Transcendental Meditation, TM
| 3 › 2 › 4 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |  |  |
Better Life
Guru Dev
For the last twelve years of his life Brahmananda Saraswati (1871-1953) was the Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, which is traced back to Shankara. Some moments before he passed away, he told his disciple Mahesh, "What I have taught you also contains the knowledge of the technique for the householder".Mahesh, later known as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, emerged to spread the TM technique and said about his guru's core teachings, "His spiritual teachings are simple and clear and go straight home to the heart."
A rosary of Guru Dev quotations are found on the previous page: [LINK]
Maharishi
 |
| Maharishi (1917-2008). |
Transcendental Meditation (TM)
The TM technique is practiced for at least twenty minutes twice daily while sitting with one's eyes closed. It is easy to learn, enjoyable to practice, and enriches the lives of many. It helps clearer thinking, better health, and rewarding relationships. The technique is taught to new practitioners in a standardized, seven-step procedure. Over six million people worldwide have been initiated into the technique. There has been very much research on TM and its effects too, over 600 studies at more than 200 independent research institutions in 35 countries.Official Transcendental Meditation websites state that the technique is fit for getting deep rest and does not require faith, belief, or a change in lifestyle to be effective as a relaxation technique. The TM technique can also be used for deeper purposes, and can be excellent for development, as the technique increases self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-actualization, among other things. The benefits are said to be cumulative - life may get better and better, and you may experience the benefits in your own life.
A TM practitioner uses one of a variety of Sanskrit mantras. A mantra is a syllable or set of syllables in the form of sounds, words, or phrases that, repeated in the mind, helps the user still the activity of thought and find a subtler (deeper, higher) level of consciousness with enhanced inner joy, vitality, and creativity.
Tested meditation techniques compared
Dr. Vernon Barnes considers that different forms of meditation do not produce the same effects because each kind of meditation practice engages the mind somewhat differently. There have been studies comparing the effects of the TM technique, Zen, Mindfulness, Tibetan Buddhist and Vipassana meditations - examining such as brainwave patterns and benefits for mind and body. Some other forms of meditation have been found to produce good effects in specific areas, but not the broad range of benefits that result from TM.Barnes goes on to tell that neural imaging and EEG studies indicate that TM practice creates a brain pattern of widespread brainwave coherence. The TM technique also produces deep rest and is effective at reducing anxiety and depression and increasing self-actualization. [Research]
The standardised way of teaching TM
To practice TM, a person must be initiated by a teacher. This involves sessions of formal instruction, followed by a short ceremony performed by the teacher. Then the student learns the technique and begins practicing his mantra (the training). The mantra is selected by the teacher on the basis of the meditator's temperament and occupation. TM is taught to new practitioners in a standardized, seven-step procedure, comprised of two introductory lectures, a personal interview, and a two-hour instruction session.The first teachings and practice of this form of deep meditation were mainly in the context of Hinduism. With time the propagation of TM was adapted to needs and methods of the West, and TM was recommended as a method to combat stress. Under the new heading "Science of Creative Intelligence" TM still has its foundations in the Vedas (ancient Indian literature).
TM is spread through co-ordinated organisations. Local centres organise public lectures on the principles and effects of TM. The organization that teaches the TM technique recommends that it be learned from an authorized teacher only, and not from books etc.
Common TM effects
By TM there is a switching between rest and activity, and one's potential may shine forth to some degree, depending on how well the practice is done and other factors too. There may be very positive results: stress reduction, improvement in health, great work enjoyment, understanding, confidence, creativity, and deep appreciation of the surrounding world.As time goes by, meditation could also serve more as a retreat of recuperation and recharging the organism. That may work well too. There seems to be ample room for these two complementary focuses or balances. The crux of the matter is a promotion of deep happiness, and living in accordance with one's "deep mind" somehow.
Some Studies
Over six hundred studies have been done on TM so far, and many physiologists and psychologists and medical doctors have recognized Transcendental Meditation's relaxing and vitalizing effects on the body and mind. The following sums up some studies on TM. They are published with references in Wikipedia.Studies have reported finding a positive correlation between the Transcendental Meditation technique and various health-related conditions, including reduction of high blood pressure, younger biological age, decreased insomnia, reduction of high cholesterol, reduced illness and medical expenditures, decreased cigarette smoking, decreased alcohol use, and decreased anxiety.
