Imagine trading the hustle and bustle of New York City for the serene silence of a Himalayan monastery. This was the unexpected path taken by Todd Perelmuter, a former high-flying Madison Avenue advertising executive. Driven by a desire for more than material success, he embarked on a nine-year spiritual pilgrimage around the world.
Join us as we delve into Todd’s extraordinary journey. Discover the motivations that led them to leave behind a seemingly enviable life, the profound wisdom gained from encounters with monks, gurus, and shamans, and the transformative power of spiritual practices like meditation.
What motivated you to leave your high-paying job in New York and embark on a spiritual journey around the world?
I achieved everything I was supposed to in life. Every day was spent exactly how I wanted to spend it. At the time, I would have even told you I was extremely happy (even though I was addicted to drinking, smoking, food, work, screens, shopping, and I had chronic back pain due to stress).
Then, by accident, I met a spiritual man who could help people with whatever issues they were dealing with in minutes instead of years. He could see right through people and know exactly what they were holding onto, and he showed them how to let go. It was after this moment that I realized there was so much more to life than what we are taught in school or can even find in books. From then on, I was on a mission to learn everything I could about the nature of the human mind.
I bought a one-way ticket to India which began my 9-year journey around the world to learn the wisdom of our ancestors and share it with the world.
You lived with monks, gurus, and shamans. What were some of the most valuable things you learned from each of these experiences?
What these people taught me changed my entire life. These lineages of wisdom have an intelligence far beyond the current trends of science. They understand what truly matters in life, and it isn’t fame or fortune. It is peace, health, and happiness.
One thing I learned from these people is the value of stillness and silence. In our busy culture, we miss out on enjoying life. We pay for news to make us depressed, we pay for substances that turn life into a chaotic rollercoaster, and we pay for food that will kill us.
When you are living in a monastery, ashram, or shamanic tribe, the addiction to screens is the first thing to go. When the fog of addiction is cleared, life becomes much more pleasant. Work, chores, and other drudgery are no longer frustrating because it isn’t getting in the way of our addiction.
Usually, we try to escape having to be alone with our thoughts. But without the allure of cheap and easy mindless entertainment, there is no more running away from ourself, there is resistance to hard work, and there is nothing “better” we’d rather be doing.
When work feels easy and joyful, it stops being work and becomes play. But first, we have to become free from the addictions that make us hate anything that gets in our addiction’s way.
Living with monks, gurus and shamans, there are typically none of the addictive vices we use in the West. And, they teach us how to be alone with ourselves, to find peace in the stillness, and to calm a restless mind. That gave me the tools to stay free once I returned back to civilization.
Meditation is a core spiritual practice. How has meditation changed your life?
When I first started meditating, I was the WORST. I couldn’t sit still for one minute. I couldn’t keep my eyes closed for one minute. I had ADHD, and sometimes doubted if I could ever meditate.
But, I stuck with it. I took classes, I did 12-day long retreats where you meditate for 12 hours a day, and I practiced with monks and gurus for months on end (don’t worry, this is not necessary for the average person).
But where the real magic of meditation lies is in the integration of it into your regular daily life. It doesn’t matter if you meditate 100 hours at a retreat if you never do it again. Creating a daily practice is everything.
For me, meditation is the practice of life. It is the practice of loving life. We all love chocolate and beaches and our favorite TV shows. But how we are without those things is our true measure of happiness. So whereas exciting TV makes life seem boring, meditation makes life more fun. Where drugs or alcohol pick you up temporarily, meditation creates lasting peace and happiness. Where stimulating substances dull our mind, meditation sharpens it. And where escaping into screens entrances us, meditation liberates us.
Thanks to meditation, I can watch cravings come and go without the need to act on them. If I am upset, I can peacefully watch my thoughts until they become peaceful. And at any time I am stressed or anxious, I can always snap out of my thoughts and snap into this peaceful, perfect, present moment.
In addition to meditation, what other spiritual practices have you found to be beneficial?
There are many great practices I have learned that I have incorporated into my life. To name just a few, there are visualization, deep breathing breathwork, mantras, loving-kindness meditation, and yoga.
I have found at times in my life that the use of prayer beads can help you get out of our head by focusing on the beads between your fingers. Prayer can be very powerful, especially if it is in the present tense. For example, instead of asking for a million dollars, you might thank the lord or the universe for helping you to reach all of your dreams and goals. That way it creates a mindset of abundance, confidence, and gratitude.
You now share what you learned with others through your books, podcasts, and films. Can you tell us more about these and the message you are trying to convey?
The most important thing any of us can do is to cultivate a mindset of oneness. This means to see the interconnectedness between all physical phenomena. We have all experienced glimpses of this in our life. We’ve all heard the phrase, “one with everything.” We know it’s true, and yet we don’t see it all the time.
All personal and global problems stem from our false perception of separateness. Loneliness, unhappiness, addiction, anger, greed, jealousy, hatred, cruelty and violence all stem from a false belief that we are separate individuals instead of the one life taking many forms. We are the universe! We are not separate from our ancestors or our fellow humans. We are the sun that warms us, the trees we breathe, the plants we eat, and the tides of the moon. We are the Earth. We are the universe. There is no separation or physical barrier between us and the universe.
The more we realize our infinite nature, the less important our little fears and worries and doubts will seem. When we deeply understand oneness, taking care of each other and this planet becomes inevitable. Spirituality is not just to feel selfishly good and be happy. Literally, the entire world is at stake.
What advice would you give to someone who is interested in exploring spirituality but doesn’t know where to start?
Something I learned the hard way during my journey is that the people who really have a lot to offer and teach do not do it for the money. If a course or retreat is very expensive, they might be more into business than spirituality. There is no magical answer or secret hidden behind a paywall. Anyone with real knowledge would never keep it to themself. We are either here for the benefit of all beings, or we are not.
Second, when I was living at a monastery in the Himalayan mountains of northern India, I was telling a monk about how I was going to go meet with shamans in South America and some gurus in south India. He replied, “That’s a great idea. My father always told me, ‘Everybody knows something, but nobody knows everything.’”
No one has a monopoly on wisdom. This is why I studied every spiritual tradition I could find. This the basis of my nonprofit foundation, EastWesticism, which combines the mysticism of the East and the West. In my book, Aloneness to Oneness, I go into depth about the unifying themes of all spiritualities and religions.
Whatever you find that points you in the direction of oneness, universal love, and experiencing the divine in every moment, follow that. The answer you seek is always within you, in the silence of the here and now. The present moment heals our painful past, it frees us from the baggage we’ve been carrying on our shoulders, and it’s always available to us.
Bliss is our birthright and nothing can take that away from us. When we turn inward toward the ocean of our mind, and we dive beneath our mental story, past our memories and our mental habits, beyond our worries and our fears, that’s where we’ll find it. Happiness isn’t in a better job or bigger house. It’s always within. And that is a happiness that can never be diminished.
