In this candid interview, Jillian Lavender shares her journey from corporate life to meditation teaching and explores how resetting daily can transform stress into clarity, balance and impact.
You transitioned from a high-powered career in publishing to full-time meditation teaching. What was the turning point that made you take that leap and what lessons from your former life still guide you today?
The transition to becoming a full-time meditation teacher was gradual. It was a process. It wasn't a flick of the switch; however, it was grounded in a very clear sense of what I wanted to do. I had a clear goal, which was to be teaching meditation rather than running an international publishing company. But the process was a gradual letting go.
When I finished my training to be a meditation teacher, I had a period of time where I was still doing work within my old corporate role and I was building up the meditation business.
The point when I realised I needed to let go of the old role was when it started to get in the way of me doing what I needed to do. There was just that moment where I had to take that leap.
What lessons still guide me today? I think it’s that sense of being flexible—you know, not being locked into “this needs to happen on this day or this month.” I have a goal and I’m clear about it but not being attached to the timing or the way that it’s going to play out.
Being flexible, being adaptive—is really the key. It’s important to have a sense of direction. It’s important that we put our attention on the things that matter to us, and that we move in the direction of doing the things that really give us a sense of purpose.
And in my experience, that has moved me in the direction of it being less about what makes me feel better, and more about: how can I have more of an impact for other people? That’s really where the growth has happened. It’s not about me. It’s about: how can I bring this knowledge to other people?
What is the importance of resetting daily, and why is consistency more impactful than intensity when it comes to meditation?
I always like that saying: “small amounts many times.” And I think that in nature, we see the consistency and regularity of dysfunction and resetting.
So at nighttime, we settle down. And then in the morning, everything changes into a more active mode. This balance between rest and activity is playing [missing words] in our life—in the way we breathe, in the way the seasons work. There is a pattern there.
And we do lead very demanding lives. So, whatever we do needs to be practical, time-efficient and doable.
If I say to somebody, “Okay, in order to meditate, you’ve got to take two hours every morning to sit down on an uncomfortable cushion and close your eyes and meditate,” it's not going to happen. So we need practical, doable tools. And so this is why 20 minutes twice a day works for so many people because they can do it on the go when they're on the Tube. It's that regular space between rest and activity.
So we sleep at night, we rest, we recover. We go into an active day recharged and clearer and freer and ready to get on with the day.
Now, with meditation, we take [missing word] step further—because when you get up in the morning and you meditate, [missing phrase] many times deeper than sleep—then you set yourself up for the day in a very powerful way. You go into that day grounded and clear and ready for the demands of life.
And then, having gained a bit of tiredness and a bit of stress from racing around in the afternoon or early evening, we sit down and we clear out all of that. By meditating for 20 minutes, we re-energize ourselves. We come back to home, aesthetic balance. And then we take that into our evening and then into our sleep—so our sleep can become more restful.
For busy professionals juggling modern life demands, what does a realistic and sustainable meditation practice actually look like?
We’re all busy, and so it needs to be something that is able to happen—and all we need is to be able to meditate on a plane or on a train or on the bus. Or we need to be able to take ourselves into a meeting room and go and meditate.
So we don’t need an internet connection. We don’t need to go to a class. We don’t need an instructor. We want self-sufficiency. This is very important when I teach people Vedic meditation. I’m teaching them a tool that gives them that self-sufficiency. They can do this anywhere, they can do it on the move. And it doesn’t take long.
Twenty minutes—and the return on that investment for a busy person is very, very beneficial. Because for 20 minutes, I rest my system, and then I come out having gained so much energy. I’ve just rested my nervous system 2 to 5 times deeper than sleep. That’s unprecedented rest. And that means that everything I do post-meditation is clearer and more creative, more balanced, more enjoyable. And I’m not straining my system.
I’m not accelerating the aging process. I’m not getting myself worked up, I’m actually in a position where I can get through my to-do list. I have clarity about what my priorities are, and I’m able to move forward and in a good way.
You've helped thousands worldwide, what’s one transformational story that still sticks with you, and what did it teach you about the power of this practice?
Actually, I have two. One is of a man who came to me many years ago, suffering from migraines and insomnia. Basically, his life was one big migraine. He just couldn’t really get past it. He was taking a lot of medication. Obviously, he was exhausted. It was affecting every aspect of his life.
He had a very hyper job as a very senior partner at a law firm. He was miserable. He tried so much stuff. And the doctor said: "You have to do something about your stress levels."
That was when he started investigating meditation. And he was not perhaps what you'd classify as somebody who was, you know, a typical meditator. The scientific validation behind it was really important to him. So he came, learned to meditate, and started to notice that his migraines were subsiding.
If he was getting a migraine, he could detect it much earlier and nip it in the bud, catch it before it blew up into something really debilitating.
He actually started then sleeping much better, which was, itself, a really nourishing and healthy. That really improved his whole immunity. I think it’s a good example of somebody who was a little bit sceptical about whether it was going to work, and yet he did it. It’s a simple, natural technique that works for anyone.
The other example I wanted to talk about is something that’s very recent—it happened to me last week.
I had an 88 year old woman on my meditation course. I asked her, “Why did you come to meditation? What brought you here at this stage in your life?”
She said, “I didn’t like the person that I had become.” And I thought it was interesting for somebody at that stage in their life. I think it’s very impressive that there wasn’t a settling for a sort of sense of deterioration.
She wasn’t happy, and it really demonstrates that we can change at any point in our life. Even when we feel like things are not going the way that we want, it’s never too late.
She said, “I’ve had a very active life. I’ve had a very interesting job.” She was an academic. She said: “I’ve just been becoming increasingly anxious over the years and now it’s kind of debilitating.”
Even in those first four days, she was starting to feel lighter and freer of some of that fear and that tension. It was that willingness to be open and curious at the age of 88 that was so impressive to me. And it’s a really good reminder that we can change, and don’t ever feel like you’re locked in and it’s all heading in a downward direction.
It is possible to get rid of stress chemistry in your system, and come back to a healthier state by having these important reset tools in meditation.
May, 2025
