Some of New York’s most successful finance and business leaders—including billionaire hedge funder Dan Loeb and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio—have adopted the daily practice of Transcendental Meditation.
Daniel Loeb is one of the New York’s successful businessmen who is practicing Transcendental Meditation. Loeb is the founder and chief executive of Third Point LLC, a New York-based hedge fund with a portfolio worth $14 billion.“In a city where money is a mantra, a surprising new trend is keeping Wall Street titans grounded, even as markets fluctuate,” writes New York Observer.
Meditating Wall Street
“Our work with veterans caught the attention of business leaders,” Bob Roth explained one recent Saturday morning at the David Lynch Foundation’s east Midtown headquarters. The only other person on the floor at that hour seemed to be Robin Roberts, the ABC news anchor, sitting quietly by herself in the waiting area.
“Some business people were meditating, and they came to our fundraising galas,” says Mr. Roth. “It spread by word-of-mouth. What interested them was three things: handling stress, the idea of more focus and creativity, but also work-life balance. When they’re home with their kids, they want to be home with their kids. And they appreciate they sleep better at night.”
Resurgence of interest
With a resurgence of interest from Hollywood to Wall Street, the TM movement has enjoyed a comeback in the years since Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the man who brought the technique to the West, died in 2008.
“He didn’t seek the Beatles out, they came to him,” says Bob Roth, a TM educator of 42 years who worked closely with Maharishi. “He said, ‘I love those boys, but they set my work back 30 years.’ That’s because it became a fad, rather than being seen as a medical process that has profound health benefits.”
MEDITATION MYTHS: “The misunderstandings of meditation are that it’s a philosophy, it’s a religion, it’s a lifestyle, eat tofu, sit in a strange position and clear your thoughts. None of that is true,” says TM teacher Bob Roth.The goal of meditation is to transcend conscious thought and experience what Mr. Roth describes as “an unbounded level of the mind that is the source of creativity and energy and intelligence within.”
Testimonials from health professionals ranging from the NYU School of Medicine neurologist Gary Kaplan, M.D., to the television personality, Dr. Mehmet Oz, attest to benefits including reduced blood pressure and stress hormones, as well as improved cognitive focus and creativity.”
Source:
“For Some of New York’s Most Successful, Transcendental Meditation”
by Bed Widdiombie, New York Observer
