Actor Jeff Kober to serve as keynote speaker at ALIGN Summit for wellness and personal growth in Lisle, Illinois
The ALIGN Summit on Monday will bring together leading voices in wellness, mindfulness, and personal transformation at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois.
The summit is an in-person gathering focused on real-world wellness practices. ALIGN Summit says attendees will acquire "practical tools renewed purpose, and meaningful connections with like-minded people."
One of the event's keynote speakers is Emmy-winning actor Jeff Kober, known for his memorable roles such as Harris Keane in "NCIS: Los Angeles," and more recently, Duke in HBO Max's medical drama "The Pitt."
Kober also teaches Vedic meditation, which is a mantra-based meditation practice. He explained its power, particularly as someone who was dealing with trauma.
"I learned the meditation very reluctantly, because I tried for years just to meditate, and all I saw was the inside of my head. And the Vedic meditation, when I did that for the first time ever, I felt the actual experience that I was something other than my thoughts and my feelings," he said, "and my thoughts and my feelings were really an experience of hell, because I'd had tragedy in my youth, and I'd come up with the idea that I didn't deserve to be alive, didn't deserve to be happy — and that's the kind of life I was happening. No matter what I did, I remained unhappy."
Kober explained some misconceptions about meditation.
"The biggest problem that people have with meditation is that they think they're supposed to be able to control their mind and shut off the thoughts. But we can't shut off the thoughts. They keep happening," he said. "Meditation, a true meditation that actually works, allows me to find the silence within the thoughts arise; the space and spaciousness that I actually am. And the thoughts are just a tiny part of the consciousness of what I am."
Kober said he hoped those who attend the ALIGN Summit at the Morton Arboretum on Monday "get a sense that they're meant to be happy, joyous, and free," and are able to embark on a journey toward the truth of life.
The ALIGN Summit will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, June 8, at the Firefly Pavilion at the Morton Arboretum. CBS Chicago viewers get a 10% discount on event passes with the code CBS10.
Ticket information, the event schedule, and information about Kober and other keynote speakers, are available through the ALIGN Summit Eventbrite page.
