Welcome to Untangle, the podcast from Muse, the brain sensing headband that helps you meditate and

meditation studio, the five-star app. I'm Patricia Carpice. A friend of mine reached out to me

about a year ago to tell me about today's guest, Robert Hammond. Robert is the co-founder of Friends of the Highline, the organization that led the effort

to build an elevated park on an abandoned railway in Manhattan.

I hadn't heard about him, but was intrigued by his story and his TED talk and by the fact that he's not that

different from the rest of us, but had the passion and the hoodspa to help turn this abandoned steel

industrial structure with wildflowers into a world-class park and tourist attraction in New York

City.

He started by simply trying to preserve it and ended up raising over $300 million to turn it into something incredibly unique to the city.

This interview is really about his personal story and ultimately how he also became a Vedic

meditation teacher. It's a bit different from some of our

recent guests, but he's an unusually interesting guy with a great story. Now, here's Robert.

Robert, it is so great to have you on Untangle today. Thanks so much for being here in the middle of your

really busy day. This is a fun break from lots of others. So great to have you on Untangle today. Thanks so much for being here in the middle of your really

busy day. This is a fun break from lots of other Zoom meetings. Oh, good. When I don't know

someone very well that we're having on our show, I'd like to get a little bit about your background.

So will you tell us a little bit about who you were as a 10-year-old boy,

the 10-year-old Robert Hammond? Yeah, I like that question. I don't think about it very often.

I was living in San Antonio, Texas, where I had my whole childhood. I felt like a different kid.

I knew I was a little different. I felt like I liked different things than my peers did. I wasn't really into sports. I liked drawing. I was a little chubby then. I was really conscious that I looked a little different. I knew my family was different. My mother was not a typical housewife. She didn't have a job,

but I think now she would be almost a performance artist. She never considered herself an artist,

but I think she very much is an artist. And so I grew up with an unusual childhood. We would make

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