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Charlie Knoles is a visionary Vedic Meditation master teacher. And today he joins Julie and I to de-mystify this ancient practice and demonstrate just how powerful implementing a simple and consistent meditation practice can be as an unparalleled tool for total life transformation.
Having taught thousands — everyone from A-list celebrities, to Fortune 500 CEO’s, entrepreneurs, artists, teachers, nurses, athletes and underprivileged youth, Charlie has developed a unique expertise in distilling seemingly elusive and arcane Vedic traditions down to their essence so that the deepest concepts from spirituality and science may be expressed in simple, practical steps that are accessible, easily assimilated and, he would submit, absolutely necessary as a precedent to finding inner peace and happiness.
Formally taught to meditate at age 4 by his father, the pre-eminent master (or “maharishi”) Vedic Meditation teacher Thom Knoles, Charlie followed in the footsteps of his father, developing a new curriculum for training meditation teachers and running deeply immersive courses in Vedic culture in the Himalayan mountains of India and on the northern coast of Bali. His background as a musician, his study of science and his experience as the father of three young children allow him to integrate many streams of knowledge and foster a deep understanding in his students. Today Charlie and Thom together run The Veda Center.
Julie and I first had the pleasure of meeting Charlie through our involvement with MindBodyGreen. And what immediately struck me was just how grounded he is, particularly in comparison with other teachers I have encountered who tend to be, well let’s just say more “ethereal”. No robes or holier than thou attitude, Charlie is very much a normal dude in the “world” — a husband, father of three young kids and even more of a photography and tech nerd than I am in fact. It’s this relatable “normal guy” quality that distinguishes him and allows his vast knowledge to penetrate so many. Hence countless lives forever transformed.
Oh yeah – we’re now up on Soundcloud ! For those of you that prefer this service, check out the show there. For those unfamiliar, Soundcloud is great because it allows you to share episodes across your social networks and even embed shows on your website or blog with their super groovy player widget. You can even add comments to the show specifically tagged to the referenced section / time code. And it’s an amazing tool to further help get the word out about the podcast, so we appreciate any sharing or spreading you are inclined to do! For more info, click HERE.
Simultaneous with the launch of our Ultimate Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition, Charlie introduced his own MBG online course, The Essential Guide to Meditation, which entails over 6 hours of video content (plus access to an online support community) specifically designed to teach you everything you need to know to learn and master meditation and mindfulness — irrespective of skill level. Why? So you can access, develop and step in to your best, most actualized and authentic self — which you may know by now is my favorite subject, and the consistent theme of this podcast.
I’ve studied his program and I can say with full confidence that he delivers, and then some. This program is a more than worthy investment of your time and energy. I can’t urge you enough to check it out.
On a personal level, I will freely admit that my practice could improve in consistency and depth — I’m spotty at best. Despite the fact that I know very well just how much better I feel and function physically, mentally and emotionally when I am meditating consistently, I nonetheless struggle when it comes to making it the priority it deserves. But after this interview, I am newly inspired to take my practice to the next level.
So I am publicly committing that for the next 90 days, I am going to meditate twice a day, every day, without fail.
I’ll keep you posted on my results. And I hope you will do the same.
Enjoy the interview.
NOTE: Poor Julie. She had the unfortunate displeasure of having to use our lousy third microphone for this interview, which is why her voice comes off a bit muffled – apologies for the sound quality; it’s not her fault! We are getting new equipment soon, including more top tier mics and recording equipment — all thanks to your support and donations. Thank you!
SHOW NOTES
- The Essential Guide to Meditation with Charlie Knoles
- The Veda Center
- Charlie Knoles Bio
- Thom Knoles Bio
- Charlie on Twitter: @charlieknoles
- Charlie on Instagram: @charlieknoles
Thanks for listening and thanks for the support!
What happened to Julie’s microphone?
Hi Rick – yes, see my note at the bottom of the above post. Julie had the misfortune of having to use our lousy 3rd mic. We have new equipment coming in so won’t be an issue in the future – thanks for the note and hope it wasn’t too distracting – well aware her sound quality was sub-par. Hope you enjoyed the episode. Peace + Plants, r
Totally dug this Rich and Julie! So great to hear about meditation.
Rich, I heard you on KNBR with Eric Byrnes and have since been hooked on your podcast. 3 years ago I was laying in the hospital, completely septic, with a surgeon explaining to me my options; 1) loss of life 2) loss of limb 3) complete recovery. I woke up from surgery and was told I had a staph infection in my leg, but they had caught it in time and expected a full recovery. It’s been a long depressing road to recovery, but I’m finally able to walk/run about 4 miles. My goal is to participate in another triathlon in 2014. My leg is 90% so no reason why I can’t accomplish it.
Listening to you & your guests and your accomplishments truly provides me with great inspiration to continue to work on my recovery and goals.
Thank you so much and keep up the great work!
So happy to hear Julie on the podcast again! Loved hearing about children and meditation.This one I had to go back and listen to it a second time, there was so much to absorb. Personally, I don’t mind the “ads” at the beginning of the show, I don’t mind if the mics are crappy, I just love the content.
Rich, long intros is your thing and brings a certain flavour to the show. Im voting to get it back. The intro is a nice way to easy into the show and get a good introduction to the guests – this was missing this time. Long formats is your thing. …so many demands for free content :-). Keep up the goood work.
Great podcast, Rich! I had no idea there were other ways to meditate. Planning to sign up for Charlie’s course. Thanks!
I’m afraid I disagree. Life is short, and you’re great at interviewing people. Keep it focussed so you can dive deep.
The last interview you did with Julie devolved into a play by play of your trip to NYC. I was definitely tuning out. But later, when you two were focussed, it turned into a revelatory discussion of our purpose in life. What a turn around!
Don’t think of it as people being demanding. Think of it as constructive and well-intentioned feedback from people devoting their tiny fractions of free time to listening to you and learning from you.
Rich often mentions listeners complaining about the long intro. #1 It is free 🙂 #2 I sometimes find it a bit long for what I’m in the mood for that day too…but then I just hit the fast-forward / skip button. I could never imagine complaining about it. Excellent work, long intro or not. Thanks for all that you do!
Rich, have you begun your 90 days of consistent meditation?? You’ve inspired me to make the commitment! You and Julie have been such an inspiration to me – the discussions of food & lifestyle and focus on overall well-being is so enlightening. A few weeks ago I began meditating about 5 minutes per day, but was inconsistent. This podcast motivated me to sign up for Charile’s course on mindbodygreen.com and I Haven’t missed a day of meditation yet. Most days I do it 10 minutes twice a day. Thanks again for all that you do!
WOW! Thank you. I have been listening in backwards order from 120. I have wanted to start a meditation practice for years but I did not have enough pain or I was just used to it. I just broke up with a girlfriend of 6 years and this was the episode that I was on!!! How perfect. I have now meditated 2x daily for 7 days!!! 🙂 Also Oprah just happened to have a meditation course begin the same day so it was the universe telling me it was time 🙂 I think I sort of laughed when this podcast started 5 days ago. 🙂 I never look ahead at what the episode is going to be. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! 🙂