Jesse Israel is a social entrepreneur, mediation leader, and founder of The Big Quiet, a movement with a focus of gathering in masses to meditate in community at some of the world’s most iconic places, like Madison Square Garden and The American Museum of Natural History.
We sat down with Jesse to learn more about how he incorporates HigherDOSE’s nature-inspired technologies into his practice and daily life and how to get the most out of our meditation practice.
How Does HigherDOSE Fit Into Your Lifestyle?
“Right now, it’s very embedded in my life. For example, I’m sitting on a Go Mat right now while doing my emails. Also, whenever I meditate at home, I meditate on a [HigherDOSE] Mat — I meditate on my Pro Mat every morning and I meditate on my Go Mat on my couch every afternoon. I also do my Pro Mat before I go to sleep every night. I get so excited to get into bed, get a little toasty, get the PEMF going, and then roll over and pass out. I have also been doing at least one meditation per day while on my Mat with my Red Light Face Mask on to get the benefits of Infrared heat, PEMF, all the goodness of the Earth properties — crystals, clay, and charcoal — that are built into the mat and then the Red Light from the mask while also getting the benefit from the meditation.”
How do these nature-inspired technologies support deeper meditation?
“With the Pro Mat and Go Mat specifically, the infrared technology is mimicking the heat from the sun. It’s deeply penetrating and it warms the body from the inside out. In the process of doing that, circulation increases and the body falls into a state of relaxation. Fight or flight starts to turn off and the body’s relaxation response — the Parasympathetic Nervous System — starts to turn on by having that deeply penetrating heat in our system. This is also very similar to what meditation does. So, when the thing that you’re sitting on is helping the body chill and operate more fluidly, the brain follows suit — the body starts to calm down so the brain starts to calm down. So, when that physiological experience is occurring in the body and mind, we’re creating a foundation for the body and mind to be calmer to begin with.
If we then go into meditation — something that helps us feel calm — it’s a double whammy. It really helps prime the body for deeper meditation and it helps deepen the benefit of relaxation in meditation. And, that’s just [from] the Infrared component. When we practice meditation, we’re also healing the body. Meditation is essentially the systemic process of releasing stress and fatigue from the nervous system. The PEMF mimics the electromagnetic frequency of the Earth. What that means is that the pulsed electromagnetic frequency that moves through the body is rapidly and properly healing injured and damaged cells within our system. Just like spending time in nature and touching the Earth’s surface for an extended period of time and how naturally healing it can be to the body, the PEMF technology moves through the body and replenishes those damaged and injured cells so it starts to kick a healing process into gear that moves quicker than we would naturally heal without that technology. Meditation does the same thing. Through releasing stress and fatigue, meditation allows the body to rapidly start to heal and rebuild and to repair itself. So, when you’re using PEMF technology and that is happening at a cellular level, meditation is also creating a benefit on a cellular level — that’s another double whammy.
When we bring meditation and these technologies together, we get compounded exponential benefits around the experience of meditation. I know I am going to get a lot out of my meditation. I know I am going to get even more out of my meditation if I sit on a PEMF mat when I do it.”
What is your go-to HigherDOSE product?
“The PEMF Mat. I love both PEMF Mats so much but I would say the Pro Mat [is my favorite]. I find the second I lay down on it, I can feel my body healing. It is such a nourishing tool and I just love how I feel when I use it.”
What do you love about the PEMF Mat?
“Living in the modern-day and age that we live in today, we face so many demands on our bodies and in our minds. And, we also face a constant onslaught of information to process — it’s overwhelming for so many of us. It’s really challenging for our human bodies to meet all of that demand and process all of that information in a way that’s not damaging to our system. It can feel really unsustainable to be alive today and to take on the world without practices and tools that can really help us move through it. And, it’s because not too long ago, we lived in much simpler times. Just 100 years ago, we lived exclusively in tribes where we did everything with other people. Today, especially over the last 30 years or so, things have gotten to be so much more intense and our bodies and brains haven’t had the time to biologically evolve to really catch up and meet those demands. We have these bodies that were designed for much simpler times, but we live in times that are pretty intense. So, having tools that allow our bodies to recharge, to heal, to rebuild, and to repair so we can stay strong in the face of whatever we give ourselves to in this day and age, is really important.
I find that the PEMF Mat, for me, is such a meaningful way to get that recharge and that rebuild [from] my apartment. Maybe I could get similar benefits if I lived in nature and I slept on a rawhide that was directly on top of the Earth’s surface, and I was regularly connecting with the magnetic field of the Earth. Some of us who are able to or have made the choice to live lives like that may be able to access that type of benefit more naturally but, for me, with the life that I live, having access to this mat [gives me] an added boost of healing power so I can really show up in the world. For me, it’s a tool to help keep me strong and allow me to face what life brings me and what I give myself to.”
What is your advice for someone who might have a hard time shutting off for a meditation?
“The PEMF Mat is going to relax the body just through the simple benefits of Infrared and PEMF, and that in and of itself is going to help chill the body system down. With that being said, sometimes the way that we release stress when we meditate is by the mind thinking and, oftentimes, thinking rapidly.
We have this misconception that, if we meditate and the mind is wandering, that we’re not meditation right or that we’re bad at meditation. I think a lot of it is because the media has focused on certain types of meditations that focus on quieting the mind, but this is a misconception. There are lots of different styles of meditation and, when we practice meditation and the mind starts racing, this is actually us experiencing the benefit of meditation through letting stuff out. It means that your body is having an experience where it’s getting stuff out and it’s important to allow for that.
I encourage people to let go of expectations or preferences for how the meditation is supposed to be and, instead, let their bodies have the experience it’s going to have. When we’re able to take this more effortless approach to meditation, we’re able to enjoy whatever happens and get the benefit out of the experience that our body needs. I always encourage people who have a really thought-filled meditation to, when they are done, notice how they feel after the meditation instead of beating themselves up. Even when we meditate and the mind is wandering, the way that we feel after is oftentimes more relaxed, more grounded, [and] more present, even if the meditation itself didn’t feel that way.”
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