Good for the heart and circulation
In 2005, the American Journal of Cardiology published a review of two studies that looked at stress reduction with the Transcendental Meditation technique and mortality among patients receiving treatment for high blood pressure. This study was a long-term, randomized trial. The study tracked subjects for up to 18 years and found that the group practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique had death rates that were reduced by 23%. Also in 2005, the American Journal of Hypertension published the results of a study that found the Transcendental Meditation technique may be useful as an adjunct in the long-term treatment of hypertension among African-Americans.In 2006, a study published in the American Medical Association's Archives of Internal Medicine found that coronary heart disease patients who practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique for 16 weeks showed improvements in blood pressure, insulin resistance, and autonomic nervous system tone, compared with a control group of patients who received health education.
The American Heart Association has published two studies on the Transcendental Meditation technique. In 2000, the association's journal Stroke published a study that found that, on average, the hypertensive, adult subjects who practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique daily experienced reduced thickening of coronary arteries, thereby decreasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. After six to nine months, carotid intima-media thickness decreased in the group that was practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique as compared with matched control subjects.
The association's journal Hypertension published the results of a randomized, controlled trial in which a group of older African-Americans practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique had reduced blood pressure.
A meta-analysis, conducted at the University of Kentucky, found Transcendental Meditation was associated with approximate reductions of 4.7 mm Hg systolic blood pressure and 3.2 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure. The study was published in the March, 2008, issue of the American Journal of Hypertension.
Good for the mind
A 1985 study in the British Journal of Educational Psychology, and a 1989 study in Education showed improved academic performance.A paper published in 2001 in the journal, Intelligence, reported the effects on 362 Taiwanese students of three randomized, controlled trials that used seven standardized tests. The trials measured the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique, a contemplative meditative technique from the Chinese tradition, and napping, on a wide range of cognitive, emotional and perceptual functions. The three studies ranged in time from six months to one year. Results indicated that taken together the Transcendental Meditation group had significant improvement on all seven measurements compared to the non-treatment and napping control groups. Contemplative meditation showed a significant result in two categories, and napping had no effect. The results included an increase in IQ, creativity, fluid intelligence, field independence, and practical intelligence.
A study in the American Journal of Managed Care indicates that there are no known side effects associated with the Transcendental Meditation technique.
A relaxation method does not ask for faith
Official Transcendental Meditation websites state that the Transcendental Meditation technique is a mental technique for deep rest that is associated with specific effects on mind and body. These sites state that the Transcendental Meditation technique does not require faith, belief, or a change in lifestyle to be effective as a relaxation technique.The Transcendental Meditation technique, yoga, and other forms of meditation have been described as "spiritual" but not religious, and as coping strategies for life.
David Orme-Johnson, former faculty member at Maharishi University of Management, cites studies by Schecter, Alexander, and Pelletier showing greater autonomy, innovative thought, and increases in creativity, general intelligence and moral reasoning in those who practice the Transcendental Meditation technique. These studies indicate the ability of those who practice the Transcendental Meditation technique to make mature, independent, principle-based judgments.
Head and Heart
Needed today is a technique to harmonise the qualities of the head with those of the heart. [Maharishi]Uniting "head and heart" is one goal of TM (Transcendental Meditation). In this context 'head' can represent both mind, thinking and assessing, that is, using the head. And 'heart' may signify deep state of mind. ideally, though, it refers to an inwardly perceived effect of doing TM. You are to get aware of it and focus on it in order to access it deeply.
On Transcendental Meditation
"Dive deep within . . . profited by undisturbed, regular, and deep meditations." [Maharishi]"Transcendental Meditation makes the active mind fully silent, . . . that silence remains when one comes out of meditation." [Maharishi]
The master sits cross-legged. "Offer to me bagfuls of your vices," he says. [About Shankaracharya Brahmananda, Guru Dev]
"Maharishi . . . Mahesh Yogi owed much, if not all of his spiritual understanding, to his teacher Shankaracharya Brahmanand Saraswati." [Paul Mason]
The Science of Being and Art of Living . . . addressed a multitude of subjects and
pointed to meditation as a practical means to their fulfilment. [Paul Mason]
Literature
Roth, Robert. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's TM Transcendental Meditation. Online. [Link] — A good book.
The Transcendental Meditation Program. Official website. [Link]
Additional
Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi. The Science of Being and Art of Living. New York: Plume/Penguin, 2001.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation and Commentary. Chapters 1-6. London: Penguin 1969.
Mason, Paul. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: The
Biography of the Man Who Gave Transcendental Meditation to the World. Earlier on-line: [Link]
 |
 |
 |
 |
USER'S GUIDE to abbreviations, the site's bibliography, letter codes, dictionaries, site design and navigation, tips for searching the site and page referrals. [LINK]
DISCLAIMER: [LINK]
© 2006–2009, Tormod Kinnes. All rights reserved. [E-MAIL]