Meditation in Los Angeles, CA
Vedic Meditation is my first love and our most popular service at The Meditation Effect. In our fast-paced, rapidly changing society, Meditation and Mindfulness Techniques are more relevant than ever. We deserve tools that make life easier and more enjoyable. We have an enormous opportunity to experience the Bliss and Abundance of life. This requires that we Show Up and put in the work. I became a Meditation Teacher because of the profound impact it made on me when I was personally suffering. Since that time, I’ve had the privilege of teaching hundreds of individuals and businesses the power of Going Within. It is now my mission to serve by sharing this technique with others.
We offer a variety of professional services, all in Service of your well-being and personal growth. These include: Vedic Meditation, Guided Meditation, Mindfulness, Yoga, Pranayama, Breathwork, and Life Coaching. The nature and timing of your Journey is unique. Consequently, we Serve each human and organization uniquely. These services are powerful tools for optimizing your health, expanding your self-awareness, and exploring what you’re truly capable of.
A Message from Matthew
Welcome! My name is Matthew Spangler and I am the founder of The Meditation Effect. I discovered Meditation in 2004 in the wake of a life-altering panic attack. I knew very little of meditation at the time. I knew that I was suffering, feeling anxious and off, so I decided to give it a shot. With consistency over time, I was amazed to find the grip of my anxiety release. With my practice as my anchor, I grew into a new person. Sometimes the darkest places become the catalyst for the necessary Awakenings of our life. This is true of my story. Sixteen years later, my personal development practices continue to be the lifeline of my inner joy and outer success. It is my passion and purpose to share these Tools with you. Namasté
A Message from Matthew
Welcome! My name is Matthew Spangler and I am the founder of The Meditation Effect. I discovered Meditation in 2004 in the wake of a life-altering panic attack. I knew very little of meditation at the time. I knew that I was suffering, feeling anxious and off, so I decided to give it a shot. With consistency over time, I was amazed to find the grip of my anxiety release. With my practice as my anchor, I grew into a new person. Sometimes the darkest places become the catalyst for the necessary Awakenings of our life. This is true of my story. Sixteen years later, my personal development practices continue to be the lifeline of my inner joy and outer success. It is my passion and purpose to share these Tools with you. Namasté
Settle Your Mind
Vedic Meditation is the art and science of de-exciting (settling down) the mind’s activity. With correct practice and through the grace of the technique, our conscious mind is effortlessly guided within. As mental activity settles down, the body follows suit. Our body is perpetually reflecting the state of our mind. We know this experientially and scientifically. Science also teaches us: As de-excitation increases, so does orderliness. Not only are we gaining the benefits of exponentially deep rest, we are also absorbing the healing frequencies of nature’s ability to organize. Spontaneously, on all levels, cellular and quantum. Meditation is our tool, our gateway, to experiencing the deeper, Oceanic qualities of our Self.
Release Stress & Heal Your Body
Stress literally sticks. Nightly sleep addresses the relatively superficial layers of stress. We get to Go Deeper, on a regular basis. Meditation offers profound stress relief from the body and cultivates orderliness in the nervous system. Unaddressed stress starts to accumulate only to eventually rear its ugly head. Stress that builds in the body, unaddressed, eventually expresses itself. Bad behavior, poor health, and toxic interactions are some of the more common symptoms. Meditation is the art and science of mindfully slowing down. In our modern flurry of rush and distraction, we’ve become disconnected from ourselves and each other. When we slow down and take time to connect within, our whole life benefits.
Testimonials
Arthur / Pasadena, CA / Yoga Teacher
Travis / Missoula, MT / Small Business Owner
Identity Shift
Personal identity is at the heart of this. We tend to identify ourselves by culturally-informed, relative characteristics. My name, what my body looks like, my job, how much money I have, my past, my thought patterns, my emotional history, the opinions of others. These elements deliver to the ego, its fragile, ever-changing identity. There is nothing wrong with these common identification points, but they don’t encapsulate the breadth and depth of what we are. Meditation is our bridge, our gateway, from the superficial into the substantial. As you practice Meditation, you start to build a relationship with a deeper aspect of yourself.
