I'm Deepak Chopra. This is daily breath. What makes meditation different from simply closing your eyes?

Well, meditation has the ability to take you deeper into silent awareness.

In Sanskrit, the experience is known as Samadhi.

Elsewhere, I have also spoken about the role of vagal breathing, slow, deep nasal breathing that stimulates the Vegas nerve, which is a part of the parasympathetic nervous system, which facilitates the experience of

Samadi or transcendence. The parasympathetic nervous system is referred to as the rest, digest and renew system

the opposite of the fight-of-flight sympathetic nervous system. So because of their ability to not only stimulate the Vegas nerve and the parasympathetic nervous system,

but to transcend the process of thought,

Yogis, because of these abilities,

can do extraordinary things.

Slow down their heart rate, reduce oxygen consumption, raise body temperature and freezing cold, wear thin silk

robes even in ice-clad snow, and all these things are possible because to the yogi the biological

organism is simply a perceptual and cognitive activity in pure consciousness.

So Samadi shows us the difference between shallow silence and deep silence.

Shallow silence also has importance. It is the discovery that closing your eyes and

engaging in slow deep breathing helps overcome stress. This technique known as

vagal breathing is simple and effective.

Wegal breathing takes its name from the Vegas nerve,

which is the longest and most complex of 10 cranial nerves

that connect the brain with the body.

The word Vegas means Wanderer in Latin.

It's the origin of the English word, Vagabond.

It links the brain with the heart.

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