made it to one – or it’s not in your plans for whatever reason – that doesn’t mean you can’t still create that space in your life.


If Not Now, When?

What was so beautiful about that young family I met is, I knew they would go home and continue to make time to do the work. They had a greater sense of purpose and meaning about what they were doing, and why – so even with the demands of their daily life greeting them on return, they had a reason to keep going.

If you’re reading this, and you’re already thinking about how it doesn’t apply to you because you’re not going to a retreat ... or your life is too busy or demanding ... or it’s too noisy and crowded where you live ... or the mystical exists for other people, but not for you ... or you don’t have time to meditate ... I want to ask you something I ask everyone who’s facing similar challenges in their lives:

If not now, when?

Some of you have heard me talk about the team of scientists who lead our research studies at UC San Diego. They have a closet in the lab, and that’s where they go to meditate each day. That’s their sacred space; their temple; their cave: a closet.

More than anyone else in this community, these scientists know what’s possible when they make time for their own personal transformation. Yes, they’ve been to our retreats. They’ve witnessed dramatic healings and heard powerful testimonials. But even more compelling than that – they’re in the lab all day, every day, analyzing the data we gather at those retreats.

And they know what the findings mean. They’ve told me our meditations are great medicine. They know what’s possible when they make time to create a greater mind, connect to source, feel the elevated emotions of their new future, and sustain those feelings. That’s because they’re studying the data all day, every day.

Just like that young mother is affecting the biology of her baby with her emotions, they’re changing their own biology. Instead of affecting the cells of a fetus, the information in their blood is affecting their own cells. And I’m not saying that. The data is saying that.

So – in the middle of their busy day, amid everything they have to do, these scientists enter a tiny closet off a room full of bustling activity. They make time to remember who they no longer want to be – and who they do want to be.


If You’re Waiting, You’re Not Creating

When you think about the idea of a “retreat,” what does it mean, really? It means to make the time to get beyond all the things that stop us from changing. The things that distract us from thinking about, choosing, experiencing, and doing all the things we want to do – to transform some aspect of ourselves and our lives.

It means making the time to overcome our old personality and personal reality. To not only learn the tools of change, but give ourselves time to apply that new knowledge and information. To deepen our understanding of what it means to be a creator in our lives – and feel empowered by it. To connect with a new personality and personal reality – and to practice being that new person.

So that, when we walk back into our lives, we’re doing so with a mind greater than the one with which we began.

That’s true of people who show up on day one of our retreats and then leave several days later. But don’t you think it’s also true of the research team member who enters the closet to meditate in the middle of the day and comes out an hour later?

And so: can’t it also be true of you – if you were to make time for greater mind each day?

Here’s what I tell people who come to our retreats. It’s true for them, and it can be true for you, too.

1. Make time for yourself to change and create. Make your practice be part of your daily life – regardless of your external circumstances. Commit to your own evolution and show up for yourself. If you have kids, practice your meditations around them. Be the example. Be the change.

2. Make your space sacred – but don’t make it hard. What I mean by this is – yes, it’s nice to create a beautiful space in your home, or at a retreat. And if you have the ability to do that, do it. But think about the research scientists in the closet at the lab. What makes that space sacred? Their intention. Their attention. Their commitment. Their energy. You can bring the same to any space where you sit with yourself – and when you do that, any space becomes a temple.

3. Don’t wait. When you commit to making time for change, some part of you is going to resist. “I’m too tired.” “My back hurts.” “There are too many distractions.” “I have too much to do.” “I’ll start tomorrow.” These are the familiar thoughts that want to keep us in the known; they literally keep us from changing. When that resistance arises – and it will – meet it with a simple question: “If not now, when?”

Remember – if you’re waiting, you’re not creating. There’s a future you out there that already has a greater mind. And you meet that person by taking the time to be a creator in your life. You meet that person by becoming a greater mind.

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If you’d like to make time for greater mind at one of our upcoming retreats, we still have some seats available at our Week Long Advanced Retreat in Orlando, Florida, October 20-26.