How Meditation Can Transform Your Life

Hey.

I just left a talk in Boston lead by a Self Realization Fellowship monk who’s been walking the Yogananda path for 45 years - Orange robe and everything.

Podcast on this here

Last weekend if you recall I was visiting Boston with my parents to go see a Vincent Van Gogh portrait exhibit at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and while grabbing a coffee walking around Copley Square that morning, I passed this sign:

For those of you that follow me closely, you’ll know I’m a big Yogananda fan / follower - as was Steve Jobs and George Harrison…

For review.. Seven years ago, I picked up a book that changed the way I saw everything. Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. I didn’t fully “get it” at the time — but it planted a seed. Fast forward to today, and I’ve been practicing the formal meditation teachings he brought from India to the West every day for over a year now. The same teachings Steve Jobs kept on his iPad. The same lineage George Harrison followed.

I was even living next door (by total coincidence, or was it a coincidence?) in the Pacific Palisades in all 2024 - and the teachings agreatly inspired the 8AM album You can even hear Yogananda’s booming voice on the intro track of the 8AM album…

So yeah, this monk was giving a lecture at the Old South Church in Boston. Built in 1666 — gorgeous place.

The topic of the conversation was, “How Meditation Can Transform your life”, and the monk shared some awesome themes.

So in this letter, i thought i would share how Meditation has actually changed my life and perhaps it will inspire you moving forward to change yours.

Meditation truly has changed everything for me. When you meditate the way Yogananda taught — not just “watch your breath” and “feel your body” style, but with real technique, presence, and intention — you start to notice something strange happening.

Your energy stops constantly pouring outward.

See, most of us live our lives in a purely outward flow. Our energy is sent out through our senses, our reactions, our thoughts, our productivity, our conversations, our responsibilities. All day long, from the moment we wake up to the moment we scroll ourselves to sleep, our life force is leaking out of us. Out.

Meditation, at its core, reverses that. Meditation turns the flow of energy from outward to inward. It’s like switching the direction of a river that’s been running out to sea for decades — and suddenly realizing it can be redirected back to its source.

And when you do that — even just for 30 minutes in the morning, or 15 before bed — something shifts - Not always all at once, but undeniably over time.

Over the past year of deepening my meditation practice (inspired by the daily techniques Yogananda’s lineage teaches), I’ve noticed two major things happen.

First: a slow, subtle, but very real increase in peace and joy.

I stop being as reactive - and don’t need to control as much. I’m still dialed, even more dialed than before — just less frantic.

Instead of living in that constant checklist of “who do I need to text back, what deadline is coming, what’s next on the to-do list,” I feel anchored. Clear.

And the more I’ve meditated, the more that peace builds — like compound interest on my soul.

Sometimes it’s quiet. Other times, I have found, I get a breakthrough - This is like a 10-1,000x increase in energy. This has happened like 4-5 times in my life I’d say.

For me, those breakthroughs tend to happen when there’s something I’ve been avoiding — something my soul knows I need to do, but I’ve been putting off. For example, back in 2016 after months of hesitation, I finally got the courage to start making consistent YouTube videos. It was like opening a dam. A whole new plane of energy and purpose unlocked the moment I acted.

Meditation, I believe, is what brought that moment into clarity.

Because that’s the second major effect of real meditation: I’ve become more attuned to inner instructions. The instructions that used to be whispers beneath the noise have become very very clear. My intuition, the more i meditate, gets louder and louder. I feel where I’ve been off. I know when something is misaligned. I know when it’s time to act — or release.

And lastly… Meditation has literally healed me - Not just emotionally or spiritually — but physically.

I had what felt like a torn meniscus for years - sharp pain in my left knee when I bent down in any way. I didn’t want surgery, so I focused on it with the light of meditation. Every meditation, I would bring awareness to that part of my body. Yogananda teaches healing techniques for stuff like this, but it’s essentially just directing meditation energy to the part of your body that needs healing.

And eventually, the pain went away. I went to a doctor to have it looked at, and they didn’t find anything in their scans and checks. It just… cleared. I’m lifting weights again, I’m running again, playing tennis, have even ski’d on it.

And I truly believe that came from tuning in and putting the light of God onto my knee.

So yeah - in a nutshell, that’s what meditation has become for me — a daily return to the Source. A reversal of outward leakage into inward integration. A practice of becoming whole again.

And I just want to end this by saying — I get it if it sounds “woo.”

But I’m telling you… When you stick with it — when you stop thinking of it as “mindfulness” and start seeing it as divine attunement — your whole world starts to change.

That’s what this monk reminded me of last night. And I hope this letter reminded you!

— Arlin