When you learn Meditation with me, you learn a technique for going on vacation. Not escapism, rather a full embrace. The destination is within. In this space, you learn how to let the world go and powerfully reconnect with yourself. But hey, we aren’t learning meditation for meditation’s sake. We want the benefits of meditation to be practical and applicable in our personal lives. How is meditation showing up in your relationships? With your health? How do you feel in your body? The goals and standards you set for yourself? Your self-esteem?
Yoga
Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root, yog. This is where we get our English word, yoke. What is the function of a yoke? To Unite! Yoga cultivates Unity. Unity of mind with body. Unity of mind with breath. Unity of our awareness with mind and body. Unity with each other, our communities, and the greater collective consciousness. Yoga unites that which is disconnected, on all levels. While we practice, we actively unite mind, body, and breath. Each of these elements works together to deliver a transformative experience. Yoga is so juicy because it’s the integration of exercise and mindfulness. Yoga and meditation both serve to clarify and deepen our relationship with ourselves.
The Community
When you’re working on living your best life, nothing beats community. The support, relatability, and accountability available in a community environment are invaluable. When you learn Vedic Meditation, you join a worldwide community of meditators. Within this community, an abundance of support and resources are available for you. These include workshops, advanced knowledge, advanced techniques, retreats, trips to India with my Master, friends, mentors, and your own opportunities to be of service.
When I teach you Vedic Meditation, I make a commitment to be a continued source of support and guidance for you. Just as others have been for me. Your course of instruction is really the beginning of your journey. Going forward, you get to experience how your practice evolves and how the benefits show up in your life over time. Take advantage of your community. It’s one of our most valuable resources.
Breathwork
Breathwork is a transformational technique and an incredible experience. The compound benefits exponentially increase and integrate over time, just like Meditation. It works, when you do the work. Unlike Meditation, it is work. Its name, Breath-work, gives it away!
Where Vedic Meditation is profound for its ability to cultivate restfulness, breathwork is profound for its ability to activate. What are we activating? Stuck and stagnant energy in our bodies! We actually hold our psychological and emotional stressors in our body. Think of it in terms of ‘weight’ as well as ‘memory’. The body is a storehouse of cellular memory. Emotionally charged memories hold ‘weight.’ This keeps us tethered to the past and makes it more challenging to be naturally Present. Body trauma is real. Being present is a tall order when we are dragging around the past. A yoga teacher once told me, “the issues are in the tissues.” It stuck.
When we start to breathe in a particular way, with intention and mindfulness, this old energy, these heavy memories, become exposed and uprooted. Anxiety, anger, depression, disconnect, self-loathing: these are like the unwanted tenants living in your basement. Sometimes their odor wafts up the stairway, into the living room. Sometimes they run upstairs screaming. When we breathe life into the shadowy, ignored, suppressed aspects of our inner world, the Space begins to change. As we breathe this spaciousness into the body, we cultivate spaciousness in the mind. This supports the expansion of our state of Consciousness. The mind gets a lot of attention in the personal development world. We also get to honor the role of the body.
While I encourage you to view Breathwork as a long-term practice, some remarkable experiences may appear rather immediately. Among these, cognition and intuition. In my own experience, Breathwork stimulates a flow of beautiful ideas, intuitions, and new perspectives. This spontaneously occurs, without any control or agenda on my part.
Meditation and Breathwork are two of my most powerful practices. They release what is no longer serving me and empower my current Best to come forth. Sometimes the GUNK in the system sticks around for so long, we start confusing it with Who We Are. We need tools in the tool belt, being actively used, to continue to come back Home; to facilitate this Process of Waking Up; to Love Ourselves & Contribute to others.
Life Coaching
Our coaching relationship means we mutually commit to your personal evolution. To the embodiment of the life you desire to create for yourself. I play the role of guide, teacher, inspiration, intuition, interruption, insight, Space, love, and unconditional support. I AM whatever is needed for your evolution, moment to moment. I find great joy in releasing control of how that plays out. Remember, control is opposed to evolution. I AM a stand for you to create a life that you absolutely love. A life that is a reflection of your magnificence. How often we meet and how present I AM in your life depends on the coaching package you select. Coaching packages are listed here (link). Generally speaking, we will have 2, 60-minute Skype / in-person sessions, each month. Additional communication and connection occurs between sessions if it appears as relevant.
Working with me as your coach is the opportunity to take your life to the next level in the ways that matter to you. Every major aspect of your personal life is connected, and so when we begin to shift a particular area, all areas are affected. As your coach, my job is to hold the space for your inherent greatness to unfold. Sometimes this means confirming for you what you already know and sometimes this means inviting you to look deeper and push harder. Gracefulness and hunger each play an important role in your evolution.
