I repeat my mantra until I’m in a meditative state
Meditation is a private, personal thing. If you’re in a quiet place, no one even knows you’re doing it.
I started meditating more than 25 years ago, when I went to Deepak Chopra’s Maharishi Ayurveda Healing Center in Lancaster, Mass. Deepak gave me my first mantra. And most recently, I meditated with Bob Roth, the executive director of the David Lynch Foundation.
Most days, I just meditate right after yoga, which I practice daily. My mind is more relaxed and open. I sit in cross-legged position and repeat my mantra until I’m in a meditative state, where I’m receptive and present—taking it all in, but not focusing on any one thing. I also mediate on a huge rock in the water by my house in East Hampton, or, in the city, in a Balinese teak temple my husband installed on the garden roof of the Urban Zen Center (which had once been his studio). I can also mediate in the car—not when I’m driving, of course—but when I’m in the backseat, headed home or to an event.
For me, meditation is the calm in the chaos, the quickest way to settle down and get back in touch with the stillness within.
Karan is a fashion designer and creator of Donna Karan New York. Her memoir, MY JOURNEY, will be published by Ballantine Books on Oct. 13.