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Carter said there are 750 million stress-related suicides per year.
"Meditation is good, it limits the stress," Carter said. "Stress goes into the body. It builds up unless you let it out."
He said that Eastern societies used techniques such as meditation long before Western societies did.
"In 1955, we started accepting relaxation," he said.
He gave an example of how our perceptions create our realities.
Carter asked the class to tense up and give mean, ugly looks.
Then the audience was supposed to think, "Dog."
Carter then asked the audience to relax and sit comfortably and think, "Dog."
"If you saw the same dog, you saw it in a different way."
What should have happened was the first time, a person thinking "Dog," should see a mean and angry dog. The second time, that person was supposed to see a nice and friendly dog.
Carter told Phi Beta Kappa about how stress can not only affect people mentally but physically as well.
"When you're relaxing, your body releases endorphins," he said.
Endorphins regulate and balance the immune system.
He continued, "When you're in a lot of stress, your immune system stops."
He gave an example of a married couple he knew.
The husband died of cancer. His healthy wife died 30 days later by grief.
"No one should be that closely attached," he said.
However, Carter did say that some stress is healthy.
Without stress, he said, you shut down and give up.
Carter passed incense out to the club.
The lavender incense is to stimulate alpha waves while the jasmine incense is to stimulate beta waves.
Carter teaches a number of classes through community education at Cerritos.
"I teach hypnosis, weight management, stress, and (classes to) stop smoking," Carter said.
"Christina Santos (webmaster) went to one of his sessions before," said Nidia Barrios, Phi Theta Kappa president. "She recommended him."
Carter will come back to speak for Phi Beta Kappa on Mar. 13 when he speaks about time management.
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