Mallika Chopra: Living with Intent

You know, I learned how to meditate when I was nine. And my father would have my brother and I repeat the following phrase after a meditation, which just goes, “I am responsible for what I see. I choose the feelings I experience and set the goals I will achieve. And everything that seems to happen to me, I ask for and receive as I have asked.”

And he’s ask us, “What’d you ask for?” So we, being kids, would ask for tickets to the Celtics or a trip to Hawaii. And he’d listen and then he’d say, “Okay, but what about asking for love, purpose, connection, inspiration?” So, we were taught to ask for these qualities in our life.

And that’s really what I mean by intent, is kind of tapping into our deepest desires and thinking about the qualities that we want in our life. And that’s the first step. I in the intent path is for incubate.

And it really represents taking time to reconnect with the self, whether that’s in meditation or other practices, and asking our self, “What do I want,” and really being true and authentic and honest with ourselves about what our deepest desires are and what will make us feel more balanced and happy.

Sylvia Henderson: Well, I’m glad you mentioned that, because I know in the beginning of the book one of the things that you did mention was speaking to a group of individuals. And you brought them into a meditation and you asked three very poignant questions. Who am I, what do I want, and how do I serve?

Mallika Chopra: Yes. So, you know, this is a meditation that I’ve grown up with and that my dad does and now I do whenever I teach.

And first of all, I just want to stress, so many people–and probably not as much your audience, but many people are intimidated by meditation. And part of my goal is to kind of demystify the idea that meditation has to be difficult or hard, or that we’re trying to empty our mind.