Realizing Your Vision
During our process together, I will inevitably ask you to create declarations in service of your Vision. I will keep you accountable for those, focusing on the core values of integrity and commitment. I become a valuable team member in supporting you to live your greatness and to create a life that is deserving of you. The outer work is a reflection of the inner work, and we tackle this from all angles.
I’m not here to tell you what to do, I’m here to ask empowering questions and to make powerful suggestions that facilitate growth and transcendence (going beyond). I will be a support system for you to see your own worth, your own potential, and your own Vision more vividly than ever. With this perspective, your desires are known as an inevitable reality, rather than a pipe dream.
We will uncover and re-discover the relationship you have with your Self. It is the most important relationship of all. We will highlight the limiting beliefs you identify with, both obvious (conscious) and subtle (unconscious). We will examine obstacles that have proven to be thematic and patterns of behavior that are self-sabotaging. In bringing our personal obstacles into the light of awareness, you will become empowered to transcend them.
The Teacher
Matthew Spangler is the founder of The Meditation Effect. He is an independent teacher of Vedic Meditation, working with individuals to access inner potential, develop self-sufficiency, and sustain balance in daily life. Direct experience provided the core inspiration in his path to become a teacher; sharing this transformational technique revealed itself as his life-long purpose.
A rigorous teacher-training program was undertaken at the helm of 40-year veteran teacher and world-renowned Vedic scholar, Maharishi Thom Knoles. Thom has blessed the lives of over 20,000 individuals with the instruction of this technique. He is the world’s foremost teacher of Vedic Meditation outside of India and is considered a leading authority on the Vedic worldview. Matthew considers himself to be taught by the best.
For over a decade, Mr. Spangler has immersed himself both in the practice of Vedic Meditation and its accompanying intellectual Knowledgebase. In February 2009, he found himself at the geographical source of the technique — the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India, to study as a teacher. After returning to the states, three months would be spent in Flagstaff, AZ to form the culmination of his training.
Based in Los Angeles, CA, Matthew offers weekly courses in Vedic Meditation and advanced courses in the study of the *Veda. He is currently working on his first book, aimed at sharing the benefits of Meditation and the practical application of the Vedic World View. Vedic Meditation is truly a gift; both to practice and to teach. Matthew finds great joy in guiding others to the discovery of the teacher within.
The Science
Technology is a beautiful thing. For millennia, humans have been purporting the profound effects of their spiritual practices. For most of that time, it was subjective reporting. We didn’t have the technology to objectively support the claims. For the last few decades, science has come on board to research and publish thousands of articles, on the benefits of our practices.
-Brain Wave Synchrony
-Prefrontal Cortex Activation
-Stress Chemical Drop, Bliss Chemical Rise
-Biological Age vs. Chronological Age
-Reversal of Degenerative Diseases
-Effects on Anxiety, Depression, Insomnia, Hypertension
-Effects on communities and schools
-Metabolic Rate (rate of rest)
Videos
When it comes to connecting remotely, videos are the wave of the future. This medium offers a level of connection and intimacy that is unparalleled. Unless, of course, we have the honor of working together in person. I am committed to delivering consistent, high-quality content for you and anyone that is eager to Wake Up! I produce awesome, educational videos, all with the intention that it will serve your personal development. If you’re ready to dive into some juicy content, click here (YouTube link). You can expect training videos going forward. You will have an opportunity to work with me, in a deeply connected way, if you take advantage of this medium.
Get Started Today
There is no time like the Present. There is no time but the Present! If you’re feeling the call of Evolution, and you’re ready to meet the next greatest version of yourself, it’s imperative that you implement new tools into your daily routine. These tools that I offer are designed to support you in the vision you have for yourself and your life. They are not magic pills. They are practices, designed to be practiced with commitment and consistency.
When you show up for your practice, your practice will show up for you. It’s time to call out the victim within. The procrastinator. The excuse maker. The inner child, who takes its cues from fear. This is your opportunity. Your time is now. You don’t have to figure it all out. You do get to START. You are worth it and you deserve it. I am here to Serve. The first step is you reaching out your hand. “I may not feel ready, but I’m willing.” Time is precious, you are a gift.