How can I fit TM into my schedule when I leave the house at 7:00 in the morning for work and don’t return until 7:15 at night?

How can I fit TM into my schedule when I leave the house at 7:00 in the morning for work and don’t return until 7:15 at night?

I am a thirty-seven-year-old woman who works at a downtown bank in Toronto.  I drop off my daughters in daycare at 7:00 am and rush to grab the TTC [the public bus service in Toronto]. I get to my desk by 8:30 and usually finish work by 6 pm. My husband picks up the kids, but I don’t get home until 7:15 pm to cook dinner, bathe the girls and do some last minute emails before bed.

How can I possibly find time to practispracticee TM twice a day?

That is a daunting schedule for sure. And I know many working moms are facing an equally impossible daily routine.

Thankfully, one great feature of TM is that it’s completely portable—you can meditate wherever you are, whether on a bus, a subway, in your office or in a downtown park.

For instance, if your morning and evening bus rides are at least 20 minutes long, that gives you a perfect time to sit down, close your eyes, and experience peace within. It doesn’t have to be quiet outside—once you start the inner transcending process of TM it happens automatically, and noise is not a problem.

In any case there are creative ways to make it work, and you could meet with your TM teacher to brainstorm how to fit TM into your particular schedule. If you arrive early to your office, for instance, you could lock the door, pull the shades and close your eyes for 20 minutes of inner calm to get the best possible start to your day. Or if there’s a chapel nearby, you could slip in there during a break or before lunch.

One woman I know actually found a quiet, clean closet to meditate in during breaks on the job! And Jerry Seinfeld famously practised TM on his lunch hour during the years he was writing, directing and acting in his hit TV show, Seinfeld.

It also may help to think about the situation differently—most women who practise the TM technique confide that it actually adds time to their days, because they are thinking more clearly and managing their time more efficiently. Gizelle Bundchen, who juggles her roles as super model, mother of two and wife of NFL star Tom Brady, has practised TM since her 20s and says, “Meditation provides me space to re-balance and re-focus when things are at their busiest.”