Alternative medicine advocate and physician Deepak Chopra led a meditation session on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
New York Rep. Steve Israel and Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan invited Chopra to Washington at an attempt to reduce stress in legislators and staffers.
The public employees met with Chopra in a House Budget Committee hearing room as he encouraged them to "rewire" their "reptilian brain." He urged the audience to suppress fight or flight impulses, and concentrate on reducing stress and increasing happiness.
"In every cell is the pulsing of life," Chopra said.
The group sat with their eyes closed and their hands on their knees as the best-selling author instructed them to become aware of the pulses in their fingertips.
Chopra said that meditation could increase the wellness and safety of communities across the nation, and expressed interest in getting Congress' and the National Institute of Health's backing to research the benefits further.
Rep. Ryan has previously praised the results of meditation and mindfulness. The Ohio State University and the Cleveland Clinic have adopted mindfulness-based stress reduction programs, and Ryan hoped that other institutions - especially those working with students or veterans - would do the same.
He also encouraged Chopra's pupils to share the newly-learned techniques with their superiors.
"Hopefully we can live in an era that is more like the Renaissance, and less like the Dark Ages," Ryan said. "That's the plan."
Rep. Ryan is the author of "A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit," released in 2013.
